The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-13
STORIES OF WESTERN PILOTS.
EARLY DAY STEAMBOATING on
MISSOURI AND MISSISSIPPI.
Carrying Supplies for Army I'm Civil Wal
Times bringing Furs From tho North.
west to ~. LOuisEMen Who Have
Grown DID I'm the River Service.

Grown Old I'm the River Service.
Among the pilots operating on the Missis-
sippi River out Of st. Louis there are four
who have long since passed three score md
ten. The youngest Of this remarkable
quartet is rs, vet 40 efficient are all these
men that their services are In steady de-
mand, though the life OF a MississiPpi pilot
In these days Of river trade decadenoe is
precarious enough, indeed. .
The dean Of tn, four ancient arine OF
the Mississippi ia Capt. John Mcbride, who
was born In North Carolina In 1923, and has
served as a pilot on the river since ls43.
Sixty-three years he has pursued one
occupation, but there is not a man engaged
In the river trade who will not admit that
Capt. Mcbride, despite his So years. Is more
efficient than the majority Of pilots who only
boast OF half his years. His eye is as clear
to-day as II was away back in the '+os. his
hearing as keen and his touch as firm.
Out In the West End the captain lives,
saws the st. Louis Globe Democrat, but
every morning when he is in port he walks
from his residence to the quarters OF the
pilots society, on Fourth street. a distance
OF two and one-half miles, and In the after
noon walKH OuU dkhul. u u 'NS
me good and l like it, he declares, "Fa-
tigue mel No. 1t simply makes me sleep
better at night; that's all. I've always been
fond OF walking. and until l grow old | hope
to continue the indulgence Until he
grows old! One is almost apt TO smile al
hearing such an expression fall from capt
McBride's lips, but, though patriarohal In
appearance, his bearing is vigorous, his
strength still largely unimpaired, and IT
doesn't take more than half a minute OF OBJ
seryation TO see that the captain doesn't
feel his years by at least a dozen. -.
A writer who had been through the mill
once said that a single trip on a Mississippi
Valley river was as much to a pilot as a year
of an ordinary mans life, yet Capt, Mcbride
disayows that there is anything remarkable
In his long service, and points to the age OF
his confreres three and that retired veteran
Capt. Henry Elton, who is IS years old IN SUD-
stantiation OF his statement. In what other
OCCUPATION with anything like the stress
and wear Of plotting on the Mississippi ana
its tributaries attending 1t lives there a man
still in active service at the age OF IS years
still CAPABLE of walking five miles a day to
and from home In fair or foul weather.
II can't soy that I have ever taken any
particular care of myself N says the captain.
a niIot cannot be dissipated, or he wouldn't
he AZ for work long, ever though he were
only 20 years old, and as a plot oreatnee
fresh, pure and invigorating air praoaoahy
all The time when on duty, these things may
account for the fact that am still haro az
work. I earn my own living to-day about
as we'll as / ever did, considering the
changed conditions OF the time, and 1
e,nnose III continue to do 80 while l live.
7 don't wear glasses and never have known
the need Of any such i to eyesight'
.Mv first billet, oddly enough, was on
he frat iron steamboat that ever sailed
the Mississippi, the Valley Forge, a a
hroupht around here from the Pittsburg
trade and which l took to Alton In lS43.
7 followed steamboating at intervals for
about five years, but 1t was not until ls4s
that I plunged into 1t exclusively. was
unusually familiar with the Illinois River,
and in that year was employed to take the
loon up that str cam and continued In
he trade from that time on. Several
wears later l became identified with the
Koonz line on the Mississippi, but retired
from the passenger service when Congress
nassed the law in 1853 compelling pilots
on passenger vessels to a out licenses
l could have readily secured a license, but
I was opposed to that sort OF thing, and
still maintain my opposition to this day
though, OF course, we all must bow to the
inevitable. l went over to the freight
boats, the pilots Of which were not in
cluded in 1he enactment OF Congress. For
ten wears I remained in the freight carrying
trade, and doubtless would have been
there yet had it not been that Congress
passed another license law in 1893 COM
pelling all pilots to take out licenses. /
had no recourse then but to comply or quit
the river, and as ! had no desire to do the
latter l applied for and Q; t my license,
The Government at once employed me
to take the Thomas F.. Tuck up the Cum
berland River with mi OF forage for
Union cavalry, and this trip terminated in
about the only genuine exciting expert
ence I've ever had during my entire career
as q pilot. Just below Cumberland City
we ran into q deta chment Of Gen. FORESTS
brigade Of the Confederate army and all
hands were made oaptives, while the de-
taohmsnt employed ths boat a. q ferry