Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-09-03

led cablnS and Jlg-Sawed WOODWORK.
The boats were intended to carry
freight and passengers who were to
be pioneers; to take necessities of life
to the men at the fort and bring back
booty of the plains.
Passing of the Boats.
Long before 1885 the fleet had sue
cumb to snag and sawyer and the dan
gers of fire and water The long trips
were thing of the romantic past. In
reaching the northwest it was first the
Oregon trail, then the Missouri fleet,
and then the Pacific railways But for
a quarter of century the General
kept on regardless of the proprieties
of history or the fact that she ought
to sink or burn or blow up. She took
farm machinery up river, and on the
way down stopped for piles OF wheat
sacks wherever a farmer displayed
red shirt on a pole. Whenever she
sank it was in medium water, and she
was soon at it again in victorious COM
petition with the locomotives that
whirled along the banks.
One Exception.
81 used to wonder how she kept
afoat twenty-five years on these most
dangerous Of waters. but now | only
marvel how boat could go through
single summer after the manner OIL
the Meade. But if l did not worry about
the summer at the time. One need
not worry on boat that has run TWEEN
ty-five years. When you figure on her
sinking, there is only one chance in
twenty-siX for her to go down. And
when boat has gone through all sorts
of perils unscathed, one need not Wor-
ry about taking dangerous chances. SO
life aboard the Meade went on in
careless and happy manner.
81 recall several instances. 1t was
considered dangerous for boat to
turn into the Usage river. One boat
had met her fate by turning out OF the
muddy Missouri and taking into her
pumps the clear aguish water of the
Usage. The mixture caused the boilers
to foam and sent boat and crew to the
four WINDS. The General turned into
the Usage every week. On but one &C.
casion were there serious results. 1t
was my duty to fill the water barrels
with Missouri water before turning in
and l forgot Shortly afterward the
boat was laden with chills and fever in
blue shirts and red from drinking the
! Usage water Along the long hogways
Of the hull two roustabouts would meet
one going to the warm boilers in the
bow. and the other to look with long
ing eyes on the ice box in the stern.
Thus the crew circulated from stem to
stern and stern to stem. always one to
get warm and the other to get cool, ac-
cording as they had the chills Or few
or. My excuse to the captain was,
that | had been giving the steward a
lesson in arithmetic when the whistles
blew for the Osage-then the trees OF
the Usage brushed the smokestacks
and it was too late. ! do not wonder
that the other boat blew up.
No Competition.
"And there was the St. Charles
/ bridge, which, according to all logic
should have sent us to the bottom. The
current was swift there and the piers
obstructing the channel made it swift
er still. Our only competitor-a high
cabin Mississippi boat-managed tc
make the passage and SO did we. A
/ train Of freight cars ran off between
the outer piers. still more obstructing
the channel and increasing the cur
rent of the middle piers. AS result
our competitor was stalled at crit
ical moment; the rudder failed TO con-
troll her as she stood motionless with
full head of steam on; she swung
against the masonry and sank.
Won Every Race.
.Tbis ohs+rro+od tbo oh.o, .+;,,
more. But the General Meade kept
on running, and each trip managed to
pun pass Ihe piers Win extra hrih :
sometimes When we were Almost sfaii-
ca between those piers, When the hls-
/ gers were showing me cora"ooa uu-
ger tae Do,lefs, ana we We're runnlns
Win forced speed anu YET haraiy NOV
ing, | would rampie astern ana covert
~ ~, cahe d look at 1he axle OIL tne wheel
ms piece OF necnanlsn.an immense
octasohai sHall Oh "Iousht iron.hau
peeh broken III me ola days ana was
inehoea WIN ponderous castins clamp
Gu on WIN polss. Inc plachsin ii at
o. LOUIS usea 10 come GOWN Win Dis
"fenches ana screw II up whenever
!! nau WORKED loose during tfip.
oonletlmes the axle sagged, ana as II
huhs down continuously WINE me
Wheei went round lelt Win mecllah-
L