The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-01
STEAMBOATING DAYS
"REMINISCENCES OF LIFE ON THE
 RIVER.
Some of the old Vessels of the Ala bama and Famous Mobile
 Firms Which Gave Them Business.

ana no intention 10 dlepdrage the ptcsShe age of the railroad. yet. often and anon. do .memory bells chime to us of by gone days, whose records lie sleeping till
 evoked by those sweet. low tones, says The Wilcox Banner.
 I As a youth of l5, we became one of the
 collectors for the celebrated Dispatch
 Line of steamers, running between Mo
 bile and Montgomery. carrying the daily mail between North and South and West, under. the control of Cox, Brainard & Co.,, one 6f the strongest and most reliable corporations ever known in the Gulf City. At one time their stock of vessels was far above the million-dollar mark, and more than two dozen hulls were at their
 bidding. The older people of Mobile re-
 member the line to New Orleans-the William Bagley, Caronadelet and Henry
 Lewis, all large and powerful side-wheel- | CTS, stout enough to battle with the outer | course, when low tides prevented the use | of Grants Pass, which connects Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sountd.
 While these fine vessels were comfort | able for passengers, they did not com | pete with the finer mali steamers that
 left daily for the Crescent City. Freight | was their chief business. for as all Vest | ern produce came down the Mississippi
 through New Orleans and thence through Mobile to all Alabama towns and cities, these boats did an immense transporta- | tion business. | In these articles it is not our purpose
 to dwell upon the events of the Sos con- nected with this part of the possessions | of Cox, Brainard & Co.,, but rather to re- view the advent career and demise of
 some of their floating palaces that piled | the Alabama when Mobile was the recip- tent of s00,O00 bales of cotton-all con-
 signed to her princely merchants; among
 them were B. F. Marshall, Rives. Battle
 & Co.,, Mcdowell, Withers & O., John A. Winston & Co.,, Tarletpn, Ledyard & Co.,, J. W. Olds, Fustis & Foster. Boykin, Mo- Rea & Foster, Harrison & Dawson, R. H. Slough, Levins, Malone & Co.,. Bush,
 Hudson & Co.,, Carlisle & Smith. and a | number of others whose faces. names l and salutations cheered the young col lector as he entered their business houses almost daily.
 And then the grand old men who held the entire wholesale grocery trade of
 East Mississippi and all the Alabama their names are at my tongues end, and
 be called as easily as though yesterday,
 instead of forty-five years, had passed and gone-Foote & Richards, Aubrey & Kennedy, Fry, Bliss & Co.,, Parker, Nor ris 6 Co.,, William H. Ross & Co.,, Per- ryman & Sons, Pomeroy & Marshall Rix, Kendall & Co.,, Chamberlain & Co.,, Will liam Calvert & Co.,, Vim. Sayre & Co.,, and others too numerous to mention, all of whom have joined the silent dead, ex- cept Major William H. Ross, today one of Mobiles oldest and most honored cit izens.
 The wholesale dry goods trade was held by the substantial firms of John Reid & Co.,, Moore & Lynes, Garner, Williams &
 Co.--while the hardware was controlledt by O'Mazange & Co.,, Dade, Hurxthall & Co.,, and Reynolds & Co. Hats by George A. Arnolds. and shoes by M. s. Stetson & Co.,. and others.
 With the trade of the immense terri tory then open only to Mobile, wharfage was very nmited-for the Bigbee and Warrior Rivers had their fleet of superb steamers also.
 The Bank of Mobile and the Southern
 Bank of Alabama. unlimited in capital and resources, were two banks that stood the crash and panics of former days, and
 would lend money from their overfiowing vaults on simple one-aame papers. When secession came these institutions went out
 of the business of issuing money, and now
 are only remembered by the older inhab- itants of the city.
 But we digress from the real inten- ton of our subject. The firm or corpora ton of Cox, Brainard S Co.,. had line of elegant steamers, one leaving each day l of the week. Five p. m. was the hour of ! departure for all days except Sunday,
 that packet being billed to leave at 10 a.
 
 was heaviest. on their lists were boats | over 200 feet long, with capacity of from 1900 to 2,50G bales of cotton-side wheelers with powerful machinery and all built for speed. All through passengers were carried by these boats from Texas and
 Louisiana to northern points. The Mont gomery and West Point Railroad was the connection. at Montgomery and palatial mail line of steamers to New Orleans. At the beginning of the war side wheelers
 were cut down as blockade runners, or
 thrown aside to be replaced by the small
 CT stern wheelcrs of today, which were then classed as third-rate risks and not
 considered safe in high water. Remem-
 Der chat in those times Montgomery, We
 tumpka and Selma were tributary to Mo- bile as our own little Camden is today. The captains who trod the decks of
 these Alabama racers were generally
 stockholders, of who We mention Jesse
 J. Cox. Chesterfield in department, col
 iegiate, and man fitted to adorn soci-
 ety. He was always in command of the
 Tuesday night boat, first the grand Mes
 senger. and last the renowned St. Nich-
 olas. The former was, perhaps, the most
 elaborate packet ever borne on the bosom
 of the Alabama waters-the latter one of
 the swiftest and most successful ever
 moored to the wharves of Mobile, clear
 lug, during one season, over $75.0OO for
 her owners. Charles W. Locklin, now re-
 siding at Perdue Hill. Monroe County,
 was her chief clerk and did all the office
 work-a feat that seems now well nigh impossible. Strong Chidsey was her sec
 ond clerk, and a year ago was living at Artesia, Miss.
 The next in order of captains was Rob- ert Otis, the cumulative. who ruled the deck of the inVincible Cuba and after wards commanded the St. Charles d pro- totype of the St. Nicholas, built at New Albany, Ind. Captain Bob was the Sat urday night man, and always had oppo- sition. and many were the great races from Mobile to the junction of the rivers some fifty miles above. In those days more steam was carried than Is now all. lowed, and more steam was stolen by means of weight on valves, Nand conse- quently better time made.
 The old Montgomery, large side-wheel- CT. with ten foot stroke of engine made the junction in three hours and ten min utes, which is the record to this day. The Cuba, with Bob Otis on the boiler deck, made two trips each week from Mobile to Montgomery, running the down trip i'd thirty hours. It was a seasons expert ment for passengers only.
 Large crews were carried on the lower dock. and some 30 or 40 deck hands had their loads on their backs before the steamer touched the bank.
 Captain George w. Clondis was one of Cox, Brainard & Co.'S favorite command CTS and was a steamboat man from fore top to fetlock. His last command was the beautiful LeGrand, and Wednesday