The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1902-05-09

L
I'M Mississippi is reprinted by permission from
$$$the Saturday Evening Post, Of Philadet
a& phia. 1t is not only very interesting. bu
IN Is of special value because of the fact tina
nm Gov. Van SAINT. who wrote it. is an ole
##$river captain and steamboat owner. Thu
SUI Saturday Evening Post has been devoting
III considerable space to western subjects BY
i'll western writer's.
8 COON a splendid exposition, costing
#k millions of dollars, will celebrate
N the centennial of the Louisiana
u purchase, and grateful nation viii
recall the benefcent craftsmanship
u which added a magnificent empire tc
h the union. But the full import of this
k the wisest act of Thomas Jefferson
1 public life, will lose its due emphasis
r to the present general ion and to those
I yet to come, if we fail to realize that
this master stroke of his political
genius was not so much in the mere
acquisition of vast territory thus
peacefully annexed as in the fact that
it gave to this nation both shores OF
the greatest waterway of the west
ern continent.
What would have been the effect on
the history of this nation had the
western shore of the Father of Wa
tiers remained in the hands of an old
world power: Imagination pauses at
the question, and the liveliest specula-
ton can scarce hope to supply this
forestalled page of history. That a
constant menace to the peace of the
republic was wiped out by the state
craft of this far-seeing patriot is GER
tain; that wars and rumors of wars
were eXpunged from the records of our
national experience is highly probable.
But this larger phase of the lesson
of the coming centennial may be mere
~ suggested, rather than amplifed,
for the purpose of paying a tribute to
the character-one might almost say
to the PERSONAL---VERY. the most indi-
vidual of American waterways.
No stream in the world is richer in
associations, in picturesqucness, in all
that is dear, familiar and beloved to
those who have been as it's children,
than the mighty Mississippi; and as
one of those who have followed it
faithfully for almost half a century,
count myself happy to be assigned
the task OF recalling something Of the
"old river days."
1t is impossible to review the life
of the river, when it's traffic was at
the height Of it's prosperity, without
a touch of sentiment; and as one who
came of nation and a long family
line of boat-builders and nayigators,
who was born on the shore of the Mis-
sissippi, and, in the language of it's
people, was marked for the river" l
cannot pretend to speak of this majes-
tic stream and the stirring and pictur-
esque life which it supported without
an attachment which is one of the
strongest sentiments of my being.
And l am sure that thousands who
have been and are now SIS ociated with
its shifting fortunes have not escaped
similar feeling. Especially must this
be strong in all whose childhood asso-
Citations are linked with the ever
changing drama Of adventure, COM
merce. war. prosperity and misfortune
which has ebbed and flowed in cease
less and ever-shifting variety in the
process Of its industrial evolution.
Never can forget the impressions
of my first trip OH the mighty bosom
of the Mississippi; how the famous
Dan Wright. an ideal pilot of the old
days, called me into the wheelhouse of
the James Lyon, allowed me to grasp
the smooth handles of the wheel, and
to pull the cords that released the
melodious below of the great whistle
and sounded the chimes of the signal
bells. Only the man who has had a
kindred experience can understand
what is implied by the term life on
the river" On this same initial trip
I was introduced to another and
rougher phase of boating on the Mis-
sissippi-one which will be recalled by
all who took passage in the days be-
fore the railroads had diminished the
volume of it's traffic. Suddenly, as I
hung about my hero of the pilot-house,
a shout went up, and the burly mate
struck out with his fists and felled
common hand to the deck. Instantly
there was a CLEAN of knives, flourish
of clubs and the deck was dashed with
blood. But. as was usually the case,
the big mate came off victorious and
the mutinous hands were put ashore
at the first woodward at which the boat
stopped for fuel.
What the Mississippi has done for
the development of the northwest is
pointedly suggested by another recor
lection of that trip in 1857. The car
60 of the James Lyon was shelled corn
in sacks, not for seeding, but for con-
sumption by the pioneer settlers.
Then there was scarcely an acre of
corn grown in the territory which is
now the state of Minnesota. Shortly
before, Gov. Ramsey had had the hardi-
J hood to contend that the climate of
his commonwealth was not too Sc
we're for the successful cultivation of
corn; later, boats brought cargoes for
seeding; and to-day Minnesota is the
greatest Observation-Disclosures state'' of
the union, for it is sometimes said that
I we raise the wheat to feed the world,
and when made into bread we can fur