FINAL REVERSES IN BUSINESS 257 



This bank, however, failed in the course of two 

 years, and forty others scattered throughout that sec- 

 tion broke in rapid succession, after having done little 

 more than add to the flood of worthless paper notes that 

 was demoralizing business and sending hundreds into 

 bankruptcy. 



The mill was in operation barely two years. The ma- 

 chinery, of which a wooden bolting shaft and wooden 

 cog wheels remained as a curiosity to recent times, seems 

 to have worked badly from the start. But aside from 

 the inexperience of the builders and the financial trou- 

 bles of the day, the enterprise was foredoomed to fail- 

 ure in a district which raised but little wheat, and in 

 which the demand for lumber was then comparatively 

 slight. "How I labored," said Audubon, "at that in- 

 fernal mill! But it is over now; I am old, and try to 

 forget as fast as possible all the different trials of those 

 sad days." 



In the course of the Audubon and Bakewell partner- 

 ship 15 the naturalist became involved in a personal quar- 

 rel with a man whose initials are given as "S 

 B ." It seems that in 1817 Audubon's mechanic, 

 David Prentice, had built for him a small steamboat, 

 though for what purpose is not known. When their in- 

 terests were severed, we are told, Mr. B - purchased 

 this steamer, but paid for it in worthless paper. The 

 captain of the craft ran her down to the Mississippi and 

 thence to New Orleans, and Audubon, who was deter- 

 mined to arrest this man if necessary, started in pursuit 

 in a skiff. He failed, however, to overhaul the fugitive, 

 and reached New Orleans only to find that his vessel 



"According to W. G. Bakewell, Bakewell-Page-Campbell (Bibl. No. 

 200), Thomas Bakewell sold his interest in the store and mill to Audubon 

 in 1817, but this is contradicted by other accounts. For the incident which 

 follows, see Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, p. 34. 



