Nothing special occurred during our passage till we were near the mouth
of the Mississippi River, when, in the absence of a pilot boat or tug,
our Captain thought he would try to get in alone, and as a consequence
we were soon fast in the mud. The Captain now made all the passengers go
aft, and worked the engine hard but could not move her at all. The tide
was now low, and there was a prospect that we should have to wait full
six hours to get away. We worked on, however, and after a few hours a
tug came to our assistance and pulled us out of the mud and towed us
into the right channel, up which we steamed on our way to New Orleans,
one-hundred-twenty miles away.
The country on both sides of us was an immense marsh--no hills in sight,
no timber, nothing but the same level marsh or prairie. When we were
nearer the Crescent City some houses came in sight; then we passed
General Jackson's battle-field, and in due time reached the city.
On board this ship I became acquainted with Dick Evans who lived in the
same county that I used to in Wisconsin, near Mineral Point, so the
three of us now concluded to travel together.
New Orleans seemed to be a very large city. Near the levee a large
government building was in course of construction for a Custom House. It
was all of stone, and the walls were up about two stories. We put up at
a private boarding house, and the first business was to try and sell our
gold dust. So we went to the mint and were told we would have to wait
ten days to run it through the mill, and we did not like to wait so
long.
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