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LAST OF THF BOATMEN. A Tr ue Epic of the Mississippi I liver's Homeric Era. ????? It will scarcely be credited that! less than a century ago. on the rivers connecting Pittsburg. St. Louis and New Orleans, there occurred adventures and lived men like those pic-1 tured in the following extracts taken from a book printed in 1S:J4, of Cin-| cinnati, under the title of "The West" u" CnmmiriP'S I em X'llUl, U* oamuci The battered and yellow volume was recently unearthed in a St. Louis home. But for*the resurrection of the book all memory might have perished of that Homeric breed of men, called Boatmen, who flourished during the 30 years between the time when the keel-barge supplanted the canoe, and the steamboat established itself as a practical success. Mark Twain has] immortalized the steamboat men, but no novelist has written of their predecessors, who could pole their heavy craft against the current from New Orleans to Pittsburg, and whose idea of sport was to shoot tin cups on a wager from one another's heads. William Tell did the same thing, substituting an apple and bow and arrow, hie momnrv is still srreen: but the American boatment are forgotten. Of these heroes of an almost legendary era Mike Fink was acknowledged the leader, and it is with his astonishing feats and appropriate death that these reminiscences are chiefly concerned. I embarked a few years since at Pittsburg, for Cincinnati, on board a steamboat?more with the view of realizing th,e possibility of a speedy return against the current, than in obedience to the call of either business or pleasure. It was a voyage of speculation. I was born on the banks of the Ohio, and the only vessels associated with my early recollections were the canoes of the Indian, which brought to Fort Pitt their annual cargoes of skins and bear's oil. The fiat boat of Kentucky, destined only to-float with the current, next appeared; and after many years of interval, the keel boat of the Ohio and the barge of the Mississippi were introduced for the convenience of the infant commerce of the West. In the period at which I have dated my trip to Cincinnati, the steamboat had made but few voyages back to Pittsburg. We were generally el-onfino 00 tn ito rkra hi lit v Thf? (AO VV 1 S.O w mind was not prepared for the change that was about to take place in the West. It is now consummated; and yet we look back with astonishment at the result; The rudest inhabitant of our forests, the man whose mind is least of all imbued with a relish for the picturesque?who would gaze with vacant stare at the finest painting, listen with apathy to the softest melody and turn with indifference from a mere display of ingenious mechanism?is struck with the sublime power and self-moving majesty of tht steamboat, lingers on the shore where it passes, and follows its rapid and almost magic course in silent admiration. The steam engine in five years has enabled us to anticipate a state of things which, in the ordinary course of events, it would have required a century to have produced. The art of printing scarcely surpassed it in its beneficial consequences. When we left Pittsburg, the season was not far advanced in vegetation. ~ 3 a x l ^ jdiu as we yruceeueu me eiiauge was more rapid than the difference of latitude justified. I had frequently observed it on former voyages, but it never was so striking as on the present occasion. The old mode of trav-* eling in the sluggish flatboat seemed to give time for the change of season, but a few hours carried us into a different climate. We met spring with all her laughing train of flowers and vendure, rapidly advancing from the South. A few hours brought us to one of those stopping points, known by the name of "wooding places." It was situated immediately above Letart's s Falls. The boat, obedient to the wheel of the pilot, made a graceful sweep towards the island above the chute, and rounding to. approached the woodpile. The escape steam reverberated through the forest and hills, like the chafed bellowing of a caged tiger. The root of a tree, concealed beneath the water, prevented the boat from getting sufficiently near the bank, and it became necessary to use the paddles to take a different position. "Back out, Mannee, and try it again!" exclaimed a voice from the shore. "Throw your pole wide?and brace off?or you'll run against a snag!" This was a kind of language long familiar to us on the Ohio. It was a sample of the slang of the keel boatman. The speaker was immediately cheered by a dozen voices from the deck, and I recognized in him the person of an old acquaintance familiarly known to me from my boyhood. A He was leaning carelessly against a large beech; and as his left arm negligently pressed a rifle to his side, presented a figure that Salvator would have chosen from a million, as a model for his wild and gloomy pencil. His stature was upwards of six reet, his proportions perfectly symmetrical, and exhibiting the evidence of Herculean powers. To a stranger he would have seemed a complete mulatto. Long exposure to the sun and weather on the lower Ohio and Mississippi had changed his skin; and. but for the fine European cast of his countenance, he might have passed for the principal warrior of some powerful tribe. Although at least 50 years of age, his hair was as .black as the wing of a raven. Next to his skin he wore a red flannel shirt, covered by a blue capot, ornamented with a white fringe. On his " ??? mnonoeino on/1 a hrni?H 1CCL ?C1C xixv/vvuoiuo, uuu M MA v/v?v? leathern belt, from which hung, suspended in a sheath, a large knife, enI circled his waist. As soon as the steamboat became stationary, the cabin passengers jumped on shore. On ascending the bank the figure i have just described advanced to offer me his hand. "How are you, Mike?" said I. "How goes it?" replied the boatman, grasping my hand with a squeeze that I can compare to nothing but that of a blacksmith's vise. "I am glad to see you, Man'nee," continued he, in his abrupt manner. "I am going to shoot at the tin cup for a quart?off hand?and you must be the judge." I understood Mike at once, and on any other occasion should have remonstrated and prevented the trial of skill. But I was accompanied by a couple of English tourists, who had scarcely ever been beyond the sound of Bow Bells, and who were traveling post over the United States to make up a book of observations of our manners ond customs. There were also among the passengers a few bloods from Philadelphia and Baltimore, tiho could conceive of nothing equal to Chestnut or nowara streets, and expressed great disappointment at not being able to find j terrapins and oysters at every village, I marvelously lauding the comforts of Rubicam's. My tramontane pride was aroused, and I resolved to give them an opportunity of seeing a western lion?for such ?Mike undoubtedly was?in all his glory. The philanthropist may start, and accuse me of want of humanity. I deny the charge, and refer for apology to one of the best understood principles of human nature. Mike, followed by several of his crew, led the way to a beech grove, some little distance from the landing. I invited my fellow passengers to witness the scene. On arriving at the spot, a stout, bull-headed boatman, dressed in a hunting shirt, but barefooted, in whom I recognized a younger brother of Mike, drew a line with his toe; and stepping off 30 yards, turned round fronting his brother, took a tin cup which hung at his belt, and placed it on his head. Although I had seen this feat performed before, I acknowledge I felt uneasy, whilst this silent preparation was going on. But I had not much time for reflection, for this second Albert exclaimed: "Blaze away, Mike, and let's have the quart!" My "compagnons de voyage," as they recovered from the first effect of their astonishment, exhibited a dispo sition to interfere. But Mike, throwing back his left leg, leveled the rifle at the head of his brother. In this horizontal position the weapon remained for some seconds, as immovable as if the arm which held it was affected by no pulsation. "Elevate the piece a little lower, Mike, or you will pay the corn," cried the imperturbable brother. I know not if the advice was obeyed or not, but the sharp crack of the rifle immediatelv followed, and the cup flew off 30 or 40 yards, rendered unfit for future service. There was a cry of admiration from the strangers, who pressed forward to see if the foolhardy boatman was really safe. He remained as immovable as if he had been a figure hewn out of stone. He had not even winked when the ball struck within two inches of his skull. "Mike has won!" I exclaimed, and my decision was the signal which, according to their rules, permitted him of the target to move from his position. Xo more sensation was exhiKitoH nn-inno- thf? hofltnipn than if a common wager had been won. The bet being decided, they hurried back to their boat, giving me and my friends an invitation to partake of "the treat." We declined and took leave of the thoughtless creatures. A few minutes afterwards we observed their "keel" wheeling into the current. the gigantic form of Mike bestriding the large steering oar. and the others arranging themselves in their places in front of the cabin that extended nearly the length of the boat and covered merchandise of immense value. As they left the shore they gave the Indian yell, and broke out into a sort of unconnected cho(Continued on page 7, column 1.) 1 J Worn Out? (j No doubt you are, if II you suffer from any of the 19 numerous ailments to | g which an women are sub- II ject. Headache, back- ^1 ache, sideache, nervous- l? 1 ness, weak, tired feeling, H are some of the symp- ^ tOLis, and you must rid m yourself of them in order | to feel well. Thousands | of women, who have I been benefited by this | remedy, urge you to I TAKE I On rrlii! 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