Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-03-28

1910.

/ thus adding to the comfort, speed and
satisfaction Of travelling and the advan-
tages of intercommunication and inter-
change Of intelligence and wealth which
it secured, are sufficiently remembered
to show its significance and value. In
those days the advantages Of city, vii
| lape or district we're estimated by the
distance from a steamboat landing on
the Mississippi or one Of It's tributaries.
The value Of town lots or the estimated
price of land were altered by this stand
ard. The man who owned a plantation
Of open land upon its coast was deemed
a most princely individual. Those were
the good old days of stage coaches and
rail turnpikes on land. Ok wagons
brought our cotton crops to market, and
the camp fires of innnmerable ox-team-
sters burned brightly upon our then ro
mantle bluff. Locomotion was slow,
tedious, painful and costly on all high
ways, save on our rivers. A journey of
hundred miles had nothing to recon-
mend it, except an occasional romance or
the mellow " horn Of the stage
driver echoing its music among the
hills, as he saw IN the distance the
cleaning lights of the supper stand and
hastened up the hustle Of preparation
for the passengers, by mine host, and his
train of black servants. None of US can
ever forget those magnificent " floating
palaces which contrasted so strangely
and agrseably with land travel, in those
days. of which the Eclipse, the Mag
nolia, the George Collier and the Bull
Ietin were regal specimens. The splen-
did cabins, the cosy staterooms, the
royal feasts, the courteous, even fastid-
ious attendance, and the goodly com
panE and beauty and chivalry, which
were gathered there, can never be erased
from the minds of those who partiei-
pated in the gay and brilliant assemblies
of which they were the scenes. All !
we have all sadly changed places since
that festive era.
But the empire of Steam, though fer
tile in these commercial and social re-
suits. did not dispense unmixed good
upon the Mississippi Valley. 1t had its
debit as well as its credit side, in max
inc up the balance. Oh the terrific
ex plosions, to be found in the Chronicles
of the times. which sent to a death,
swift as meditation or the thoughts Of
love thousands in their bloom and |
beauty and in the very hey-dey Of social |
revelry. Oh the eonfagrations, ter
rible in their sublimity, which scorched
other thousands into crisp, before the
pilot could find a mooring Of safety on
the near shore. tantalizing the wretched
victims with the vain hope Of reaching
il. Oh the fatal collisions which
threw the agonized travellers out into the
cold. mereiless and swift-running cur
rent, in the darkness Of midnight, to
struggle for dear life and at length sink
down hopelessly amid the shrieks and
wild tumult of struggling companions
To tell of these would contain a whole
encyclopedia Of horrors. If the Sensa-
ton writer is ambitious to reach the ear
of posterity with thrilling narratives
that would make the book of Martyrs
blush for tameness and the annals Of the
Inuuisition grow dim from eclipse, let
him recite the simple story Of the Steam
boat casualties on the Mississippi. Our
romance writer's may never suffer for ca
tastrophe, whenever they choose TO con-
suit these " DER true" recitals. Who Of
us cannot name a brother, friend or a
loyer who has been swallowed up in this
all-eoYetous, remorseless vortex?
From these causes and from the grad
ual establishment of rival land routes,
by rail-, whose superiority as to time Is
acknowledged and which are claimed to
be safer, it has happened that the sceptre
of Steam has departed from the Missis-
sippi. Pilots and engineers are thrown
out of employment, and are forced to
seek other occupations, who formerly
could command the most extravagant
compensation. We yet have our paia-
tial steamers, but where are the gay
crowds In their cabins Where the
princely profits TO their owners?
When and where shall the sceptre,
that has been wrenehed from the Missis-
sippi steam packets, by an unlineal
hand, no son Of theirs succeeding, be
restored2 De HAVEN cries out
" Eureka After large experience,
long and patient toll and vigil, mature
and costly calculation, indefatigable re-
search, the application Of all modern
improvements in keel and hull and rud-
der and cabin and machinery, he claims
that he can launch a line Of packets
which shall be reasonably secure against
explosion, confagratiOn, sinking from
snags, dangers from collision, casualties
in landing and shall move with such feet
ness as to make the port Of the Crescent
City In thirty six hours after parting
lines at Cairo. Without wearying the
reader with details, it is sufficient to
mention that these miracles are to be
accomplished by water-tight compart-
ments, which may be filed with steam
or flooded with water in an instant, and
one of which may be snagged and fll,
without sacrificing the buoyancy Of the
craft; by low W-pressure engines, which
shall carry only fourteen pounds
Of steam and push the machin-
cry, 50 as to make twenty miles an hopr
BY double prcws, fore and aft, and pro
tecting the rlddeF so as to allow the
boat to land at either END, thus economic
ing time aud assuring safety in the
hitherto dangerous operation Of round
ing to-
But the improvements do not end
here. Fuel will be economical. The
cabins will consist Of series of ro-
tundas, Of the most elaborate and taste
full construction, The cuisine will be
conducted on the European or restaur-
ant plan, enabling the passenger to IN
dulge his appetite in the most costly
luxuries or to dine on frugal fare. The
machinery is to be applied to loading and
unloading the cargo, superseding the
necessity of stationary elevators.