Then there were the
tow-boats, pushing dozens of sooty coal-barges from the Ohio;
freight-boats so piled with cotton-bales that only their pilot-houses
and chimneys were visible; trading-scows and "Jo-boats;" floating
dance-houses and theatres; ferryboats driven by steam, or propelled by
mule-power, like the _Whatnot_; some large enough to carry a whole
train of cars from shore to shore, and others with a capacity of but a
single team. There were skiffs, canoes, pirogues, and rafts of all
sizes and description.
Most interesting of all, however, were the Government snag-boats, which
constantly patrolled the river, on the lookout for obstructions that
they might remove. These boats were doubled-hulled; and when one of
them straddled a snag, no matter if it was the largest tree that ever
grew, it was bound to disappear. With great steam-driven saws it would
be cut into sections, that were lifted and swung aside by powerful
derricks planted near the bows. These useful snag-boats also gave
relief to distressed craft of all kinds; blew up or removed dangerous
wrecks; dislodged rafts of drift that threatened to form inconvenient
bars; and in a thousand ways acted the part of an ever-vigilant police
for this grandest of American highways.
And the great restless river needed watching.
Pages:
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289