The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-17
THE SWIFT CHATTANOOGA.
a TRIP ny RITER BBTWEBN 0EoR-
! dANDALABAMA TO CoLUMBUS.

for River Honta = Roustnbouts Will
.,od Muscles but Foor Memories
BItSpRtpGr, Ga, May 12.-This Is one OF IN,
few reni old fashioned Southern towns that on,
finds In travelling through this part Of thu
South. Most of the places are ns new and fresh
ns towns In the North. hut II takes only n glanc,
at cambridge to see that 1t stands now very
much Ms II stood In 1850, except that protrud-
ing glass fronts have been built to some OF the
old brick stores. These modern windows are
looked upon with pardonablc pride by the In
habltants. who regard them as distinct evil
denccs Of adj yanccment.
10 teila Bainbrldgo man. ut lenst q Bainbridge
business man, that II is An old-fashioned place,
II to arouse his ire. HEDGES not grasp tho fact
that a man Just from the spick and span sub
urban towns OF the Sorth, all odorous Of fresh
paint and stained shingles. looks upon an old
town with pleasure and affection. But there
are people In Buinbridgc who nro proud to have
It said that the place Is Just ns It was fifty years
ago. They 1.-Two In substantial old houses stand
ing In big grounds. and arc not troubled by the
march of Improvement. There arc said to he
more comfortably situated descendants Of old
Southern families hero than In any other town
OF its size in south Georgia; and q look at the
town and It's people bears out tho statement.
TO walk down two blocks from the Court
House Is to reach the high eastern bank OF
u hAu " Nv h'hAh iohk
far below. rapid and picturesque. The street,
like all tho cambridge streets, is shaded with
fine old oaks. Eut. on returning to the hotel,
the only one here, the visitor must he careful
not to step upon the third or fourth boards In
tho platform In front, for they nre unsafe.
Most OF the other boards are shaky, but they
still bear n man of moderate weight. To find n
real antc-bcllum hotel the traveller need go no
further. The very sand upon the Office floor
N,uw Ia, az ham uYripGIaI flnrn hafppn Gpp,far
was fired upon. Certainly. the windows were
last washed BY q slave.
These are small matters. however. and Balm
bridge Is a handsome, old -fashioned place, and
contains, rs an outside Georgian expressed It,
"some mighty good people, The Saturday
night rush. when the planters and their EN-
ployees come to town to spend their money,
shows that it stands In n prosperous country.
Here the Savannah. Florida and Western Rail-
road ends. and the Alabama Midland begins.
TO reach Chattahoochee from here. unless he
goes down the Flint by boat. the traveller takes
n train to Climax, which il better known as
cambridge Junction, and thence goes by q branch
road to Chattahoochee. about thirty miles. This
branch connects the Louisville and Nashville
road with the Plant system. and so makes
a through line from New Orleans to Savan-
nah and jacksonville. Once at Chattahoochee
station the traveller must not imagine that
he Is ready to take the boat; far from II. The
rive- landing. as 1t Is called. is only about two
miles away, but It Can be reached neither on
foot nor by carriage. 1t is a little island formed
by a branch OF the river Except when the water
Is very low. and the iron bridge OF the Louis
vile and Nashville Railroad towers high in the
air above 1t. To reach the landing from the
station one must take a Louisville and Nash
vile train to a dizzy platform high above the
water and descend by many wooden steps to q
rluffnrn near tho river InvaI ~hara atanJa al,
many muddy stills a building that Is at once
freight office. waiting room. telegraph office,
and hotel.
Just above the landing. and in plain sight
from the platform. the Flint River dashes into
the Chattahoochee. and the two together form
the Apalachicola. The platform. with the
buildings upon 1t, is raised about ten feet above
the ground on piles: and the mud on the piles
and The washed condition Of the ground show
that when the river Is high the station and ho-
tel are very nearly afloat.
side of Chattahoochee ard cambridge landings,
but not so well from the boat. From the deck
that the boat runs disdalnfully past the plank
landing place prepared for her. past the steps
bow into the muddy bank further up stream
and puts out "A plank. a man Is out OF his ele-
cross-conntry runner and O skilful walker OF
Abovo Chattahoochee the river Is narrower.
and the landings far more numerous. In Florida
IL flows through a vast forest Of cypress. which.
down by the water. degenerates into a swamp.
quence. and the solitary cabins OF the wood
choppers, hoisted generally on sticks, do not
the choppers like their little joke as well as
anybody. They not only cut cypress lumber for
I" sell to passing steamboats,, and pile il up in
long straight heaps On some dry SPOT on the
men do not hesitate to ask for a few
fiSe cent" "%" a s siT"s' Wien Il Sasi fuel r MSo short or e os Sp the
piles on the bank. and Captain and purser neeoe
tiMts VII the woooman; not about the price
ure. Tie captain carries an G' .i aG%u FOOT saG p %sH to
measure OH the cords, and there 10 generally
some "Ss GSSSl on' cs to he S,t d1n" , 6 %a Is r ,si, measure ssS.
s gsda 5as, h III 4srf f. ,sT = d, he 4 ohopOsrs' but
chez hoe. the i%,' Vest % back it' In ERHPssiI6ns aS oahn .hs sS9,
passed, and for the remainder OF the way to
Columbus the river runs between Georgia and
the boat nearer to the heart Of that great strip
Of e, roUnt ~, known a. the cotton bell" and the
corn, black men more plenty than wh lite" TIN TfHs
shnros!er Of The shore. changes; and titled
ssoi"glf'aal formation. "" iIof s"oS and 0's sheTe s%s
sp%n""fiss ,na %%%nss' On no .t mSI' % xsso9 ans isnl.
Ing tho boat takes on freight to be
landed AZ the next. and the roustabOnts are kept
busy. The thousand bngs 81 fertilizer taken on
Al hattahoochee are put ashore at a big plan
tati"n. some planter, who has been waiting for
better prices. hns twenty bales Of cotton at his
private landing 10 be- carried to tho railway,
Another rlanter is waiting for something that
does not come, He stands expectantly on tina
bank. his own bank. mud seeing that the boat is
not going TO stop, he calls out:
Got anything for me -
"No-o-O!" the purscr answers. and the boat
goes on.
re y more conslderate than the other planter
VINO stands on the bank further MP and frsntl.
cally waves Ais arms for the boat TO stop. With
q PROSPECTIVE passenger In sight the boat does
the plank put out,
,mGnt, any fertilizer aboard - the man asks.
N,!' says the CAPTAIN. very cmplatiCally:
ana tho man says iIunphl" and turns away
ths captain makes remarks. and the boat backs
out and goes on.
Not far above. Alaga, on the Alabama shors.
slnnns u relic of the rast, II is ~ big old piantn.
tlon hoi'se that needs no documents To certify
70 ils age. There are few houses 30 large along
inc whole river. few that have been So badly
neglected., ATuDnrpntly a. iG inInhttal 49,, ~.