The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-01-24

THAT DAILY" MA1L.-The new mail
service between Donaldsonville and Red
River Landing was formally inaugurated
on the 14th inst, and became informally
disorganized Immediately thereafter We
present the following interesting record
of the operations of the new line up to
date:
The steam tug Florence Witherbee ar
rived at Donaldsonville on the 18th. two
days, more or less, out from New Or
leans-that is, if she left there accord
ing to appointment. She started for Red
River Landing the afternoon of the 14th
with goodly cargo of mail bags that
had accumulated here, and after te-
dious and eventfnl voyage Of five days
large proportion Of which time she
spent in trying to pull her nose out of
mud at New River landing, Bayou Gou-
la and other points along the route-she
again put in al appearance at Donald
sonville, on the 10th, with leaky boiler.
After this brilliant achievement in the
public service, the lightning propeller
propelled herself to New Orleans for re-
pairs, and there she remains at the date
of this writing. Tho Witherbee is a
swift and powerful boat, but her draught
is said to be between seven and nine
feet, and this will be drawback to her
efficiency, we fear, especially during the
season of low water.
The Sylvan Doll, also a propeller, but
Of !: different pattern from the Wither-
bee, having the appearance Of small
lake steamer, arrived here on the 10Th.
all the way from Cincinnati. This craft
started up with her first batch of mail
the afternoon Of the 10th, broke shaft
at Plaquemine, crept along as far as Ba-
ton Rouge in her disabled condition,
turned tail at that point and struck out
for New Orleans, where she is undergoing
repairs in company with the Witherbee
Since the 10th inst, no mail has been
dispatched from Donal,lsonville for any
of the offices above us on the river, nor
has any been received from that direo-
ton since the 10Th. The new mail boats
are daily expected to return from the
city and resume business, and unless
they do so by Monday next, the Goth,
Mr.. Brott's contract will be annulled by
the Post-office Department. and new ar
rangements made for supplying the long
suffering people along the new ronte
with their mail matter. Mr.. A. P. Field.
son Of the late Attorney General Field,
is one of the route agents assigned to
duty on the Donaldsanville and Red
River Landing line, and he is stopping
here under orders to await the return of
the Witherbee or Sylvan Dell and go
forward with the mails on the first one
Of the boats arriving here.
Over hundred bags of mail have ac-
cumulated at the Donaldsonville office,
and Postmaster Wilkinson's attempts to
secure transmission of portion thereof
on the Vicksburg mail boats have been
futile. The steamboatmen are miffed at
the action OF the postal authorities in
taking the contract away from the regu-
lar and reliable packets and bestowipg
it upon party who has, so far, demon
strated utter inoapacity to fulfil its obi.
cations, and hence neither the Cannon,
Gay, or any Of the Vicksburg boats will
touch the enlarged mail bags. 1t is
to be hoped that this unfortunate state
of affairs will be speedily and perma-
nently improved.