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 *° 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. 
