The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-10-21

"say, what would you think OF going
49, an ono of the big Albany day Doats ana
UP her stop and set you ashore long |
nnouah to sell gun to countryman'
,hen nick you up again ana go on'
then t' cnestlon could he asked only by |
0uo ,,,ercial traveller. 1t would be I'M |
oo', -, him 10 say that tho little bottle of |
luso With half dollar table d'hoto din
WIN ado him talkative, because no is al |
.rovs talkative, always lhteresting' TOO
and full of good stories.
anu nI,nock YOU crazy, wouldn't it2" he |
It ON not expecting any answer be-
No - look of surprise. "Of course 1t
! OnJ,d But had just that thing happen
W. down on the Ohio river some weeks
" That's my country for business
az Ohio and the Mississippi basin and all
~. ~ other basins in that region. It's about
W.. wv Gnest racket that any travelling man
~ Ills country has too. / take boat at
nittshnre. and with two changes l go
IN through to New Orleans, putting in
iittIe time at every town on the way l
.al,on four or five weeks for the trip and
trom eiaht to ten trips year.
.Tbere are-well, can't say just how
-, NJ us work the river boats. never
i ntv;te n boat without meeting two or three
othors and. to draw it mild, / should say
.Soro were several hundred It's just like
profession, the river business is-takes
iorg time TO get into 1t, but when you
orce get there your solid. It's snap
LIN Won have the right line. You don't
,rant 70 90 down there selling French
oIocks or ball shippers, you know. In
INV line-light hardware, cutlery and fire.
rr,e-it's about as soft a berth as man
~onId crawl into. Come back by the riyerf
M course don't 1t would take me, say,
month TO get from New Orleans to Gin
cinnati by boat, and that would DO
month wasted.
~ make up my list and have the goods
boved and shipped to Pittsburg about
tbroo DAYS before l am ready to start. My
business is not in full swing till | get TO
cincinnati. That's where the big Ohio
river packets start from, and TO one OF
tbern nv goods are TRANSPORTED l don't
90 through to New Orleans on that boat,
onlv TO Memphis, because tho Ohio river
boats don't make many stops after they
get into the Mississippi.
"No matter what boat / take from Gin
cinnati, there's sure to be queer lot or
Messengers on her. Nobody is supposed
10 travel by the boats nowadays who can
afford to ride in the cars. Last time down
was right in the swamper season, and we
had about 30 of them on board. You q
think from their appearance that the
swampers were lot Of daredevil cowboys
hungry for fight, but they're not
There's always work to be had In the
swamps of Louisiana, especially along the
Red river, cutting lumber for barrel slaves
and shingles, and when winter comes on
in the north hundreds of farmer boys In
Ohio and Indiana and Illinois go down In
the boats and put in a winters work in
the swamps. They're the swampers.
They're great on guns and pistols and
knives not for fighting, but to give them
real sporty appearance, suppose, and
work nv cards to sell them all l can. It's
very much like peddling, to be sure.
Sometimes 1 sell as much as 5000 or $500
worth on the boat between Cincinnati and
Memphis The swampers haven't got any
money, but pay with orders on their EN-
ployers.
"This work on the boat of course is only
side show My main business Is In the
towns How long the boat stops at place
depends entirely upon how much freight
there Is TO take on. At least it's supposed
to depend on that, but sometimes 1t de
ponds more upon the commercial traveller
on board, as you shall see. We're ap
preaching Shawneetown, on the lllinoi
Shore let us say, and when we get VI
close enough we see that there's very littl
freight for us, not enough to keep u
more than 10 or Is minutes. There are
we'll say, four commercial men on board
and we all want to spend two or thre
hours in Shawneetown. We get righ
down into our pockets and pull out abou
dollar apiece and put the money wher
1t will do the most good, no matter where
but somehow the boat is delayed, and W
do our business on shore. At the mex
landing there may be enough freight {
keep us four or five hours, and we don
have to spend any money there.
Il was going to tell you about stoppin
the boat and setting me ashore while
sold gun to couDtryman. don't SUI
pose such thing could happen anywhel
in the world except along the Ohio rive
We were poking along one morning pre-
ty close to the Kentucky shore somewhel
between Owensboro and Evansville. III
river is very wide there and in some place
almost six feet deep. l was up on I'll
Texas deck leaning against one OF u
pilot house windows talking to the ca
vain Wnen nappeneu 10 sec al oiu o"o
walking along the shore with gun ov
his shoulder. The captain was a gre
friend of mine, and just for joke L sa
to him, Say, cap, wish you'd stop Il
boatwhile l go ashore and sell that fello
decent gun
We'll, sir, the words were hardly o.
OF my mouth before the captains han
was on the whistle cord, and the old thii
gave most unearthly screech. 1t W
the big whistle, you understand, that tn
blow only when they're going to make
landing. Most of these boats carry "
whistles-ono for ordinary use and al
bolical one of about :, 900 horsepower
let people know they're going TO make
landing The old fellow on shore act
surprised, but he was no more surpris
than was. They set me ashore, and
oraced the old hunter, and in Nigh
short order / sold him breechloadi
shotgun l had to wait nearly half
hour, too, while he went UP to his hot
TO get the money. When | got back to
BOAT, they started her up again, and aw
We went Now York Sun.