The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1875-08-06
OLD TIMES on THE MISSISSIPPI.

The Z" Flush Times" OF steam boating-
A Race Between Two Crack Bonts-
slow Boats-A Fine Mathematical CAL
eulation.
In the " flush times" of steamboating,
| race between two VIGOROUSLY fleet steam
ers was an event of vast importance. 4 he
date was set for IL several weeks in adj
vance, and from that time forward, the
whole Mississippi Valley was in a state of
consuming excitement. Politics and the
weather were dropped, and people talked
only of the coming race. As the time APP
I preached. the two steamers stripped
and got ready. Every incumbrance that
added weight, or exposed resisting sur
face TO wind or water, was removed, IL the
boat could possibly do without IL. The
spars,m and sometimes even their sup
porting derricks, We're sent ashore, and no
means left TO set the boat afloat in case she
got aground. When the Eclipse and the
A. l.. Shotwell ran their great race twen-
/ ty-two years ago, il was said shat pains
were taken to s:rape the gliding off the
( fanciful device which hung between the
/ Eclipse's chimneys, and that for that one
trip the captain left of his kid gloves and
had his head shaved. But always doubt
ed these things.
! IL the boat was known to make her best
speed when drawing five anG halt feet
forward and five feet aft, she was care
/ fully loaded TO that exact figure-she
| wouldn't enter a dose of homeopathic
pills on her manifest after that. Hard
I ly any passengers were taken. because
they not only add weight but they
never will "trim boat" They always
run TO the side when there Is any thing
/ to see, whereas conscientious and
experienced steamboatman would stick to
the center of the boat and part his hair in
the middle with spirit level.
No way -frelghts and no way-passengers
Were allowed, for the racers would stop
oaly AT the largest towns. and then II
would be only ''tOuch and go.' Coal
| flats and wood flats were contracted for
beforehand, and these were kept ready
/ to hitch on the flying steamers at a mo-
ment's warning. Double crews were car
| ried, so that all work could be quickly
| done.
The chosen date being come. and all
things In readiness, the two great steam
ers back into the stream, and lie there
/ jockeying a moment. and apparently
watching each others slightest movement,
like sentient creatures; flags di coping,
the pent steam shrieking through safety
/ valves. the black smoke rolling and tum-
bling from the chimneys and darkening
all the air. People, people everywhere;
the shores. the honse-tops, the steamboats,,
the ships, are packed with them, and you
! know that the borders of the broad Mis-
| sissippi are going TO be- frnged with hui
manity thence northward twelve hundred
miles, to welcome these racers.
/ Presently tall columns of steam burst
from the 'scape-pipes of both steamers.
two guns boom good-by, two red-shirt' d
heroes mounted on capstans wave their
small flags above their massed crews on
the forecastles, two plaintive selos llnger
on the air a few waiting seconds, two
mighty choruses burst forth-and here
| they come, Brass bands bray Hail Co
| lumbia, huzza after huzZa thunders from
| the shores. and the stately creatures 20
whistling by like the wind.
Those boats will never halt a moment
between New Orleans and ST. Louis, ex-
cept for second or two at large towns, or
TO hitch thirty-cord wood-boats along
| side. You should be on board when they
take a couple of those wood-boats in tow
and turn a swarm OF men into each by
the time you have wiped your glasses and
put them on, you will be wondering what
has become OF that wood.
Two nicely matched steamers will stay
In sight of each other day after day. They
might even stay side by side. but for the
fact that pilots are not al! alike, and the
smartest pilots will win the race. II enc
OF the boats has "li-htning" pilot.
whose "parfner" is trife his inferior.
you can tell which one Is on watch by not
ing whether that boat has gained ground
or lost some during each four-hour stretch
The shrewdest pilot can delay boat II he
has not fine genius for steering. Steer
ing Is very high art. One must not keep
a rudder dragging across boats stern if
he wants TO get up the river fast.
There Is a marvellous difference in boats.
Of course. For long time was on a
boat that was so slow we used to forget
what year II was we left port In. But Of
course this was at rare intervals. Ferry
boats used to lose valuable trips because
their passengers grew old and died. wait
ing for us to get by. This was at still
rarer intervals. had the documents for
these occurrences, but through careless
ness they have been mislaid This boat.
the John j. Roe, was so slow that when
she finally sunk In Madrid Bend. Ii was
five years before the owners heard of IT,.
That was always confusing fact to me,
but 1t Is according to the record, any way.
She was dsmally slow; still, we often had
pretty exciting times racing with islands,
and RATS. and such things. One trip,
however, we did rather well. We went to
Sc. Louis In sixt en- days. But even at this
rafting gait think we changed watches
three times In Fort Adams Reach, which
Is five miles long. A "reach " is a piece
! OF straight river, and Of course the cur