The Cairo evening bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1868-1870, 1869-01-07
the Mopongahela, from which the rise comes,

4 the Monongahela, from which the rise comes,
| Is falling AT Brownsville. s,at4
There Is eleven feet six inches in the chan
mel to Pttsburg, and eleven feet over the faiis
| Mt Louisville sf ..te
Business here continues good.
Tho Mollie Able is now receiving rapidly
and will return to New Orleans on arrival OF
the train tomorrow, Friday, morning. ana
will have a good cargo. The Mollie is a
splendid craft, with unsurpassed accommoda-
tions and fare, and capt. Dan. Able IL her
commander. The affable, laughab'r and good
looking Billy Graham is her clerk, assisted
by another handsome gntleman, whose mod
esty will not allow him to have his name put
In Tho papers With such officers and such
steamer. we can assure passengers OF trip OF
unaloyed pleasure
Nv nm oversight we omitted yesterday an
account of the cargo which the Mollie Able
discharged at this port, and which is an inn
portant item in the business OF our city. She
discharged 1923 hhds sugar, l3l bbls molasses,
l24 SKIS coffee, "a bbls rice, pa pkgs sundries,
Ga cattle, for re-shipment to Chicago ana
Quincy, 40 hhds sugar, 10 tons sundres for
rc-shipment to st. Louis, and the following
for Cairo: Hendricks & Co.. III SKIS Usage
orange seed, G bbls oranges d. Hurd Il Son,
ls hhds sugar q. ID. Williamson, hhds SUI
gar, 10 bbls rosin 10 bbls tar, bbls rice.
The Cumberland brought out about 10 tons
sundries for Cairo merchants; 40 bbls krout,
80 bbls potatoes, l6 sugar kettles, 1872 pkgs
furniture, $50 pieces castings, for re-shipmcnt
to southern ports.
We were much surprised day or two ago
on reading report of the surveys OF the Mis-
sissippi river, made in 1860, by Capt. Hum
n l.. n - at.li
cal Engineers, to find that they only make
the distance between Cairo and ST. Louis to
be lT3 miles, and from Cairo to New Orleans
only $50. Steamboatmen are in the habit OF
calling the distance to st. Louis 200 miles,
and to New Orleans 1850. We also notice
that recent surveys of the Ohio by Col. Rob
erts, show the Ohio to be considerably short
er than has been usually supposed. The sur
vey of the Mississippi shows one item of great
importance to Cairo, which is no less than the
fact that while the channel above Cairo cam
not be materially decpencd by artificial
means, unless ut very great expense, on ac-
count of the numerous beds of rock and grav-
ell, yet below Cairo there is no greater obsta--
Gle to be overcome in deepening u channel
than hard blue clay, which is not very fire.
quently found high enough TO be any trouble
TO n dredging machine, although known to
underlie the whole valley. Dredge-boats can
therefore, ut very little expense, give Us a
clear channel depth of from seven ~ ten feet
water ut the lowest seasons, which only last
about two months at the very longest. The
machine will generally have only TO encoun-
ter the loose and easily shifted sands Of the
river, whose swift current will rapidly carry
them into deep water rs soon as they are dis
turbed by the dredge. With the small eX.
pense Of keeping dredge boats in operation
two months in each year, we can have chan :
rel depth which will allow steamers OF all
classes uninterrupted navigation, with full
cargoes from Cairo to New Orleans. With
| the system inaugurated Of n tri-weekly, or as
trade increases, daily line of huge freight
steamers between this city and New Orleans,
| having such steamers rs the small stern
wheclcrs which now ply at all seasons TO st.
Louis and Cincinnati, and such side-wheelers
| as the Virginia, Legal Tender, Armada
| McGill and others which are rather too small
to make paying trips, at low rates, for long
distances, to act as feeders for these large
boats, we would speedily see changes which
will DO surprising. One great change viii
be for the interest of the stcamboatman, "a
by this course he can make much more money
than nj present, because, although he will
have freights ut lower rates, !hese tolccr rdtc'
,ciU enable him TO obtain so large a proper
ton of the freight notc carried by railroad
that his boat will always be fully laden, anC
at work. the year round 1t surely doe
not require illustration to prove that i
boat carries freight at fifty cents pc
hundred for five months and theI
lays up the remainder Of the year, or occa
sonaliy makes trips at slightly better price
but only half laden. She ia not making a
4 much money as if she went fully laden all tn
year round at 80 cents per hundred. Beside
the clear gain to the owners, how It woul'
gladden. the hearts of the thousands of pilots
engineers, clerks, mates, deck-hands and IRE
men Jwho now are compelled to live twelv
months on the earnings Of six, by being com
PEELED To idleness for one halls their time Will
their boats are laid up, If in the decln
of freights the rate Of wages should com
down also although this is not a certain re
suit, is not 500 per month the year round
better than $3.50 per month for only ST.
| mnnths In tho year2 Ii i. inst 1900 bette