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Cool Ride on a KeelboatLoma, Montana
Take a keelboat ride on the Missouri to follow in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark. Or, rather, it might be more appropriate to say sail in the wake of Lewis and Clark. And if you want to get even more technical about it, “sail” is probably not the right word either. Before steamboats came along, traders used keelboats to haul their cargo on rivers like the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Missouri. That's the kind of boat Lewis and Clark used on the Missouri River leg of their journey. Keelboats relied mostly on human power, especially to get upstream. It was either poled upstream or the big tough keelboating men walked along the shore and hauled the boat upstream with a rope. Puff puff puff. Just like a mule pulling a canal boat . On good days they could really haul butt upstream - a whole mile an hour. And the passengers on board didn’t have Game Boys to entertain themselves. No cell phones, either. Though there probably wouldn’t have been any reception, anyway. So what the heck did they do then? Well, they probably looked at scenery a lot.
Yep, it’s hands-on keelboating at its best!
The "Gen. Wm. Ashley” is a 38 foot replica of the keelboats that were used in the fur trade on the upper Missouri. And for even more authenticity, it is manned by a crew of three in period dress.
The Upper Missouri River Keelboat Company offers 1 day tours from Fort Benton to the mouth of the Marias River and 3-4 day tours from Virgille to the Judith River. And you of course, being the adventurer you are, want to get that real live feel of a Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1805! Right? The 3-4 day tour is the way to go then! Really get into the swing of keelboating!
The Upper Missouri River Keelboat Company is in Loma, MT.
From Keelboat Rides to Montana Tourist Attractions
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And that’s what a trip on the Missouri on the replica keelboat “Gen. Wm. Ashley” is all about. Scenery and enjoying the sights the L & C gang saw all those zillions of years ago. It’s all about learning a mode of travel that’s extinct now.
