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

, already made up and "hitched" to the
steamer, lay in the deep shadow Of
Goal HILL" awaiting the coming day.
light to be, with others, started on its
long and hazardous jobrney With
the coming of keen, frosty dawn the
signal bell sounded, and the ready
steam filed each cylinder. The mons
trous wheel, as big as country church
minus the steeple, churned the water
and $40, 900 worth of coal and $50, 900
worth of boats and machinery swung
out into the current.
At the first sweeping bend the pro-
cess of thanking" excites admiration,
and shows what can be accomplished
by wonderfully skillful cooperation
of engines, tiller, and propelling wheel.
acting as accessories to the force of
the current. To retain boat and tow
in the current, as is done when the
river is straight, is found to be folly
on huge scale. The momentum Of
the mass would drive the feet ashore
at the toe of the aqueous horseshoe.
TO flank" is to SO handle the fleet
that its onward march is checked be-
fore entering the curve, and so steered
that, at the center Of the bend, boat
and tow lie almost across the stream,
with the forward barges exposed to
the force of the clrrent as it sweeps
around the outer edge of the semicir-
Gle. The resultless tide, bearing
against the distant end of the feet,
swings the mass around as if on piv-
OF, and the pilot. promptly seconded
by the engineer, brings the tull power
of engines and rudders into play
Thus the solid feet is headed down
the lower half of the curve, and so on
to slraighter shores. Where the
curves succeed each other until the
river is huge ox-bow, boat and tow
seem waltzing sideways down the
river in o manner ihcompre hensible to
those unfamiliar with the mysteries of
thanking" From the pilot house the
feat possesses absorbing interest for
! the Observer. This process must he
repeated st every bend between Pitts
burgh and New Orleans, and in
method peculiar to the handling of
these coal fleets. In comparison the
steersman's work on sn ocean steamer
is but cAild's play, and to be success
ful tow-hoat pilot on the Ohio or Miss
issippi calls for the exercise OF rare
Judgment and the prompt cooperation
OF ready brain and trained muscle. A
wrong Interpretation of one of the
thousand signs of water, shore. bar, or
ripple, means the grounding, and often
the loss, of a costly boat.
The coming of night multiples the
pilots difficulties and usually unless
water and weather are extremely
favorable, the floating island of coal,
wood, and vibrating mechanism must
tie up This is an operation full of
difficulties, and requiring extreme care
Slowly the forward motion of the mass
must be checked, and on nearing the
selected spot along the shore the most
agile Of the crew must land with ca
hles, and make fast breast and stern
lines. These are tied to some conven-
lent and sturdily rooted tree. Then
comes tug of war, the more exciting
if the current be pretty swift. 1t
is steam and good hemp and Manila
pitted against the might OF river
The ropes grow taut as piano strings,
the smoke curls from the massive check
posts in the hoats as the coils are
eased to check the fleets headway
gradually, and the ruddy light from
the coal-burning torches lights up the
weird scene. Finally boats and tow
lie immovable, and silently await the
coming of another dawn. And when
drifting ice-cakes pile against the boats,
or bowling wind adds its strength to
that of the river, tying up is a labor
full of danger, presenting scene Of Pc
culiar excitement, not unfrequently
ending in the swamping Of thousands
of bushels OF coal, or the crippling of a
deck hand by the untimely swapping
of cable.
AS the voyage continues down the
Ohio, the banks between which glide
river and boat and tow fall further
apart. Side streams add their quota of
muddy water impregnated with soils
of divers hues. Day and night the
big boat with her charge of black
diamonds continues her course, unless,
indeed, the nights are starless, moon
less, and blustery Towns and cities
drift by on either hand, for the south
bound coal feet recognizes but one
halting. place-busy, pretty Louisville
and only halts at this iair Kentucky
city when the water does not permit
boat aud tow 10 run the falls, and forces
the feet to pass through the narrow
confines of the Louisville and Portland
Canal or when the size Of the tow
must be increased by adding the tows
Of smaller boats which follow the large
lower river steamers TO this point
Let a Ncw-Y orker imagine all the
wheeled traffic Of Broadway obliged TO
pass through two pairs OF country bars
and obliged, moreover, to await the
putting up and taking down of these
bars before and behind each vehicle,
and he can form "A pretty good idea of
the adequacy of the Louisville Canal
to the wants OF the river coal shippers.
The Ohio at Louisville, six hundred
miles from its source, is three fourths
of mile wide, and bold ridge of
transverse subaqueous rock gives the
stream a fall of twenty-seven feet in
distance of two miles, and current of
of twelve miles an hour dashes among
powders in such a way that food Of
over thirty feet stage is necessary 10
enable river commerce to be independ-
| ent OF the thalldom Of locks. This stage
of water in the tickle Ohio is by no
means common. During the 366 days
that dawned in 1880, but 103 days saw
"falls water" and during the 1853 com.
paratively waterless days coal-carrying
craft representing half a million tons
passed through the well regulated but
tedious little ditch. A coal tow will