The Red Cloud chief., 1880-09-23
Pioneer Experiences OF the Ohis and
Mississippi.

TIE brave old warrior. General Will
lam o. Butler. who died last Friday at
the advanced age of e;ghty-seven. was
something more than a soldier. He
was q poet, and had At times given IN
doubted evidence Of possessing the d.
vine aifiatus. His poem commencing
30 boatmsn, wind that horn again,
FOR never dbl the listening air
Upon its lambert bosom bear
So wild. 50 soft. 90 sweet q strain"
will long hold its place among the gems
Of American poetry. But the days
when the only means OF transportation
on our great Western rivers was the
fiat-boat have passed away. II may al
mos. be said TO be a thing of the past.
and hence the fine flavor OF General
Buffers poem is lost to a great degree
to q generation who only know OF IT by
tradition
A VOYAGE from Pittsburgh to New
Orleans by fiatboat vas an enterprise
once of greater peril than q o u around
the world is now. II was certain To be
full of adventure. 1t required months
for its accomplishment. A shot from
the shore by some Indian or reckless
desperate might terminate abruptly the
voyage and the lives Of the navigators
in blood. A moments neglect OF the
steersman might wreck the unshapely
craft and all the hopes Of its owners
hundreds of miles from home and in an
inhospitable wilderness. There was
danger everywhere-in the currents.
eddies. w~hirlpools. bayous and snags of
the tortuous Father Of Waters; but
there was no less danger from the half
civilized dwellers on the banks. The
outlawed criminals and the desperate
adventurers from civilization skulked
about the shores or prowled with light
canoes among the bayOuS and creeks.
watching for chances to plumber. even
If murder was necessary to aid them.
A fiatboat voyage down the great rivers
was perilous enough from natural
causes, even If mans inhumanity to
man had not increased the peril. In
those days the Government had not
thought of snagbOats, and the MissiS-
sippi WAS full of half-hidden dangers.
The current was constantly changing.
1t was easy to be deceived into an old
channel from which there vas no re-
turn. Bayous were often traps-watery
culs-de-sa leading nowhere but to
ruin. The organized river pirates and
wreckers were always on the lookout
for unwary vOyagers. so that a slight
mishap generally ended in complete
disaster. IL, under such circumstances,
the fiatboat man reached his distant
home, footsore and weary but penni-
less, months after leaving it, he was
lucky.
In the early days of flatboating a safe
return, even when the venture had not
proved financially profitable. was a
grand event and the occasion OF tumul-
tuous Joy. The business bred a certain
class who sought it for its adventure
and dangers as much as for its profits.
The river pirates met in the flat-boat-
men of that early DAY a class ready,
eager and willing for the fray--a class
which. like the rancheros of the plains,
accounted a trip tame and spiritless il
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 distant
hills more musical than steamboat
whistle or that ear-distracting horror,
the calliOpe. 1t was q romantic life,
befitting the grand scenery and rude
time. Ninety days on a slow-moving
flat-boat, the scenery constantly chang
ing but ever wild and beautiful, was a
thing never to be forgotten. The spice
of danger in it gave it zest. An Occa-
sional adventure with river sharks only
relieved monotony and added interest.
1t is difficult for one looking on the
Ohio River to realize that nee fat
boats, broad-horns, the qu~eerest craft
that ever floated, did all the transporta-
ton business from its head-wa.ers to
New Orleans. A flat-boat, scarce
moving, with rude arrangements for
cooking on deck, almost under water,
with long bars awkwardly attached to
the sides, is a type OF its time almost as
grotesque and odd as the Viking ship
recently dug up in Norway. Perhaps
one day it will excite a much archeo-
logical wonder. for it already recalls a
time we fail to understands condition
of society and of our country we can
scarcely appreciate. The leis~ure-loving,
deliberate, s~low-moving flat-boat was
fast enough for its day and people.
There was luck in its leisure. But the
fiat-boat has passed away, and the boat
man never will wind his horn again.
He sleeps as soundly as the warrior
poet. and his ear is as dead to the sad,
sweet music of the bOatman's horn
Indianapolis Journal.