Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1878-07-16
r,eu and NowOn the s'oion,Rc.


boating on The beautiful Potomac. WcIl, you
must know, it has always boon hazardous
business, full of ups ard downs. Bluff old
Commodore George F. Plant, who vas born
with sca-lcgs Oh, says if you doubt the truth OF
this assertion, 60 into the business and try II
yourself, but BIO sure you nave pig purse. Id
sbort, steamboatng o. the Potomac has an lntcr.
osting history, full Of interesting pages. keader'
if YOU want day Of real pleasure, take eal Oh
the Potomac 10 carly May or early u0e. Go
down far enough to get snl1t OF salt air, and
nv word for it, you will be benefited, Isomc-
| times think that VIC do not fully appreciate
these natural blessings nature has so bountful.
| " provided US with. In short. VIC neither ap
preciatc nor enjoy them as We should. Daniel
Webster used to say forty. eight hours of salt
| water air was worth sixteen ounces of q1lnlne.
uere is where the truth and the trouble comes
10. A very largo portion Of our people are
Office holders, and of course arc Office bound-
| in other words bound to their duties. They
have the disposition, but they have neither the
means nor the time to travel for health or
| pleasure, and too few, very few, wealthy men
of Washington, will spend their money 10
encouraging these home enterprises
Let US como down to solid facts NOtWth
standing our great Increase of population since
| the war, the local business On the river has
gradually, year after year, decreased, until it is
now hardly worth taking into account. Let US
| meet this question fquarcy, and II we can,
| God out the cause. OGly lcW years ago. say
| six or seven, wheat, tobacco, fruit and other
agricultural products Wcro produced IN large
quantities 10 the lower counties Of Maryland.
| These were shipped to and found ready mar
| kct 10 Baltimore. OF course tho steamboats,
| plying on the river proGtcd by this, and it en-
abled them TO make wages. The writer Of this
remembers to have seen the old Columbia, the
| Express and other steamers loaded down with
freight of the description described, and making
an honest dividend. Sad as it may seem, this
| is all matter Of tho past. Even that trade
| has passed away, and, TO tell the truth, your
lower Maryland farmer has abandoned bis
lands, productive as they are, and devoted his
| mind and his energies to cards and whiskcy.
! He has 90 longer wheat, tobacco and fruit to
ship to Baltimore.
| am sure that out Of 10 OF my Washington
readers will remember the staunch old steamer
Columbia and her genial Capt. Harper. The old
| Columbia was not steamboat Of the modern
stylc-in other words, she was not n)alipg
palace; but you could BIO made comfortable on
i
that you would not be blown up. And you
also had the satisfaction Of knowlng that, once on
board tho old Columbia, you would be amused.
There was old Pat Cavanaugh, the clerk, a
| Wexford man, Of three hundred and twenty
pounds. who could beat any man atlDat
at telling = story or playing a game OF
seven up. When the Maryland and Virginia
blossoms, with red noses and rcdlor hair, and
full Of conccit came a6oa1d, Pat CaVauaurh
was their man. They would tell Pat the moot
| wonderful stories about their oa!.cs their wheat
| crop, and their nrptc trees. Fat would listen
to their stories with great SERIOUSNESS OF man
ncr. Before vNuehsatiug . reply he wou|d in
vite them all TO join him at the bar in drink.
Now gentlemen" he wcuid say, "a Lower
Maryland farmer ard Lower Virginia farmer
are specimens Of maukiud have long snown
and always respected. Never knew Lower
lie in all my life. But, gio,Iemin, to be honest
wild yccs, Pat Cavanaugh's not the gintcman
to reconcile SIGH stories. Now, eintlemin,
Pat would say, raisiog his hand aud inviting
his friends to have another dliGk. "yc'll llstln
while tell yccs story full Gods truth. -
Here Pat would mako tue Virginia and Mary.
land blossoms stare and wonder at his story
about the size Of the moon they had in Ireland
how many sz?s bigger it was than our Yankee
moon, and how much moro light it gave to tho
world in general. Pats story OF the SIZE and
b1iIliaDcy Of the Irish noon generally sect his
audience to bed.
After a struggle OF nearly forty gears thl
old Columbia had 10 give up the ghoSt-suo
cumb TO tic want Of business. The Suo now
1uGs 10 her place, and the Captain says there is
not business enough to pay his fuel bill. Tic
Captain Saya he never know times 50 hard
but he lives in hope Of soulething better.
Only few years ago 1t was popular 10 Wash
logton to get up a party Of coDgenial spirits
20 to Baltimore Of Saturday afternoon. and
take the old Columbia which left at fvo p. M,
for 8 sail down the. beautiful Chesapeake and up
| the Potomac, home on Sunday. The sail down
the Chesapeake, with its invgorating Dreezos,
was indeed delightful. You rounded Point
| Lookout about three O'Clock in the morning,
stood across the river for Cone river and Kinsale,
and were at Piney Point sbout seven a. m, and,
after stopping at nearly all the landing places
along the river, reach Washington about oight
| o'clock, in time for good supper.
| How we'll l remember the amount OF pure en-
! ioyment we had on these trips. Genial and big
hearted old Tom Berry, Frank Clark, Joe Brad
| ley, Charley Ball and Lewis and MsrEhal Phil
lips used TO make up the mos! enjoyable Of these
parties all that is changed now. The Colum-
bis. her genial captain, and the portly colored
| walters, who knew everybody and whom every
body know ere figures to be remem6ered only
| in Our musings over the past. Rollicking old
Pat Cavansugh has gone to his long home and
no longer tells his wonderful stories of the size
of the moon to the listening travellers from lower
| Maryland and Virgins.
Lot us pass to the Norfolk line. The struggle
for it has no other name, to establish line Of
steamers between Washington ard Norfolk has
been even more eveItful. Previous to 1913 sew
eral spssmodic attempts were made to support q
steamer between this city ard Norfolk, but they
were sad failures. Indeed they were so short
lived as hardly TO be- worth recording. Ihe
boats generally were Of the very poorest kind,
and the comforts found on board were Of the
commonest kind and peculiarly Southern. In
truth, modern improvements in steambostng
had not then been introduced on tho beautiful
Potomac. Hard beds and plenty Of beg. bugs
in the staterooms, ifthey could be dignifed with
that name. ard middlings and green's, and tough
beef friec in grease, were luxuries you could
always depend on. The captain was generally
q pattern of Slim Jim, and took his cocktails
and tanzy bitters with becoming regularity !;
and if you complained at the fare, you got on
board he would tell you to 60 ashore and get
| better He was generally an airY individual, OF