The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-06-24
RIVER RECOLLECTIONS.
The Changes of "A Quarter of a Century I'm
Western Navigation.

: Western Navigation.
S The boat which had carried Charles
| Dickens and other travellers scarce less
5 distinguished, was still in existence when
e n, p. Willis, who had steamed down the
7 great I" Inland Sea" to New Orleans
wrote back to his paper in the East as
follows:
sin story, and in common parlance, the
/ boatmen of the Mississippi occupy some
: what the position of the Bedouin Arabs OF
the East-though with home three thou
: sand miles long, and with life which COM
pels them to combine the accomplishments
of the sailor, the whaler, the backwoods-
man and the Yankee, they are vastly su-
periOr to those mere mounted loafers OF
the desert. Probably no avocation in the
world so taxes every kind of bodily dex-
terity, so disciplines the courage, so calls
upon the sharpness of the wits. Their
constitutions are not only subjected to the
changes of all climates, but their inter-
course is with the Inhabitants of all lati-
tudes. They vibrate between the icicle
and the sugar cane, familiariZed on the
wav with every variety of produce, of soil,
of merchandise, and of character. They
eat any thing, toll anyhow, sleep any,
where The particular neighborhood TO
which any of them is responsible Of char
aeter-the spot in the wilderness where
his chimney smokes and his wife waits for
him-are trifles lost in the vastness of his
range. His credit is the length of his visi-
BILE purse; his reputation the length OF his
visible shadow. From the overlapping
reciprocities and influences that constrain
other men, he is completely isolated. His
strength is in what he can show, what he
can do, what he has got, and what he is
for a moment. He depends wholly and
habitually on himself"
| For half century our rivers were the
only means of intercommunicatiOn be-
| tween the different sections of the country.
Civilization scattered itself sparsely along
| their banks, and patiently awaited the ar
| rival of the steamer for the mails and in
| telligence FROM abroad. Did the boys
want pennies to purchase gingerbread?
| Then watch for the coming boat with
their apple-baskets, or rush on board as
she touched the bank and get trunk to
carry to the tavern. There was no otner
way to make it. Every body was more or
less mixed up with navigation. If they
didn't own in boats, keep whartboats, or
taverns, hey,worked for somebody who
did. 1illers of the soil after gathering
their crops would float them south in flat
boats and coast along down the river until
their products were disposed OF, then take
passage for home with their bags of coin
often packed among pots and kettles In
| fiOur-barrels.
The first steamboat was a slow coach.
Had she left New Orleans for st. Louis at
the commencement of the TiltOn and
Beecher trial, she would hardly have
made it by the time the case was given to
the jury. She was six hours, thirty min
utes and six days, going to NateheZ, dis
tance of 300 miles. Fulton and Livingston
held patent then which gave them the
exclusive right to navigate the Mississippi
and Ohio rivers. The patent, however.
was contested by the courts and pro-
nOunced unconstitutional. 1t was during
the existence of the famous Atlantic line
that a number of interested parties visited
New York and solicited Vanderbilt
to take stock in the company.
The old financier heard them through
and then said: 81 have no doubt
that all you say is true, gentlemen-thatl
you Eave fine line of steamers and all
that, but you haven't got control of the
track" The majority of the ''forty-niners"
and that exodus which poured in upon
the Pacific coast for years after the dis
covery of gold in California went by the
way of the Missouri River. 1t stands on
record that thirty-seven steamers have left
striking contrast with this is the present
condition of things, especially on the Mis-
souri,. Three Or four packets, managed
with the most rigid economy, now bare
ly pick up living in that stream, carry
ing cheap freights, and scarcely any pas
sengers.
Then the Illinois was a lucrative field
of enterprise and supported fine line of
boats, but they in turn were wiped out.
From st. Louis south most of the heavy
freights still go by river, as railroads have
not thus far been able to compete for them
except during the winter when the ice in
terferes and prices go above 40 cents per
cwt On the Ohio the lines of mail boats,
which once carried Presidents on their way
to the White House, have given place to a
score or two Of dingy, uncouth towboats,
which feel their DrecariOus ways through
innumerable bridges.
The age of water has been superseded
by the age of iron. The twenty thousand
miles of rivers have been called, andraised
as much more by swifter and more pune
tual means of transit. And yet our rivers
have scarcely entered upon their destiny.
Their mission is not completed, but
changed. With the liberal policy of i'm
provement recently adopted by the Gov
ernment, and the introduction of light
houses and other conveDiences, navigation
will become better and more safe, and who
knows but what, when Mr.. Eads has OPEN
ed the Sphinx-like mouth of our slumber-
ing Mississippi, she may not call back that
commerce which left her a quarter of a
century ago?
Eastern capital and Eastern railroads
have done much to bring about this decay
and stagnation. The time was when the
entire products of the valley found but
one outlet to either eastern or foreign |
markets. Every thing followed the drift |
of water and flowed southwark. Now |
every thing follows the drift OF monopo-
lists and rushes eastward. Coffee which |
was once leading article in up freights |
has disappeared from our steamboat mani |
tests and is sent us by the Green and other |
lines, which reach from the east to collect
double tribute on every thing we purchase |
or produce.
Our rivers as | remember them twenty |
five years ago, when such men as Sam |
Houston of Texas, Henry Clay and Daniel
Webster were to be found amongst the
passengers, were far different from what
they are now. The palace car was the
last hair that broke the camel's back.
In the capacity of cabin boy have stood
behind the chair of Henry Clay and seen
MIN eat an orange, u ItdC WHICH, IL II sdlu
he could perform with grace never
equaled. have carried cup of coffee to
Governor HoustOn's room and seen him
drink it while lying in bed, having been
up reading all the night previous, and
when he thanked me and handed me the |
cup withdrew, thinking him the greatest
man that ever lived.
| always had an admiration for great |
men; had then read Franklin's essays,
and was tolerably well posted in history,
though | had never learned even the al
phabet at school. One evening was sit
ting in the cabin of the boat reading
volume Of 'DAubigne's History of the
Reformation when Houston, who was
walking back and forth stopped, and look
ing at the title Of the work said, at the
same time placing his hand gently upon
my head, "my son keep on reading s1cn
books, they viii make man OF you. !
am sorry to say that the cid PATRIOTS
prophecy has rot yet been fulfilled TO any
gre { exient.ZSt. Louis Times.
NVrrrx-a Tap,6on laNEvar WiShps Tn call Il