Riverboats

"Experiences on her first trip on the river boat Andy Gibson were related by Mrs. Serena Goward at the May meeting of the Aitkin County Historical Society held last Saturday in the historical building on the courthouse property. The Andy Gibson was the largest and finest steam boat north of the Twin Cities and made weekly trips between Aitkin and Grand Rapids. The first trip was made April 29, 1884 and the boat carried freight amounting to $629.29, according the the day book kept by Mrs. Goward's family. The 140-foot boat with a 30-foot beam could carry 100 tons of frieight and 50 passengers. Mrs. Goward recalled that meals to lumbermen and passengers cost 50 cents while crewmen paid 35 cents for their meals. Early steamboats that plied between Brainerd and Grand Rapids and between Aitkin and Grand Rapids were described by Mrs. Rose Sutton, whose husband was clerk and ber father-in-law captain of the Fawn. These steamers had regular schedules and stopping places but would take on passengers of freight when a flag was raised on the river bank." - excerpt from "Historical Society Hears Accounts of Steamboating on the Mississippi," May 6, 1954, Aitkin Independent Age