“Then they made the driver and express messenger hand down the express box. The box was heavy, as it had a considerable amount of money in it. The messenger was reluctant to give up the money, but they finally persuaded him to do so, by cocking a pistol so as he could hear it, and putting the muzzle of it into his ear. The driver was obliged to sit still, with his reins down and his hands up. The whole operation did not take ten minutes, and when we were through, and ready to start, we were a comical picture. All of us inside were holding up our hands; the messenger had his hands up in the air, and the driver was holding one hand in the air, and taking the reins in the other from one of the robbers. The fellows stood there, with their pistols ready to shoot, and told us to go ahead; and you bet we did go ahead.”
EARLY NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
In the early days of navigation on the Mississippi and its tributaries, before the construction of steamboats, there was a great deal of piracy. Before the steamboat was invented, the navigation of the great river was conducted with rafts and keel-boats. The raft was built on the upper waters, freighted with produce, and floated down to New Orleans, where both the raft and its cargo were sold. It floated with the current. It would descend, but it could not be made to ascend. The keel-boat was of better construction, and after floating down the river with its cargo, it was loaded to ascend it.
A long time was required for this upward voyage. The current of the Mississippi is very strong, running in many places four or five miles an hour. Sails are of very little use, as the river is crooked, and the wind is rarely strong. The keel-boats were propelled in two ways—first, by “setting-poles;” and, secondly, by “cordelling.” In propulsion by means of setting-poles, long poles are used, and set or fixed temporarily in the bed of the river. There is a plank on which men can walk along the edge of the boat. The man with his setting-pole goes to the bow of the boat, fixes the pole, and then walks slowly aft. In this way the boat is moved under his feet, and propelled up stream.
Cordelling is a system of towing. The men walk along the banks of the river, and tow the boat by main strength against the stream.
The advantages of steam over this old process of propulsion may be well illustrated upon the Ohio River, between Cincinnati and Louisville. The distance is about one hundred and fifty miles. In 1794 keel-boats made regular trips between the two cities, carrying freight and passengers. For the round trip they required four weeks. A steamboat now leaves Cincinnati at noon, and lands its passengers in Louisville the next morning. By noon she is ready to return again, and makes the round trip, with plenty of time in port, every two days.
The boatmen of the Mississippi in the olden time were a peculiar class. Rough, hardy, uncouth fellows they were; ready at any time for an adventure, generally delighting in a fight, and able to perform a great deal of hard work. They were prompt at fairs, races, and all other assemblages along the river banks; and when they landed in a town, and concluded to clean it out, they generally did so. The inhabitants being powerless, the boatmen had it all their own way.
The West is full of stories about these boatmen and their peculiar lives. One of the most famous of the class was Mike Fink, whose history has been made the theme of a popular story. A story is told of a clergyman from the east travelling down the Ohio River, some years ago, who was anxious to learn something about Mike Fink. Somebody told him that the pilot of the boat on which he was travelling had been acquainted with Mike. The clergyman approached him, and said,—
MIKE FINK AND THE CLERGYMAN.