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

ing to every five miles of the 200 to Bowling
Green, it will be seen that the 'rousties"
get little rest during the trip, and as a
matter of fact, instead of sleeping when
they have an opportunity, they seem to
prefer TO spend the time i'm their favorite
game of craps.
LOADING AND UNLOADING.
The 'rousties' load and unload all the
freight by hand and the weight some of
them will carry unconcernedly up the steep
banks at the landings is nothing short of
marvellous. Ordinarily they move with the
utmost elaboration and pay absolutely no
attention to the mates objurgations to
hurry, but the officers have found a way
to make them hustle and. when a particu-
larly large consignment OF freight is to be
unloaded or taken on, the boats orchestra
is ordered out on deck to play ragtime
airs while the work is in progress. Under
this inspiration the negroes move with
celebrity, and one of the mates of the Cres-
cent City said that as long as the music is
kept up the negroes can be kept at their
work until they fall from exhaustion.
The passengers spend the time during
the day in watching the "rousties,'" read
ing, playing cards, or idling on the deck in
Tic lIOnl q VI III pOdl WEtlt ilc ltc
is constant and ever refreshing. At night
there is dancing in the cabin for those who
enjoy it, the moonlight and secluded spots
on the upper deck for the sentimentally in
clined and visits to the engine room and to
the pilot house, with technical disserta-
tons or more interesting "reminiscences by
the officers for the curious-minded.
In the way of history the first place
passed of especial interest is the old plan
tation and home of the late General Don
Carlos Buell., at Aidrie, near Paradise, 116
miles from Evansville. At this place Cen
eral Buell., originally an Ohioan, settled
down Immediately after the civil war, and
here he established one of the largest
estates in the country and one that prom
Used almost unlimited wealth for him. He
secured several thousand acres of land,
much of which was rich in coal and iron
ore, opened mines. built furnaces and mills
and founded the small town of Aidrie, with
a population of several hundred men, all
of whom were employed by him. He Sc
cured a contract to work convicts i'm his
mines and mills and constructed a big
stone fortress in which to house them. He
had his fleet of steamers and barges to han
die his coal and iron. He built him a
great rambling, colonial mansion, furnished
it na gniicently, surrounded it by a beauti-
full park. And then the navigation COM
pany secured possession of the river and
in the course of u few years fight put him
out of business. To-day the town of Aidrie,
with over a hundred houses, is falling to
ruins, the mines are unworked, the general
is dead and there is scarce a suggestion
left of the former grandeur and Importance
Of the place save the old mansion. which
has been unoccupied since his death a few
years ago.
Fifty miles farther up is Morgantown,
the old home of former Governor William
s. Taylor, OF Kentucky. who is now a res
ident of indianapolis. and near there is
pointed out the ruins of the log cabin in
| which Governor Taylor was born. At
Woodbury., the next landing, Mrs. Potter
Palmer, of Chicago. was born, and there
lived until she was a young woman. On
upper Green river, but a short distance
above the mouth of Barren, is the former
home of General Simon Bolivar Buckner,
| one of the Confederate leaders in the civil
war, later Governor Of Kentucky and in