The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-16
HOUSEBgATS.
PHASES OF L1Ff ON THESE
 FLOATING HoMEs,
For which No Rent or rs1s. are
 Paid


 life west of theAllegranies is to be met with on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and their tributaries in the person of the '.house- -boater." as he is locally known. His is an amphibious creature of va ried attachments, principally in lines not conducive to the general welfare of the population which has it's home on the banks of these rivers. The designation of "houseboater" has been |applied to these people because they live practically the whole of the year in Ihouseboats. These are usually scows or flatboats, about twenty feet long by ten or twelve wide. roughly constructed of two-inch blanks spiked together. and calked with oakum and rags, and the seams made water-tight with pitch or tar. A small low house is built upon the boat, and covers about two-thirds, or more, of it, leaving a cockpit at each lend, In which the crew work the sweeps, or oars, when that is the means of pro pulsion used. This house Is divided off into from one to five rooms. depending upon the size of the family and the room available. Some are very cheaply con- structed-in fact. mere shanties. while others are equal to well appointed land cottage A cooking stove is set up in the house, and It's sheet iron pipe, projecting through the roof, makes a chimney a superf1uity. In many in- stances rough hunks or berths, are constructed on the sides for sleeping quarters. Some are well equipped with furniture. few even having organs and other musical instruments. Taken all in all, however, it is very comfortable home for it's usually rough occupants. The greater part of these boats are af1oat in the rivers, being moored to the bank in picturesque little spots, with a.
 gangplank running to shore. Others,
 generally the older ones and those not in good condition are "beached" in a fa- vorable spot during high water, and af- ter the waters recede propped level with timbers and driftwood. Sometimes they are few rods up the mouths of tribu- taries, half hidden by willows and over- hanging sycamores. The greater part |of them are gathered near the towns and cities, for obvious reasons. On the Ohio river the favorite spots are near Cincinnati, at Louisville and Paducah,
 Ky, while on the Mississippi river they congregate opposite St. Louis, just above the mouth of the Ohio river, and lat Hickman, Ky, and Vicksburg, Miss. Among the houseboat folk are people who have previously occupied all stages |of life. Many are young married cou- pies just starting out in life, and hoping to acquire enough of this worlds goods to enable them to settle on land in a flew years; men employed in manufac- turing establishments located in the |riyer towns; few invalids seeking health in the outdoor life. and some plain, common tramps, who have no higher ambition in life than to get through it with the least exertion pos |sible. Probably half of the "houseboat- ers,'' however, are legitimate fishermen. On the Ohio river and it's tributaries in |1S99 there were two hundred and eighty six houseboats, valued at $13,955, owned and occupied by fishermen alone, while on the Mississippi river and its tributa- Tries there were three hundred and eigh- ty-one houseboats, valued ct $$3l1,2ss, $3l 2ss, be- longing to fishermen. Estimating three persons to a boat, this would make a, total of two thousand and one fishermen and dependents living in houseboats. Many of the "houseboaters" build their craft in the upper reaches of the rivers in the winter time and then, when the spring freshets occur, slowly | float down the river. living on the coun- | try as they pass and when they reach New Orleans sell the boat, and, buying a deck passage on one of the river steamers, return north again to repeat the operation the next year.
 These latter form the riffraff of the ! law abiding people along the banks.
 Most of their time, when not stealing, eating and sleeping, is spent in playing 'cutthroat' euchre, of which they are Iinordinately fond. Quarrels are fre- quent during these games, and many a dark deed is hidden by the friendly wa ters of the muddy rivers. These people know almost nothing of navigation, and many of the boats are run down by steamers in the night, owing to all the |crew being asleep and no light on the
 small craft, or are wrecked on snags or
 the sharp top of a ''bob sawyer" A
 s'bob sawyer is tree with it's roots
 held in the river bottom by the sand
 and mud, and it's broken top bobbing up
 and down with the undulations of the current. It gets it's name because of the bobbing and saving motions ifpart- ed to it by the pulsations of the water.
 A very peculiar feature of the fresh- cts on which the larger boats navigate over the shoal spots is that if the boat starts at the moment rise takes place and continues floating night and day without interruption, in few days it will have overrun the rise and get be- yond it, and the boat will have to tie up and wait for the rise to overtake it.
 One of the principal attractions of a houseboat life is that the owner pays no rent and, in most cases, no taxes. A few years ago Kentucky imposed li- cense fee of seven dollars and half on all houseboats, with the requirement. that the name and address of the own CT and the date the license expired be exposed OH the boat in conspicuous place. This measure was intended more as a police regulation than anything else. The houseboas men immediately
 organized to fight it on the ground that the Ohio river is a national highway and commerce upon it cannot be ham pered by state taxes. This plea will