The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1837-08-26
THE ILL-rATED BEN siIERRoD,
ny A SUFFERER.

OeShAStaaNfhf
preparing to leave the levee at New Or
leans. She was thronged with passengers.
Many beautiful and interesting woman
that morning was busy in arranging the
little things incident to travelling, and they
all looked forward with high and certain
hope to the end of their journey. Little
innocent children played about the cabin,
and would run to the guards now and then
TO wonder in infantine language, at the next
boat, or the water, or something else that
drew their attention--"Oh, look here,
Henry-I don't like that boat Lexington"
81 wish was going by her." said Henry
musingly.-The men too were urgent IN
their arrangements of the trunks, and get
ring on board sundry articles which ten
days passage rendered necessary. In fine,
all seemed hope, JOY, and certainty.
The cabin of the Ben Sherrod was on
the upper deck, but narrow in proportion
to her build, for she was what is techni-
cally called Tennessee Cotton Boat
To those who have never seen a cotton boat
loaded, tits wonderous sight. The bales
are piled from the lower guards whenever
there is Granny until they reach above
the second deck, room being merely left
for passengers to walk outside the cabin
You have regular alleys left amid the cot
ton in order to pass about on the first deck
Such is cotton boat carrying from 1900
to 1000 bales.
The Ben's finish and accommodation
of the cabin was by no means such as
would begin to compare with the regular
passenger boats. 1t being late in the sea-
son, and but few large steamers being in
port in consequence of the severity of the
times, the Ben Sherrod got an undoe num-
Der of passengers; otherwise she would
have been avoided, for her accommodations
were not enticing. She had heavy freight
on board, and several horses and carriages
on the forecastle. The build of the Ben
Sherrod was heavy--her timper being OF
the largest size;
The morning was clear and sultry:=sso
much SO that umbrellas were necessary to
ward of the sun. 1t was a curious sight
to see the hundreds of citizens hurrying
on board to leave letters and to see them
coming away. When a steamboat is GO
ing off on the Southern or Western waters,
the excitement is fully equal to that at
tenaant upon the departure of a Liverpool
Packet. About 10 o'clock A. M. the ill
fated steamer pushed off upon the turbid
current of the Mississippi as swan upon
the waters. In few minutes she was
under way tossing high in air bright and
snowy clouds of steam at every revolu-
ton of her engine. Talk not of your nor
them steamboats!-A Mississippi steam
boat of 700 tons burthen, with adequate
machinery, is one of the sublimities of
poetry. For thousand of miles that great
body forces its way through a desolate
country against an almost resistess current
and all the evidence you have Of the i'm
nense power exerled, is brought home tc
your sense by the everlasting and majestic
burst of exertion from her escapement pipe
and the ceasless stroke Of her paddle wheels
In the dead of night when, amid the swamp'
on either side, your noble vessel winds he
upward way-when not a soul is seen OF
board but the officer on deck-when naugh
is heard but the clang of the fire doors amiC
the ftoarse coughing of the engineer
Imagination yields to the vastness of thj
ideas thus excited in your mind, and if yol
have soul that makes you man, you can
not help feeling strongly alive to the nigh
tiness of art in contest with the mightines
of nature. Such a scene, and hundred
such have been realized with an intensit,
that cannot be described, always made M
a better man than before. never coul
tire of the steamboat navigation oft
Mississippi.
On Tuesday evening, ofthe 9th of May
1887, the steamboat Prairie, on her way