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

means OF propulsion were huge oars
Sweeps" actuated by the muscles OF
the easy going crew, whose patience
was commensurate with an average
speed of four miles an hour for weeks
at time. These primitive craft jour.
neyed in pairs, and the owner and nav.
igator who succeeded in bringing one
of these safely to New Orleans was
fully reconciled to the almost inevitable
loss of the other through perils by the
way.
CoaLtowing by steam to southern
ports dates back about quarter of a
century. The civil war interrupted
the young and promising trade, but
with the cessation of hostiltics, Pitts
burgh capital and enterprise found a
profitable field in supplying the cities
+, already named.
To meet the increased requirements
of the trade there was called into ex-
istence class of steamboats, not found
elsewhere in the world. The boat de-
signed and built for coal-towing along
! this highway must of necessity pos
eess qualities difficult to combine in the
! same vessel. There must be immense
power of engine, backed by enormous
steam-making ability, to cope with the
force of the mighty currents. There
must be lightness of draught to enable
the craft to REACH her home port during
| seasons of low water, and there must
be tremendously powerful steering ap-
paratus, four times as much as that
possessed by the largest ocean-going
steamer. The latter quality is indis-
pensable by reason Of the inertia and
momentum of the feet of coal craft,
which must be guided by the power of
two men at the tiller Speed is an ele-
ment in a measure lost sight of in the
construction of coal tow-boat. What
is required is that the completed craft
shall be good ''Pusher;" and supple
menting the best work of builder and
mechanic must come into play the cool,
clear heads of the men whose duty it
is TO handle the boat and her tow, and
with these TO thread the aqueous mazes
between the foot Of the Alleghanies
and the Gulf of Mexico
Such boat is the Harry Brown,"
that will push 90, 900 tons of coal down
the two rivers at the rate of nine miles
an hour Her hull. OF the best white
OAK, measures 2al feet in length, fifty
in breadth, and six in depth. Machin-
cry and boilers occupy the greater por
tion of the first deck from stem to stern.
The propelling engines are at the stern,
and act directly upon an immense pad
dle-wheel revolving on a steel shaft
from the hammers and crucibles of
Fred Krupp These engines turn the
wheel with the combined power of g.
900 horses, and draw their potent va
por from seven steel boilers that evap-
crate ten cubic feet of water every min
ute over furnaces that devour 1900
bushels every twenty-four hours. On
the second or boiler deck are the COM
Portable and even elegant quarters of
the officers and crew-a pretty cabin
and state-rooms for the one, and home
ier comforts for the other Cleanliness
and good living are enjoyed by the in
land navigator, and to this end is pro-
vided table comparing favorably with
that of a irst-class hotel, and bath
room with huge tub and limitless
supply of hot and cold water. Paint
ings, Brussels carpet, and other luxu-
ries of Punishment give home-lke air
to the cabin, and are in measure con-
solatory to men who must be absent
from home for m9nths at q time.
The cabin of o tow-boat is at all times
a comfortable place, and favorite re-
sort for the officers. 1t is the realm of
the chamber-maid. In this particular
the lady was known as Violet
is your name really Violet p
No, sab; tink my real names Sal ;
but, law! Sal wouldn't p'serve de dig
nifty OBJ my position for four days"
Therefore Sal became Violet, and Vio-
let reigned like dusky queen over a
kingdom of equally dusky deck hands.
Then there was Augustus, table,
boy, whose mouth expressed every i'm
aginable phase of grin, and whose per-
ennial good-nature it was impossible
not to admire.
In the forecastle, or forward part of
the cabin, the pilots are wont to con-
gregate when off watch. Their memo
ries, especially the older members of
the fraternity, tee.n with anecdotes Of
hair-breadth escapes from hidden guer-
rillas, who during the war seemed to
have a special weakness for perlorating
pilot and the veteran who can
not add blood-curdling yarn Of boil
er explosion beneath him would be re-
garded by his fellows as having passed
too pastoral existence.
Above this deck is a structure which
seen ashore, would be taken for con
servatory, or queerly shaped green
house. Three of its sides are formed
OF sliding glazed sash, and surround
W hat may be termed the seat of the
brains of the boat, the boilers being
lungs, and engines heart In this
apartment is found steering wheel
twelve feet in diameter, upon whose,
intelligent handling depends the safety
of boat and tow. Odd-looking levers
are within reach, and serve to send
along two hundred feet of wire the
message, interpreted through bell and
gong in the realm of the engineer
Through the floor projects an object
like huge pedal Of q great organ, and
the pressure of foot upon it let's loose
flood of indescrbable roars overhead;
for this is the whistle lever, and your
Western river whistle is many-voiced
demon. composed of number of whis-
ties, great and small, punched on the
apex of the steam-pipe, and blending
in most lusty howl-a blast distin-
guishable for miles. and known to all
hoatmen as men recognize the voices of
friends. The front or fourth side of
this crystal-walled structure, the pilot
house, is open-a great eye protected
by swinging lids that droop in storm