clang all down the line, and
then the pow-wows seemed to double. In a moment or two the final warning
came, a simultaneous din of Chinese gongs with the cry, 'All dat aint
going, please to get ashore,' and, behold, the pow-wow quadrupled. People
came swarming ashore, overturning excited stragglers that were trying to
swarm aboard. One moment later, a long array of stage-planks was being
hauled in, each with its customary latest passenger clinging to the end of
it, with teeth, nails, and everything else, and the customary latest
procrastinator making a wild spring ashore over his head.

"Now a number of the boats slide backward into the stream, leaving wide
gaps in the serried rank of steamers. Citizens crowd on the decks of boats
that were not to go, in order to see the sight. Steamer after steamer
straightens herself up, gathers all her strength, and presently comes
swinging by, under a tremendous head of steam, with flags flying, smoke
rolling, and her entire crew of firemen and deck hands (usually swarthy
negroes) massed together on the forecastle, the best voice in the lot
towering in their midst (being mounted on the capstan) waving his hat or a
flag, all roaring in a mighty chorus, while the parting cannons boom, and
the multitudinous spectators swing their hats and huzza. Steamer after
steamer pulls into the line, and the stately procession goes winging its
flight up the river."

Until 1865 the steamboats controlled the transportation business of all
the territory drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. But two
causes for their undoing had already begun to work. The long and
fiercely-fought war had put a serious check to the navigation of the
rivers. For long months the Mississippi was barricaded by the Confederate
works at Island Number 10, at New Madrid and at Vicksburg. Even after
Grant and Farragut had burst these shackles navigation was attended with
danger from guerrillas on the banks and trade was dead. When peace brought
the promise of better things, the railroads were there to take advantage
of it. From every side they were pushing their way into New Orleans,
building roadways across the "trembling prairies," and crossing the
water-logged country about the Rigolets on long trestles. They penetrated
the cotton country and the mineral country. They paralleled the Ohio, the
Tennessee, and the Cumberland, as well as the Father of Waters, and the
steamboat lines began to feel the heavy hand of compet