The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-06-22
RIVER REVIEW.
The Barge System and q
Large Shipment.
Expected arrival Of the Gam City
tonight.

The river is slowly falling, but good
boating stage still remains.
The Josie will be up this evening for ST.
Paul.
The Diamond 10 comes down this after
noon or evening
i The Kendall is due down at an early
hour this afternoon, and in case she arrives
before evening, party of invited guests
will go down on that steamer to meet the
new boat the Gem City which makes her
first trip up this evening.
| The Park Painter and Viola both put in
their appearance this morning.
The Dexter is due down with RATS this
evening.
THE BAReEsTRADE.
The Victory passed up this morning
| enroute to ST. Paul where she will take an
| immense cargo of flour consigned by the
| mills to parties in Glasgow, Scotland. This
| is the second shipment of freight in such
large quantity to foreign ports by way OF
/ New Orleans.
| The present shipment consists of 10000
| bushels of flour, or about 1, 200, 600 pounds
| of freight The cargo will be placed in
barges, and will be taken down to New
| OTlCdHS NIISIC IL VIII W pAo~SU IA 0AAh 70
and conveyed to Scotland.
The Victory in making the down
| trip will stop only for coal,
and it is thought that the entire
distance from ST. Paul to New Orleans can
be made in little more than one week.
| The barges are adapted for low water, as
they draw but few feet, and no trouble is
anticipated, even with a low stage of the
river. The barge system OF conveying
| freight daily becomes more popular, and
the time is not far distant when COM
plete barge system will be in operation on
the Mississippi river
| THE GEM CITY.
The new side-wheel steamer, Gem City,
recently built by the St Louis and St.
Paul line left st. Louis yesterday after
noon and arrived at Keokuk this morning
at o'clock 1t is expected to reach Rock
! Island this evening at 10 o'clock. The
distance from st. Louis to Keokuk is 206
miles, and the new steamer made it in a
| little over "a hours. The average, includ-
| ing stops, was nine miles an hour. The
distance from Keokuk to this city is 1856
miles, and as there are few stops to make,
| there is no reason why the boat should not
be here at the hour above named.
| A few guests have been invited to go
down in the Kendall to meet the new steam
er, and return on the Gem City this even
ing. This will be done, provided the
Kendall arrives from above in time to al
low the trip down the river
DESCRIPTIVE.
The new steamer was constructed under
the immediate supervision of r. II. Medill
for the past many years Superintendent of
repairs for the Keokuk Northern Line Com
pany The boat is 800 feet long by SO feet
beam and feet depth of hold. She will
draw less than thirty inches with fuel
aboard and steam up. The cylinders are
twenty-eight and one half inches in diane
ter, by seven feet stroke, working a wheel
twenty-eight feet in diameter with fifteen
feet length of bucket. She has four steel
boilers five feet each, and will easily make
all the steam necessary. She was built
from design made by Commodore David
son, and combines lightness of draught,
elegant passenger accommodations, and
beauty of outline with great speed. Her
model is probably the finest ever put af1oat
on the Mississippi and to stand at the
boats bow and view her water lines
reminds one of the slimmeSt row boat.
Considering her displacement of water she
has more power than any boat on the Mis-
sissippi not exceeding the J. NJ White.
She has also greater length of bucket COM
pared with her breadth of BEAM than any
boat built since the first ]. nj. White, thir-
ty-sight years ago. 1t is expected that the
new packet will make seventeen miles an
hour against the current of the Mississippi.
She has a full length cabin and a Texas
covering almost the entire hurricane deck.
The two combined afford berths for nearly
800 people. The cabin is neat in construc
ton and elegantly furnished, everything
being entirely new.
FAST TIME.
The Gem City has been started on the
present trip with the idea of establishing a
time table for future use, and she will be
pushed forward as fast as possible.
The fastest time on record was made by
the Phil Sheridan in the summer of 1869.
At that time great rivalry existed be-
tween the Sheridan and the Rawkeye, and
the two boats INDUCED in a race from St
Louis to st. Paul. They both left St.
Louis at an early hour in the morning
and the Sheridan arrived in this city during
the same night averaging over twenty miles
an hour. The Hawkeye was but a few
miles behind her. No stops of any kind
were made not even for fuel, as the boats
were supplied with such materials and the
fremen did not hesitate to use any article
to make hot fire.
So far that time has never been beaten
and the prospects are that the new boat is
not the craft to carry away the honors for
fast time.
Substitute for calomel and Qninine.