Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-06-13

ROOSeVeltS temperament. Whatever
is left on the river from the activities
of ante-bellum days still possesses thu
picturesque human interests which de-
lights a President of generous i'm
pulses and liking for men Of the ad-
venturous pioneer type. The fleet OF
river steamers, to be sure is smaller
now than it Was in the halycOn days
OF the traffic The advent Of putting
tug boats capable of pulling a bevy
Of barges for thousand miles or more
in reasonably quick tine has caused
the gradual disappearance OF most of
the many-decked steamers into whose
holds three thousand cons or more of
cargo could be slowed.
As author Of the Winning Of the
West and the Life of Thomas Hart
Benton, President Roosevelt is or
tain to be particularly interested in
the "reminiscences Of pioneer days
along the river-in the grass-glOwn
towns which once aspired to be metro
pOiises and in those places which like
Memphis and Vicksburg are really
achieving something of the greatness
that was early predicted.
The president may perhaps start
from st. Louis, which from a small
French trading post has become one Of
the largest cities of the western
hemisphere. Its destiny was cut out
for it long before tie days Of railroad
building, for the early settlers discoy-
cred IN it centre from which trade
was possible over more than ten thOus-
and miles of nayigabl9 river Some
OF the stretches Of uninterrupted
course on which st. Louis has prided
itself ever since the era when canoes
and RATS furnished the only trans
pertatiOn facilities of the interior of
the country were 5000 miles up the
Missouri as far as Fort Benton. 500
miles on the Mississippi to MinneapO-
Is, 1900 miles down stream to New
Orleans, 1000 miles up the Ohio to
PittShurg, 300 miles on the Tennessee
to Florence, 250 miles on the Cumber-
land to Nashville. 700 miles up the
Arkansas to Fort Gibson. 500 miles on
the White river to Bull river. 500
miles on the Onachuta to Camden.
and 700 miles ON the Red river into
the interior % Texas The total of
navigable waters in the Mississippi
and its tributaries under the present
plan of Improvement will be about
10000 miles.
Of the immense commerce before
the civil war along the deepest and
most valuable stretch, that between St.
Louis and New Orleans. Mark Twain
has written a quantity picturesque and
sympathetic account, such one a.
night be expected from a man who i'll
childhood had rs a practical ideal of
future greatness the possibility of be-
coming q steamboat pilot For The
boys in the Missouri river town in
which Mr.. Clemens was brought up
all entertained a vague hope that if
God was good to them they might
become pirates. but next to that they
wanted to be boatmen The sight of
the passing traffic was of a character
10 fire the imagination. Some idea Of
the extent of i is gained from the
statement that the marine insurance
written in the city of ST. Louis about
the time Mark Twain was looking
longingly upon the river craft-specifi-
cally, in 1S42-amounted to nearly $50
900 900
The story of the decline of COM
merce on the Mississippi to a posi-
ton which, though still considerable
it has for many years been distinctly
subordinate to the railroad interests
of the Mississippi Valley has been
graphically and amusingly told by