Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-11-04

 T za.iu2 band Tor fhe benefit oi thr soanS people. and danein4 Was -esala evening amasemenl during the sfmaef5 wien travel W,ls heayt- ,.s,i.
 The theaters nl sittle Rock were then unable to induce the best talent ot the 1aud to entertain tue etl citizens and many tours were made by chaperoned parties Of young men and maideHs 10 the older city of New Orleans or Memphis to see famous players,
 cifiousl7 enough negro labor Wa5 regarded as 100 expensive for com mon use in running the boats IH= stead. foreigners were used \ ne gro slave must be leased from his owner. the lessee giving bond for $3.- 0o0 or $4 1000 for his safe return. The life of the deck hand was and is any thing but uncertain. The foreigner was paid regular wages. but if any thing happened to him the employer would not lose as when something happened to a leased negro.
 Not until after the civil war did the negro roustabout make hls ap pearance.
 The veteran steamboatman spoke over the names of the aute~bellum boats fondly and caressmgly. mention ing the style of each one and the name of her captain. The LoWater was a stern-wheel boat and Captain Lee Was her master: the Pelican, Cap tain Ashton. was a long side wheeler and ran from New Orleans to Little Rock. seldom going above this e.tN: theh Forest Roses captain was killed in a most eowardly and brutal mahner by a drunken and lnruly gambler on the boat but Captain Houston can recall the names of neither of the men. Thirty fifth Parallel. Captain Chapman. was a $5U.U00 boat. the fin est eyer seen on the Arkansas, ac= cording to the old riverman.
 Pride of the River Left High and Dry.
 The rhilty-fifth Parallel was the ing in territory visited by the mag nilicent craft She could easily carry 5000 bales of cotton, and on this ac- count made long runs every fall in ordl to secure full loads for New Or leans In lS5S. the big. queerlN- named steamer made it's way up the nelle and further stll, in spite, of the fact that the water was becoming dan gerously low At McClain'S landing. q point about fifty miles west of Dar- danelle. the big boat stuck in the mud and could not ger away. The master of the boat had hoped for a June rise in the river. enabling him to gel through to Fort Smith. so that they could go down the river and return before the first bales of cotton were T adv He was disappointed, hoWev- CT for the river steadily declined 50 that the boat was left high and dry. The crew had to be discharged and made their way back to the cities by means of the smaller stern wheel boats The weeks came and went, ana brought IT. appreciable rise. IL l was d remarkub! wear which fol- lowed. and when i3A wafer finally fioated the Thirty-titt, Parallel it wa in the fall of the next wear and she k said to have taken two crops of cotton instead of one down the river to New Orleans. for although the smaller boats had succeeded in moy ing most of the cotton from the To- cal landings to the warehouses at Lit tie Rock Pine Bluff and Dardanelle. much of the cotton had been held for fhe big New Orleans freiShter.
 The prices then paid for carrying freight were naturally much greater than now prevail. being from $50 to sl0 per ton between Fort Smith and title Rock, way landings being reck- oned the same. and from $23 10 $l0 between Fort Smith and Fort Gfb- son. Fortunes were made in the steamboat business. although there are also to be enumerated scores of absolute failures. The expense of running boat was not as great then aS now.
 Captain Houston was associated l with his brother, Sam Houston, for a year in the steamboat business. They l rJn the Muscogee between Little Rock and Fort Gibson. The Muscogee ran l on snag at McClain's $ landing and ] ank during the same year that the Orleans" boat had to pass winter tt that place.
 Since the war between the north