Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-01-06
AMONG THE BRoADHoREs.
Early and Present Character - The
Boats now Here, What they Brought
81 and from Whence they Game,
Etc., Etc.

avs ~ SaAhuS WucFeln men nav
changed their habits, customs and fanoie
less than have the Mississippi river fiat
boat hand. From the early days Of rive
navigation these arks were the primr
conveyanees Of the Western rivers
Travellers glided with the current down
the Ohio and Mississippi in f~at-bottomeC
boats or "broadhorns,p when Cincinnati
was the Queen City Of the West tn,
Paris Of America" if you like, was
mere group Of log cabins, and when tn,
present b%ustling city Of Louisville wa.
designated by a solitary house. There Il
a spirit Of romance connected with theil
career now, just as there was when Mix,
Fink loated down the Ohio with cannon
mounted on the decks of hiscraft and riff,
PORTFOLIOS along their sides, as q means O
defense against Murrell's pirates or The
then dreaded red man of the forest. They
still carry their steam in a two gallon
stone jug the same as they did when
no steamboats, piled the waters, and they
are now the came Independent, open
handed and generous fellows that they
have always been. When the river shores
were lined with lofty forest trees; when
settlements" were few and far between
when all kinds of wild animals abounded
and were heard at all hours rushing
through thiekets and ~csne-brakes and
plashing the water, or bear and dear
were seen to swim the river al
most in droves, to the present time the
broadhorn navigator has apparently re-
tanned the same characteristics, and there
is no alteration inhim.
But it is not with the past that this ar
ticle is to deal. Instead Of romance, stern
reality is the object, and with this by way
of prelude, the flatboat interest of the pre-
sent will be pictured.
There are now lying in the harbor of
Memphis twenty-five pr~oduceloaded fat
boats. They came mainly from the Ohio,
some from the vicinity of Wheeling, in
West Virginia, but the larger number
from points below Cincinnati. In the ag-
gregate they contain about 10000 barrels
of potatoes, perhaps 5000 barrels Of apples,
800 tons of hay; also on board of u mum
Der are cabbage, meats, lime, friedrich,
pottery tinware and a dozen other arti-
cles of prime necessity to our people and
the inhabitants along the river farther
south.
Several of the boats arrived within the
past week, came into port by the skin of
their teeth, as it were, just ahead of the
ice, and thus were saved from being
wrecked. As far as can be a-scertained,
all that left Cairo before the ice began to
float have arrived here in safety. Acct
dents have been very few SO far this
season, and especially below Cairo. The
only boat reported totally lost was that of
w. Mcfarland, from Elizabethtown. Hi
nois, sunk two weeks ago at B~lackhawk
point, and the cargo was insured in an Of
fee at New Orleans; very little of value
saved from the wreck.
The following is a complete list of the
fatboats with cargoes now in port, or at
least as accurate a one as can be collected F.:
Fink & Greenwall, from Uniontown,
Kentucky, arrived last week with 20C1
bushels Of peach blow potatoes in bulk.
Dan Lopp & 0'Connor, arrived a few
days ago with 500 barrels of lime and 800.
barrels Of seed potatoes from Harrison.
county, Indiana. The boat goes south in.
few days.
Call " Goncher arrived a few days since
with four hundred barrels potatoes, four
hundred barrels apples, some oats and
sundries from Newport, upper Ohio; will
go south after the ice breaks up.
Allen q Conrad, from Leavenworth,
Indiana, arrived last week with eight
hundred barrels peachblow potatoes.
Cramer 81 Weber, from Rockport, In
diana, arrived a few days since with two
thousand barrels mixed potatoes, and are.
mere.
Those in port for some time are as fol-
lows: Peckenpaugh & Emmick, here
two weeks, from Alton, Ind, with hay
have yet one hundred tons on hand.
Powell's boat, four weeks here from
North's Landing, Ind, with 300 barrels
potatoes.
Roberts Bros, two weeks here from
Alton, Ind, have 60 tons Of hay and 300
barrels Peachblow and Peerless potatoes.
Clements boat, from Weston, Ky, three
weeks here, with 1900 barrels Peachblow
and Jackson white potatoes.
Jake banner, six weeks here from
B~rooksburg, with 100 barrels Early Rose
and ether seed potatoes.
Rays boat, two weeks here, with 800.
potatoes; also cabbage and sun
dries.
Pickens boat, six weeks here, with 800
potatoes, seed varieties; also cab.
bage and sundries.
Trotters three boats, from below Louis
vile, with 5000 barrels seed potatoes.
Hamilton & McCullum's boat, from be-
low Louisville, with 400 barrels Peach.
blow potatoes.
Hays d sherman's boat, six weeks here.
with 400 barrels seed potatoes.
Miller Il Brandenburg's six weeks here,
1900 barrels seed potatoes.
Bennett Bros boat, four weeks here,
with 200 barrels seed potatoes.
A.1J. Stewards boat, from Eswburg,
Ohio, four weeks here, with 800 bar
rels apples.
Lindsay apple boat, 4 weeks here from
MoundsyiIlo, West Va, upper Ohio, had
1900 barrels or more.
John Varley's boat, four weeks here