Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-04-06
THE ILLINOIS RIVER.
Scenes That Never Varied, Yet Were Al
ways Keplete with Excitement.


Scenes That Never Varied, Yet Were Al
ways Eeplete with Excitement.
Beautiful and varied is the country
through which the Illinois river creeps
in its winding channel to join the Fa-
ther of Waters. From its junction with
the Illinois and Michigan canal to the
Mississippi Is counties contribute to its
boundaries All of these counties are
rich in fertile lands. heavy timbers or
mineral deposits Time was, and not so
long ago, when each of these counties
boasted q flourishing village on the
banks of the Illinois river Steamers,
packets as they were called in those
flourishing days, moved mp stream and
down, one, sometimes two, each way
daily From Peoria to st. Louis, inclnd-
ing stops for freight and passengers at
intermediate stations, was journey OF
two or three days Each boat made q
round trip in week. Everybody trav-
elcd by boat Mails and freight for in
land points in central and southern Hi
nois were dumped at landings near
est TO their point of destination at all
hours of day or night. River men were
princes of fortune, who drew enormous
salaries and were looked up to and re-
vered as superior creatures who lived in
the big world outside the river villages
Every town along the river doomed,
saloons were numerous, and house and
stores were built on piles if the village
happened TO be located in spot sub
ject to overflow. There was no limit to
the enterprise of the land owner nor the
height of the piles Every body scram-
bled to locate nearest the steamboat
landing The woodman, with score of
wagons laden with fuel; the farmer and
huckster with cartful of vegetables,
eggs and dairy products; the merchant
and idler, the maid and youth and
school children were always at the land
ing when the big steamer with final
chaw -chaw of the exhaust pipes and last
revolution of the paddle blades swung
easily against the piling atthe big ware
house dock.
~ iCi0g anu plOidliC ln0ltt thC
scores of colored deckhands, the vocifer-
Gus cries of hucksters, the murmurs Of
admiration for the captain, who always
stood on the texas clad in gold braided
uniform, with his hand on the rope at
tached to the clapper Of the big bell
all these were part of the scene at the
arrival of every steamer. Then the cap
tain would become impatient and pull
the clappor of the big bell viciously
against its brazen sides. The mate in
dulged in more profanity pitched in
louder tone, while the shutting negroes
would forget their droning for brief
time and hasten their laggard steps.
The pilot, autccrat of the steamer,
peered lazily from the windows of his
little cabin, shifted his wheel, touched
little cord aboye his head, and from
the engine room came the sound of two
shrill whistles, warning to the engi
noer, who perhaps had clalnbered into
his hammock for short nap, that in
few minutes lines would be cast off ana
the boat would be ready 60 proceed to
the next landing
Day and night this scene never varied,
save that at night there were fewer
females and children the landing, but
the picturesqueness of the scene was
heightened by the braziers, big as a bar
rel, filled with pitch, pine and other in
1ammables, blazing fiereely and fur
nishing light for the work of lading
Those were the days when the Di Yer
non, George B. Mcclellan, Ruby, City
Of Pekin and other magnificent side
wheel steamers were in the river trade;
when the Ebaughs and the Ryders and
the Farwells owned and piloted these
floating palaces, made fortunes and were
the big men of the valley In those
days, too, the river was a navigable
stream for nine months of the year
Mighty floods changed the channel every
spring, while the early June rise made
the stream incognito to the shrewd-
est pilot. The rushing waters ate into
solid banks of enormous trees and tons
of earth. These would finally strand
with the subsistence of the waters. form
ing dangerous distractions and innu-
merable sand bars, The channel of to-
day would next week present an impene-
trable barrier to the river steamer. -
Beardstown Ills.) Letter in Chicago
Herald.