The struggle between the steamboat and the railroad lasted just about twenty-eight years, or from 1859--when the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad reached St. Joseph, Mo.--to 1887, when the Great Northern reached Helena, Mont. The influence of the railroads had been felt to some extent before this on the lower river. The Missouri Pacific railroad, which parallels the river from St. Louis to Kansas City, was opened to Jefferson City, March 13, 1856, but did not reach Kansas City until ten years later. This road did not have much effect upon the steamboat business of the river. Most of the boats ran far beyond the points reached by the road, and would have kept on the river whether the railroad were there or not. Being there, they secured a large part of the freight, even along the line of the railroad. When the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad reached the Missouri River at St. Joseph in 1859, that town became an important terminus for river commerce connected with the railroad. A line of packets including three boats ran south to Kansas City and north to Sioux City, with an occasional trip to Fort Randall. The first service of Captain La Barge’s boat, the _Emilie_, was in this trade, in which he remained for two years. The next point on the river reached by the railroads was at Council Bluffs and Omaha. On the 15th of March, 1867, the Chicago and Northwestern railroad reached the former place and on March 15, 1872, the Union Pacific bridge was opened across the river. Omaha largely supplanted St. Joseph in the upper river trade, and still further restricted the business from St. Louis. The Sioux City and Pacific railroad entered Sioux City in 1868 from Missouri Valley, thus connecting with Omaha and Chicago. In 1870 the Illinois Central reached the same place directly across the State. Sioux City became, and for a long time remained, a more important river port than either St. Joseph or Omaha. All during the period of the Indian wars, in the decade from 1870 to 1880 it was the great shipping point for the army in all its work on the upper river. Even the trade to Fort Benton was in great part transferred to this point, and the St. Louis trade with that port suffered another severe falling off. [Sidenote: FINISHING BLOWS.]