The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-03-12
HIGH WATER MARK OF
STEAMB0ATING WAS In
1861, SAYS CAPT. MARSH

time Of the Robert e. Lee was built
held the record from New Orleans to
Natchez - seventeen hours. She was
finally burned, and the Charmer, an
other fine boat. was put in her place,
with Captain Holmes in command.
The burning Of the Princess. says
Captain Marsh. marked the beginning
Of an epoch. The boat. her cargo and
several lives were lost as the result
Of her cotton catching fire from
sparks of cottonwood she was burn
ing. Her successor burned coal, and
very soon all boats were using 1t,
because Of the small space it took up.
The principal coalins stations were
at New orleans, Baton Rouge, Bayou
Sarah. Natchez, Vicksburg, Green
| Vile, White River, Helena and Mem
| phis. All the coal in those days was
floated Town the river from Pits
bur gl on barges-manned by raftsnen
| with long sweeps. The barges were
light and after the coal was unlodded
were sold to the sugar planters fer
fuel for the sugar mills.
Another lower river line ran be-
tween New Orleans and Baton Rouge
with the boats John A. Cotton. Cap
ital and Lucy Holcomb. During the
dull season the Capital made weekly
trips to Memphis. During the busy
season, when cotton was being taken
to New Orleans, frequently boats
bound for Memphis would turn back
from Helena or Napoleon because
they could get a complete load at
either Of those places. Nothing now
remains to tell the tale Of the town
of Napoleon, which before the war
was one of the largest cotton ship,
ping ports on the river. Even the
large brick marine hospital of the
government has been washed away
by the river.
Helena Port Of Many Bales.
! The reason, he says. that so much
I cotton was shipped from Helena, Ma
poleon and Vicksburg was that the
small boats brought the cotton in
from the st. Francis, the Arkansas,
the White, the Yazoo and the Sun
flower rivers, and it was reshipped
for New Orleans at those points on
boats having a capacity Of 1000 or
5000 bales.
Before the war, he says, Helena was
the lal gest cotton port on the river.
The steamboats, also got much cotton
from Natchez, Lake Providenc. Vicks-
burg. Greenville, Skipwith, Milligan's
Bend, Napoleon, Friar Point and Mem
phis.
The high water mark of steamboat
ing was reached just before the be-
ginning Of the war, Captain Marsh
says. That conflict wiped the steam
boats off the liver entirely, and the
business has never fully recovered
from the blow.
The only boat to survive the wal
was the General Quitman. built and
owned by Capt. J. w. Cannon. After
doing valiant service in the cause of
the confederacy, he took her to st.
Louis end had her overhauled, and
she continued to run until supplanted
bv fhn famous pohart Il
Lee Named at Louisville.
The Robert e. Lee. he says, was
built at New Albany, Ind, but when
it became known that he was going to
name her for the idol Of the c%onfeder-
| acy, so bitter was the feeling at tina
time that he had to take her across
the river to Louisville to paint her
name on the side Of the wheelhouse
there, because they threatened to burn
her at New Albany. The Robert E.
! Lee vas the fastest BOA up to her
time and used cylinders forty inches
by ten feet.
The Mary e. Keen was an indie
pendent packet. The Magnolia, Of
which st. Clair Thompson was master,
was later used for a confederate gun
| boat.
So far as Is known the history Of
those boats has never been published
before.
Although ~steamboating was in it's
flower n hundreds of boats were
constantly moving up and down the
river, snagboats were unheard of, and
there was not a beacon light from
Pittsburgh to the ~jetties. The electric
headlights which serve the pilots Of
today so well had not been invented,
and there were no swinging stages,
they had to be launched by hand. A
man who has not been without them
cannot appreciate the benefits Of these
improvements in navigation, Captain
: Marsh says.