Historic Homes and Businesses in Carver - Carver County Historical ...

Many pioneer immigrants came to new homes in Minnesota aboard Houghton‟s
steamboats, and later bought and sold goods, firewood, brick, and foodstuffs transported
by his steamers. One of Houghton‟s early steamers was the Antelope, built in the 1850s,
which had a hull capacity of 37 tons and which provided the first regularly scheduled
round trip service between Carver and St. Paul. Rates to St. Paul were $1.25, less than
stagecoach cost. George Houghton piloted daily Antelope trips on the Minnesota River
between Carver and St. Paul from 1857-1863, hauling goods, passengers, as well as
soldiers and supplies for the Civil and Indian Wars. On one of the Antelope’s trips Capt.
Houghton and his passengers witnessed one of the final battles fought between the Sioux
(Dakota) and Chippewa (Ojibwa) along the shores of the Minnesota River. Despite low
water in 1860, the Antelope was so busy in that year that she made 80% of trips
downstream on the Minnesota River to St. Paul. The steamboat business was lucrative
for George Houghton. The U. S. Census for 1860 put George Houghton‟s net worth at
$2500, but by the 1870 Census it had increased to $20,700. In 1862 George Houghton
added to his riverboat service the steamboat Clara Hine, then the steamers Ariel and
Albany, which made upstream trips on the Minnesota River twice a week. When the
Antelope aged, its steam whistle was installed on the Ariel, which then made runs
between Carver and St. Paul.
In 1865 George Houghton captained the sidewheel steamboat Mollie Mohler on the
Minnesota River. Named after his first wife, the 125-foot long Mollie Mohler was built
in the winter of 1864-65 and launched in the spring of 1865. It had a hull capacity of 94
tons and had accommodations for 56 passengers. It made many trips to and from Carver
on the Minnesota River, and it also transported soldiers and supplies for the Civil War.
On May 12, 1866 the Mollie Mohler was pulling a fully-loaded trailing barge
downstream on the Minnesota River from Mankato when a gust of wind blew up,
wrecking the trailing barge on a bridge pier near Fort Snelling, and adding to friction
between competing railroads, with their crossing bridges, and the steamboats plying the
rivers benealth them. The accident was later settled against Houghton‟s company in a
court case. The Molly Mohler was so busy in 1867 that of 161 steamboat stops upstream
at Mankato, the Mollie Mohler made half of them. In the late 1860s the Minnesota River
began to widen, silt up, fill with sandbars, and become more shallow due to erosion from
the clearing of land for firewood, lumber, and farming. As a consequence in Sept. 1867
the Mollie Mohler left the Minnesota River and took to runs on the Mississippi river. The
Mollie Mohler was badly scorched on May 14, 1870 when it was docked alongside the
great steamboat War Eagle at La Crosse, Wisconsin. In one of the Mississippi River‟s
great steamboat disasters, a fire and explosion destroyed the War Eagle with at least 5
killed, many injured, and an estimated $366,000 in damage. The Mollie Mohler barely
escaped disaster itself, having just enough steam built up to move out of the way. In July
1871 the Mollie Mohler was permanently withdrawn from the river trade. To
supplement his Carver area steamboat transportation, in 1869 George Houghton
purchased a stagecoach line that ran between Carver and Merriam Station in Scott
County.