Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-08-29
Early ReCOIIeCtiOnS
Of Old NOxubee.
Quitman, Miss, August "a, 1871

In the looming up of the horoscope
that pictured Shuqualak in the iftiei
and sixties I continue to see faces tina
l have failed to mention in past articles
n Of which was hat of Daniel Epps
who moved to Shuqualak with his fam
lily in 1856 from Vienna, Ala, on thu
Tombigbee river. Mr.. Epps was
steamboat pilot as well as a finished
carpenter and threw up his job of pi
loting To take up carpentering, Shuqua
lax at the time being on a boom anC
good carpenters in demand at fame.
wages.
Some Of the finest steamboats, on thu
Tombigbee river in the ffties such pa
latial steamers as the Southern Re
public" MARY Clifton Belfast
and ELIZA Battle were plotted by
Mr.. Epps: and WHY It was that he gave
up such a romantic life flor steamboat
Ing in those days was one continue.
round of pleasure) to take up the druid
gerry and monoLony Of a carpenters
life, (even though the emoluments might
have been more) no one ever knew, and
1t was a question with the people of
S%huqualak. But Mr.. Epps was an &C.
centric character; more a gentlemen of
leisure, apparently, than anything else
he could be compared to, for at times.
and these periods lasted some times for
six or eight months, he would declin
all offers of jobs that were brought to
him. but when he did take a contract,
1t meant that the work would be expe-
ditiously and satisfactorily done.
Being physically disabled because of
some organic trouble. Mr.. Epps nev.r
served In the army of the Confederacy,
and after the war. when steamboat pi.
lots were at a premium, there berg
great piles Of cotton at all the landings
(much Of 1t being government cotton
and record prices ruling, such as 50 ard
Is cents a pound, and the owners any,
ious to get 1t to market lest the price at
any time would 90 down, Mr.. Epps h, d
an offer Of $50 a day for every day he
was out with the boat. (this to last on,
month"; to come to Mobile and pilot TIE
steamer Sallie List on the Tombigbee
river, and l remember we'll that he de-
clined the offer, claiming that his price
was $50 a day and that steamboat own
ers would have to come to II, as the
pilot roll at Mobile was inadequate to
the demand, many Of the pilots having
been killed in battle during the war.
At the end Of thirty days cotton COM
menced declining rapidly and along
with 1t pilot wages, and becoming res.
tive at receiving no reply from Capt
Shillito, the boat owner, to his letter
demanding $50 a day. he wrote him
again and in reply received a letter to
the effec: that the cotton supply had
been pretty well all brought in BY the
few boats running, but that if he cared
to come he would make an opening for
him at $25 per day, his run to be on the
Bigbee as far up as Columbus, on a
small boat. which to that time had new
er been sent out, by the name of the
Sallie List, Mr.. Epps taking the first
train for Mobile and accepting the offer
In those days all passenger steamers
were supplied with calliopes and if there
was anything that MI. EE ps did hate it
was caliopes, for he said that no mar
could accurately catch the answers and
calls Of the engineer through the speak
Ing tube that connected the pilot house
with the engineers room and for thai
reason he hated them.
Well, after a wait Of two days a
Mobile for the freight to be loaded fol
the outward trip (the writer was on tn,
wharf in Mobile at the time) the boa
at $50 o'clock p. m. backed out from
the wharf with Mr.. Epps at the pilo
wheel and the caliope playing though
1t was badly out of tune, and discordant
After cutting n few fancy "O's'
and "D's" with the boat, out about lO
feet from the wharf, to show that h,
still knew a thing or two about pilot
ing steam boats. he brought the steam
er to q dead standstill and called t,
Capt. Shillito, who was standing nea
the pilot house or the upper deck, an,
said to him, 'if you want me to pilo
this boat you will have to stop tina
damned caliope" w~hereupon the cap
tain went back to We caliope room il
the real Of the pilot house, where h
ordered the music stopped. after whicl
the steamer gracefully moved off, pre-
senting a grand picture with her wealtl
of freight and large passenger list, tn
people on board waving to those on tn
wharf until the boat passed out of sigh
In the bend Of the river a mile away.
On the trip the river, after the boa
had reached Columbus, commenced fall
ing RAPIDLY and when about half-wa,
back, the boat being heavily laden wit
cotton, had to tie up for about ten day
awaiting a sufficient rise to float tn
craft. the trim rennirinR about sixtee