New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-08-29
VOLUME XII.
geh @rltans 4ailp Grest.nt,
MONDAY MORNING, AUGUST 20, 1859.
THE FATHER OF WATERS.

Citizens of New Orleans Individually have a con.
siderable degree of respect for the great father Of
waters;" they glance at the majestic flood which
swells through the crescent curve crowned by their
fair city, vote 1t "a mighty river" mem. con-, and
briefly dismiss their bounden duty of admiration with
outvouchsafng 1.-THE of the amount Of appreciation
to which this grand artery Of the vigorous feblood
Of the country's development and progress is enti
ted Now and then 1t compels little more attentive
respect than is ordinarily awarded it, byrsing In the
might Of its watery sovereignty and in playful con.
tempt dashng aside the letters with which men essay
to conine its wanton vgor to the bounds they would
prescribe its surplus waters poured out at hundred
crevasses deuge regions Of country to the extent OF
the area OF sea, but still the floods roll on past the
city with scarcely perceptble diminution OF their
volume-a wonderful but not an unaccountable phe-
nomenon when we reflect that this river is the
valley drain OF the continent from the Allegheny to
the Rocky mountains-that smaller veins Of rivers
tributary children of the "father of watersfom the
Atlantic ridge on one side and the Pacific ridge the
other supply to this grand artery the nexhaustible
torrents which fill its channel. The rain drops which
fall on grain grown fields in New York and those
which beat upon the inhosptable nights Of the Rocky
mountains on the borders of Oregon, mngle and pass
the gates OF New Orleans to the guilt and even the
domains of her British Majesty pay watery tribute
to our republican river and add an icy contribution
to its floods.
The Orleanisn should feel grateful to this river
not river but the whole countrys river and bear
with its little misdeeds in patience, for if it tears
down levees and destroys plantation now anH then
it created this city and promises it the grandest
future Of any of the world New Orleans stands in
the doorway to take toll from the commerce of the
whole country which pours past to seek an outlet
from the commerce of the whole world which pours
past to seek inlet to the interior of the continent
One can realize the unriyaed advantages of the
position of this city when it is considered that the
Mississippi and its tributaries afford extent of near
thirty thousand miles Of navigable water courses !!
One can have an idea of how this city will go for
ages increasing in substantial wealth, when rein is
given to the imagination to picture the progress of
the whole country between the Alleghanies and the
Rockies, and to reflect that with every step toward
wealth and population that is taken in that vast
New Orleans must advance step likewise-for the
Mississippi will ever flow through the city to the
Gulf New Orleans will be the great seaport of
all that vast region.
steamer can leave our wharves and penetrate the
continent almost to within sight of the Rocky Noun
tains-a distance by the route of navigation of
between four and five thousand miles, The "Spread
Eagle" doubtless most patriotic craft, recently
steamed up the Missouri some five hundred and fifty
miles further than any boat has had occasion to go
before, to point eight hundred and ty miles above
the mouth of the Yellow Stone, and how much
higher she might have gone is not stated Away up
in the very heart of the continent, running along
nearly parallel with the Rocky Mountains, and almost
enough for the snort of her steam scape to wake
their echoes and fright the grizzlies from their
savage propriety amid their fastnesses the pioneer
boat pursued her course the strong tide which bore
her on in that far off Northern region hurryng to its
destiny to swell the current which washes the eyee
of New Orleans, down almost to the tropics, having
| coursed through nearly the longitudinal extent of
the temperate zone, with all its variety of climate
and productions Verify, the Mississippi is the
water level of the country, for by the means Of
| communication between its parts which it and its
tributaries supply, it equazes trade and maintain rs
free from extraordinary fluctuations and on equitable
basis the prices Of all commodities 1t is the great
mediator between those warning yet mutually de-
| pendent interests, demand and supply. May its
| waves flow on forever-id est Long may it wave!