The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-13

bers of Congress in their cause and in
1889 the United States paid the company
$500 90 for it's right in the ~river-rights it
had secured from the State OF Kentucky
for 81. The government expended hun
dreds of thousands in improvements. and
the locks and dams are now maintained as
they should be. Extensive repairs on one
or two of the dams are even now unde
way. and a sixth lock is soon TO be con-
structed in upper Green river hat will
make that stream navisable all the way
to Cave. The rivers are open
TO all boats of all kinds. There are no
lockage fees and the l4ck-tender must turn
out with his assistants TO lock through
the most insignificant skin or fiat boat as
promptly as he must perform the same
service for the 2O0-ton steamers operated
by the Evansville & Bowling Green Pack
ct Company.
VAR OF COMPETITION.
This company is the only one now operat-
ing in Green ard Barren rivers, but not by
virtue of any monopoly. as its domination
is the survival of the fttest in a long and
costly war Of competition in which. when
the struggle was at it's height, freight and
passengers were carried for almost moth
ing. Three competing lines were finally
consolidated i'm 1898. and since that time the
company has had no opposition, as other
steamboat men realize that a fight for the
business would be an extremely hazardous
undertaking.. The company gives good serv-
ice and it's freight rates are a shade lower
than those made by the railroads. so the
people along the river have no cause for
oo~,oIaEot Jorrax-a thay onco hoI ooOI
reason TO complain-in the days of the
Green River Navigation Company's monop-
oly-for it is undoubtedly true that the
operations Of that company retarded the
development OF the Green river country
at least fifty years. Rapid progress has
been made of recent years, but It requires
only a hurried trip up the river to convince
one that he is traversing a land of yester-
ray and that virtually all of the country
between the mouth of Green river and the
mouth of the Barren is half a century be-
hind the times. And this in the face Of
the fact that this country, such of it as
can be cultivated, is extremely productive,
yielding immense crops of corn, wheat and
tobacco; that IL is a great stock country,
and that the timber industry has been
vastly profitable. Why didn't the rail-
roads come in to relieve the situation?
Well, they would, under like conditions in
this day and age, but that was thirty TO
forty years ago, and there were the hills,
and capital was more cautious, and there
was an abundance of rich territory for
the railroads, more easy of entrance and
promising larger and more immediate re-
turns.
But to return to the Crescent City. We
had crossed the bar, steamed up into Green
river and most of the passengers had
sought their staterooms. without thought
of further delays. At 2 o'clock in the
morning we were stuck in the first lock at
Spottsville, only twenty miles from Evans
vile. One of the gates refused to work,
an altogether extraordinary proceeding on
the part of the wel-constructed,
we'll handled piece of government
machinery, and there we were for
another hour and a half. However, the
passengers, with the exception Of a few
night owls. knew nothing of 1t until morn
ing when we awoke in Utopia, not figura-
lively, but literally speaking. Utopia is a
small mining settlement. forty-five miles
from Evansville, where the boats take coal
and discharge a goodly amount of freight
for the region Whereabouts. Al that day
the boat made good progress, although
the heavy load of freight carried meant
stops at almost every plantation, settle
ment and town along the river. but at mid
night, shortly after passing the third lock,
at Rochester THE second is at Rumsey and
Calhoun, the elements conspired. A dense
fog, absolutely impenetrable by the boats
searchlights, arose from the river and
there was nothing to it but to tie the Cres-
of five hours. that forenoon there was
another hours delay. due to the taking
on of a great load of corn at a plantation
a little distance up Barren river, and when
Bowling Green was finally reached, at 4
o'clock that afternoon, the Crescent City
was just twelve hours behind her schedule.
However, such is the pleasure Of the river
trip that most of the passengers were sorry
even then when the 2oO-mile journey by
water was at an end, although one youth,
who had grown slightly impatient during
the last day. hailed the first view of the
spires and chimneys of Bowling Green with
unrestrained delight and declared that he
felt much as Columbus must have felt
when he discovered America.
NEVER TIRE OF 1T.
The story of all that goes to make the
trip so delightful is a long one, that might
weary with the telling. but certainly not
with the experiencing. Persons who live
along the river and make frequent trips on
the boat say that they never tire of it; that
it is always enjoyable and always presents
new features. and no stronger tribute could
haired old lady from Bowling Green, the
wife of one of Kentucky's prominent Re-
publican attorneys, by the way. who was
on the boat coming back as the chaperon
Of a party of young people who were max
ing a pleasure excursion down river to meet
and return on the other boat, told me that