click to enlarge
This hand tinted postcard from 1911 shows one of the small steamboats of the late era of commercial river travel. Published by James Bruin, Linn Creek, Mo.
While this is rather late in the history of commercial steamer traffic on the Osage, a boat’s arrival still generated much interest, as evidenced by the many folks along the riverbank and hanging on the boat itself.
Sent by “Charlotte” from Linn Creek in July, 1911, to Miss Nellie Nagle in Billings, Missouri. Her message: “… making a drive … Everything delightful.”
People seemed to like Old Linn Creek. The town was up the creek, not right on the river, but in easy walking distance. Infrequent floods happened only if the Osage River backed up significantly. Linn Creek actually had an Upper Town (away from the flood plain) and a Lower Town, around the boat landing on the river in a commercial area.
