The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-03-14
STEAMBOATS, AND
THE MISSISSIPPI
The Sidney, Gay In Her Fresh Coat
Of White With Flags Flying, At
tracts Attention at New Or
leans Dock.
EVERY BOAT FROM HOME
Frederic c. Smith Writes About the
Steamboats, and steamboatlns
on the Mississippi at
New Orleans.

by Frederic c. Smith,
II you walk down Canal street in
New Orleans about noon any day in
the week, a noisy steam calliope will
inform you that "Everybody's Doing
IT, and after a short interim will in
troduce you to Circus Day" and
many other products of the rag time
music writer's art. And If you should
happen to be from Keokuk, or from
any OF the Mississippi river towns
above st. Louis, you will stop in
stinctively and listen. For the steam
siren is shrieking its ghostly call up
one side of the scale and down the
other, and then out of all this con
glomeration OF noise comes soft,
mellow whistle. You count them in
expectation. One long blast, two
short ones and then one long one.
OF course it must be boat from
home, you tell yourself, and you In
vestigate. And sure enough it is the
former Diamond Joe line steamer
Sidney" Now it is a member of the
Streckfus line. The Sidney" is one
of the first objects to greet the Mis-
sissippi river native in this New Yorl,
Of the south. The old saying that the
world is not so big after all in this
case at least applies to rivers.
Sidney in New Dress.
The Sidney" gay in her fresh coa1
Of white with all her flags flying, ant
big banner decorating her hurri
cane deck is always moored at the
head Of Canal street at the docks ev
cry noon. And for two hours it!
calliope and siren are mfngling witt
the other sounds Of the street. Thu
Sidney is the Seeing the Harbor'
boat and makes two trips, one in thu
afternoon and one at night. TIL
| Streckfus people have taken the rub
berneck" auto idea and have applie'
! it to the river with good results-fo
their Golfers at least.
New Orleans boasts or one Of tn
greatest inland harbors. To its docks
on the mighty Father of Waters, com
ships from all over the world. Mer
chant vessels, small oyster luggers
! luxurious passenger boats to Panam'
and Cuba, and warships and cruiser
LOT our own and foreign nations dro
their anchors here. Then there !
| the floating dry dock, the wireless sta
lions and the naval stations all in tn
list of interesting things which tn
4 Sidney takes one to. In the ever
ing the boat is crowded with pleasur
seekers, more than sight seers TO
the dancing space in the cabin is a
animated scene during the three hou
! trip.
Large Boats at New Orleans.
The river at New Orleans is c
course very wide and deep whic
makes it possible for the larger ship
to find an anchorage. The docks ar
one Of the very interesting parts c
4 the city, especially to one who ha
been brought up in sight of the hi
river. Those of us who are used t
seeing the Quincy" and xhe IS
Paul" it seems rather strange a
think of warships floating on th
4 Mississippi but such is the case
Ships of war frequently find a bert
j Just out from the ship docks alon
the shore. The French warshi
Jeanne Dare" was one Of the lat
/ visitors to New Orleans. And it wa
a gala day for the officers and mel
for essentially, New Orleans
French.
Dapper looking officers in thei
dress clothes walked up Canal stree
and through the old French quartz
Chattering groups Of sailors besiege
4 the postal card shops. then mad
their way to the old part of the cit
4 where French Is still the accepte
4 language.
i This old French quarter Is the mos
interesting spot in New Orleans, an
with the possible exception of Quebe
there is no place like it on tn
American continent. 1t is almost IL
possible to describe. 1t has Mario
A streets, lined on both sides with bf
houses, windows barred and shutter
closed. The galleries are built o.
over the sidewalks. The houses al
built after Spanish models with
courts in the rear. Sad-eyed Creo
women, old darby mammies, relics
the ante-bellum days, stopped, ha
blind shop dealers who slip out eat
evening at dusk and put up the shr
tiers over the windows-all these a:
a part of the French quarter.
The Dividing Line.
In this oJ,airt oId serfion of tn