The Great Riverboat Race: The Story of the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee by Manly Wade Wellman
In the summer of 1870, Robert E. Lee won a famed steamboat race against Natchez, going from New Orleans to St. Louis, Missouri, a distance of 1,154 miles (1,857 km), in 3 days, 18 hours and 14 minutes. John W. Cannon, the captain of Robert E. Lee, ensured victory by removing excess weight, carrying only a few passengers, and using prearranged barges to increase the speed of refueling. Natchez finished the race several hours later, but had been delayed by fog for six hours, and had numerous passengers to weigh it down.
~Wikipedia
The Great Riverboat Race is historical fiction that fleshes out this famous-at-the-time, but now forgotten, race. The main point of view character is Matt Parham, a young aspiring engineer who is actually more interested in the new transportation revolution of trains and railroads than he is in old-fashioned steamboats. One of the themes of the book is change. It’s 1870, the beginning of the Gilded Age and the Age of Railroads and Industry. The transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869. Things are about to change, with steamboats going the way of oil lamps and horses pulling wagons. At such a time, Matt Parham, whose “talent and taste were for machinery,” is invited aboard the Robert E. Lee just as the boat is off to the race. The chief engineer of the Robert E. Lee says to Matt, “I want two extra assistant engineers, besides Andy Berry and the strikers. I’ve got John Weist, now I want you. I know some of the things you’ve been studying. It’s good pay, fast trip—come on, come on!”
And off he goes. The trip from New Orleans to St. Louis is an exciting one, fraught with dangers and obstacles, and Matt gets more than one chance to prove his mettle and save the day—and the race for the Robert E. Lee. At the end of the race, Matt has a decision to make: will he make his career with the old steamboats or with the new railroads?
Non-engineer that I am, I nevertheless found it fascinating to learn about the intricacies of steamboat engines and steamboat travel as I read this story, but even more, what has lingered in my thoughts is the thread of the story that is about rapid change and what we gain and what we lose and how inevitable it all seems. The old steamboat captain can’t bear to always be hearing about trains and railroads and how much better and faster they are than steamboats. But as soon as he enters into a race with the Natchez, doesn’t the Robert E. Lee‘s captain become a part of that rush to change and become faster and better and stronger than the next guy?
Philosophical questions abound in response to this little book, but that’s not the main thrust of the story itself. It’s really a story about how Matt gets roped into the race between two steamboats, how that race progresses, and how Matt responds to the call to work hard and think creatively as an engineer. He responds well, and this book would be a great one to give to aspiring engineers and to young men who long for a challenge. It might well stick with teen readers as it has with me.