Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-15

Inc representatives OF tue steamboat
lines which carry passengers on tn.
waters Of the United States are now IL
session in Washington. They have a ma.
tional association for the mutual promul
cation Of traffic rules and regulations
The rise Of the railroad has brought with
1t the decline OF the steamboat as a pas
senger carrier, but the steamboat men are
hopeful that the crusade Of the Rivers and
Harbors Congress will result in the return
of the steamboat to popular favor. When
the canal from Chicago to the Mississippi
is completed and the river Is deepened
to st. Louis the boats may find a profit
able carrying business
Steam vessels on the rivers of the
United States are gradually growing more
numerous, but they are showing a de-
crease in total tonnage figures. On the
Mississippi river the number Of steam
vessels increased by nearly half in the
seventeen years from 1889 to 1906, while
at the same time their total tonnage de-
creased by one-fourth. Gasoline power
boats are included as steam vessels in
this enumeration. which largely explains
the surprise of these figures.
4. X
When President Taft recommended in
his message that law should be enacted
to prohibit any
Basis of the transcontinental
Presidents Action. on.n, Tao ~ hs,n ~,
in any way interested in any vessel pass
ing through the Panama canal. he based
this recommendation on the fact that the
railroads usually have found it good policy
IN In to m lines
that the natural advantages of water
transportation could not be used Is a club
to force down railroad rates.
With the possible exception of the delta
draining Nile, no other river in the
worlds history has borne upon its waters
the commerce that was fioated on the
Mississippi during the three decades OF
the middle of the last century. In 1851
there were few railroads west of the Al
leghenies, but the wheat fields of Mime
sofa and the northwest were commanding
the attention Of the whole country. Al
the same time the plantations Of Louis
lana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennes'
see with their acres Of cotton and sugar
cane, their cattle, hogs, potatoes and
other products. we're the richest In the
south. All this vast and fruitful terri
tory from st. Paul to New Orleans
poured its wealth into the Golfers Of the
men who navigated the steamboats, from
sissippi and from st. Louis to New Or
leans on the lower Mississippi, while the
Missouri and the Ohio, the great right
and left arm tributaries. brought coal
from the Alleghenies and sent the pioneer
on the first stage of his journey toward
the golden west with it's bonanza prom
Uses of the newly discovered mines in
California
No period or place in American history
has been fraught with more romance and
adventure than life
Life Of Romance on the Mississippi
and Adventure. ties. ' /, was am an az.
Of long chances and large profits. Steam
boats costing from $4,000 to 10000, with
hulls Of perishable wooden planks. with
their himsy superstructures literally
soaked in oil paints. their boilers made
Of iron and their officers ever eager to
take a chance" were in constant peril OF
destruction from those four great foes of
river traff1c-snags. fire, explosions and
collision. The average life of river
steamboat in the fifties was four years.
Many Of them went to the bottom-or up
in the clouds-on their first trip. But their
short tenure of life was more than offset
by the tremendous profits which they
yielded to their owners and masters. 1t
was not an unusual accomplishment for
a large. swift steamboat to clear 80 per
cent net in one season and frequently
this was exceeded The traffic handled
was enormous and the rates charged
were proportionately large, the .competi-
ton between lines not being of such a
nature as to cut into the revenue This
was due to the fact that the shipyards
could not turn out boats rapidly enough
to meet the growing demands of the ship
pers and passengers in a new and BOOM