The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1886-12-04
The Future of Steala boating.

much the custom to underValue sIeaHl-
boats and the natural waterways OF the
country. This is a most mistaken
policy. Nothing could be worse than
for the people OF the Mississippi Valley
to neglect the great advantages they
enjoy / the Mississippi River and its
Numerous tributaries Tor competition
in transportation. 1t is true the
steamboats, which plow these rivers
have greatly decreased in numbers,
but they still cut a most important
figure in transportation, and it would
seem that the steamboat business must
| soon reach its lowest point from which
it will soon enjoy a great revival. In
| spite of the increase IN the number OF
! railroad, the enormous and constantly
progressive growth of population and
consequently of production and con-
sumption combine to make ever new
demands for transportation facilities
and, to an extent which must yearly
become greater, the natural waterways
will have to be relied on. On this
subject the st. LOUIS Railway Register,
a publication specially devoted to the
interests of railroads, says:
"But after all, a little reflection will
show that in some departments the
boats are actually gaining. One big
steamboat will carry a train load OF
freight, and so, though there are not
many lines or boats, the aggregate Of
freight carried is immense. Then the
system of barges towed by a steamer
is gaining in favor. The bulk OF the
barge business consists Of coal and
grain. One steamboat recently took
cut of Louisville a tow of 2S,50W tons
Of coal, or enough to load a train of
cars fourteen miles long. Pittsburg
alone sends cut annually on the Ohio
River four million tons of coal, equal to
400, 900 car loads of ten tons each. One
statistician estimates that a double
tracked railway on each side Of the
Ohio River could not accommodate the
traffic of the boats now plying on it.
The Mississippi barge line in 1854
made "a round trips on the river and
carried 453, 939 tons of freight. The
Illinois Central on its 1000 miles of
road in 1885 carried 3,587,2O tons Of
freight, so the barge line business was
nearly on%e-seventh as large as that Of
this great'railway."
In a country but thinly settled, rail-
roads are able to do the bulk Of the
business and the superior expedition
with which they move attracts to them
travel and all articles of commerce in
which dispatch is an important consid-
GRAFTON. But the greatly inferior car
rying capacity Of railroads renders
them positively unable to do the trans
portation traffic of q great and popu-
lous region. AS an evidence of this, at
tention is called to tie enormous and
constantly increasing business done
between the East and West over
the great Northern lakes despite the
competition of several parallel and we'll
equipped railways between the North
Atlantic ports and the great producing
fields of the Northwest. But for the
lakes and the Erie Canal it would be
impossible with double the railway ia
cilities existing to carry the traffic be-
tween New Yesk and Chicago. When
the Mississippi Valley shall acquire its
legitimate population and development
the great natural waterways will
swarm again with steamboats, becaNse
Of the inability of the then vastly in
creased railroad facilities to do tie
business.
Whenever there shall be a revival of
the steamboat interests there must be
also a radical revolution in steamboat
methods. While there has been pre-
gress in all other departments Of COM
merce and industry, the art Of steam
boat building has not advanced beyond
what it vas two u three decades ago.
The only thing like improvements is
the Introduction OF barge lines. That
is a great step in the direction of cheap
er trcights; but the steamboats, of the
future will need to be quite different
from what they are now. They will be
moving warehouses of light draft,
but large carrying capacity.
They will be furnished with
efficient mechanical appliances fo1
loading and unloading cotton bales anG
other bulky and heavy merchandise,
and the stowage room will be above
the hull, which will be of iron and
contain only the propelling power
, Every provision will be made for econ
|pmy of human labor which will only be
used for handling the boat and slowing
the cargo. There will be ALSO swift
and elegant passenger boats, but they
will only carry light freights. The day
will come when the great rivers of the
West will be as much esteemed by
tourists as are the Rhine and Hudson
to-day. The waterways Of the nation
will then be among it's most important
possessions.-N. D. Picayune.
What makes the slums of London sc
;, horrible? We answer with certainty
and with the confidence of one Wh(