The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-04-25

And were making?''
Bout seven mile an hour
!, up n Lie Grimshaw entered the wheel
mousse and stood at the left of the wheel
ms scrawny fingers barely touching lis
spokes. he heard the last question anu
i's eatalswer and volunteered the remark:
Sne a nifty trick she is
we II put her behind that island close
,,.,iI the pilot went on, and then
VI We Sot a clean berth for near three
~. After that it's cross over. dodge
S Sne current and hug the west bank for
i've miles. If we were coming down from,
%. Louis we'd stick to the middle of the
ti Me-. ana get the advantage of all that
You see this river here. At the time
~, ~ ene Nar there was a railroad yard just
where We're going now and tn river lay
p tfk FOUR miles 10 the east, away behind
1ildl last line of timber you see. He's
never content. an he : eating his way
cross here an there till no one can Keep
a tell on him.
Along in 81 the Missouri came in+o
this stream just a peeIiing bit below Al
Ton. Ten years later something changed.
!. nat channel filled up and new one cut
its s,NIo1 thr ,1s.l miles down stream.
NOW that's dry land and they ioin
away below Mobile island That's ten
miles it's shifted and now it'll stav for a
Time for the Missouri will have to do
/ o.csI65-cuttlng before he gets any further
Been pretty well seasoned on the river.
aln you, Jim?' offered Capn Lie by
way of encouragement
tlfty years last May %. I've steered
lneln all-packet boats. excursion boats
and tows. I've taken them from St. Paul
TO New Orleans. that's 21GO miles from
PlttsburS to Cairo, that's 1890 more. and
from st. Louis way UP the Missouri with
way.
I've taken that Missouri trip when
we d start out from st. Louis in the
spring, reach Port Benton. Mo. bv Aug.
l. III,
Louis leVee by the middle of October
II we run up IN three months and come
PACK IN two months and a half that was
good travelling, when you take time 10
think of all the stops for freight and all
the times you were bound to get stuck in
the mud
= come on the river that summer of 81.
and let me tell you, young man. things
were a-humming then. There were boats
all up and down the river. bringing tons
and tons OF freight and lots of cattle and
folks and niggers. and all that
The ST. Louis leVee was so crowded all
the time that the packets had to put their
noses in again the shore and stood there
close together like lot of cattle in
stable.
Il paid $1,000 to learn the river. and
that was a bargain AT that for a good
pilot was getting $500 a month s.. 900 a
month; almost any figure he wanted the
Pilots association helped him to get
Those were the golden days of steamboat
ing"
The Spread Eagle was rounding bend
Quite hidden around the turn was tiny
unwashed and Imprinted Missouri vii
lagc. The mud bank was caving slowly
into the stream from under the very
foundations of some of the houses. and
swirling their feet in the muddy water
was a line OF future Tom Sawyers and
HuckleherTy Films. who watched the
steamboat with languid interest
In the center of the village stood big
brick structure, evidently q town hail or
court house, and on the sandy levee be-
low it there was a little group of passe n
gers. who waited with their baggage for
tho Spread Eagle The steamboat blew
her great whistle several times and
sounded her big bell many. MANY times
more. which hurTiedlv brought all the
Toms and HuclIleberries to the scene of
She put her prov up in the mud.
dropped stage plank upon the levee and
an all-1mportant clerk hurried ashore.
He and mate bossed the roustabouts
who brought ashore the baggage, extend
ed a helping hand to the women and
settled conflict between Tom and a
Huckleberry.
Then the Spread Eagle rang her bell
some more, followed that with a pierre
ing blast from her whistle backed out
from the mud and headed up stream
again.
Montgomery, resuming his narrative
right up to war time and some folks
think after that but hardly /. We got
ii hot and heavy in here for five or siS
years. and was Just the right age to get
my full part of it all.
when they took Camp Jackson thai
summer Of 60 ] was a-running the city
or Alton and bringing military stores
cargo after cargo. from the arsenal in
South ST. Louis. think we smuggleo
out some $1,000 stacks of guns.
You see the southerners at Washing
ton ran things and filled up the ARISEN
ais every place where they thought the
rebs could easy take them. So we SUNG
gled out those guns. hustled them up L
Alton and sent them on the railroad
from there to Springfield. where they
were more use to Abe bincolns side, anC
l might add. my side. too.
Then Captain Lyon not only held the
arsenal. but took Camp Jackson ant
saved St Louis for the north. If. you We
read that book that young Winston
Churchill of st. Louis wrote you We reat
when | come TO think OF these bool
/ writer's [ always take a fresh think a
! Mark Twain. He's done more FOR th'
! Mississippi river than any other dozel
/ stood in a wheel-house with him whe1
he wa more than a kid and he
! helped me bring her up
Cap'n Lie was skepucal at lhls.
There amt a pilot on this river ina
won't tell you that he and sam Clemen
I learned the profession together, sald ne
IL knew the whole Clemens family,
acontinued Jim ignoring the interruption
/ NV folks knew them all UP at Hannl
Sam learned the river from the bes
pilot on the river in those days, hof .S',
! BiXby. He never made d Good pllot
! though. cause he lacked nerve. CUES
perhaps he done better to go into oool
Hes told something of the story, o
| those old davs and of the craft they ma
/ then when he told of the Aleck Seoil
! Then there was the James City, the hl 81.
mond, the. r. r. Lee; ana PeT ,iidder II n
/ the little Hudson on the Daniel )reN
and thought themselves near heaNe
! didn't open their eyes when they saw IN
1 NatcheZ. ....,, con,
inc riebt down 10 far this side of wa
/ times and nothing ever equalled them u
4 tbo Great Republic was built. She burne
aud was followed by the Grand Repupll
and she was the most beautiful steam
boat that ever ran these waters. .
SHE cost S2S0.GG3 to build and was d
ca,~Ted work and fancy paintings, piano
in her catin and big enough crew
man a ship across the ocean. one Md
slick and white in her cabins ana TAM
Coiors everywhere else, with dH
painting on her wheei box, .,od fa
,-o.rs 400 down AT PaducIh. and tht
lust about closed the big flnef oa aI, -
sstea roboating on the Mississippi. All u
fin -1,asseugers go by rail, there Is !
music i'm the cabin and poker III az ~
state rooms. notnlhs ~ tbe%a n;
racket business here and mere 'I'
makes ono sick to think OF When ne
nsiie the splendid times OF old l,..,4
pilot Jim ceased talking ana Cap ~,
7 iie offered no comment ne sun - 20,
down over deep bayou II placed ~, oile ,. tv
s;lr IN tie heaven and then sank SLOW
!lI, t'r 10y the flat horizon. and LETT u