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

through or borders nine different counties
between the two cities.
Sixty towns or landings are scheduled
by the packet company en- route to Bowl
ing Green, ranging in size from settlements
Of a score or less inhabitants to county
seats of 1,5N to $500, and of this number
but four are reached by railroads-Spotts-
vile, Livermore. South Carrollton and
Rochester. In that is found the secret Of
the maintenance of the line of steamers
and the enormous amount of freight nan
died by it.
RUGGED TOPOGRAPHY.
So much for geography. AS for topog-
raphy, the region traversed by the river
is extremely broken, rugged and, along
Barren river especially, very picturesque.
The streams, which are narrow and deep,
follow the range of the hills that traverses
central Kentucky, and while the country
is not as rough as that in the eastern and
southeastern parts of the State in the Cum
berland mountain region, yet the fact hat
the railroads have almost entirely avoided
the Green river territory is sufficient evil
dence of the ruggedness of that section.
In places the hills are at some distance
from the river and the valley is compare
lively level-the finest kind of corn and
tobacco country-but for the most part
Green and Barren rivers skirt the foot of
the hills, the rocky cliffs towering 200 to
400 feet above the water at many points.
These hills are veritable treasure houses
of coal, iron and stone, while the forests
that cover them have yielded millions of
dollars worth Of lumber. The wealth of
timber has been and is being made the
most of, but the minerals have not been
largely developed, in spite of the fact that
there are 1900 square miles of valuable
coal deposits in the Green river region.
The rivers have been made navigable by
a series of dams and locks, there being
five locks in Green river and one i'm Bar
distance above the confluence of the two
streams, consequently in the trip to Bowl
ing Green but five of them are passed. The
dams and locks were constructed by the
State of Kentucky in 1885 to 1910, and for
thirty years the rivers were open to all
boats. Then in 1871 a company of shrewd
men, most of them residents of Bowling
Green. succeeded in getting a bill through
the Legislature which gave them an in
definite lease on the locks and dams, for
a consideration of 81, on condition that
they give bond to maintain the locks and
dams in good repair. The company was
empowered to fix its own schedule of lock-
age rates, and consequently had a hard
and fast monopoly of the river transpor-
tation.
The company put in its own line of steam
ers and barges and fixed lockage fees
that prohibited the operation OF a similar
line by any other company, and had every
thing its own way. in spite of the fight
made by several men who spent
hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal
actions. In the course of fifteen or eight
cen years the members of the company
all grew rich from their monopoly and
then they saw that it was but a question.
of time until they would be ousted. They
had given a s4Oo, 600 bond to keep the locks
and dams in good repair. but had let the
system run down to the point where it
would soon be necessary for them to ex-
pend large sums in improvements. They
did not like the prospect, and then a happy
idea occurred to one of them-they would
unload on the federal government. Ac-