When The Saints Go Marching In

[HostDave]

With some vacations, it seems like the trouble of getting there makes it difficult to even enjoy yourself once you do. That’s why a complimentary one-night pre-cruise stay in a deluxe hotel in the embarkation city is included on every American Queen journey. Not only does a hotel stay eliminate any worries over same-day flights being delayed which could cause you to literally miss the boat, it also gives you the opportunity to explore your storied embarkation city with the same excitement as if it were a port of call during the voyage.

Some of our most popular voyages are those that travel between St. Louis and Minneapolis/St. Paul. We offer them during the height of summer under our Good Old Summertime theme banner as well as the most colorful weeks of autumn as Fall Foliage departures. The American Queen both begins and ends her voyages in cities named after saints and each has a rich and interesting history.

St. Louis and riverboats are famously intertwined. When founded in 1764 by Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, the city was the primary jumping-off point for settlement of the West. With the advent of the steamboat, St. Louis grew rapidly, becoming a major Mississippi River port and, with the boost provided by the railroads, the fourth largest city in the United States by 1900. That status was rewarded in 1904 when the city hosted both a World’s Fair and the Olympics.

Mark Twain, who hailed from Hannibal, Missouri, helped grow the legend of St. Louis as a hub for riverboat traffic and its waterfront was one of the busiest in the country.

The city’s most famous steamboat moment came in 1870 when it served as a finish line for the greatest steamboat race of the era. No race received more publicity, captured the river community’s fascination or has endured as long as the famed race between the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez from New Orleans to St. Louis.

The boats left New Orleans on June 30, 1870, and the Lee immediately jumped out to a four-minute lead. The Natchez was an hour behind the Lee by the time Memphis was sighted on the horizon. In Cairo, Illinois just south of St. Louis, the Lee got stuck on a sandbar. Fortuitously for the Lee, a thick fog rolled in and the Natchez decided to tie up and wait for the weather to clear while the Lee finally inched her way back into the channel.

On July 4, 1870, the Robert E. Lee steamed her way into St. Louis as the fog lifted. Thousands of people stood on the banks of the river cheering and, six hours and thirty-six minutes later, did the same for the Natchez. It was a race for the ages.

St. Paul also has a heritage of Mississippi riverboats. But there’s more to St. Paul’s story than just paddlewheelers. Most likely, the area that is now St. Paul was first settled by the Hopewell Indian Tribe 2,000 years ago. Indian Mounds Park holds examples of the burial mounds left by these Native Americans and of the settlements left by the Sioux, who migrated to the area in the early 1600s. An 1837 treaty gave all land east of the Mississippi to the United States government, and soon the area blossomed as fur traders, missionaries and settlers arrived to set up camp beneath the protection afforded by Fort Snelling, built on the site of current day St. Paul.

But that wasn’t the only reason the area grew. Whiskey became an important part of the economy, and a fellow named Pierre Parrant, who went by the unfortunate nickname of Pig’s Eye, was a bootlegger who established a popular tavern. Within just a few years, what is now St. Paul became known as Pig’s Eye Landing, a rather ignominious moniker. Fortunately, the arrival of Father Lucien Galtier changed things in 1841 when he built a chapel named after St. Paul and soon the community took on the name of the chapel.

Anyone who thinks that the shenanigans in Washington, D.C. these days have reached new heights should study a little history. Politicians of the past had even more creative ways to get what they wanted. When the Minnesota Territory was established in 1849, St. Paul on the Mississippi River was designated as the capital. But just eight years later, the legislature in the territory voted to switch the capital to a place called St. Peter in a reverse of the old phrase “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” A politician by the name of Joe Rolette didn’t take too kindly to the move, so he had a rather unique idea of how to stop it. He simply stole the physical bill that had been passed and hid it. Without the text of the bill, the move was stymied, and less than a year later, Minnesota became a state with the capital still in St. Paul!

A night in either St. Paul or St. Louis is a real treat for our guests and for bookings made before April 30, 2013, we’re offering savings of up to $750 per Stateroom plus a Category Upgrade on several different sailings between the two saints.

July 4 – Good Old Summertime 10 days from St. Louis to Minneapolis/St. Paul
July 12 – Good Old Summertime 9 days from Minneapolis/St. Paul to St. Louis
August 21 – Good Old Summertime 11 days from St. Louis to Minneapolis/St. Paul
August 30 – Good Old Summertime 9 days from Minneapolis/St. Paul to St. Louis
October 18 – American Hootenanny 9 days from Minneapolis/St. Paul to St. Louis