New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-09-22
MISSISSIPPI RTJ'ER STEAMBOATS,

AT CLOSE RANGE THERE ISN'T MUCH POETRY
ABOUT TIfEM-o1IEAP FARES.
Tho Mississippi steamboat Ia n glorious craft In
history and fiction but the reality s rather dlsap-
pointing. To the Eastern eye she looks decidedly
topheavy extremely cheap and unspeakably dirty.
Tho average Western river craft looks like n
dwelling IN shanty-town at the end Of a hard win
ter. There IL neither grace nor power In her lines
She II both broken-backed and hump-backcd II
those expressions allowable without mixing
metaphors.
The wharf is an unknown quantity In the life OF
a Mississippi skipper. When he wants to make n
landing he simply swings his boat around, with the
bow pointing partly up stream and partly TO the
shore and calmly pushes her nose against the mud
dy bank. An immense gangplank about nifty feet
in length. Is swung out from the forward deck and
n "roustabout" runs along It while It Is still sus-
pended In the air. TO be ready TO drop the ground
the moment the outer end touches the bank. lie
carries a dilapidated hawser which he makes fast
10 the nearest convenient tree. and the continued
working OF the steamboats, engines holds her nose
against the bank and overcomes the action OF the
rivers current. which otherwise would sweep tho
boat down stream hawser hawser. For short
landings the formallty of hawser IL dispensed
with.
The hull Of the Mississippi boat OF ordinary size
Is built very lightly. She Is flat-bottomed and draws
little over a foot OF water. Her guards are only a
consist Of two stories. built on the general
plan of the picnic barge architecture. The main
cabins OF the big Sew-Orleans liners are long and
tawdrily decorated with cheap paint. The whole
construction is which would be knocked into
a cooked hat In thirty minutes II 1t ventured out
TO the Sandy Hook Lightship. II 1t even tried TO
go up Long Island Sound on a rough night
The machinery OF the Western river craft Is
equally unganly 10 the Eastern eye. The great
ma joriy Of boats have big paddle wheel at the
stern. after the manner OF the humble wheel-bar-
row. Others principally the ferry and harbor boats
have one big wheel mounted In the centre OF the
boat and housed in. These two constructions are
both designed to avoid the enormous logs OF float
ing drftwood which dot the surface OF the river
after each rise OF the water level Some OF the
cheaper excursion boats have paddle-whees at the
sides but they frequently have to slow down when
approaching the more than usually dense section
OF this inland Saragossa Sea, lose half the buck
cts on their padde-wheels.
When the boats have side paddle wheels they are
mounted on short shafts and operated by ndivId-
ual engines. that when the skipper In manoeuvr-
ing his boat can back one wheel and go ahead with
the other swinging the craft on It's axis The engines
are high pressure. with long wooden connecting
rods. and curiousy constructed valve gear. Each
engine has It's engineer and separate system Of
signal bells The boilers are on the main deck
elevated on legs like Dutch oven. Soft coal is
burned exclusively and there long narrow sheet
iron sIhokestacks. with more or less goudy deco
black smoke continuously rolling The boat
are slow. One that makes eleven miles an hour II
The cost OF operation In small az can be seen
from the fact that the trip from ST. Louis to New
orleans ana return occupying nearly two weeks
costs the traveller only about $40 for fare. meals
and berth. The run from ST. Louis 10 St. Paul and
return, occupying week or more. can be made
" run on to floats and towed from Pit,sburg down
the Ohio and up the Mississippi to ST. Louis for
less cost Than they could be sent over the rails