East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1921-04-05

the early evening with creole gumb,
(if the cook happened TO hail from
New Orleans as most of them did
fried fish. roast fowl with baked OF
candied yams, beef or pork, fruit in
abundance, desert and small black
coffee with brandy. 1t wasn't variety
but quantity that made the steamer
] bin II fare famous.
In the heat of the afternoon, behino
shielding mosquito bars the passenger,
| IL he so desired, could quaff mint
juleps or sip corn whiskey cocktails,
mot to mention the old at-bottom
ltoddies, made with sugar water, pine.
Iapples and orange juice, and of course
whiskey. The old timers here, with
scanty stocks of liquor and facing the
coming years with visions of nut sun.
daes, never tire of telling the younger
generation of the old hard liquor
days of the river steamboats,.
The card games were for big stakes.
Veterans vouch for the truth Of stories
of a planter embarking in Mississippi
worth "a plantation with 2tb negroes
and disembarking at the Canal street
landing in New Orleans with only some
bills Of lading for something he no
longer owned.
But those days are gone. If plans
of those interested in river traffic bear
fruit the modern steamers will elimin-
ate gambling, carry we'll drilled crews
and furnish modern meals at modern,
prices.
In advertising sailings of vessels OF
the olden days the name OF the first
mate always was given. The first mate
became known up and down the river
either as good or bad by the manner
in which they handled the roustabouts.
A meek man did not last long as first
mate
Saturday vas usually the sailing day
for up-river packets from this port.
There was great rivalry between boat
owners and crews and usually from
one to dozen boat races were pulled
off as the vessels shrugged UP the
river. 1t was then that boilers blew up
with marked frequency.
The most famous of those races was
Lee, two of the largest of the river
packets SO keen was the rivalry that
early in the seventies it was planned to
have them race from New Orleans to
st. Louis. No passengers or freight
were carried and for weeks the coming
race was the chief topic of conversa-
ton along the river. The Robert f.
Lee was in command of Capt. Cannon
while Capt. Leathers was master Of the
Natchez. No stops were made except
for fuel. The trip to st. Louis was
made in just a few hours over thres
DAYS. an unheard of record then with
the Robert e. Lee the winner by a.
small margin.
Another famous race between the
White Rose of Memphis and the Grano
Republic ended in disaster. After rae
ing upstream for hours in meek ana
neck contest the White Rose struck
snag and sank. Before the White
Rose could clear nearby bend her
boilers exploded, killing q number OF
the crew.
After the war between the states
steamboats, had been perfected to a
higher degree and river traffic became
more important. While most of the
boats used wood for fuel getting 1t
from well established woodyards along
the river, still they made good time
and business was flourishing.
While as a general rule the boats
were operated independently by their
owners even as early as 1870 there
were several lines operating many
large passenger vessels. The largest
snd best known was the Anchor line,
which operated between New Orleans
and st. Louis making regular schedules
while another line was operating be-