Evening star., 1909-05-11

Much cotton went to Vicksburg out of
the YaZoo valley. The Parrisot line OF
steamboats, ran seven or eight boats III
this trade. The competition of the Yazoo
and the Mississippi Valley railroad put
the Parrisot line out of business.
The Parrisot line was sold to the Va
zoo and Talahatchie Transportation
Company about 1885. The latter COM
cumbed to rail competition. Another i'm
portant company, engaged in carrying
cotton from the bends above NlcksDurS
to New Orleans was in its prime In the
sos, but went out of existence twelve or
fifteen years ago. One of the most ia
nous lines that operated on the Mlssis-
sppi in former days was composed Of
boats from New Orleans to Vicksburg
and Greenville. They disappeared grad
ually, the end coming about fifteen years
ago as the result of the sharp railroad
competition
Result Of Opening of Railroad.
1.-The opening in 1883 of the Yazoo and
Mississippi Valley railroad went far to-
ward accomplishing the downfall of
steamboat traffic on the lower MISSISSIPPI
pi. The railroad paralleled the river from
Memphis TO New Orleans, reaching all the
important towns on the east bank of the
river Prior to the opening of the rail-
road, cotton from this territory had been
sent to New Orleans by river at xlCO TO
S1.50 per bale. but on the completion or
the railroad the rail rate soon reached
the point where it was Improbable tor
the boats to handle cotton. The matter
| of insurance also operated against the
river route The railroad rates included
the common carriers liability of risk, but
on all cotton shipped by boat the snip
| per was put to an additional expense from
" of 1 per cent TO per cent Oh the Vdiue
| of the shipment.
with the spread of cotton congresses
| Throughout the south the conditions under
which cotton is transported altosetner
changed. Formerly the only congresses
were located at important centers- NOW
adays every town Of comparatively slisht
| importance has it's own compress Prac-
| tically all these congresses nave eNcel-
| lent facilities for receiving and shlppins
the bales by rail. The railroad track IS
| 81 the door of the compress and on cot
ton that has been brought TO tne com
presses by rail a refund is allowed II tie
cotton is sent from the compress py ran.
| This is overturninS the Ola system VI
handling cotton by river.
/ The facts stated in the inland waterway
| renort. so far as the Mississippi and other
rivers are concerned. all ienu " s sIo"
that inland waterways are growing HioI
and more useless, and that STEAMBOATS,
cannot compete with railways. Neverthe-
LESS the commission recommends that
Congress continue TO appropriate rno.eS
| to create new lines or inlano haVlsa'ioi
and extend the old ones
No Improvement in Steamers.
The New Orleans Picayune. in discuss
ing the decline of the Mississippi river
| traffic. attributes it very largely OF the
fact that there has been no improvement
| in the construction of the steamers; that
they have not kept pace with the de-
| mands of commerce; that their archi-
| tactmre and mechanical equipments have
not changed appreciably since the early
| days: that the construction and the ma
| chinery, as well the mechanical ap-
| paratus for loading and unloading. are
not only old-fashioned. but inconvenient
| and uneconomical.
| The Picayune goes on to assert that
'.the railroads could not drive the steam.