The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-02
ICE ON THE ALABAMA
STRENUOUS VOYAGE OF STEAMER
 CITY OF MOBILE.
Member of Boat Crew Tells of HarrOvv- ing Experiences fin Lower
 River During Severely Cold Weather.

Members of the crew of the steamer City of Mobile, which reached the Montgomery wharf at o'clock yester- day morning, tell a remarkable story of ice in the river.
 Ice, solid chunks of it, impeded the passage of the steamboat on the lower river near the Gulf.
 story of the strenuous voyage of a boat through the frozen ice-fields of one of the Great Lakes or rivers in the 1 North or East at this season of the year is accepted as a matter of course. For a steamboat to be delayed many hours In the Alabama River, almost at the doors of semi-tropical Mobile. is a story that will appeal to the average reader as at once unusual and inter- esting.
 The most severe weather ever expe- rienced on the Alabama River, accord . Ing to steamboat men who have been running between Montgomery and Mo- bile for years, was the fate of the City Of Mobile which left Montgomery for the lower river on the last trip, one week ago.
 T have been steamboating the best part Of my life," said member of the crew yesterday morning, "and never before have I known anything like the conditions of our trip from Montgom- cry to Mobile last week. The weather was bitterly cold, and the cold on the river Is far different cold from that of city You people in Montgomery don't begin to realize what 1t is Out on deck 1t was something piercing. The wind was sweeping lively, and river wind Is fresh and cool at best, but the wind had ice all through it. and as it struck one's face and head, 1t felt as If thousand needles were hurled against you at the same moment. Did you ever get up, on a frozen morning and start out on a tramp through the woods, when twig pushed out of your l path suddenly flies back and cuts one ! of your ears? You know the agonizing helpless feeling. We'll. after being on deck a few moments that was exactly l the sensation if anything so much as touched an ear, while the most ener- getic stamping of the feet could not get up any circulation in those frozen extremities. Happy was the lucky man who could hug the roaring fire In the cabin until his watch came. Then he was not so happy.
 The machinery and running gear of the boat suffered greatly, steampIpes bursting and everything going wrong. Hot water had to be continually poured over the big paddle wheel the paddles SoAhihS uut oI the WaISE Wlln cOdtS or ice over them nearly every time the wheel revolved and the paddles went down in the water. About every five miles negro deck hands were put to work chopping the ice from the wheel. You know that negroes do not love cold weather, and it was very difficult to make them get out on the wheel and loosen up the ice
 Everybody from stokehole to pilot house, was thankful when we tied up at our wharf In Mobile. and hope never to have another trip like iH
 Coming up on this trip was easy compared to last week, dense river fogs being the only thing to bother us as there is about six feet of water in the river"
 The packet cleared for the lower riv- CT and Mobile shortly before 12 o'clock yesterday morning.