this time, and all the while without food. Were it not that the facts seem well established, such an example of physical endurance would be incredible.[51] The name of this little hero was Frederick Good and his home was in St. Louis. CHAPTER XXIV. LA BARGE AGAIN IN OPPOSITION. With a view to entering, upon a large scale, into the newly developing business at the head waters of the Missouri, the firm of La Barge, Harkness & Co. was formed in St. Louis in the winter of 1861–62. The members were Joseph La Barge, Eugene Jaccard, James Harkness, John B. La Barge, and Charles E. Galpin. Each partner put in ten thousand dollars. Two steamboats were purchased--Captain La Barge’s boat, the _Emilie_, and a light-draft boat, the _Shreveport_. In the division of duties and responsibilities among the partners Jaccard was to attend to the affairs of the firm in St. Louis, the La Barges were to manage the steamboat business, Galpin was to look after the trade along the river, and Harkness was to go to the mines with an outfit of merchandise, and was to remain there and develop a business with those rapidly growing communities. [Sidenote: VOYAGE OF 1862.] When it was known that Captain La Barge was to make a spring trip to Benton, he was overwhelmed with applications, not merely from those who wanted to go to the mines, but from business men and capitalists who wished to join the enterprise. He could easily have organized a capital of a million dollars, but he adhered to his first plan and pushed his preparations with vigor. The _Shreveport_ was first gotten ready to sail and left port April 30, 1862. Captain John La Barge was master. The _Emilie_ followed on the 14th of May. As a performance in steamboating the voyage of the _Emilie_ was a great success. She was loaded to the guards with some 350 tons of freight and 160 passengers. Captain La Barge himself had never been more than a hundred miles above Fort Union; yet he made the whole trip, 2300 miles, in a little less than thirty-two days, and would have finished it sooner but for the fact that he had to help the _Shreveport_ the last hundred miles of the distance. The boats arrived at Fort Benton at noon June 17, and at 6 A. M., June 19, the _Emilie_ started down the river, reaching St. Louis on the 3d of July. Her speed up averaged 71 miles per day; down, 152 miles. [Sidenote: A DESPERATE GAME.]