The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-05-13
4 MISSISSIPPI BOAT.
Description OF Ono of tho Great River
Packets.

peecription OF Ono of tho Great Rfver
1.-The City of Providence was one OF
a long line of Mississippi boats efging
the broad, clean, sloping levee that
fronts busy St Louis. She was by far
the largest and handsomest OF the pack
cts: but all are of one type, and that is
worth describing. They are, far as
remember, all painted white, md are
very broad and low. Each carries two
tall black tunnels, capped witt bulg-
;no ornamental top, and caring on
rods swung between the funaels the
trade mark of the company cut out OF
sheet iron; an anchor or an initial let
ter. a fox or q swan, or whatever.
There are three or four stories to these
boats: first the open main-aeck for
freight, and for the boilers and engines;
then the walled-in saloon-deek, with a
row OF windows and doors cut alter
nately close beside one another. and
with profuse ornamentation by means
of iip-saw work wherever 1t can be putt
and, last of all, the texas, or officers
quarters, and the bureau or negro
passengers cabin forming the third
story. Most of the large boats have
the big square pilot house on
ton of the texas, but others carry |
it as part OF the third story in
front of the texas The pilothouse is
| ALWAYS made to look graceful by means
of an upper fringe of jig saw ornament
and usually carries deer's head or
nair of antlers in front of it Wewould
call it enormous, a great square room
with space in it for stove chairs the
I wheel, the pilots, and, in more than one
boat that saw, a sofa or cushion laid
! over the roof of the gangway from be-
low. The sides and back of the house
are made principally of sliding window
sashes The front of the house, through
which the pilots see their course, is
closable by means of door hinged into
sections and capable of being partially
or fully opened as the state of the
weather permits The wheel of one of
these great packets Is very large, and
! vet light. 1t is made asif an ordinary
eastern or northern wheel had been put
in place and then its spokes had grown
, two feet beyond its rim, and had had
another rim and handles added. There
: are many sharp bends In the river. and
I afterward often saw the pilots using
q both hands and one foot to spin the big
!. circle, like pin-wheel until the rud-
, der was hard over on whichever side
|, they wanted it.
\ "These Mississippi packets OF the trst
> and second class are very large boats,
and roominess is the most striking
characteristic of every part of them.
!. They look light frail, and infiamma'
= BILE, and so they are The upright posts
: that rise from the deck of such a boat,
n to support the saloon-aeck, are mere lit
= tie sticks, and everything above them,
. except the tunnels, is equally slender
; and thin These boats are not ike
n ours at any point Of their makeup
n They would seem to a man from the
n coast not to be the handiwork OF ship
:. builders; indeed, there has been no ap
= parent effort to initiate the massive
n beams, the peculiar knees the freei,
!. distributed sbrightwork OF polished
brass, the neat, sold homework, o.
the thousand and one tricks OF con
= struction and ornament which distin
- guish the work of our coast boat build
" ers. These river boats-and includ
all the packets that come upon tn
- Mississippi from its tributaries-ar
L. more like the work of carpenters an
= house builders. 1t is as II their mode
!. had been slowly developed from tina
:. of barge to that of a house boa
- or barge with o roof over it; ther
" as if a house for passengers had bee
=, built on top of the first root, ana tn
co texas and 'bureau' had followed o
nc the second roof. Pictures of the pasl
us cts scarcely show how unlike our boa
- these are; the difference being in tt
'o- methods of workmanship. Each stol
is built merely of sheathing, and in Il
-, best boats the doors and fanlights a
al hing ON without frames around theI
IN all loose and thin, as if they never
re- countered cold weather or bad storm
sP All the boats that / saw are as near
40 alike, in all respects, as if ono man n
leo built them was told that the gre
er. paekets cost only seventy thousand
OF one hundred thousand dollars, so tn
VIII the mere engine in frst-class Allan
are coast river or sound boat is seen to
I'M, of more value than one of these hu
'es- packets, and prime reason for t
sm difference in construction suggests
be self. But do not mean to criticise,
lna these great, comfortable vessels ser
'si their purpose where ours could not
used at all, and are altogether so u
its fnl and appropriate, as well as pict'
GUS esque and attractive to an eastern mi
dis that there is not room in my mind
in aught but praise of them. JUL
rem Ralph, in Harper's Magazine.
Ids, ----
rye, FIRE AS AN ENEMY.
The
zen what 1t Has swept Away within Hist