Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-05


stream. Captains Wormeey and ROBERTS
ran her three seasons with the same Halter
ing success that had rewarded them IN ali
their previous undertakings, when, having
acquired handsome fortune, and becoming
weary of the river business, they sold Inc
Pitser Miller to Captain A. 5. Hancock, VINO
was equally successful with her the succeed
ing two or three seasons. 1t was in IS4o
when Captain Wormeley retired from the
steamboat business and formed the commls-
sion firm of Harris, Wormeley & Co: Cap
tain Wormeley says that the trade OF Hatchle'
in which he had been so successful as steam
boatmau, remained with him as commission
merchant, and that nearly every season that
stream turned out between
THIRTY AND FIFTY THOUSAND BALES OF
COTTON.
The captain spoke of those as the halcyon
DAYS of Memphis commerce. The captain
very kindly enumerated the prominent land
inRs on Hatchie, beginning at the
mouth, remarking that they were
landings where commodlous cotton
sheds were built, and many OF them dong
considerable business with the adjacent coun-
try. The first of these landings was Smoke
house Bluffs, about thirty miles from the
mouth. Then cane Locust Bluffs, sixty
miles; Lakes, a few miles above Locust
Bluffs, where the Kate Miller was burned;
Green's landing, eighty miles from the
\.
splendid cotton port; William Bonds, one
hundred and twenty-five miles, also an I'M
portant cotton port Brownsville, just halt
way from the mouth to Bolivar, and next IN
Importance for cotton and for return trips OF
merchandise; next came Dupees and Este
naula, the latter a small village and quite an
| important shipping port; then came Steam
| mill ferry, also known as M hlslck land
| ing: next came Duncan's landing, which was
the entrepot to Whiteville and the rich sur
rounding country; then came Mouth OF
| Glover, the great shipping point OF the vast
| country On the north side OF Hatchle, when
| still has very limited communication with the
! uutside world; then came Cruces mill, Mos
quito and Bolivar. To the question asked
| concerning navigation of Hatchie as high as
| Pecahoutas. the captain gave an amusing
history OF the first and only trip up the
| UNEMPLOYED PORTION OF HATCHIE,
above Bolivar as high as Pocahontas, the
present limit of navigation. He stated that
| a few years before the war the people on the
upper portions of HatchIe were Glamorous TO
| have the river declared navigable for hun
dred miles above Bolivar. Before that time
| two or three industrious individuals, among
| them an eccentric character by the name OF
| Clip. Thompson, had been dong little busl-
ness above Bolivar with barges and keelboats,
rafting lumber and slaves being very CO: a.
| mon. The pressure brought to bear on the
| legislature finally resulted in the passage of
an act making Hatchie river navlgable as
| high as Pocahontas, or Simpsons bridge,
near by. Work was begun,
| THE RIVER CLEARED OF OBSTACLES,
| and on the first freshet atterward Captain
! Wormeley started up with the Kate Miller.
Captain Nat Roberts, Pitser Miller and some
other prominent people went on the voyage.
Captain Wormeley says that Captain Roberts
had charge of the engines and pantry, while
Mr.. Miller volunteered in front of the fur
! naces, the captain himself acting as command
er, pilot, chief clerk and bartender. The
latter position was not difficult to NIL, as the
| entire stock of the bar-room was contained In
quart bottle which he carried IN MS
| overcoat pocket The draw at Bolivar
was made in the presence of a large as
| semblage of the men, women and children OF
| the town and the surrounding country, the
embarkation being celebrated by the firing OF
| a cast-iron swivel which the Kate always car
ried to announce her approach to the differ
| emit landings on the river. The Kate sailed
proudly up the stream, the depth of water
| being favorable, with the exception that the
| high condition of the stream elevated the
| boats chimneys in uncomfortable and dan
gerous contact with the over-archlng forests,
| necessitating frequently the work OF sending
| a man out ahead, who had to climb the tall
tupelo gums with hatchet in hand to
CHOP AWAY THE OvERHANGING LIMBS.
| This kind of labor became so frequent as to
| seriously retard the progress OF the boat
| Another serious trouble was the short, angu-
lar bends in the river, sometimes necessitatlng
the most skilful manipulation OF the wheel,
| aided by the engines, to make the turns.
| Nothing eventful occurred on the trip, be-
| yond the excitement created along the bank
| of the river by the appearance OF a 1--we
| steamer in waters never before navigated by
| q steam-vessel. The captain has rich store
| of amusing anecdotes concerning this trip
| which we regret to say we have not room TO
| produce in this article. Suthce 1t TO say tn2t
THE KATE MILLER MADE THE TRIP
| to her destination, altogether successful as
| far as the navigation of the stream was con-
| cerned, but painfully unsuccessful as tar as
patronage had any pant to play: Captain
| Wormeley, however, did not expect prohta-
bic yield from the voyage, only satisfying
| himself and the world that what the legisla-
ture said must be done could be, and he was
the man to do It, After the general curiosity
had been gratifed, the captain announced a
day for the return voyage, and the Kate was
got in readiness, steam up and all aboard, to
return to Bolivar, when greatly to the cap
taln's chagrin, he found that the river was
| not wide enough for the Kate to turn around
in, and he was compelled TO leave Pocahontas
stern foremost, not dignlfiedly, but as Hob
sons choice.
IT WAS SLOW PROGRESS,
but the captain persevered, hoping soon to
reach wide bend or some place where the
turn could be made by placing the stern of
the boat in some little stream emptying into
the river, but it was no go, the entire return
voyage was made stern foremost. The expe-
ditIon was triumph for the Kate Miller and
her officers as a marine feat, but Captain
Wormeley says that he don't believe it could
ever be made financial success. He thinks
that
BOLIVAR Is THE HEAD OF NAVIGATION
on Hatchie river. and it would be folly to try
to make steam boating successful above there.
We asked Captain Wormeley if he could re-
call the names of any other boats than his
own that piled IN Hatchie river, to which he
replied that there were a number of others,
most OF them running at the same time his
boats were, and he failed to remember single
boat that did not make money in the stream.
Among those he enumerated were the Harry
| Bluff, Captain Smith; John 81. Bills, Captain
Sisson; Z. P. M'Neal, Captain Frisbee, jr.
Naomi, Captain Lanier; Big HatchIe, the
largest ever run In the river, carving nearly
three thousand bales of cotton, Captain FRS
bee, ST.; HatchIe Planter, Captain Frank
Hicks; Joan of Are, Captain bearing; Bluff
City, Captain Frank Hicks; Grampus, Captain
number Of others, the names of which had
| slipped his memory. AS to
TIE FUTURE PROSPECTS IN HATCHIE,
Captain WOrmeley is perfectly sanguine that
| business should be better now tAan it Was in
those days, assigning as his reasons for that
opinion that the country is now more thickly
settled, more extensive farms have been put
in cultivation in close proximity to the stream,
and the slave population had now become
citizens, were generally thrifty, and are the
best patrons of steamboats,, because they can
! accompany their produce to market comfort
ably realize the best prices, and return home
on the boat at half, yea, one-fourth, the
expense it will require to get the produce to
market in any other way. Captain Wormeley
states that he remembers of
But ONE AUTHORIZATION
ever made for the Improvement of Hatchie
river, and that was mostly consumed in clear
ing away the overarehing forests Snags are
of rare occurrence, and logs never cucumber
the channel of the river, because the banks
are so low that when freshet coules down
1t sweeps such accumulatlons out into the
! lOwlapds, and the channel of the river is left