The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-01

remarkable interest, for up to q GER
tain period it reflects the history of the
Middle West. From the days 1t was
navigated by Father Marquette and his
followers, the daring voyageurs, up to
the SOS and early '70s of the last CEN
fury, it was the artery through which
the life of the Northwest, then in its
infancy, ebbed and flowed. But since
about forty years ago it has gradually
degenerated till now it has become, ap-
parently, only water course for pleas
ure craft. The freight traffic, as COM
pared with the volume carried by tbs
railroads, has diminished to such an
extent as to make it appear almost in
significant.
But what falling off was there! Be-
fore the iron horse of the railroads in
vaded the prairies and forests of the
West the river was in its glory. Large
fleets annually piled it's waters and
carried all the supplies from the East
to the frontier settlements along it's
banks. The towns were growing and
the demand for goods from the marts
and factories of the world was great.
The steamboat owners then had their
day, and though it is now passed, they
made the most of 1t while they had it.
The boats in those days carried all
the freight to the river towns, and as
those towns were growing and pros
porous the steamboat owners were able
to name their price for hauling.
In the early days of steamboating on
the upper Mississippi it was no UNI
usual thing for steamer to earn
enough in one brief season to pay for
the cost of construction. In the golden
earn from $4,000 to 100000 in a year,
and some of the large boats brought
their owners as much as 100000
year. Often the returns of single trip
would amount to as much as $4,000.
No Railroad Competition.
River navigation in those days did
not suffer from competition with rail-
road transportation, and the steam
boat owners were at liberty to impose
such rates as they desired. The de-
mand for goods was so great, and the
communities to which the goods were
delivered were so prosperous that no
serious objection was raised. If the
dealers could get goods they were sat
isf1ed with the rates imposed for they
could retail them at their own prices.
But the advent of the railroads pro-
duced two remarkable changes. They
took away the boatmen's business, and
the boatman then reduced his charges.
The low water rates that are now in
existence, though they do not attract
any appreciate amount Of freight,
have nevertheless the effect Of keeping
down railroad rates between points
where river and rail transportation
come into competition.
Though river men are signing over
the memories of the halcyon days gone
by, there are many who maintain that
the river will again become the great
medium of transportation 1t was in the
early days. The only reason that traf-
flo has declined is that the railroads
have taken it, and river men claim
that with the development Of the coun-
try and with the improvement of the
means of navigation there will be a
restoration of river navigation.
lone of the principal reasons why
river navigation has diminished so
greatly" said an old river man, 1T
seems to me, is that the river men have
just given up in despair, and have
made no efforts to improve their SER
vice, While the railroads keep con-
stantly improving their engines and
trains. The steamboats, that now ply
on the Upper Mississippi river are not
bit better than those we uSeAl to have
fifty years ago. Some of them, indeed,
are even less capable of hauling. How
can we expect to get business when
we make no effort to provide accom-
modations for it?
Speed and Capacity Wanted.
'If some one would introduce a
steamer which could go fast on the
river, and at the same time carry as
much as a train can carry, you'd see,
promise you, that he would get bust
ness. It's ridiculous to suppose that
the American public, which demands
To f1a0x
the numbering craft that now makes
a pretense of navigating the river.
They were all right in the old days
when there was no alternative, but now
conditions should be met.
1.-The river channel is now in better
condition than it was in the days when
traffic was at its height We had In
those days to contend with shifting
bars and snags, and were often tied
up for days with impossible obStruc-
lions. But those dangers are entirely
removed since the government engi-
neers have had charge of the channel
The channel is kept in place and not
allowed to shift from side to side of
the river bed. 1t took a remarkably
clever man in the old days to keep in
touch with the river channel, for dur
ing a single season 1t often shifted in
several places. The old pilots, however,
used to know the river so well that they
of the channel But now the channel
is kept in its place, and is controlled
by science. The wing dams the gov
eminent engineers have built along the
banks keep the channel in place, and
prevent it from shifting. They also
gather the floating sand, and it settles
between the wing dams, making bars
between them instead of in the river
channel.
but the improvements have, 1t
seems, come too late, for the traffic
has practically died away. About the
only steamboat interest of any i'm
po=tance now Is that of rafting logs.
and even that is diminished with the
exhaustion of the forests in the north
ern part of the state"
Service at Present.
That the old river man is somewhat
pessimistic and is living largely in
memories of the golden past NAV be
seen by reference to some statistics
gathered by the government engineers
who show that in g recent year there
were employed between st. Paul and
st. Louis eighty-six stern-wheel
steamboats,, large and small; fourteen
stern wheel and two side-wheel pack
cts; fifteen contractors stern-wheel
ooatS; thlrty-fye pleasure boats, some
OF Wmch nave propellers; eleven ferry
boats and sixteen government boats.
of which two are wheelers-in
all, 179 steamboats,
The principal steamboat lines an tbA
Upper Mississippi river are the D;a-
mond 10, the Eagle, the Carnival civ
and the Acme Packet company. There
are also ten independent boats CARVING
freight and passengers. Many of these
steamship lines run packets continual
ly between river points, and carry PES
sengers and a. considerable freight.
but that this limited numbeG OF steam