Arizona silver belt., 1894-12-15
A MARINE GRAVEYARD.
Where Many Mississippi River
 Steamboats Lie Buried.
The Fatal Locality h Which Many Pala- tlal Steamers Went DowD-,Names of Some Of tle Well-Remem-
 berrd Boats,

The recent discovery of sunlSon raft l,v Mayor Walbridqc in the channel of the river al,cvy the Chain of Rocks says the St Louis Globe Democrat will bring to the minds of many of our old steamboat mon the disasters that bcfell the marine craft of this city in that portion of the river now included in the harbor of St Louis, The char ter harbor of the city includes that stretch of the SlisNsslppi river be- tween the mouth of the Missouri and the mouth of the Mcrrimpc, That por- ton of the harbor under the care and control of the wharf and harbur com missioner lies between the Chain Of Rocks and thc Bjves des Pcres. From the upper mouth of the Missouri Co the foot of North Market street there are now lving under the silt and sands the wreclls of over sixty boats and barges. Many of these steamboats were the largest, best equipped and specdiest that ever walked the navigable water ways of the country. They were in reality marine palaces. such as thls generation has not seen.
 Sawyers bend was the fatal locality where nearly all these splendid craft fouudered and settled under che shift inc sands of the treacherous channel. Among the boats that were lost many now living win recall the following: York State, Southerner, Mary Blon, Highland Mary, Grace Darling, Ale gheuy, Federal Arch, C: Buln, Huba. Baltimore, John E. Carson, Philadcl- phia. Edinburg, Challenge, Moderator, Nebraska, Sioux City, White Cloud. Omaha, New Admiral, Geneva, Warsaw Empire City, Gov. SharEey, submarine No. 10, Saranac No ?, War Eagle Ben Johnson, Gerard E. Allen, Fanny Scott Henry Adkins, Columbia Silvcr Bow R. J. Lockwood, Wild Duck Nile, Vic toria, Champion, Blue Lodge Calhoun, Alma, Central City, Raven, Salvor ]. ", Garrett, Hudson. Beaver John F.. Keiser, Pacific, Lulu Worth, COrnelia and Badger State.
 The above we're sunk between the years 1855 and 1888. In addition to these there were twenty burgcs lost north of Bissell's point within the same year No record was kept of Che saw yer" or cut lumber rafts that were lost south of Alton, but it has been esti- mated that the aggregate value was over q million dollars, Only two of the above named boats, the Caiisodn and Alma, were raised, The boues of all tho others lie many feet beneath the sands. peuifying under tie action of tao waters The actual loss in marine property to the merchants of Nt. Louis bv the sinking of these boats was over five million dollars. l. is sad com
 ncntarg uPoH the action of conEress in its failure to provide adequate means for the remoyal or the cause ot these disasters. and the general policy Of making only dribbling appropriations for river and hnrbof Improvements, that after 15G0 few, if any, of these | marine palaces were replaced with others Many of the owners in the lqss of this property lost not only all they had hut algo lost courage because of the increasing dangers to tho marine commerce of the immediate harbJr of | St. Lnuis.
 To add to the pathetic story of these ] disasters, many of them fat tu life, it might be stated in passing that during ! tte period named above tiftv-iivo splen- | did steamers were destroyed by fire | within the charter harbur of tGc city, | The hllls of many of them lie Justout- | side of the present water line and form the retaining dil;c for the granite wharf Many of the rrandfathCrs and ! grandnJthCrs of to-day will remember ! with varying emotions their bridal 1 trips on the James Howard the he- viathen the Bismarck, the Grand Re, | pubu- the Carrie ' [ouutz and others | cqaatlg d grand. The upper month | of the Ei ouri" within the past forty years, where it empties into the Mis. l si sipyi has chauEed it's locatlCu four | or five times, and it9 present mouth i7 | several miles south of the one that cX. ! istel a few years REQ. Opposite these | various mouths, and for one mile south | ward, many of the disasters named | above occurred The outpouriug oi the | Missouri waters was swift inc eddies and currents were trcacherous and the ! snags and other obstructions 50 nuner. ous at that point that unusual care was necessary in order to avoid the fatal places.
 The conditions that existed in Saw. l yers bend forty years ago exist pfac- tically to-day, and are still a serious menace to the marine commerce of the city, with the added dangers to the important municipal and railroad in | tcrcsts that have grown with the re. quiremen.s of the water supply and tho transportation demands of great me- tropolis,
 | If the waters iu Sawyers bend could | be rolled backward, 3s she waters of the Red sea once were, and the sands cleared away and the skeletons of our former palatial steamers photographed, what 0 terrible object lesson would be conveyed from spot that is now the most thiclzly settled marine graveyard ! in the world.
 TWO TOUGH TALES.
 A Couple of Dr,,mmers Who Had strucL