Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-08-16
STEAMBOATS, AS
TRAFFIC REGULATORS

From "Resuscitation Of River" in
Golfers Weekly for Aug. 18th:
President Roosevelt could not pos
sibly have put a government ship to
better service than to send such a
skilled statesman as Secretary Root to
the Pan-American Congress, to i'm
press the ablest representatives of
South America that the real alliance
of the United States is with the ma
lions of the western hemisphere. But
if this mission is to bear fruit, it
must come through the enlargement
of our own resources and the i'm
provement of our transportation facili-
ties between our interior and the high
seas of the world. If an appropria-
ton equal to that of maintaining our
navy but for four months could be
applied to wing-damming the Father
of Waters and it's principal tributaries,
we would soon find the Headline
sounding mine feet all the way
When this may be done the sleeping
towns on shelving river capes win
awaken to a new life; the shipbuilders
will again launch packet hulls and
catamarans; safer boilers will feed
the engines and safer hands will guide
the river ships than were known in
"the good old river days"
The Middle West has grown rich
and it's people, despite the all but
dormant traffic, have never lost sight
of the charm of these wonderful river
trips. In his Life on the Mississippi
Mark Twain thus describes river
| ride:
81 1--WE move up the river-always
, through enchanting scenery. The
water is a beautiful olive green. The
majestic bluffs that overlook the
, river, along through thfs region,
charm one with the grave and variety
of their forms and the soft beauty of
, their adornment.
"The steep verdant slope, whose
base is at the waters edge, is topped
by lofty rampant Of broken turreted
rocks, which are exquisitely rich and
, mellow in color-mainly dark browns
: and dull greens, but splashed with
, ,ther tints. And then you have the
{ shining river winding here and there
! and yonder, its sweep interrupted at
, intervals by clusters of wooded islands
, threaded by silver channels; and you
have glimpses of distant villages,
, asleep upon capes; and of white
, steamers vanishing around forest
walls. 1t is all as tranquil and re-
poseful as dreamland."
The resuscitation of the river would
be worth the cost if it only added to
the sources of our national recreation
Through the summers of the last few
Years, the few comfortable and COM
[ modious packets that venture to ply
| the shallow channels have been over
taxed s. with pleasure seekers, and
, thousands of summer tourists at st.
J Louis and St. Paul have been denied
| one Of the most scenic rides the conti-
, nent affords for want of accomoda-
! tons.
: When the churning wheels despatch
: familiar ripples to- the willow banks,
, in exchange for an echo of the long
: whistle blasts of the old river days
when Jim Bludso held firm to the
pilot-wheel on the burning Prairie
Belle, and the wharves are again
laden with the commerce of the CONT
I inent, the ghost of Napoleon may well
approach the patient lady poised on
the apex of the white dome at Wash
! Iington. and into her ear of bronze
whisper: "This is the Empire Of
which dreamed" lsS
u l w. s. z.