In 1869, the monthly wage rate on all boats out of St Louis except those bound for the Missouri River:

                                      1869 $s                  2006 $s

Captain                                   $175                       $2,800
Pilots                                      $250                       $4,000
1^st Clerk                                 $140                       $2,240
2^nd Clerk or Mud clerk           $60                       $   960
1^st engineers                          $110                       $1,760
2^nd Engineer                            $70                       $1,120
Mates                                     $110                       $1,760
Steward                                    $70                       $1,120
Deck hands                           $30-60                   $   480-960  

Pilots on the Missouri earned $500-2,000 ($8,000 – $32,000 in 2006 dollars) if they steamed above Sioux City to Ft Benton.  The average length of a trip from St Louis to Ft Benton was 100 days making a pilot  a wealthy man.

Tags: ft benton, missouri river steamboat, steamboat mate, steamboat pilot

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 8:45 am and is filed under Missouri River Commerce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.