The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-03-01
AN OCTOGENARIAN SEES HIS FIRST
LOCOMOTIVE.
Il In old a n d hi New.

|
Abraham Pipes, OF Jackson parish,
migrated to the Ouachita Valley. In
January, 1872, he, together with Danl
Co1vin and n Mr.. Sims, all having f,,nl-
lilies, landed at Monroe. They came
by river on a l<eelboat, no steamboats,
having ever disturbed the smooth wa
tiers of the Ouachita ut that day. Mon
roe was then known as the Post of
| Ouachita, and could even then boast of
three stores, one kept by the father Of
Gen. Pargoud, another by Lindeman
| and the third by some one else. Trcn-
| twenty five years afterwards. Our
friend Maj. Bry, now something more
| than youth, was then two years Of
age, baby babbling French. His
father, Judge Bry, was hewing
out his fortune on his place just below
| thoroughly democratic as to go bare
footed whenever he felt inclined. In
that year, Qs1s,) Louisiana became
State Of the Union, Claiborne was
elected Governor, war was declared
with Great Britain, and the first steam
boat, which Father Pipes saw, landed
at New Orleans. The round trip to
New Orleans and back to Monroe re-
quired six weeks. The trade at Mon
roe consisted in the exchange of coffee,
powder, lead, &C., for deer and bear
hides, skins Of beaver and otter, bear
oil, and cotton cloth. Tho latter article
was eagerly bought by the merchants,
Of the country ladies, at one dollar a
yard. Just think of that young misses
when you are spending your grand
mothers earnings!
Father Pipes settled three miles from
the site Of the present village Of Downs
vile, and has ever since lived within
twenty miles Of the place he first settled.
He enlisted in the war Of 1912, and is
now drawing his pension regularly,
which with his earnings as book
agent gives him a tolerably fair living.
He is eighty-four years Of age, cam
vases on horseback a considerable ter
ritory and bids fair to live several years
yet. He is a superannuated minister in
the Methodist church, but frequently
goes into the pulpit and breaches the
word of his Lord and Master, never
without close attention and certain
effect.
This pious and venerable pioneer
came to Monroe last week on q curious
mission. He had seen this country
changed from a wilderness to a country
Of plantations, towns, churches, school
houses and highways. He had seen
almost two generations grow up and
pass away. Many and various and
wonderful, indeed, were the changes
he had personally seen transpirc. The
old keel boats had gone, and he had on
the ticctcst packets sped by the same
hills and breaks he had crcpt by on his
keel over fifty years before grateful
even that he was moving so rapidly.
But there was ono vehicle of tho
many mighty things wrought out ny
inventive genius Father Pipes had
never laid his Old eyes on, and he came
to Monroe, not being f,r distant, to see
that curiosity before he was called to
sleep with his fathers. Tho object Of
his search and curiosity was a lOcomo-
tive and cars.
1t afforded the writer more real salts
faction than comes very often in the
| busy hours OF bustling life to accompa-
ny Father Pipes to the depot and be-
| come his ciccrone. 70 describe what
are the feelings Of a man Of years who
| first stands in view of Il locomotive
| with steam up, itself an object that only
itself can describe, is Il task not to be
attempted. Father Pipes, a man Of no
mean colloquial powers, stood mute in
| wonder and admiration of the beauti-
| full mechanism and life-Iikc engine of
power before him. "NNell! wellr' he
calculated as he gazed ut the engine
and long train of cars standing on the
track, and then, overpowered with
thought, he lapsed into "a dead silence.
But the vigor of his limbs seemed
partly to return, and he stood intently
scanning tho machinery, almost forget