The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-03-08
More about the Father of Rivers"

We continue our extracts from MI fjaliVard 8
pamphlet, on the peculiarties Of Western river life
No land has received such benefit as the West
from the invention of the steamboat There. III
especial, ought the the iiane of the inventor to be
handed down with glory 10 the generations to
come No triumph of art over tie obstacles Of
nature has ever been complete. But for this
invention. this valley might not have sustained a
nation of farmers and planters; and the comforts,
the arts, refinement and intelligence Of the day
would have made their way slowly from New
Orleans TO the Lakes, the OF the Mississippi
and the Rocky Mountains. Thousands OF boat
men would have been slowly and laborousiy
warpng, and rowing, and polling, and cordeilin9
their boats in three months trip up these mighty
and long streams, which are now accented ny
steamboats, in ten days 1t may be safely asserted.
that in many respects, the improvements OF fifty
yeare without STEAMBOATS,, were brought TO bis
country in flee years after their Invention. Tie
distant points of the Ohio and the Mississippi used
10 be separated by distances and obstacles OF transit
more formidable in the passing, than the Atlantic.
These points are now brought into juxtaposition.
Distances the rivers are not indeed annihated
but they are diminished to about an eighth Of their
former extent and their difficulties and dangers
are reduced even more than that. All the adyan-
'ages of long rivers, such variety of soil climate,
productions remain Invested of all the disatlvanta-
g,s of distance and difficulty of ascent The day
that commentaries this invention. should be hoii-
day Of interest, only second to that which gave
birth TO the nation.
1t is perhaps necessary to have something of Che
experience. which we have had. Of the sloWneSs.
difficulty and danger Of propelling boats against
the current of these long rivers, fully to estimate
the advantages of this invention. We have
assembled the Mississippi in this way for fifty days
in succession. We have had but 100 much of the
same kind of experience on the other streams. We
consider ten miles day good progress. b is
now refreshing, and il nmparts feeling OF energy
and power to the beholder 10 see the large and
beautiful steamboats, acudding up the eddies, as
though on the wing. When they have run on! the
eddy and strike the current, it is still more noble
spectacle. The foam bursts III sheet quite over
the deck. The boat quivers for moment with the
conclusion; and then, as though she had collected
energy, and vanquished her enemy, she resumes
her stately march, and mounts against the current
ten or twelve miles an hour We have travelled
ten days together between New Orleans and LOUIS
vile, more than an hundred miles in day against
The stream. The difficulty of ascending used to be,
the only one that dreaded in the ANTICIPATION
of a voyage of this kind This difficulty has now
disappeared, and the only one that remains is to
furnish money for the trip. Even tie expense, con
sderlng the luxury of the fare and accommodations
is more moderate than could be expected A fam
lily IN Pttsburg wishes to make social visit 10 a
kindred family on Red River. The trip as mate
ters now stand, is but two thousand miles. Ser
wants, baggage, or ''pnnder," as the phrase IS,
the family and the family dog cat and parrot all
proposed. Even the return is but a short voyage.
Surely we must resist strong temptations If we slo
not become social people. You are invited to a
breakfast at seventy miles distance. You 90 ol.
board the passing steamboat and are transported
during the night, to 90 Gut in the morning
and reach your appointment. The day will pro-
badly come, when the inhabitants of the warm and
sckly regions of the lower points of the Mississippi
will take their periodical migrations to the North
with the geese and swans, and with them return 20
the South in the autumn.
We have compared the most beautiful steamboats,
OF the Atlantic waters with those of the Mississippi
and we have seen none. which, in splendor and
striking effect upon the eye, and the luxury and
comfort of accommodation, surpass the Western
boais. We have been amused in observing an At
ianiic stranger, who had heard described by the
phrase, $ backwoods taking his frs: survey
Of such a steamboat. If there be any ground Of
complaint, 1t is. that so much gorgeoisness ofends
good taste, and seem to be in opposition to that So
cial ease aud comfort, which would desire in
such place Certainly there can be no compar-
son between the comfort of the passage from Gin
clnnal 10 New Orleans in such a steamboat and a |
voyage al sea. The barren and boundess eXpanse
OF waters soon tires upon every eve but a seaman
And then there are storms. and the necessity of
fastening the tables, and of holding to something
to keep in bed There is the ifsupporable nausea
of sea sickness and there is danger Here Won ar.
always near the shore, always the green earth
can always eat, write. and study. undisturbed
You can always obtain cream, fowls. vegetables
fruit fresh meat and wild game in their season
from the shore.
A stranger to this mode of travelling would find
it difficult to describe his impressions upon descend
ing the Mississippi for the first time in one of these
steamboats,, which we have named. He contem-
plates the prohgious construction. with its double
tiers of cabins, and its separate establishment for
the ladies' and its commodious arrangements for
the deck passengers and the servants. Over head
about him, and below him, all is life and move
ment He contemplates the splendor Of the cabin
ITS beautiful finishing of the richest woods its rich
carpetlne, It's mirrors and fine furniture its sliding
tables. It's barrooin, and all its arrangements for
the accommodation of two hundred cabin pasSer-
gers. The fare Is slmptuons. ana every thing in Il
style OF splendor. order. and quiet far exceeding
most city taverns. You read converse walk or
sleep. You choose. You are not hurdene, by the
restraint of useless ceremony. The varied ana
verdant scenery shifts about You. The trees the
green islands the houses the shore every thing
has an appearance, as by enchantment, OF moving
past you. The river fowl, with their white and
extended lines, are Wheeling their flight above yoG
j he sky is bright: the river is dotted with boats
above, beside and below Won. Yen hear the cello
OF their bllgle reverberating from the woods Be-
hlnd The wooded point, You see the ascending col
unn of smoke rising over the trees which annouu-
crs that another steamboat Is approaching r0u.
The moving pageant glidcs through a narrow las
age, between an island. thick set with Young cor
,"n woods, so even, beautiful and regular that
they seem to have been planted for a pleasure
ground, on the main shore. As you Shoot o,tt
agam INTO the hroad stream. you come In view of
plantation with all its busy and cheerful accom-
FanlmentS AZ other times, you are sweeping along
for many leagues together, where either shore is =
boundiesS and pathlcss wilderness A contrast i.
thus strongly forced upon the mind. Of the hiches,
Improvement and the latest preaminent invention
of art with the most lonely aspect of Grand. but
desolate nature, the most striking AMI ccn,nirfa as
scmhlage OF Splcndor and comfort the chn.rr,n,..s
Of Heating hotel, which carries perhaps hundreds
of guests, with wild and uninhahi.etl ior., i
may he an hundred miles in width. the abaIe of,,.
of bears. owls. and novous animals.
A TEST OF FRIENDSHIP weedeci my friends
said AN old eccentric friend. nv hanging a Nee
of stair-carpet out of my tirSt floor window. with
brokers' announcement affixed it had the desired
effect. soon saw who were my friends 1t was
IKE firing gun near a plgeon-house they all for
SOCK the building nj the first report and have not
had occasion TO use the extra flaps Of my dining