Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1902-04-24
9 too foxy and a better deal is now

had hard time. He had to buy on
credit at New Orleans and his sup
plies cost great deal. Now he buys
in wholesale lots Of merchants in St.
Louis and elsewhere and has money to
pay cash and gets better rates. A
blanket insurance is made on eyery
cotton bale and all cotton seed and
meal on the steamers. There are now
but 2 boats in the regular trade be-
tween Vicksburg and New Orleans
in addition to little mail steamers
and it takes a week for the round trip.
They carry immense loads of cotton,
| cotton seed and meal, cypress moss for
mattresses, and miscellaneous freight.
The value OF the cargo Of the Natchez
on this trip is over $l75, 900, and Capt.
Duke, one Of the favorite captains of
the river in other days as we'll as now,
was always on the watch for an
incipient blaze on a cotton bale. Fire
is dreaded by all, and passengers on a
cotton boat are not allowed to smoke
outside the cabin, and coal for the
boilers is used instead of wood as the
sparks are less dangerous. The boat
carried 1914 bales Of cotton each
weighing 800 pounds: 900 sacks of cot
ton seed Of 10 pounds each and 1900
sacks Of cotton seed meal weighing 100
pounds each. It's total capacity is
5000 bales OF cotton or it's equivalent.
| 1t would take 531 cars or II trains OF
ordinary length to haul the Natchez
load as she pushed up to the New
| Orleans wharf. the boats now run
up the bayOuS for cotton which they
cannot get in low water and the care
in the trip is SO great that in "a fog or
high wind the boat ties up at the
bank. In very low water the towns
and plantations are completely hidden
from view on the boat and from some
OF the high levee points you could toss
a stone down the black funnel OF the
steamers chimneys as she lands,
The soil Of this great delta is about
| the richest III the world and is made
OF the deposits OF mud or sediment
from the stream. 1t is like the loan
of the Red river valley deposited from
the waters Of the ancient lake that
covered the country there and whose
western shore line is easily traced at
Wheatland. In some localities here
as high as two bales Of cotton to the
acre are raised, worth about $50 q bale
and after the last flood when the
water was receeding in June. the seed
was planted in the soft mud and trod
in by negros bare-footed and it made
the best crop in years. The land, af-
ter the crop is picked, is occasionally
fertilized by sowing crop of peas, or
by little meal and other fertilizers.
The land itself is worth from $40 to
sl0O an acre and 50 pounds of cotton to
the acre is the usual share for renters
to pay.
The negros work the land largely
for shares of the crop. The planter
has a store and advances the laborer
his supplies and generally aims to
bring the negro hand in debt at the
end Of the year. Some negros are
more prOvident and own small patches
of land, but their number is few.
The darky habit of spending all his
money as fast as he gets it. is one of
the causes for good times among the
merchants of the entire south and the
reason for the great demand for all
kinds of goods seen here.
On board steamer Natchez, April
l0-On our boat the so deck hands
were paid off before we reached the
wharves and most of them had &C
counts at the bar, for cakes and drinks
running from 90c to IS each. The
wages amounted TO $3.50 each for the
trip. The negros eat quantities of
cakes, fruit and confectionery between
meals, drink vile gin and whiskey and
smoke cigarettes. The boat furnishes
each hand three square meals day of
good food and a lunch at midnight.
The deck hands have tough life.
They do extremely hard work with
little sleep and are perfectly happy
broke. After their wages had been
paid and bar accounts taken out, the
gang Shot craps 1uriously and before
an hour half Of them had lost every
cent and were trying to borrow. They
| do not unload the steamer at deStina-
tion but quit at once and new gang
does the diScharging of the cargo.
Many Of the southern negros speak
French patois. Numbers of them
we saw were perfect specimens Of
physical strength and symmetry
Notwithstanding it's disguise in rag
ged raiment Of many colors, and the
wool covered with a piece of an old
hat, for headgear. Many of their
countenances have an Egyptian cast,
such as can be seen on the hieroglyphics
of old Cheops. In the country,
I