EPISODES 



453 



advancing in this tardy manner, the boat that left New 

 Orleans on the first of March often did not reach the Falls 

 of the Ohio until the month of July, — nay, sometimes 

 not until October; and after all this immense trouble, it 

 brou"fht only a few bags of coffee, and at most one hun- 

 dred hogsheads of sugar. Such was the state of things 

 in 1808. The number of barges at that period did not 

 amount to more than twenty-five or thirty, and the largest 

 probably did not exceed one hundred tons burden. To 

 make the best of this fatiguing navigation, I may con- 

 clude by saying that a barge which came up in three 

 months had done wonders, for, I believe, few voyages were 

 performed in that time. 



If I am not mistaken, the first steamboat that went 

 down out of the Ohio to New Orlea.s was named the 

 " Orleans," and, if I remember right, was commanded by 

 Captain Ogden. This voyage, I believe, was performed in 

 the spring of 18 10. It was, as you may suppose, looked 

 upon as the ne plus ultra of enterprise. Soon after, an- 

 other vessel came from Pittsburgh, and before many years 

 elapsed, to see a vessel so propelled had become a com- 

 mon occurrence. In 1826, after a lapse of time that 

 proved sufficient to double the population of the United 

 States of America, the navigation of the Mississippi had 

 so improved, both in respect to facility and quickness, that 

 I know no better way of giving you an idea of it than by 

 presenting you with an extract from a letter written by my 

 eldest son, which was taken from the books of N. Berthoud, 

 Esq., with whom he at that time resided. 



" You ask me in your last letter for a list of the arrivals 

 and departures here. I give you an abstract from our 

 list of 1826, showing the number of boats which plied 

 each year, their tonnage, the trips they performed, and 

 the quantity of goods landed here from New Orleans and 

 intermediate places : — 



