Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-07-31
THE Old STEAMBOAT DAYS
When Famous River Boats Made
Great Records.
Capt. W.sH. Devenny Recalls Exciting
Scenes-LOOking Horns = The
Fleetwood and the New
South.
Cleveland Times-Star.

desk in the steamboat Inspector Office In
the government buildingi looking up at the
reporter. His face was beaming with
interest. The waterway racers were to
him what the feet-fotted runners of
Letenia were to professional horse fanci-
ers. Mention steamboat to Capt. Devenny,
and he will have some interesting bit of
river romance and Renaissance to regale
one with. The veteran captain went up
on the river in his early teens, but for
some years has not been an active partici
pant III river life. His face is close-shav-
en-; he has keen, blue-gray eyes, and he is
fluent talker, as all men of good active
brains and memories are. So we don t
have any steamboat racing any more,
said the captain. They may have little
test of speed, but that is ali. Racing is
practically prohibited by law, for the
rules governing pilots say that there must
be no crowding on each others course or
one boat must not cross the bow of an
other; that signals must be answered and
obeyed So racing is practically prohibit
ed nowadays. "
Ever been in d race, captain"
Hundreds of them. | was on the river
In the time of the fastest boats. | think
that the best boats chat ever ran on the
Ohio river were those built in the ffties
| mean for speed. There were some fam
Gus boats then. They were runners | tell
you. Ever see boats lock horns?' No!
I've seen 'em do it many time. Yes,
and go for miles and miles up the river
first one little ahead and ther the other,
and the two boats fast locked together-yes,
right up against one another. And I've
seen passengers step from one boat to the
other while they were in this shape. Ex-
citlngl Why, young man, there S nothing
on earth, or water, either, more exciting
than steamboat race-nOt only to people
concerned in navigation, but to all the
public at large. Here is little squirt be-
tween two boats for patronage-a little
water fight-and | see people are talking
about if eVerewhere-On Change In the
hotels, on the streets, and from every
town along the river where there is a tele-
graph office dispatch is sent, and we are
all talking about the race that ism t cir
cumstance to the racing of the good old
days of steamboating. When you see
boats lock and go at it-wel, these boats
won t. that's all y
At the very moment that Capt Devenny
was talking the Fleetwood and New
South had 'locked horns" on the Ohio,
above Madison, Ind. 1t was 2 o'clock OF
Saturday afternoon, and the dispatches
read that.eyening that the Fleetwood had
arrived at Madison at 2:42, and that at
Patriot, Ind, the two boats passed at y 40,
nose and nose, and both fig hting for the
channel so that between | and 2 O'Clock
they must have come together, that is,
locked horns 1.-The excitement ran high
ON both boats" says the dispatch, 1.-The
men enjoying the situation, while TIE
ladies were very much frightened" The
boats then embraced for a number of
miles and then the officers of the New
South finally concluded to drop away, and
in doing so enc of her wheels struck some
logs and was badly broken, as also one of
the "log-chains," as braces supporting
the wheel and wheel-h0use. The passeng-
ers of the New South claim that, when
they steamed umdPr the suspension bridge
the Fleetwood had eighteen minutes the
start and the locking horns at eighty OF
ninety miles down the river would tend
to prove the New South the faster boat.
The Fleetwood, which is the mail line
boat, is eight,o ten years old The mail
line officials claimed that their boat was
''stitf; I" that is, every brace and chain
drawn tight but that she would be loosen
ed up at Louisville so as to be easy and
give, and that she would give the other
boat severe tussle coming back. Fortu-
nately or unfortunately the rival was dis
abled, and the Fleetwood had the wide
river all to herself on her trip up. If
Capt. Devenny had known of the ''lock''
at the moment of his remark he probably
would have gone ''al to pieces,
How do boats lock horns Captain ?"
The Telegraph No. 2, another famous
boat of the Mail Line, took President Tay-
lor in lS45 to Pittsburg through the ice.
The Jacob Sterder, built at Cincinnati in
June, 1853. That was big year for boats
Ste was 332 feet 81 feet broad, 30, floor,
IL hold. She was low pressure. She
had two l6-hue boilers, l6 feet long, II
feet in diameter, and 10-foot stroke with
5-foot cylinder. Low pressure boats won t
do for western waters, though you will
see them all low pressure in the east. There
water is more reliable and deeper"
Boats are better models there, aren'
they?"
Yes Our western boats are not built
on much model at all. Our wheels are well
aft, theirs we'll forward. | was going up
the Hudson one day on the Vibbard. OF
course wanted TO see all about me, SO |
nosed around. But l was puzzled. |
couban t see where the bone was. Don t
understand that, do you? Well, you know
the stem IF boat first cuts the water and
lays it open, then there ism t any break in
the water until where tie fullness of the
hull is met. Then this shoulder hits the
water and causes swell and there is a
long streak of white tiaring out from each
side of the boat. and it reminds one of a
dog running with bone sticking out Of
each side of his mouth. When. | couldn t
find this bone How was the hull mod
eled so as to overcome that difficulty and
let the hull glide through the water 50
smoothly? | knew that their boats were
bettered modelled than ours, but couldn t
understand that The engineer finally ex-
planned to me that the wheels hit the
water right at the fullness of the hall,
and thus pulled away this piled up water
that hindered a boat. So the Vibbard' s
hull had clean sweep and went through
the water like streak. Oh, their models
there are simply perfect. They ride the
water like a duck.
The old Bostona and Fleetwood were
consorts IN their day and there was always
curiosity to get them at each other. But
Capt. Honshell wouldn't have it. The
Rostona was considered the fastest.
Here's the Gen Pike, in 1919. ran from
Louisville to Cincinnati in one dav and
sixteen hours; the Wheeling packet. 1922.
In one day and ten hours; the Moselle. in
1887, in twelve hours. Yes, she blew up
here In 1910 the Ben Franklin No. 6.
in eleven hours and forty-fve minutes. and
the Telegraph No. 2, in 1858, in nine
hours and fifty-two minutes In 1858, the
Eclipse and Shotwell made their famous
time from New Orleans to Louisville in