The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-08-03
Especial Correspondence of the Journal

Especial Correspondence of the Journa1.l
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.,, July %, 1872.
EDITOR OF THE OPELOUsAs JOURNAL.
/ had often vowed iii my secret soul that
nothing would induce me to travel on
one Of the great unwieldy carlyansaries
of boats which traverse the Mississippi,
and yet in my own despite I found my
self on the Richmond booked for St.
Louis.
The journey began under u~nfavOrable
auspices. just before casting off from
the wharf at New Orleans, a sudden
wind storm came up which broke the
Richmond from her mO0rings, and drove
her headlong into the Potomac, damag-
ing the lattersteamer severely. In right
ing herself she backed into the Ouachita
Belle threw general confusion among
the passengers and machinery of the
luck1ess Belle. An angry bull ina china
shop could not have aroused more con-
s%ternatiOn than this clumsy steam mon
ster of ours running Il muck among
the frazier craft which lay near her.
Until we reached Natchez matters
went on pretty smoothly. There were
Il number of passengers of both sexes,
but the greater proportion were ladies,
and at least thirty Of the latter travel
ing without escorts, and therefore in q
chronic state Of panic. There seemed
curity, and three who had just returned
from the overland route from San Fran
cisco, been attacked by Indians, and
gone through all kinds OfmOving perils,
vowed they had never felt less at ease
than on the Richmond. Every one knows
how these panics spread, and so without
well knowing why, there seemed a uni
versal belief in some impending calam-
ity. PerllaDsi it was from this cause, that
on the thru day of our journey when in
my state-rOom my attention was arrested
by a strange grating, tumultUOus move
ment in the wheel house. I thought it
was time to get away from such close
proximity to those queer noises, but |
had hardly reached my State-rOOm door
when q terrible crash which seemed to
rend the boat in two threw me into the
cabin, and only in time to escape the
heavy beams and plank which were pro-
iected into the state-rOOm.
The confusion was terrible. No one
knew what was the matter. "She's run
on a snag and sinking" "She's bursth her
boiler "She's smashed up against the
bank,n were some of the cries. Loud
above the din rose the voice of a stout
old mulatress-"Oh Lord jest land me,
l jest axes dat"
I think there were more than n of
us who "jest axed dat" at that particu-
lar moment, but after the confusion had
subsidized we found that the accident re-
solved itself into the bursting of one of
the wheels Which had torn down the
wheel house on the right, and a portion
of the cabin. Fortunately no one was
injured, but the thirty unprotected fe-
males were at efervescent heat. They
didn't faint, they didn't weep, but they
sat grim andpale with children Or sateh-
els clasped tightly in their arms, with a
comes to the strongest minded of the sis
terh0Od when they find themselves sans
male help in the hour of danger.
| have been fully cOnfrmedinm my pre-
viOus ideas of the want of comfortin the
very large packets. There is a deal of
| show, but little comfort. AS for the fare
it is decidedly inferior to our little Cour-
tableau boats, both in quality and cook
cry. No wine is found on the dinner
| table, and I understood that there was
none on board for those who wish to or
der it.
We crawIed on slowly with one wheel
at the rate of four or five miles an hour,
I noticed no place which deserves men
ton until we reached Port Girardeau,
the first settlement in Missouri, anteda-
ting St, Louis. til S charmingly situated
on q high picturesque bluff, contains a
Jesuit college in the midst of handsome
grounds, a convent, and q courthouse.
noticeable for it's terraces which by gra-
ded steps reach the river street. The
marble quarries back of this town fur
nished the materials for our Louisiana
State House in Baton Rouge,
After leaving Port Girardeau COM
menced the remarkable range of lime
stone rocks which with few Interruptions
continue to st. Louis. Nothing can be
more varied andfantastic than the forms
these rocks assume. Turretted towers,
long batt1emented walls-Grev old cas-
ties hoary with age, gigantic Gothic
chape1s, and at intervals flat masses of
stone which seem from heirsOubriquets
TO be given over to the Evil one. they
bear the names Of "Devirs tea table, .
Devils ball room," etc.
"Tower Rock is a grey mass of stone
of great height cut off from the main
land standing. alone in the midst of the
waste of waters, with the sullen waves
Of the Mississippi fretting against its
base. There is q project on foot to build
a monument to Robert Fulton, on this
rock, but the Observation-Disclosures
itself into tangible dollars and cents. g.
On the morning of the tenth day of
our tedious journey we neared st. Louis,
or C~arondelet its lower portion. The
first view Of the city is disappointing.
1t unrOl1s rs You pass on in a straight
line which gives you little or no idea of
it's size and it is only after comprising
ten or twelve miles, and see before Won
the city still stretching farther that you
begin to realize its magnitude.
St. Louis was settled in the December
of 1853 by q company of French voy-
ayers whose leader was Pierre Laclede.
The site was named st. Louis in honorof
fhe French King Louis XIV. From d
barren waste inhabited by Indians and
Missouri boatmen, st. Louis h~assteadily
advanced to an estimated valuation OF
$217, 3355,0 ESQ (not including church prop
erty which pays taxes) OF taxable prop
erfy, and a population of 812,963.@ From
the Pacific railroad which unites her to
California a food OF riches is pouring
into her lap. -
NY stay in the city was too limited to
enable me to take O than birds eve
view of it, though I intend to give
week to it's exploration Onmy homeward
route.
Carl Schurz was to speak the evening
I left and I was more than half inclined
to stop and hear him. Missouri rises en-
n1dsse for Greeley. there is Juror of ex-
element over political matters and the
"SOuth,S the down cast, oppressed
South is a strong battle cry for the Re.
formers. | thought it was nighttime the
poor South should meet at least the re,
eognition OF a common humanity from
her Whi1om enemies.
The great huttresses of the bridge
Il rrhsnh L 4n-rnnrI LIZ ATsnnsrnsrn. O. G.