The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-25
BOATING ON THE BIG SANDY.
At Low Water Each Boat is Drawn
by Two Yoke of Wading oxen.

From the CT nClnnau Tribune.
Catettsburg. Ky.--The Big Sandy is the
most ludicrous river on earth. Not even
the Missouri in high-1vater moods and tan
trums equals this 4Ol-mile-long stream,
whose utmost headw alters come from
points very near the North Carolina line.
1t is a saucy. insolent nItle stream down
10 Pineville, Vociferous when The rains ill
ITS narrow way, snarling and gnaWing at
Its stony banks and digging great holes in
MS muddy bottom But a. PlneVlile u
changes. The bed grows wider and is sand
plagued. The banks are low and crumble
easily. From PineVille to Cat T.attsburg the
river twists about and sports with the sand
tnat Keeps continually piling u y IN al sorts
OF undesirable places in the hannel or
dropping out of sight to puzzl . the pilot
at critical point. The channel IS never IN
the same place two days in succestlon, ana
sometimes it changes morning. n con, ana
night. But there has never been serious
disaster to a steamboat on that stream,
which plays clown with its sand . no is
always muddy-faced, and even in hood
time proves a friend to thousands.
The Big Sandy is the highway to a y the
far-back counties in Northeastern 5 en-
lucky. 1t carries what little produce the
farmers up that way have and returns
very nearly every dollars worth of gEo-
ceries dry goods, and all the other co. u
modities that a population of 10000 neeC s.
steamer navigation covers about tiN
months in the year. Good rates are main
tanned and nVe good months on Sandy
means big money to boat owners, who in
the other months rent their boats to Ohio
river companies when that stream gets
A Big Sandy boat is differently built
from other steamboats,. and, like the river,
is subject for jokes in other waters. Bur
In the stream for which 1t is built 1t Just
fits. 1t is always dat-bottomed. A steam
er to trade on the Big Sandy must not
draw over. eight inches. The steamer
must also be very squat The berths are
usually on the same deck as the boiler,
but there are floating palaces on the San
dy that have two decks and a texas on
top. The most frequent steamer, however,
is the little stern-wheeler known as a
Fly up the creek" 1t is a fiat-bOttOmed
boat, 16 feet long, the sides built straight
up from the walls of the barge on which
it rests. The width is 8 feet. and a bit
of a wheel about feet in diameter is the
pusher. The boiler is two or four horse
power upright affair; the cabin contains
no staterOoms and no meals are served.
The smokestack reminds one of the play
tile hats clowns wear sometimes and tho
pilot house about as big as s. refriger-
ator. There is one window, about s by
II inches, on each side of the cabin, and IL
carries only way passengers, light packa-
ges, and often ferries people from one
side of the river to the other
But the king of all the boats on the
Sandy, the favorite Of the plebeian, the
delight Of those with means, is the push-
boat. 1t came on the river when the In
dians We're yet here, and until this fab
boat is 100 feet long, 8 feet wide. anu
draws. when loaded with from $50 to 300
tons, about 8 inches. 1t is flat-bOttOmed,
and both bows turn up some thing like a
gondola, and along each side, hanging
above the water, runs a plank walk Z
inches wide the entire length of the boat
The crew of such boat consists of the
captain, an extra man, and eight stalwart
pushers When the boat is ready TO
start the captain takes his place at the
rudder, and the eight men, four on eacn
side, stand close together AT the signal
TO go the puSherS put their metaltoed
poles, fifteen feet long, to the bottom of
A : a 80
the first two, still pushing, lift their feet
as if walking until the rear end of the
boat comes along. Then they hurry to
the front and again push. the other three
couples going through the same labor.
Eighteen miles in twelve hours is what
good crew will take a boat. There IS
very little current In the Sandy, even
when the floods are on. The water runs
| in circles not strong enough TO act as
stream very nearly as rapidly as down
At one time there We're over one hundred
pushboats on the Sandy, of which nearly
all We're the property of five companies,
| the others being Independents" There
was much racing and rivalry. This line
| of boats the most costly of which cost
| less than $780, earned over 100000 each
season.
All summer drought scorched the Sandy
| valley and the stream sank into the
| earth, and was the victim of the sun I'M
! Ill now il has become mere rivulet, and
| the pushboat has for weeks been almost
nothing but a memory
I At the present time the absence of the
push-boat is causing much suffering. and
unless there is rain both hunger and lack
of clothing will affiict many hundreds of
families
/ The principal export besides lumber is
| sorghum molasseS. Last year the push
I boats and steamboats, carried $500 bar
rels Of sorghum out of the valley The
/ producers We're paid q cents per gallon.
delivered at the river banks. Each barrel
| contains forty-two gallons, and is worth
$n.76. This year not one thousand bar
/ rels have gone out, and the price has fall
/ len to II cents a gallon. Several specula-
/ tors at Catlettsburg are buying consider
able of producers who must have money
/ but here is no telling when the boats can
/ run. The necessity for a transfer of some
/ kind to take a lot of groceries to some
/ up-river points induced two Wholesale
! grocers to load two pushboats, which are
I being drawn up Sandy by four woke of
/ oxen, two to each vessel The vessels
will require ten to fifteen days to reach
/ Pneville. The boats are sent to relieva
a coffee and meat shortage rather than to
/ make money.
The Duke Of Westminster himself has
/ not anything like an exact idea of what
I his London property. if il We're ZOO li----S