A FUTURE RALLY-POINT. 85 



easier than if she had made the trip on macadamized 

 roads. If her stern had a comfortable depth of 

 water it was seldom indeed, except when her bow 

 was in the air in the process of pulling the boat over 

 a sand bar. The scared catfish were obliged to re- 

 treat up stream, or hug close under the banks, to 

 avoid obstructing navigation, and it is even hinted 

 that more than one patriarch of the finny tribe had to 

 be pried out of the way to make room for his new 

 rival to pass. 



Once at Manhattan, the steamboat line was sus- 

 pended for the season, its captain and crew deciding 

 they would rather walk back to the Missouri River 

 than drag the vessel there. Soon afterward, the 

 steamer was burned at her landing, and the Kaw has 

 remained closed to commerce ever since. 



About the same time, an enterprising Yankee ad- 

 vocated in the papers the straightening of the river, 

 and providing it with a series of locks, making it a 

 canal. As he had no money of his own with which 

 to develop his ideas into results, and could command 

 nobody's else for that purpose, the project failed in 

 its very inception. 



Fort lliley, four miles below Junction City, is 

 claimed as the geographical center of the United 

 States, the exact spot being marked by a post. 

 What a rallying point that stick of wood will be for 

 future generations ! When the corner-stone of the 

 National Capitol shall there be laid, the orator of the 

 day can mount that post and exclaim, with eloquent 

 significance, elsewhere impossible, "N"o north, no 

 south, no east, no west ! " and enthusiastic inulti- 

 5 



