INLAND BOAT SERVICE. 9 
The old route from New Orleans to St. Louis on the one hand, 
or to Cincinnati on the other, is no longer followed by any one line 
of boats. From the pioneer days of steamboating until a few decades 
after the Civil War, New Orleans was reached by lines terminating 
at St. Louis and Cincinnati, but with the development of railroads 
and improvement of their service steamboat traffic gradually changed 
in its nature, so that the bulk of the freight movement became local, 
and long-distance shipments grew less and less important. With 
the passing of the Anchor Line in the early nineties, St. Louis ceased 
to be connected with the city of New Orleans by any direct line of 
packets, and about 10 years later through freight service also ceased 
when the line of barges and towboats operated by the Mississippi 
Valley Transportation Co. went out of business. The through 
traffic consisting of large tows of coal barges, taken from Pittsburgh 
down to New Orleans, is not to be classed with regular steamboat- 
line service, which is conducted according to fixed schedules of 
arrivals and departures. 
PACIFIC COAST. 
One important system of waterways on the Pacific coast consists 
of the rivers emptying into San Francisco Bay; the Sacramento from 
the north and the San Joaquin from the south. The delta near the 
junction of these two rivers affords a number of channels which are 
used by various boats and which afford transportation to a rich 
truck region not conveniently reached by rail. The principal cen- 
ters of steamboat traffic here are San Francisco, Sacramento, and 
Stockton. Each of these cities is connected with the other two and 
with numerous landings by regular lines of boats. Here, as well as 
on the Atlantic coast, sail vessels (especially on the lower river) and 
gasoline launches share in transportation. Here, also, barges are 
used to increase the capacity of steamboats in handling the large 
amount of business on this inland water system. One characteristic 
of this traffic is the large quantity of potatoes, beans, asparagus, and 
other vegetables. Their tonnage is great enough to give a distinctive 
character to the commerce, although grain, hay, and other products 
axe carried in considerable quantities. Another important item in 
the river trade is milk shipped to the cities of San Francisco, Sacra- 
mento, and Stockton. 
A second important system of waterways consists of the Columbia 
River and its tributaries. On the lower section of the river steam- 
boats from Portland, on the Willamette a few miles from the Co- 
lumbia, run down the Columbia to Astoria and others run up the 
river as far as Celilo Falls. Other routes extend from just above the 
falls to various points on the upper Columbia and Snake Rivers. On 
the upper Columbia one line connects Wenatchee with Bridgepoit. 
62705°— 14 2 
