Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-06-03

From the Memphis Appeal, May II.
There is no incident of the remote past
more interesting to the people of this city
than that which the mounds of Fort Picker.
| ing suggest with VAGUE men ories of De
| Soto and his armed followers. Here they
are said to have executed a treaty of peace
with the Indians, and traces of De Soto's
march are alleged to be found north of the
city, in the vicinity of Fort Pillow. OF tha,
tradition we will tell hereafter. Very Ger.
tainly, he was the first white man who be.
held the Mississippi, and, very certainly, il
we may accept as the true story written by
priest who accompanied him, Dc Soto's
body was committed to tie keeping Of the
| great river which has never ceased to chant
a sad requiun over his last resting place.
| The recital that follows has direct refer
ence to these facts, and therefore is well
calculated to excite keen interest among
those who delight in recurring to events Of
the oden time.
Some time ago we recited facts incident
to the avocato,s of Capt. John Cowden,
who devotes himself to the task of dragging
up wrecked vessels from fathomab!e abyss
es along the Mississippi. He has studied
the peculiarities and wonders of the mighty
river as none have done before. He travels
up and down the inland sea, and ascends
its tributaries and studies the shores and
beds Of streams, above and beneath the
water. His diving bell boat is one of the
curiosities of naval architecture, the like of
which was never known before. 1t consists
of two fiat boats, wholly unlike one another.
connected by heavy beams, from which the
diving bell is suspended. With this rude
machinery Capt. John Cowden makes his
endless voyages, and with this he dragged
up, not long ago, from the bottom of the
Arkansas, locomotive and train Of cars,
now running from Little Rock in the direc-
ton of Fort Smith. We stated that Capt.
Cowden was cognizant of facts which might
7 lead to the recovery of vast wealth resting
beneath islands everywhere along the course
of the mighty river. When steamer sinks
and is anchored at the bottom of the river
an island is made by depositions of sand
made by the broken current. Higher and
higher, and broader and broader, each
month and year becomes the cumuas that
constitutes the grave of the steamer, until it
lifts its summit above the rivers surface.
Then it is kissed by the sunbeams and lux
uriant vegetation, rich as blessings that
nature lavishes on this matchless valley,
crowns it with garlands of verdure. Time
rolls by, noislessly, unmurmuringly, unlike
the heaving, boisterous billows Of the mighty
river. Trees spring up and grow with a
rapidity known not elsewhere in the world.
There are countless forest-crowned islands
~ IN v,lo Coz hove
related. Beneath one of these rests a
steamer 1--WE are not permitted to give its
name) on which there are 500 barrels Of
brandy and at least 800 of whisky. With
in Is years, the chimneys of this boat,
wrecked in 1874, still protruded above the
surface of the island formed about them.
Capt. Cowden has often marked the spot,
and now that he has somewhat recovered
from shocks given his fortune by war, he
proposes to invade the great rum-hole of the
dwellers at the bottom of the Mississippi. II
he enters this "whisky chute" in safety, he
will come up one of the richest, as most
come out of the other the poorest, gentle
man in Memphis. Another steamer, the
Tennessee, was sunk about 30 years ago,
having $4,000 in gold in an iron safe on
board. She rests beneath another island
which Cowden has often traversed For
several weeks past Capt. Cowden has been
making a survey Of localities which may
contain uncounted wealth. He has exam
ined islands and the river shores about the
mouth of the Arkansas, where he knows
that valuable wrecks may be discovered.
While inspecting the water line along the
eastern shcre last Wednesday week he dis
covered the bow Of n small COZ per fastened
vessel protruding into the river. Having
no tools, and traversing the river in a mar
row dugout," he could do no more than
make a critical examination of the boat and
of the place where it was discovered. He
observed that trees from five to seven feet
in diameter grew Immediately above the
buried boat, and that the roots of these gi-
gantic expresses were twined about the an
cicnt vessel. When boats sink in some To-
calities the current drives or lifts them up
an inclined plane and violent flood some.
times leaves them above the rivers surface
on an island or sandbar. 1t is, however,
as above stated, generally true that islands
are created by sunken vessels heavily load
ed and having iron machinery. The semi.
circular shape of this boat, found last We'd
ncsday by Capt. Cowden; its high bow its
dimensions, twice as great as those of q
modern yawl; its copper fastening; the
length of time it has rested ber cath the s, il
and water, as shown by the mighty trees
that stand above it; these are facts which
have excited Capt. Cowden's wonder to the
last degree. Who had such vessels on the
Mississippi before those great trees sprang
into existence? Three hundred years ago
De Sotos body. at midnight, was placed in
a vessel, Spanish built vessel (?) and sunk
in the midst of the river. His soldiers fear
ed that their Indian enemies would assa,l
them if it was known that their cheftain
was no more. De Soto, SO the old Spanish
chronicer, whose story is reproduced by IT.
wing, tells US, died near the mouth of the
Arkansas, and here Capt. Cowden discover.
ed the boat which excited all these sur
misses. There is more than versimilitude