274 STEAM-BOATS. 



rivers. The lower part of the vessel is allotted for stowing 

 away heavy freight, and the boilers are placed in the bow, 

 with a cabin for the gentlemen behind,, and one immediately 

 above, for the ladies. The fore-part of the second deck is for 

 the deck passengers. In other cases, the place for deck pas 

 sengers is in the stern of the first deck, and the second one is 

 divided, forming the ladies and gentlemen s cabins. The 

 Helen Mar was of the first arrangement, and the Champlain 

 of the second. The size of the steam-vessels varies from 

 eighty to five hundred tons, the smallest size being best 

 suited for the summer months, when the rivers are low, and 

 the largest can only be used from November to July. They 

 are narrow, and stand so much above the water, as to resemble 

 a floating-house. Almost all of them use high pressure 

 engines, and are considered worn out in five or six years, 

 except those made of live oak which last from eight to ten 

 years. The perishable nature of the western steam-boat 

 property is, no doubt, in part owing to the materials of which 

 it is composed, and the navigation, which, from currents, 

 sand-bars, and sunken trees or snags, is the most trying and 

 dangerous. 



In passing from Louisville to Cincinnati, a distance of 132 

 miles, the Champlain was well-filled with passengers, who 

 landed and embarked at many intermediate places. The table 

 was by no means so lavishly stored as that of the Helen Mar, 

 and &amp;lt;?ould not contain all the passengers, some of whom, after 

 dinner, filled the berths of others without ceremony, stretch 

 ing themselves at full length, with their boots on, and sleep 

 ing for hours. The deck passengers, being in the stern of 

 the lower deck, were not seen, and the cabin ones exhibited a 

 great diversity of character. I got into conversation with an 

 Irishman, who resided in Kentucky, which had become his 

 adopted country. He was plainly but respectably dressed, 

 and evidently without much education. After stating the 

 advantages of the States in many respects, and how deter 

 minedly all the inhabitants would fight in their defence, he 

 asked me where I came from? On answering St T Louis, he 

 rejoined, &quot; where were you raised?&quot; It was my^ practice, 

 while in the Western States, to answer readily every question 



