The Paris News from Paris, Texas • Page 89

TEXAS BOOKS A ship of state Byjudyth Rigler oyages of the Steamboat Yellow Stone is not strictly a Texas book more a study of western American history but a great deal of its drama belongs to early-day Texas. The time is 1831 to 1837, and the Yellow Stone's purpose is to travel the Missouri River, carrying goods upriver to Indians and bringing furs downstream to the markets of the world, thereby establishing John Jacob Astor's Ameri- I'tfrlV'Ami'rieatiSltwinliofit as It Pit WLfinxi on the Uf NitAreitut I 'htycflft ,1 fajnr in (fa- Steamboat Yellow Stone Donald Jackson Voyages of the Steamboat Yellow Stone, by Donald Jackson (Ticknor Fields, can Fur Company as leader of the trade. During its time on the American frontier, the Yellow Stone transported everything from smallpox vaccine to contraband whiskey, and everyone from artist Karl Bodmer to war chief Black Hawk. The Yellow Stone also participated in the history and folklore of the Republic of Texas by carrying Texas troops, under the command of General Sam Houston, across the Brazos to fight for Texas independence. Because the steamboat was a vessel of United States registry with no Texas citizens on her crew, her captain, John E.

Ross, assumed great risk by allowing his boat to be commandeered in this way. Perhaps his support was based, in part, on the fact that she had also transported the Mobile Grays, the troops who had come to Texas to fight and die at Goliad. Later, Houston was to say, "A compliance on the part of Captain Ross and his crew enabled me to save Besides Houston and his men, horses, and artillery, the steamboat also transported Gail Borden and a replacement printing press from Columbia to Houston to re-establish the republic's publication, the Telegraph and Texas Register, following the dumping of the original press into Buffalo Bayou by Santa Anna's men. But the Yellow Stone's saddest voyage may have been when it carried the body of Stephen F. Austin from Columbia, where he died on December 27,1836, the few miles down the Brazos to Peach Point Plantation, the home of Austin's sister, where the great man was laid to rest.

This book contains fascinating glimpses into the role of the steamboat in frontier America, and particularly in early-day Texas. A number of photographs add visual TEXAS TRIVIA Good oil days Texas oil has been in use since 1540. Survivors of Hernando de Soto's expedition learned from the Indians how to use the stuff to caulk their boats. For centuries before, the tribes had used it as medicine. Forward charge Credit cards have been around for more than 30 years.

In 1952, Preston State Bank in Dallas became the first in the Southwest to introduce a personal charge card. It enabled bank customers to charge purchases to their bank account. TEXAS YESTERDAY What happened to the Queen? By Jack Maguire id the "Bermuda Triangle," that mysterious stretch of ocean off the Florida coast, include a Texas tanker among the ships and planes its troublesome waters supposedly have claimed? It has been 23 years now since the Marine Sulphur Queen, a 572-foot tanker bound from Beaumont to Norfolk, disappeared in the treacherous triangle. The "Queen" left Beaumont Feb. 2, 1963.

It had 15,000 tons of molten sulphur aboard. At 8:25 p.m. that day, one of the 39 crew members radioed his family that the vessel was 230 miles southeast of New Orleans. The ship, after that message was sent, was never heard from again. On Feb.

7, when the "Queen" was overdue at Norfolk, a search began. On Feb. 20, a plank with the ship's name painted on it was found off Key West, Fla. The following May, a bottle containing a message written on brown paper washed ashore at Corpus Christi. On it was written: "SOS Sulphur Queen.

Help." On the other side were these words: "Our ship was sailing steadily. Suddenly there was an explosion. Two men were hurt. This is all I have to say because I am Handwriting experts agreed the message was written by a crew member. The Marine Sulphur Queen apparently went down in the "Bermuda Triangle." This area between Florida and Bermuda is famous as the graveyard for both ships and planes.

But what happened to the "Queen," and why, remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the sea. Send us your favorite recipes and we'll share them with Texas. Mail to: Taste of Texas Texas Weekly Magazine P.O. Box 269 San Antonio, Texas 78291 TEXAS WEEKLY MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 9, 1986 15.