Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-01-18

sippi toward the equator. During th'
year 1880 there entered this highway
at Pittsburgh ninety million bushels
, of bituminous coal and coke. Tht
, latter article comprised but few millioI
bushels. The term "busheP' is prob
J ably not familiar one as applied tt
coal. Twenty-six and two-thirds
] bushels make ton, so that the quan
. tity given above means about $500,
} 900 tons.
OF this much-sought-for fuel Cincin
natl mills and homes take thirty million
bushels yearly from the river. Louis
Willie twelve million bushels, New Or
leans eight million, Memphis and
Vicksb4rg five million each, and small
Ter towns and villages along the two
rivers absorb fifteen million more. And
every pound of this coal, from the mo
ment it first rests in boat or barge at
the shute or tipple at the pit, until it
leaves the water at New Orleans, or
srews the bed of a great river, is sur
rounded by the dangers already out
lined-vicissitudes such as can only be
found in this trade; dangers that call
forth the peculiar characteristics of the
navigators of this treacherous highway
Moreover, the coal consigned to the
care of single steamer frequently
amounts to 2Q,Q9p tons-enough to
load FIVE of the largest ocean steamers
to dangerous depth. And the men
in charge of this mass of fuel are ex-
pected to successfully overcome diff
culties that would appall the most ex-
perienced nayigators of deeper waters,
This hazardous and peculiar nature OF
the trade has developed race of nayi-
gators whose dominant traits are pluck,
fertility OF resource in times Of disaster,
and promptness to act at all times,
united with an all -pervading disposi-
tion to take evils as they come philo-
sophically.
Let sudden rise in the rivers swell
the waters of tie Ohio. At an hours
notice the cables must be slipped and
the huge boats foated off on the crest
of the rise Else the chances are in ia
vor of stranded boats and coal scattered
along the bed of the stream.
1t is this capriciousness of the Ohio,
eDgendered by the vagaries of the
weather, that renders the experiences
of the coal.shipper unique. The east
ern navigator, who revels in plenti-
tude of water, can form no just concep:
tion of the skill necessary to guide a
feet Of cumbersome coal craft of seven
feet six inches dpaught through the
windngs of a channel where the uner-
ring marks show there is just seven
feet eight inches of water Nor can
the eastern or other mind unfamiliar
with this coal-shippiug trade know of
the brain and muscle and machinery
and skill which must 60 hand in hand
in order that solid mass of coal ahoat
longer than the "Great Eastern" by
two hundred feet, and as wide as a
city park, may be steered clear Of be-
setting dangers, and safely borne along
a route nearly as long as that traversed
by Cunarder. To tow, in North or
East River parlance, is to pull. On
the Ohio and Mississippi, and all west
ern streams, towing means pushing,
The acre of floating coal craft must be
bound in solid rigidity, and must lie IN
front of the propelling steamer and the
pilots eye, before the dangers of the
rivers can be met and overcome.
In this connection it is appropriate
to refer to step recently taken by the
general government to lessen the dan
gers of the Ohio, Mississippi, and Mis-
souri, rivers. This consists in the es=
tahlishment and maintenance of the
"beacon-light" system on the rivers
named. During the nights OF inky
blackness of sky, when even the con-
tour of familiar bills or clearings or
bluffs escapes the keen-eyed pilot, the
steady, clear radiance of the beacon"
indicates his whereabouts, and marks
the ripple, or scantily. covered bar, or
tue point at which the boat must aim
in thanking" around the eserpentine
loops of the erratic streams The es.
tablishment Of these lights, a few years
ago, was looked upon with Indifference
by nearly every every pilot egaged up
on the tow-boats. Some went so far
as to oppose the beacon on the ground
that the pilots duties would be simpli-
fed thereby, and thus the value oi
their labor reduced. But, as night after
night, in storm or CALM, these calm,
steadfast rays lent their aid TO the pi-
lots strained faculties, their mute elo-
auence asserted itself And to-day,
when fierce gust, or caving bank, or
sudden food, extinguishes light. a
mighty growl goes up from the frater-
nifty Of the tller-ropc, Tntl the missing
star is restored.
Every three months, or oitener, a
trim swift steamer sweeps up and down
the rivers, repairs damages to the
lights, changes their location to suit
the unceasing shifting Of bar or bend
pays the ght-keepers their wel-earned
dues, and supplies each with the oil
needed A beacon-light is simply an
inland lighthouse of modest proper
tlons A short wooden post. braced
to withstand wind, and bearing small
hooded platform at its top, eight or
twelve feet from the ground, forms the
support of lantern of superior con-
struction. In general appearance the
way-side shrine of the Old World is
reproduced in the beacon-light Of the
New.
Aad in this connection it seems emf
nently fitting that Pennsylvania oil
should light Pennsylvania coal on its
way to market. In the 800 lights on
rivers named, elaine, special prepa-
ration of petroleum, is used altogether,
as being fully equal to lard-oil for light
house purposes The Ohio has 324 oI
these lights, and tie Missouri and Mis-
sissippi 4SQ more. The entire system
is one whose benefits become yearly
more apparent.
Within the past few years the growth
of the river coal-handling trade has re-