Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-08-13
THE WHITE EAGLE.
will be Improved---Angered ut the
Thought OF Another Excursion Boat.

Her Owners say She IL safe and
will be Improved---Augered at the
Thought OF Another Excursion Boat.
Editor ARGUS:
DAVENPORT. Iowa, Aug. 12.--In your
issue Of Aug. 3rd appears an interview
on excursion business with an old river
man who who would not risk a dol.
lar in the enterprise he speaks of or any
others to benefit the tri-cities when there
was any risk. as is well known. but who
would like to get forty fellow citizens to
invest $4,000 in an excursion boat
never to get it back. The cold facts as
proved by those who have invested in
river transportation of late years are.
that he who invests $50, 900 in any kind
of steamboat simply loses it, and sew
eral years of labor and annoyance with
it, All the excursion business or steam
boats of any kind on the Mississippi
river or any other western rivers require
is large, roomy, light stern wheel boat
that will run cheaply and in all stages of
water; managed by men of experience
with no retinues of paid presidents, sec>
rotary and other shore officers consum-
ing the little revenue the boats
earn; differed by men of expe-
rience and interested in running
the boat cheaply and well. Such
boats only will meet with any sue
cess financially or otherwise. But to
our mutton" The said "hsrd she'll" we'll
named river man, in describing the boats
now engaged in the excursion trade here.
admits the White Eagle is large enough.
nf fn oh 10
not safe in his estimation" which he has
done before, and is false in every psrtic-
ular as testified to by the u S. inspectors
certificate. allowing her to carry seven
hundred passengers; and which testimo-
ny he will probably be called on in the
courts to refute. The way to have good
facilities in any business is to patrOnize
that company or individual that presents
them to the public. Such facilities the
Hawkeye Excursion company have fur
nished to some extent in the White Eagle.
which boat is just the size and arranged
and Quilted in the best manner possible
to accommodate the number allowed
seven hundred persons. She only lacks
one thing to make her complete and give
her the necessary speed. nine miles an hour
up stream and twelve miles down, and
that is a pair of new steel boilers which
will be allowed 175 pounds of steam.
These will be put in this fall-although
the present ones are perfectly safe with
the steam allowed, which is not enough
to give the speed required.
This company is regularly organized
under the laws of Iowa with ample Capri
pal at its command to carry out the above
business. and asks no help. only pat
ronage such as its efforts deserve. In
doing this the business men of the tri-
cities will take no risk in investing in
what has been proved by actual exper-
fence to be a visionary scheme.
HAwKEYE STEAMBOAT COMPANY.
LON BRYsoN, Manager.
The writer of the abov- is probably
mistaken in sizing up" the river man
with whom the ARGUS reporter had the
interview alluded to, for he is gentle
man who is not given to visionary
schemes" and has had as much practical
experience as any steamboat man on the
river. Further than this, the ARGUS does
not believe he borrowed any opportunity
to speak disapprovingly of the White
Eagle or that he had any particular obs
ject in so doing. If there had been such
a supposition in the mind of the reporter,
that portion of the interview would have
been stricken out. The Hawkeye Ex-
cursion company should not suppose that
every new scheme that proposes an oppO
sition to its interests is engendered by
malice toward it. Men who probably
never saw or heard OF the White Eagle
stand ready today to invest in the new
excursion steamer such as the drift of the
interview proposed, and the ARGUS with
out any thoughts of the White Eagle,
Golden Gate or any other excursion boat,
would like to see the project brought to
a successful contamination.