The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-06
(st. Louis Globe-Democrat.,

CSt- Louis GlObe-DemOcraI
The world hears a great deal Of the
dangers of the sea, but comparatively
little of those of the river, there being
an idea that, compared with the perils
which beset the sailor, those encOun-
tered by the boatmen are hardly worthy
of mention. That this view, however,
is based on a misapprehensiOn is evil
dent from a bare statement of facts.
There are men still in middle life who
remember seeing the Mississippi river
swarming with boats, crafts large and
small: over two hundred have at one
time, during the palmy days OF steam
boating, been moOred on the leVee front
of this city. and of the thousands Of
vessels which carried the freight and
travel Of the great valley ere the de-
velopment of the railroad, not one in
a hundred escaped fatal disaster. The
river bed is filled with wrecks. In one
small spot, at the head of Arsenal ISL
and, there are. covered by the waters
and treacherOuS sands Of the river, the
remains Of seven noble steamers. The
grand vessels which once proudly
steamed up and down the turgid
stream all came to untimely ends. Many
were burned, many were sunk on snags,
some persisted in collisions; some We're
capsized by storms, but in one way or
be dismantled. to be tied up to the
bank and ANONYMOUSLY torn 10 pieces
by wreckerS was the fate of very few.
The men who commanded these gal
liant crafts were worthy of the floating
palaces under their charge. They were
compelled to face different perils from
those which confronted the captains
who sailed the main, bat the dangers
were no less real. for, taking into &C
count the numbers of those who trav-
eled on the sea and those who fire.
quented the river. quite as large pro-
portion of the latter as of the former
persisted in the accidents which. in the
glorious days of steamboating, were Of
frightful frequency.
The river business of the West,
springing as it did into full-grOwn &C
tivity in comparatively few years, de
veloped a class of men who were in
every respect the most remarkable pro-
duct of the times in which they lived.
In order TO understand their relation
to the industry and commerce of the
great West, it is necessary to remem-
Der that the entire history Of Missis-
sippi navigation, the marvellous growth
of the steamboat system and its equal
ly rapid decline. are cOmprehended
within three generations of time: that
leans, made her trial trip from Pitts
burg to the delta in 1871 and that, by
the close of the seventh decade in this
century, traffic by way of the river
had been virtually superseded by the
swifter courses along the iron rails.
There are many men who. as boys.
helped to propel the keelboat and the
fat boat; as men commanded steam
boats, an6 wto, some in active service,
others in retirement, live 10 see the sys-
tenn they built and brought to perfec-
ton succeeded by means of transpor-
tatiOn better adapted to the demands
of modern commerce.
One of the most notable figures in
the steamboat world of half a century
ago was James Howard, the boat
builder. Howard was, by birth an Eng
lishman, his native place being Man
chester. His parents moved to this
country while he was yet a boy, and
at the age of IA he was apprenticed TO
a boat-builder. Howard had natural
genius for the work. and. possessing
unusual business tact, he soon became
the most prominent builder on the
western waters. For time his yard"
was located at Cincinnati, but. deeming
Jeffersonville, Ind, a more suitable To-
cation, he removed thither. During his