Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-01-14
STEAMBOAT DAYS.

Ts.~e scenes aad other Facts TO Interest
Old River Men.
Thirty or forty years ago steamboat
ing was somewhat different from what
II ia now. The decrease in the num-
Der of steamboats, in the past thirty
wears between here and New Orleans
and other Southern cities Is at least
fifty per cent, while the number OF
up-river boats has fallan off fully
thirty per cent. in the same time.
This Is attributed TO the railroad oppo-
sition which has developed together
with the increased tonnage of boats,
those Of the present day carrying twice
the burden of those of olden times.
More than thirty years since no IN
corporated steamboat lines existed, but
about the year 1858 the Union Packet
Line Company, running between Gin
cinnati and Wheeling, was granted
papers Of incorporation. The line ran
iirst-class boats, noted for their speed
and capacity carrying an average OF
800 tons each, and reputed to be the
fastest lines of boats that ever plowed
the Ohio. They carried all the United
States mail for Eastern cities, railroads
being but little known in this section
then, and ex-Prcsident James *. Polk
went TO Washington by way OF the
line to his Inauguration. The boats
composing it were Tom swan, the fast
est one-hour boat on record, com
mandcd by Captain John Mcclure;
the Baltimore, Captain James Jelly;
the Virginia, Captain Wells; the Falls
City, Captain Sam Mason, and the
Alvin Adams
shortly after the opening of this
line an opposition company was organ
lied, to run between Cincinnati and
Pittsburg, composed Of the following
steamers: The Buckeye State, which
made the fastest four-mile run ever re-
corded, and which has always been
recognized as the champion twenty
four hour steamer of these waters,
with Captain James Forsythe as her
commander; the Allegheny, Captain
Charles w. Bachelor; the Crystal
Palace, Captain William Kountz; the
Captain Woodward; the !
Captain Klemfelter, and the
Clipper, Captain Nelson Cook.
The fastest steamboat from Cincin-
natl TO New Orleans that ever passed |
through the canal at Louisville is'said |
to be the Duke of Orleans, one of the |
i6Nbl ittS VI tDllly -lNt years ago.
Along about 1850 to 1860 boats left !
Cincinnati three times week for st.
Louis loaded TO their full capacity with
emigrant families bound for the then /
Tar West-Missouri and Michigan
others carried heavy trips of freight to
Nashville and other cities, which have
Deen almost entirely supplied by rail
since the construction of the Cincin-
lati Southern and the Louisville and
Nashville Railroads and their tributa-
les.
Old steamboatmen informed the re-
porter that boats in the New Orleans
md Memphis trade had made from
q, 900 to $4,000 per trip, while the
is said to have cleared $50
00 on one round trip, nearly paying
or herself. But Mt that time freights
we're high, the rate on whisky being
3 per barrel, while miscellaneous
reight was never handled for less than
twenty-five cents per hundred pounds,
he boats carrying all their capacity
ould permit.
The Central Transit wharf-boat W.
ng mt our landing is built on the hull
# the old steamer, Nicholas Long
worth, fifteen or twenty years ago the
ride of these waters. But she was
Qndemned and sold to the highest bid
Ter after ten years faithful service.
Not many years since IL was no UNI
sual occurrence for sixty steamboats,
he wedged in together at the land
ng, loading and unloading, with the
evee piled so high with merchandise as
o completely hide the boats from the
lew OF those at the top of the leves.
ne clerks were compelled to receive
'eight at Front street.
one OF the largest boats of twenty
ears ago was the Inflated steamer Sui
ma, which blew up five miles above
iemphis, IN September, 1864, killing
900 of the $500 Union soldiers aboard
er on their way home from Ander-
onville Prison. The river was over
owing its banks at the time and an
ye-witness, describing the scene, said
c could see from the deck of the res
hing steamer the poor creatures cling
Is to the branches of trees projecting G
hove The flood, many of whom were I
)mpelled to drop of before assistance
)uld reach them
Up TO twenty years ago pine RATS
He'd the river in the spring of the
aar ms they iloated south. as many ne
VeiNe or fifteen being in sight at the
me time; but, owing to the scarcity
pine and the cheapness of transpor
tion OF lumber, this business has
cen almost abandoned.
Compared with those of Eastern
alters, little Improvement has been
ade IN the steamboat facilities in the
lest IN the past twenty-five wears.
Inc experiment of four-engine
'at, with two engines to each wheel
order to back one wheel while TIC
her worked forward, was tried on
lr steamers of large tonnage thirty r
AIRS ago, but was decided inprsctica. |,
9 as two larger engines would do the y
me work at much less expense.
ne boats of to-day are officcred Inv
different class of men than were
ose OF olden times. No gambling il
owed on board, while few wears 49,
o The cabins of Western steamboats,
ere the resort of some of the most A
ted hlacklegs of the country. Eor.
mes nave changed hands time ana
am AT one sitting, while the officer :,
Ou ny rs spectators sometin,a, - a