The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-28
MISSISSIPPI RIVER STEAMBOATS,.
AZ Close Range There Isn't Much
Poetry About Them-Cheap Fares.


From the New York Tribune.
The Mississippi steamboat is a glorious
crhfe In history and fiction. but the
reality is rather disappointing. To the
eastern eye she looks decidedly topheavy,
extremely cheap and unspeakably dirty.
The average western river craft looks
like dwelling In shanty town at the end
Of hard winter. There is neither grace
nor power In her lines. She is both broK-
en-backed and hump-backed, IL those ex-
preston are allowable without mixing
metaphors.
The wharf is an unknown quantity IN
the life Of Mississippi skipper. When
he wants to make a landing he simply
swings his boat around with the bow
polnung partly up stream and partly to
the shore, and calmly pushes her nose
gangplank, about nifty feet In length. Is
swung out from the forward deck ana
a 'roustabout' runs along on II while II
IS Sun suspended IN the air, to be ready to
drop on the ground the moment the outer
end touches the bank. He carries a diiapi-
dated hawser which he makes fast to the
nearest convenient tree, ana the contin-
ued working OF the steamboats, engines
holds her nose against tho bank and over
comes the action OF the rivers current,
which otherwise would sweep the boat
down stream. hawser or no hawser For
short landings the formality of a hawser
Is dispensed with.
The hull Of the Mississippi boat of or
binary size is built very lightly. She Is
fiat-bottomed and draws little over a foot
Of water Her guards are only a few
feet above the waters edge. Her upper
works consist of two or more stories,
built on the general plan of the picnic
barge architecture. The main cabins or
the big New Orleans liners are long ana
tawdrily decorated with cheap paint. The
whole construction is one which would be
knocked into cooked hat in thirty min
utes If II ventured out TO the Sandy Hook
light ship, or II IL even tried TO go uyi
Long Island sound on rough night
The machinery of the western river craft
Is equally ungainly 10 the eastern eye
The great majority Of boats have one big
paddle-wheel at the stern. after the man
ner of the humble wheel-barrow. Others.
principally the ferry and harbor boats,
have one big wheel mounted In the center
OF the boat and housed in These two con-
structions are both designed to avoid the
enormous logs Of floating driftwOod which
dot the surface of the river after each
rise OF the water level. Some Of the cheap-
er excursion boats have paddlewheels at
the sides, but they frequently have to
slow down when approaching the more
than usually dense section Of this inland
Saragossa Sea, or lose half the buckets
on their paddle-wheels.
When the boats have side paddle-wheels
they are mounted on short shafts and OPP
Grated by individual engines, so that when
the skipper, in maneuvering his boat, can
back one wheel and go ahead with the
other swinging the craft on its axis. The
engines are high pressure, with long wood
en- connecting rods, and curiously con-
structed 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 a Dutch oven. Soft
coal is burned exclusively, and there are
long, narrow sheet-iron smOkestacks, with
more or less gaudy decorations, from the
top Of which dense volumes of black smoke
are continuously rolling. The boats are
slow. one that makes eleven miles an
hour is considered a clipper.
The cost Of operation is small. as can
be seen from the fact that the trip from
St Louis TO New Orleans and return, oc-
cupying nearly two weeks, costs the trav-
eler only about $40 for fare, meals and
berth. The run from st. Louis to st. Paul
and return, occupying week or more.
can be made for $12. Freight cars loaded
with coal are frequently run on to floats
and towed from Pittsburg down the Ohio
and up the Mississippi to st. Louis for
less cost than they could be sent over the
rails.