The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-12-23
Ghe GatelLiqsarer.
asorIn, sTIlI OF InE WINc.

ANAW SASAAhAfsl -
Special Correspondents Of the 1ntSuissnssr.
I have been loafng around here 70
some days trying to load up sufficiently Il
go of, and these in squibs shall, this time
consider variety OF subjects briefly.
New Orleans is the metropolis OF tn
South, and will be for years to come
Some people, however, believe that Pen
secola will some day take the lead.
doubt it-in fact don't believe 1t. Mex
to New York this Is the busiest, mos
busting, goahesd town have yet struck
and have been to Chicago, too. Their
Is more thrift here to the size Of the toWI
and the number OF people than know o
anyv here. It is true that this Is the busi
est season they have here, on account o
the shipping OF cotton. The lhvee fo
three or four miles up and down the rivel
Is crowded with that greatest OF Southern
products-cotton.
To-day / tried to count the steam boats
sailing vessels, and ocean steamers lying
along the wharf; but gave it up. 1t was
too big q job. And every one OF them was
either loading or unloading freight.
This ia perfect heaven Of Joy and peace
for the colored brother. Great goodness!
they are thicker on the levies than mos
quitoes on frog pond. But they all seem
to be busy. / have yet observed but few
Ioaiers among them; they perform most oil
the manual labor for the entire South. The
Caucasian is too busy talking politics,
drinking "bug juice" and smoking ciGara
10 soil his hands at physical toll.
The ]. NJ. White Is the finest steamer
that ever fosted on Western or South.
ern river. went on board Of her to-day;
and she comes as near being q floating
palace as any steamer ever looked upon
south Of the Hudson. She Is 800 feet long;
has 10 steel boilers; cylinders 81 inches in
diameter with II foot stroke; has 200
berths; will accommodate 800 passengers;
is 2,027 tons burthen ;psys TO her crew on
average Of $500 week, and runs %
miles an hour up stream. Her trade Is on
the lower Mississippi.
New Orleans has population OF 250, 900,
and the ground on which it stands is as
fat as East Wheeling. The drainage ia
very poor, and the city is necessarily un-
healthy.
The Custom House is a good one; Is
built Of New England granite; has been
building for over twenty years, and is not
yet completed.
Canal is the principal street. It runs at
right angles from the river, and is a wide
and elegant thoroughtare.
The st. Charles ia the leading hotel in
the city, and is, by all odds, the finest no.
tel have ever struck in the South.
The Mississippi river is not over mile
wide here. Algiers, on the west side oil
the river, is the Brooklyn Of this city, OF
the Bridgeport OF Wheeling.
TRAINS here nearly every day for few
hours. Then the sun shines out brightly,
and 1t Is as charming as May. It Ia fully
as warm here now as II is in the middle oil
May in Wheeling.
Oranges, bananas, figs and pecaus grow
all around here. They are necessarily
cheap and fresh.
Snow and ice are never known here ex.
cept when brought from abroad. A few
days ago train OF cars ran into the depot
with snow on the tops OF the cars. The
people heard about it, and quite number
went out to see how 1t looked.
What this country down here needs to
make it rich and great ia for the Govern
ment to construct levies on both sides OF
the river from Memphis down to the
Passes, to prevent the overflow OF the boz
toms; then. in addition, they must have
more spelling books and fewer shot guns
and bull-whipe, and little more giL.up-
and-git, and they will have the richest
country on the globe.
Since wrote you last have travelled
about three hundred miles on nteamer
down the great Father OF Waters" and
It panied, me to see the splendid land on
either side caving in by the acre and wash
ing away. Then from the texas OF the
steamer to see thousands OF acres OF as rich
soil az q mosquito ever buzzed over buried
in water from the overflow, was even more
painful to look upon. The washing away
OF the banks the Government cannot pre-.
vent; but she can stop the overflow, and
thus bring into cultivation and use the
millions of acres Of rich land which are
DOW OF no use either to man or beast. II
General Garfield will make the improve
ment OF this Valley the leading figure Of
bis administration he will confer bless.
ing on the Nation, and will make the
South Republican besides,
Last Thursday was sauntering along
the levee, and to my establishment and de.
light met up with BILLY" Irwin, OF your
city. He had Just reached the city on the
towboAt Annie Kelley, Captain Ed. Horn.
brook in charge. They left Wheeling No
yember 18th and reached here December
18Th. They were detained nearly every
night With fog, which kept them on the
way so long.
Ialso met Captain Campbell Sweeney
who reached here with his new steamer
Earl day or so ago. When l left Wheel.
ing, December ID. the Earl was harbored
below the whSFiboat from the ice, and was
not then completed. She runs well and
handles easily. The Captain thinks she Ii
daisy, and he's judge.
Billy Irwin will leave for Columbia
South Carolina. in few days. Captain
Sweeney has had an offer for his steam
boat, and Is likely to sell her.
There IL more politics here to the square
inch than any other place in the country,
There are q host OF irstclsss Federal Of
fees here and there Is continual squad
BILE among the managers as to who sEall
have them. T..
I incidentally inquired Of a gentleman
in the 81. Charles Hotel, where my old
friend ]. Madison Wells was these days
Hisreply was, 1.-THE Id old rascal lives
on plantation up the river, and raises
cotton for living. He is the only one oil
the old Returning Board crowd who Ii
not provided for with an office. Old
Mad may be hard case, but he made R
B. Hayes President "alee ssmee."
But must stop so as to leave something
for another. SoUIB.
SEE advertisement elsewhere in our col
umus OF the entertainment this evening
in the lecture room Of the First Presbyte
pian Church. II Comes highly recon