Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-08
GENERAL NEWS GATHERED
ALONG THE RIVER FRONT

The three-masted schooner Rebecca ].
Moulton, which brought pine lumber here
from a south Atlantic port, completed the
discharging of its cargo yesterday and
is lying here waiting orders from its
agents. 1t is stated that il will prob
ably go.to Baltimore or Norfolk for
load of soft coal for southern. port.
The Moulton arrived here nearly month
ago and tWenty-four days were consumed
| in removing the sticks of timber of varying
sizes from the hold of the vessel to the
! X street pier. The coming of the Christ
mas holidays while the schooner was lying
here and the difficulty of getting men To
work at that time were largely RESPONSE
| BILE for the slow discharging of the vessel,
although undertaken vessels are gener
ally detained about three weeks in dis
charging large cargoes. 1t is this slow
unloading that often makes 1t difficult TO
| charter vessels to load lumber at south
ern ports for Washington, and numbers
of masters who have come here with lum-
| Der aboard their vessels have vowed
never to come again If they could get any
| thing else to do
Ice of some thickness was formed by
| the low temperature Of last night and UNI
| less the weather becomes decidedly
| warmer within a few days the river men
| are looking for freeze. The water In
the Potomac is thoroughly chilled, and
the snow that fell in it yesterday melted
| but little and was carried ashore by the
| wind in a solid mass, and is aiding Ill
making the water cold and ready to
/ harden into thick ice. The ice that made
| last night was broken up early this morn
| ing by the steamers nd tugs moving
| about the harbor, but the continued low
temperature will cause it to grow thicker
and heavier until only the larger steam
| boats will be able to navigate. The tug
boat owners are today hunting up ice
plowS and will at once have them fast
| ened in position on the bows of their
| boats to be ready for a hard freeze
when it comes. Armed with a pillow even
the small tugs able to break several
inches of ice Without the plow the tugs
| would have to lie up.
| The heavy northwest blow of the past
| thirty-six hours has caused unusually low
| tides in the river, and yesterday and
again this morning the water in the river
| was several feet below its ordinary low
water level. All of the shoal docks in the
| arbor were bare, and in many of them
| vessels were left lying high and dry i'll
| the mud. In consequence of the low Wa
ter the river steamers were unable to
| make number of their creek landings
and had to land passengers and perishable
freight at the nearest points on the main
| river. The flats between this city and
Alexandria were left uncovered by water
yesterday, and the gulls and other water
| fowl had a greast feast of the small fish
left stranded in the holes in the mud.
|
Avalon. oysters in the shell for the mar
ket: schooner Mabel and Ruth, lumber
| from a North Carolina port for the deal
ers; power barge Louisa. cord wood from
Nomni for the Eastern branch; scow
Blanchard, cord wood from a dOWn-riVer
point: soop Enola and schooner Ray
mond Oliver. oysters in the shell from
| the Potomac beds; punsy j. w. Reach.
cord wood from a river point for deal
| ers; tug Camilla, with d tow from down.
| river points.
Sailed: Schooner Leroy, light, for a
Potomac point to load cord wood; schoon-
| Ell w. +. Villas and ]. D. Ballard light,
| for the lower Potomac to load back to
this city; schooner I.ottie Thomas, light.
| for river point to load back to this
city; steam barge Daniel *. Jackson,
| light, for Aqua creek to load cord wood
schooner William Zurich and buseye j.
w. Kirby, for bay and river points to
| load; schooner Halle X, light. for the
Potomac oyster beds to load for this port.
| Memoranda: S. o. Company's tank
barg No. -, from this city. has arrived
| at Point Lookout en- route to Baltimore
to load oil in bulk: schooner Federal
Hill is weather bound in the Patuxent
river with lumber for Baltimore barge
| Totuskey is lying at the Washington bar
| racks pier unloading a cargo of hard coal
for the government: schooner Rover is
| lying at the 9th street wharf waiting
| orders: schooner Lizzie A. Williams is at
| NeWbern n C.. loading lumber: bugeye
| john Branford is DIT Colonial Beach load
ing oysters in the shell for this market.
| A large float is being rebuilt aboard
| the monitor Puritan by the men attached
to the ship, and one of the large boats
| attached to the war vessel is being
| scraped and overhaued by the men pre-
paratory to repaintng it, The float is
| one used as a landing stage between the
shore and the vessel.
Towing business on Chesapeake bay
has become very dull that the own
ers of tugs are seriously considering the
advisa bility of withdra wing several of
their boats from service and laying them
up until conditions improve. 1t is pos
Sib!e that one of the fleet of towboats
owned here may be among the laid-up
boats
The tug William II. Yerkes, jr., of the
| Taylor fleet of this city was yesterday
anchored under Smiths Point with the
schooner Mary Quinby, bound to Balti-
more. A telegram from Capt. Crowder
| to his owners here says that the snow
storm was heavy and that severe gale
was blowing. making it unsafe to pro-
coed with his tow.