The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1846-08-06


r loss of the boat, Git is put down as rattle
: more in the St. Louis estimate,) it would
make the aggregate annual loss from all eau
: ses S2,601,2 200; from snags, 81 ,203,60O; ano
from snags, rocks, and logs 81 $4,000.
AS great as the amount of these losses may
!, appear to be, they would seem to be under
rather than above, the reality, when
compared with the estimate of the Cincinnati
committee, after making due allowance fol
increase of the commerce Of the Mississippi
and the number of steamboats, employed in
transporting it since the time they made their
report, as the following extract will show. 1t
states that sbetween the / It'll of September
and the 18th of October in the present year
GS43) the losses on the Mississippi, between
St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio, a dis
lance of only 1870 miles, were 1924 ,000.-
Within the last seventeen months there have
been lost 70 steamboats, worth $1,200,000,
besides their cargoes, which were of great
value.
"Thc losses paid by the insurance Offices
in Cincinnati alone, on boats and cargoes, du-
ring a period of five years from November,
1887, to November, 1912, including only the
losses by distractions in the navigation, and
excluding all losses by explosion, collision, fire,
and other causes, have been $4,000 So
! As insurance is made also at Pittsburg, Louis
vile, Nashville, ST. Louis, Wheeling Natchez,
New Orleans, and at some of the smaller
towns, the above sum might be multiplied by
seven, to arrive at something like fair APP
Proclamation of the losses sustained by under
writers from the dangerous condition of the
navigation; and the result would be three
millions Of dollars, or six hundred thousand
dollars per annum. If to this be added the
| losses from the same cause on which there was
no insurance, the amount would be not less
than one million of dollars per annum. One
million of dollars per annum is actually tax
ed on the commerce of the west for losses sus-
tanned in consequence of distractions which
might be wholly removed by an appropriation
by Congress of comparatively trihing sum
An additional fact, showing the danger of this
to insure the huls of boats, and such risks are
ryng from 12 to Is per cent. The insurers
rates. The amount, then, of the annual risk
on the 1900, 900 invested on the steamboats,
alone is more than one million of dollars"
If there was no other evidence of the vast
amount lost, the high rate of insurance which
on boats, and in reference to which there can
be no material error, would of itself conclu-
sively show that the data furnished by the st.
Louis statement do not make the annual loss
greater than the reality The lowest rate per
cent. of insurance would indicate loss an
nually of $3, 100000 on the estimated amount
of the commerce of the river.
To this great loss Of property must be adj
IL III. Al, e
CATION but the means for making an esti-
mate any thing like approaching accuracy
are so imperfect, that it will not be attempt |
ed. 1t is known to be very considerable
The St. Louis statement gives twenty-onc per
annum for 1875 boats, which would make a.
bout 1875 for the estimated number of boats |
now engaged in navigating the Mississippi
and its waters.
This great loss, both of property and life,
will 90 on progressively increasing with the
commerce of the valley, unless something
should be done to render the navigation OF
the river more safe. Assuming that its COM
merce will keep pace with the increase of
population, and that the hazard will continue
to be as great as it now is, the annual loss
would be, in all probability, three times as
great at the end of the next twenty, and five |
times at the end of the next forty years.
That the navigation of the river should be
rendered more safe, and that the present heavy
loss, and the still heavier which may be antic-
ipated hereafter, with the increase of its COM
mercc. be lessened by the removal of the eau
SEES Of the danger, if it be practicable, will be
readily admitted by all. That the principal
causes--snags, logs, and rocks-can be re-
moved in part, or whole, and that their re-
moval would greatly diminish the hazard of
its navigation, and facilitate its commerce, is
unqucstionable. Much, indeed has been done
already, and with highly beneficial results, in
removing the greatest, by far, of all the eau
ses of danGer--snags-as the following eX-
tract from the Cincinnati report will show:
"This branch of the subject" (rcmoval of
snags "has already received the attention of
the government, and the results of the eXper-
iments instituted have been entirely satisfac-
tory. The snag-boat constructed under the
direction Of the government has been success
full in removing these obstacles at a very tri-
fling expense, and with great facility. The
boat is of simple construction, yet has such
power that the largest tree, however firmly
fixed, is removed in few minutes. A num-
Der of these ingenious vessels were employed
for several years with such success that thou
sands of snags were removed from the Ohio
and Mississippi, the most dangerous places
were rendered perfectly safe, and the whole
navigation made completely free from this
formidable evil. In the year ending in Sep
tember 1888, 800 snags were taken up
from the Mississippi, and the chances of dan
ger diminished by at least that number. The
crews Of the boats were employed within the
same year, when the water was too high to
permit their working on the bed of the river,
in telling the oycrhanging trees which stood
on the banks liable to be undermined, and re-
moved 10000 trees, which must soon have
been prccipitatcd into the current.
From 1922 to 1927, the loss of property
on the Ohio and Mississippi by snags alone,
including steam and fiat boats, and their car
goes, amounted TO S1;362,500. The losses on
the same items from 1927 to 1882 were re-
duccd 10 1881, 900, in consequence of the
beneficial action of the snar-boats and those