The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1880-09-14

FLATBOAT DAYS.

| FLATBOAT DAYS.
Pioneer Experiences on the Ohio
| and Mississippi.
Indianapolis Journal
The brave old warrior, General Viii.
liam o Butler, who recently died at the
advanced age of eighty seven, was some
thing more than soldier. He was a
poet, and had at times given undoubted
evidence of possessing the divine affla-
tus. His poem commencing:
boatman, wind that horn again,
For never did the listening air
Upon its lambent bosom bear
So wild, SO soft, so sweet strain,
will long hold its place among the gems
lof American poetry But the days
when the only means of transportation
lon sasEs kresk Western sisers. .swas the
Ifatboat have passed away. 1t may al
most be- said to be thing of the past,
and hence the fine flavor of General
Buffers poem is lost in great degree
to generation who only know of it by
tradition.
A voyage from Pittsburg to New Or
leans by flatboat was an enterprise once
Of greater peril than tour around the
world is now. 1t was certain to be full
of adventure. 1t required months for
its accomplishment. A shot from the
shore by some Indian or reckless des-
perado might terminate abruptly, the
voyage and the lives of the navigators
in blood A moments neglect of the
steersman might wreck the unshapcly
craft and all the hopes of its owners,
hundreds of miles away from home, and
in an inhospitable Wilderness There
was danger everywhere-in the currents,
eddies, whirlpools, bayous and snags of
the tortuous Father of Waters but there
was no less danger from the half civili-
zed dwellers on the banks. The out
lawed criminals and the desperate adven-
turers from civilization skulked about
the shores or prowlcd with light canoes
among the bayous and creeks, watching
fer chances to plumber, even if murder
was necessary to aid them. A fstboat
voyage down the great rivers was peril
GUS enough from natural causes, even if
mans inhumanity to man had not in
creased the peril In those days the
Government had not thought of snag-
boats, and the Mississippi was full Of
half hidden dangers. The current was
constantly changing 1t was easy to be
deceived into an old channel from which
there was no return. Bayous were often
waterv uls-desac-leading no.
where hut TO ruin. The organized river
pirates and wreckers were always on the
lookout for nnwary voyagers, SO that a
slight mishap generally ended in COM.
plete disaster, If, under such circum-
stances, the 1atboatman reached his dis
tant home, footsore and weary, but pen
niIcss, months after leaving it, be was
lucky.
In the early days of fa,boating, safe
return. even when The venture had not
proved financially profitable. was grand
event, and the occasion of tumulluous
joy. The business bred a special class,
who sought it for its adventures and
dangers as much as for its profits. The
river pirates met in the foatboalmen OF
that early day class ready, eager and
willing for the iray-a class which, like
the Isncheros of the plains, accounted q
trip tame and spiri,less if unattended
with danger. They were rough and
ready, careless and care free Dreamily
floating down the Ohio, they whiled
away with song and dance the lazy
hours. The boatman's horn walked the
echoes from the distant hills more mu-
sical than steamboat whistle or that ear
distrac,ing horror, the calliope 1t was
a romantic life beflling the grand seen
cry and rude time. Ninety days on
sic WY moving f,tboat, the scenery con-
stantly changing but ever wild and beau
tiful, was thing never to be forgotten.
The spice of danger in it only gave 1t
znst An occasional adventure with
river sharks only relieved monolony and
added interest.
1t is difficult for one looking on the
OuIO river w TedIlZ6 tudt OuC6 ualUUdtSs
broadhorns, the queerest craft that ever
foated, once did all the transportation
business from its headwater to New Or
leans A fa;boat, scarce moving, with
rude arrangements for cooking on deck,
almost under the water, with long oars
awkwardly attached to the sides, is
type of lis time almost as grotesque and
odd as the Viking ship recently dug up
in Norway Perhaps one day it will ex-
cite as much arcb@ illogical wonder, for
it already recalls time we fail to I'M
derstand-a condition of society and of
our country we can scarcely appreciate.
The leisure loving, deliberate, slow NOV
ing fatboat was fast enough for its day
and people. There was luck in its leis
ure. But the fatboat has passed away
and the boatman never will wind his
morn again. He sleeps as soundly as
the warrior poet, and bis ear is as dead
to the sad, sweet music of the boatman's
horn.