The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-09-21
The YellOWstOne-An Open Letter TO
RiYermeD.

THE YELLOWSTONE RIVER, MOUTH
OF POWDER, August 20.-The fortunes
of war have thrown an old riverman
away up here as special correspondent
of the Chicago Trt5atae; and, antici-
pating an early day when the Yellow
stone River will become an additional
inland thOroughfare, he forwards the
following memoranda for the benefit of
steambOatmen with venturesome ma
decentralization who are fond of
hunting and fishing, and who are not
afraid of losing their scalps:
This river is, in every particular, the
most remarkable stream on the Ameri-
can Continent. Ispeak whereof | know
from many years experience on the
Ohio and Mississippi and their tributa
ries, and from actual observations on
this stream. Except when swollen by
summer rains, it is as clear as the Cum
berland; it has as rapid q current as
the Upper Missouri; it has the clearly
defined banks, gravel beds and bars OF
the Tennessee; the steady, unchangiug
channel of the Red; and is as handsome
a stream as ever flowed. Receiving its
supply from the winters snowfall in
the BIG Horn, Wolf, Powder and small
er ranges of mountains, it attains its
maximum depth in Juue, at q
time when other Western naviga-
BILE streams are generally at their
lowest stages; and the regularity and
slowness with which the snow dissolves
serves to keep steady flow until Au-
gust. The June freshet usually brings
good deal of sand, decomposed veg
etable matter, and alkali-dust from the
ravines and bad lands, which slightly
fill up the channels; but, as the river
recedes and false channels close up,
the rapidity of the current soon cuts
away all distractions, and the channel
becomes clearly defined. Consequent
ly, the depth of water in the main
channel is often as great in August as
in June-being so this year, when three
and four feet are marked on the rapids.
The currents run regularly from foot
of bend to point-shadow-tha is, the
crossings are natural, and all pilot
has to do is to locate middle bars, false
points, and rocks. There are no snags
in the Yellowstone, and the only haz-
ardOus instructions are reefs of rocks
which sometimes landslide has
thrown out into bend. Middle bars
and islands occur at frequent intervals :;
but a good pilot can always tell where
the draught of water is. OF course
there are no wood-yards on the river,
but wooding-placeS are never out of
of reach. The points and islands are
generally skirted with fine timber,
drifts, deadened, and Standing. A
crew will wood-up in forty minutes out
twelve hours, which is about as well as
some wood-yards on the Cumberland
and Tennessee can offer.
From Buford to Eastern Montana, the
route via the Yellowstone is, and will
continue to be, the Shortest and most
accessible one. Tne Ear West'' has
demonstrated this season that the yell
lowstone is nayigable later than the
Upper Missouri. From Pi'yor's Greek
to the mouth, there can not beless than
twenty-fOur inches, and the shoal places
are only two or three in distance of
46l miles. There are dozen different
rapids on the Yellowstone; but a clear
cut channel of fifty feet wide aud four
and five feet deep is always found. To
Fort Ellis, Bozeman, and the fur and
ore producing regions of Montana, the
Yellowstone is the best route. This
season the Far West, Carroll, Joseph
inc, and Z. H. Durfee have been run
ming on the Yellowstone; and, although
each boat has carried full tonnage Qn
the dog-days of Augus9, | have yet to
hear of either boat wetting a spar. In
fact, with ordinary care and dis, retion,
a boat need never get aground from
the opening to the close of navigation.
Capt. Grant Marsh has run the Far
West night and day on the Upper Vel
lowstone, and he, and Campbell and
Thompson, pilots, say it is the easiest
and best stream to navigate they ever