The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-03-15
WABASH RIVER DAYS
MUCH TRAVEL AND TRAFFIC. BY
STEAMBOAT IN EARLY TINES.
The Was the Main Channel
Ascended rs Far as Lafayette.

(0RAC 1ANC A4A8AA ~ A0OH
back and contrast the present with the past
The world is continually changing, and ole
customs and methods that were once in
vogue have given way to new inventions
and more advanced ideas. The past is his.
tory made, the present, history in the max
ing, and the future. history that is to be.
We are uncertain of the future, but of the
past there can be no doubt. And treasured
up in the past OF our own State is much un-
written history that one can spend much
profitable time in examining and studying.
Thus 1t is that / ask you to pause for a few
minutes and take a glance backward with
me for the long period of sixty years to
study thesmethods and transporting facilities
Of our ancestors in the old river days of
our State, which are now numbered with
the past.
Travelling in those long past days was at
tended by many dangers and hardships. A
journey consumed much time, and it was
very inconvenient to travel. A journey to
st. Louis, for instance, or to Cincinnati or
Louisville or New Orleans, was considered a
remarkable event. The stage coach and
pack-horse was the means to go overland,
but IL one wished to go more pleasantly he
usually embarked on a steamboat at some
port and went by way of the rivers. The
Wabash river was the main channel by
which commercial intercourse was carried
on between the Indianians and the outside
world. True it Is that pack-horses and stage
coaches were also a means of travel, but,
as / have said, the river was the principal
means of conveyance for both goods and pas
sengers. Every week or so steamboats, from
Pittsburg, Louisville. Cincinnati and New
Orleans would make regular landings at
Vincennes, and would pass up the river as
far as Lafayette. In fact, one of these YES
sells plying between Pittsburg and the towns
ON the Ohio and the Wabash, went up the
latter river in 1890 TO within eight miles
OF Logansport. This was about sixty miles
further up than any steamboat had then
assembled. The Virginian, Paragon. Lady
Franklin. Highlander. Paul Pry and Tippe-
canoe were the names of a few Of these
steamboats,. Shawneetown and York in ILL.,
nois and V~incennes, Terre Haute, Lafayette
and Logansport in Indiana were the prin-
cipal ports on the Wabash for these steam
ers.
1t was the practice for the receiver of pub
lie moneys at Palestine, H., to journey to
Louisville, KY, where he deposited the funds
Of his office in the United States Bank at
that place. While on his way there for that
purpose in the spring of 1880 he was robbed
by the mate of the Highlander, on which
steamer he was a passenger. The robber
succeeded in obtaining the sum of 81, 600,
but he was afterwards captured and the
money recovered.
Some of the merchants at vnicennes in the
early thirties owned their own flatboats and
these they would load with merchandise and
send down and up the river to the ~neighbor-
ing river towns. where the goods would be
consigned. On March u. 1880. a violent wind
from the south ragged all day at Shawnee
town, ILL.,. and did a great deal of damage TO
these barges, and one OF them. owned by
Mr.. John Wise. a Vince Lnes merchant, was
sunk with a large part OF its cargo. which
consisted of lard and bacon. Flat and keel
boats were damaged. and as there was an
unusual number of boats at that port that
day great loss was sustained. The waves
were said to have been from three to ten
feet high. extremely high for the Wabash.
LIVELY BUSINESS.
Steamboating on the Ohio, Mississippi and
Wabash rivers was very active sixty years
ago. 1t was more so, 1 suppose. than it is
to-day. certainly more so ON the Wabash.
The railroad has been a great factor in the
decline Of steamboating. and so was the
agitation in regard to canals, which was the
ruling passion many years ago. About the
year 1S4S steamboating on the Wabash began
to decline. 1t was a usual occurrence at
vincennes. Lafayette and other ports on the
Wabash to see steamers arriving with
freight and passengers from Pittsburg, Gin
cinnati. Louisville and New Orleans, as we'll
as from other river towns on the Ohio and
Mississippi. AT night the songs of the river
men as some steamer was moving slowly on
the water could be heard, and long after
the boat had passed the dying notes of the
river songs would be waited back until
family, and still more family, they died
away entirely.
Washington Irving was a passenger on a
steamboat, an Indiana boat at that. going
down the Mississippi in 1892. He was bound
for Vicksburg, and after the report was
spread that Irving was aboard everybody
wished to see him. as his writings had made
him famous. He was found dressed in a
gray frock, lying on top of some cotton bales
and watching the hands work while they
sang:
"Hoosher boat and Hoosher crew,
The captain he's a Hoosher, too"
Everybody expected TO find Irving dressed
In broadcloth, and several gentlemen were
taken for him before he was found attired
in an old gray frock stretched out on the
cotton bales.
Travelling by steamboat was more pleasant
than is travelling now by trains. As the boat
moved on the water the cabin was alive to
the wit and humor of the passengers, who
whiled away the time most pleasantly. Every
now and then some remark would set the
crowd a roaring. An old lady was on board
a down boat one day, and one of the pas
sengers. in speaking of a steamer, remarked
that "she had twelve berths in her ladies'
cabin For the lands sakel' exclaimed
the old lady. throwing up both her hands in
utter establishment, what a squalling there
must have been.' The cabin was conyulsed
with laughter. very much to the chagrin of
the old lady.
Steamboat travel was not all pleasur,
however, and was not wholly unattended by
danger. The engine was usually the walk
ing-beam kind, with a heavy fly wheel, and
appalling accidents have been recorded of
passengers losing their lives in the engine
room. Passengers always had access to all
parts OF the boat, and once in awhile some
careless one would get too near the fly
wheel, with the result that the unfortunate
passenger would be caught in 1t and rs
body torn from the limbs and most horribly
mangied. An accident Of this kind hap
pened at Shawneetown, ILL.,, in the spring of
1884. and was not by any means the only
one Then, again, explosions were fre-