The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1875-04-08
MARK Twain in the April AtIanic.T
Old Times on the MiSSiS-
Sippi.

Whosoever has done me the cOurte-
sy to read my chapters which have
preceded this may possibly wonder
that / deal so minutely with pliotlng
as a science. 1t was the prime pur-
pose of these articles and 1 am not
quite done vet. l wish to show, IN the
most patient and painstaking way,
what q wonderful science it is. Ship
channels are buoyed and lighted, and
therefore it is 3 comparatively easy
undertaking to learn to run them
clearwater rivers, with gravel Dot
toms, change their channels very grad
uaIly, and therefore one needs to learn
them but once but pilOTing becomes
another matter when you apply it to
vast streams like the Mississippi and
the Missouri, whose alluvial banks
cave and change constantly, whose
snags are always hunting up new quar-
tiers, whose sand-bars are never at
rest. whose channels are forever dodg-
ing and shirking, and whose Ohstruc-
tions must be confronted in all nights
and all weathers without the aid OF a
single lighthouse or a single buoy Tor
there is neither light nor buoy to be
found anywhere in all this three or
four thousand miles of villainous riv-
er. feel justified in enlarging upon
this great science for the reason that i
feel sure no one has ever yet written
paragraph about it who had ever pilot
ed a steamboat himself, and so had a
practical knowledge of the subject. III
the theme were hackneyed, | should
be obliged to deal gently with the read
er: but since it was wholly new, !
have felt at liberty 10 take up q con-
siderable degree of room with it.
When had learned the name and
position OF every visible feature OF the
river; when had so mastered It's
shape that could shut my eyes and
trace it from st. Louis to New Or
leans; when / had learned to read the
face of the water as one would Gull the
news from the morning paper ; and
finally, when | had trained my dull
memory to treasure up an endless ar
ray of soundings and crOssing-marks,
and kept fast hold of them, l judged
that my education was complete sc
got to fitting my cap to the side Of
nv head, and wearing tOoth-pick in
my mouth at the wheel. Mr.. B
had his eyes on these airs. One day
he said
'What is the height of that bank
yonder at Burgess ?"
ssHow can / tell, sir ? 1t is three
quarters of a mile away
Every poor eye-very poor. Take
the glass"
L took the glass. and presently said
81 can't tell. 1 suppose that tina
bank is about foot and half high
'FOot and half! That's six-foo'
bank. How high was the bank along
here last trip ?"
AT don't know, L never noticed"
"YOu didn't? Well, you must al
ways do it hereafter"
%Why ?"
Because you'll have to know gOoC
many things that it tells yOI. FOI
one thing, it tells you the stage of the
river tells you whether there's more
water or less in the river along her'
than there was last trip"
sfThe leads tell me that | rathel
thought had the advantage of hin
there.
ayes, but suppose the leads lie? Tit
bank would tell you so, and then yo'
would stir those leadsmen up DIT
There was a ten-foOt bank here las
trip, and there is only siX-f0ot Oanl
now. What does that signify ?'
''That the river is four feet highe
than it was last trip"
"Very good. Is the river rising o
falling ?"
Rising"
GrOr ~ af,,if -
'T guess 1 am right, sir. YOnder i
some drift-wcod floating down th'
stream"
ga rise starts the drift-wOOd, bu
then it keeps on floating while ate
the river is done rising. Now tn
bank will tell you about this. Wait I'll
you come to a place where it shelve
little. Now here do you Sc
this narrow belt of fine sediment
That was deposited while the waite
was higher. You see the drift-woO
begins to strand, too. The bank help
in other ways. Do you see that STUN
on the false point ?"
"Ay, ay, SIR"
"WeII, the water is just up to tn
roots of it. You must make a note o
that"
"Why ?r
because that means that there
seven feet in the chute of l03."
';But 103 is long way up the rive
YETI
hank comes in. There is water enOug
in IOS noUU, yet there may not be b
the time we get there but the ban
will keep us posted all along. 70
, don't run close Chutes on afalling ri'
er, upstream, and there are preeior
few Of them that you are allowed
r run at all down stream. There's la
Of the United States against IT. III
river may be rising by the time v
get 10 103, and in that case Wen ~
it. We are drawing-how much ~
5 ''Six feet aft-six and half 10
ward"
"WelI, you do seem to know SOM
|. thing"
"But what 1 particularly want
a know is, if 1 have got to keep up
everlasting measuring Of the banks
this river, 100 miles, month in an
month out ?n
"Of course I'i
Ny emotions were too deep f
words for while. Presently said
:. "And how about these chutes A
/, there many of them ?"