Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-07-25
THE OLD STEAMBOAT DAYS
When Famous River Boats Made
Great Records.
Capt. W. ii. Devenny Recalls Exciting
SceneS-LOoking Horns The
Fleetwood and the New
South.
Cleveland Times-Star.

! u
desk In the steamboat inspectors office in
the government building looking up at the
reporter. His face was beaming with
| interest The waterway racers were to
him what the fleet-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 in 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. 80, we don't
have any steamboat racing any more
said the captain. They may have little
test of speed, but that is all. 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 arace, captain?"
| Hundreds of them | was on the river
in the time of the fastest boats. | think
| that the best boats that ever ran on the
| | mean for speed. There were some fam
GUS boats then. They were runners tell
you. Ever see boats lock horns?' No
| I've seen EN- do it many a time. Yes,
| and go for miles and miles up the river.
! first one a little ahead and Their 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. Elk
citing! Why, young man, there nothing
| on earth, or water, either, more exciting
| than a steamboat race-not only to people
| concerned IN navigation, but to all the
| public at large. Here is a little squirt be-
! tween two boats for PATRONAGE little
water tight-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 tele-
graph Office a dispatch is sent. and we are
all talking about the race that ism t a cir
cumstance to the racing of the good old
days of steambOating. When you see
boats lock, and 90 at lt-well, these boats
won t. that 5 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 o'clock on
Saturday afternoon. and the dispatches
| real that evening that the Fleetwood had
arrived at Madison at 2:42, and that at
Patriot. Ind, the two boats passed at Il 40
nose and nose, and both fighting for the
channel; so that between | and 2 o'clock
| they must have come together, that IS
locked horns. The excitement ran hiyh
ON both boats, says the dispatch, 'tae
men enjoying the situation, while the
| 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 one of her wheels struck some
logs and was badly broken. as also one of
the LOG chains as braces supporting
the wheel and wheel-house. The pasSeng-
ers of the New South claim that. when
they steamed under the suspension bridge
the Fleetwood had eighteen minutes the
start, and the locking horns at eighty or
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 or ten years old. The mail
line officials claimed that their boat was
stiff; 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 a severe tussle cOping back. Fortu-
nately or unfortunately the rival was dis
abIed, 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 all to pieces.
How do boats lock horns, Captain p
The Telegraph No. 2, another famous
boat of the Mail Line, took President Tay-
or in 1915 to Pittsburg through the ice
! The Jacob Sterder, built at Cincinnati in
June, 1858. That was a big year for boats
Size was $50 feet, 81 feet broad, 81 floor,
~ hold She was low pressure. She
had two l6-fue boilers, Is 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 III the east There
water is more reliable and deeper
Boats are better models there. aren't
they
Yes. Our western boats are not built
on much model at all. Our wheels are well
aft; theirs well forward | was going up
the Hudson one day on the Willard. OF
| course | wanted to see all about me. so
nosed around. But | was puzzled. /
couldn t see where the bone was. Don t
understand that, do you? Well, you know
the stem IF a boat first cuts the water and
! lays it open, then there ism t any break in
| the water until where the fullness of the
hull ismet Then this shoulder hits the
water and causes d swell and there is a
long streak of white flaring out from each
side of the boat. and it reminds one of Il
dog running with lone 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 so
smoothly? ! knew that their boats were
bettered modelled than ours, but couIdn t
understand that. The engineer finally en-
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 Fibbard 5
| hull had a cle2n sweep and went through
the water like ii streak. Oh. their models
there are simply perfect. They ride the
water like 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 fastesl.
Here's the Gen. Pike, in 1919. ran from
Louisville to Cincinnati in one day and
sixteen hours; the Wheeling packet. 1922.
in one day and ten hours; the MoSelle. in
1887, in twelve hours. Yes. she blew I'D
here. In 1910 the Ben Franklin No. s.
in eleven hours and forty-fve minutes. and
the Telegraph No. ,. in 1858. in nine
hours and ifty-two minutes In 1853. the
Eclipse and ShotweI made their famou,
time from New Orleans to Louisville in
four days. niue hours and twenty-nine
minutes This time has never been beaten
| The J. NJ. White. in lS44. made the time
to Carlo from New Orleans in three DAYS.
SIX hours and forty minutes This was
not beaten until 1870, when the r. Z. Lee
made it in three days, one hour and ore
minute. The quickest time made from
New Orleans to Cincinnati was by the
Duke of Orleans. in lS43. IN FIVE DAYS and
/ eighteen hours. The next was by the
! Charles Morgan. in 1877. in six days.
eleven hours. The greatest steamboat
race ever known was between the R. E.
Lee and the Natchez IN 1870 from New
Orleans to St. Louis Tie Lees time was
three days twelve hours and fourteen
minutes. The Natchez made it in three
days. fourteen hours and FIVE minutes
| The whole country was bulletined with
that race. Ocean steamer racing does not
rouse the general excitement that steam
boat racing does. You see, the steam
beats can be kept sight OF all the way
They run a gauntlet of people and towns