APRIL 21, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
627 

Finishing his trip to New Orleans he returned 
to New York by sea and reported all details to 
Fulton and Livingston with the result that he 
returned to Pittsburg in 1810 with orders to build 
a steamboat and proceed again to New Orleans. 
Pittsburg was then a small place, covering the 
point between the two rivers which together form 
the Ohio, much as old New York covered Man- 
hattan below Fulton street. There on the site 
now occupied by the Baltimore & Ohio depot 
Roosevelt laid the keel of the first steamboat of 
the west. The plans had been made by Robert 
Fulton in New York and she was 116 feet long by 
20 beam; the engine, with a 34-inch cylinder 
driving paddle wheels of simple construction, was 
the most powerful Fulton had yet put into a 
boat of that size, allowing more power to combat 
the swift current of the great river. 
The record shows that the shipbuilders and 
machinists brought from New York had to go 
into the neighborong forests and cut the timbers, 
knees, etc., so that the vessel was built of green 
wood, and “there was great difficulty in finding a 
shop where any part of the work on the engines 
could be performed.” Say Pittsburg! how was 
that for a beginning; you have grown a trifle 
since then, haven’t you? 
After many a trouble and danger past, stich as 
breed a great people, the boat was finished and 
launched in September, 1811, “and received the 
name of New Orleans, in honor of the place of 
her destination, but many persons said she would 
never reach it.” Some called Roosevelt a lunatic 
and scolded him roundly for taking his wife on 
such a trip, and some of her Pittsburg friends 
even talked of taking her from him by force and 
letting him start on his perilous trip alone; but 
each had great faith in the other, fit helpmates, 
and they started out with a crew of thirteen and 
a big Newfoundland dog Tiger; with Nicholas 
G. the sole occupant of the gentleman’s cabin 
forward and Mrs. Roosevelt the lone passenger 
of the ladies’ cabin aft. The public begged to 
be excused. 
The entire population of Pittsburg turned out 
to witness the departure, with flags flying on 
boat and on shore, with cheers and general jubi- 
lation the boat took a short trip up stream on 
the Monongahela, then turned about, steamed 
down into the Ohio and disappeared behind its 
bends, traveling with the current eight to ten 
miles per hour, and everybody on board satisfied. 
The engine worked well, and she steered easily. 
Cheezed by the people of the villages and towns 
which she passed, she made Cincinnati in two 
days and anchored in the river. People who had 
. welcomed them two years before on their pioneer 
trip in a box on a flatboat, welcomed them again 
—but “Well, you are as good as your word, you 
have come in a steamboat, but you will not come 
again. Your boat may go down the river, but 
as to coming up it the idea is an absurdity.” 
The boatmen of the town roasted the crew but 
_ piled the wood fuel on board just to help along 
-the boat, which would never come back. 
She reached Louisville in about two more days 
and anchoring there (there were no levees then) 
ona moonlight night, the queer craft with its 
sparks and escaping steam frightened some peo- 
ple into believing that the comet of that year had 
fallen into the river. Here their old acquaintances 
again welcomed them, were dtlighted to see 
them, admired Roosevelt’s grit and energy, but 
they must tell the truth that boat could never 
go up stream. Sorry for him, etc. A public din- 
ner to him on shore was returned by a dinner to 
them on board, and then Nicholas G. got in his 
great coup. He had steam up, and while seated 
at table had the boat started up stream. Rushing 
out on deck to see the cause of the commotion 
‘they found themselves gliding up stream at a 
‘good pace, the impossible achieved. 
While waiting for a rise in the river to take 
the vessel over the falls of the Ohio, he took the 
New Orleans all the way back to Cincinnati, and 
that relieved all doubts. 
Down stream again to Louisville and waited 
for high water, which came in late November, 
there was only five inches to spare over the rapids 
tinder the keel of the boat, but at it he went with 
a full head of steam, hoping to drive over if they 
struck anything. “Mrs. Roosevelt refused to re- 
main on shore but stood near the stern of the 
boat; and as the vessel turned into the current 
the shouts of the crowd which had assembled to 
witness her departure grew fainter and fainter in 
the distance. Rocks rose on each side of the 
channel, the water was dashed in spray on the 
deck of the boat, and sometimes the New Orleans 
seemed to pitch forward as though about to be 
swallowed up. Everyone grasped some part of 
the boat for safety, and even the Newfoundland 
dog shook with terror as he crouched at Mrs. 
Roosevelt’s feet.” But it was quickly and safely 
past, the danger was over and stopping below 
the falls they landed the extra local pilot shipped 
for that emergency. But Mrs. Roosevelt writes 
that there succeeded “days of horror.” The sky 
without a cloud was yet of a leaden hue, the air 
stagnant and the sun a ball as of red hot iron. 
These were the ominous days which preceded the 
great earthquakes of that year, and the brave 
woman’s description reminds one of that power- 
ful line in Scripture, ‘““The earth was iron and the 
sky was brass.” 
They secured coal at a few places but had to 
stop daily for fuel, generally wood, which they 
felled and chopped as they found it, for there 
were no river wood yards in those days. 
The Indians attributed the smoky atmosphere 
to the steamer and thought the earthquakes were 
caused by the beating of its paddles. They mixed 
up the comet with the steamboat; and appearing 
as she did with smoky skies and earthquakes, 
looked upon her as an omen of evil, and for many 
years after all the Indians of the Mississippi 
Valley regarded the fiery craft with awe. 
If at anchor the shocks of the earthquakes 
were felt on board, as if the vessel had run 
aground; but when moving none noticed the vi- 
brations except the dog “who would prowl, moan- 
ing and growling about the boat,” or go and place 
his head in Mrs. Roosevelt’s lap. Great dog that, 
he doubtless knew his best friend. 
At New Madrid they found a large part of the 
town had been swallowed up and there and else- 
where they found the people in a state of terror. 
The steamer had several narrow escapes while tied 
up to the bank at night, and so often were they 
near destruction from the earthquake shocks that 
they abandoned the banks altogether and gener- 
ally made fast to the lower end of an island. 
“One night while they were thus tied up, the 
boat was repeatedly shaken by logs running 
against it, but they supposed it was nothing but 
driftwood, and felt no alarm. In the morning 
they found the island had disappeared during the 
night, and the tree to which their cable was fas- 
tened had sunk below the surface of the water 
and was held by its roots. They were obliged to 
cut the cable in order to get free.” 
“The pilot was bewildered, as the flood and 
earthquakes (they continued for four months) 
had made so many changes that the ordinary 
landmarks were not to be found, or when found 
were of no use.” 
Comforting was it not? A new-fangled steam- 
boat which might blow up or burn up at any time, 
and earthquakes knocking the bottom out of 
things generally. 
Passing at last out of the earthquake section, 
they encountered other alarms. Roosevelt and his 
wife, awakened one night by a sudden trampling 
of feet on deck, thought the Indians were upon 
them; but the boat was on fire, and the blaze was 
extinguished with great difficulty. 
Arriving at Natchez the voyage was practically 
ended, for the boat was to ply, and did ply, for 
many years between that place and New Orleans. 
The historian of the trip, Mrs. Roosevelt’s 
brother, J. H. Latrobe, concludes thus: 
“Although forming no part of the voyage 
proper, yet, as this has been called a romance, and 
as all romances end or should end in marriage, 
the incident was not wanting here. The captain 
of the boat, falling in love with Mrs. Roosevelt’s 
maid, prosecuted his suit so successfully as to 
find himself an accepted lover when the steamer 
reached Natchez. A clergyman was sent for 
and a wedding marked the arrival of the first 
steamboat at the chief city of the Mississippi.” 
I find no reference to shooting or sport on the 
trip, but think of the opportunities, the forest 
primeval, the buffalo, bear and deer, and then the 
fish. Had a certain restless and energetic Theo- 
dore whom we wot of bossed that boat, I fancy 
she might have laid over more, and we should 
have had some record of hunting, fishing and 
other “goings on.” However, I doff my hat to 
Nicholas G. Roosevelt and his brave wife. 
THE DECKHAND. 
Increase in Timber Value. 
In the early days of pine lumbering in both 
the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan hard 
woods of all kinds, excepting oak and cherry, 
were regarded as worthless, says the Milwaukee 
Sentinel. Cherry lumber was sold in Buffalo and 
Chicago markets at a fair price to the furniture 
manutacturers, and the best grades of white oak 
found a desultory market at the lake shipyards, 
where it was used as planking in the building of 
lake schooners and steam vessels. Elm and bass- 
wood, now the most sought woods of the Michi- 
gan timber belt, were practically worthless as 
merchandise and were “left” by the early lum- 
bermen as not being worth the price of felling 
the trees and hauling them to mill. The advent 
of the bicycle is said to be responsible for bring- 
ing elm into general use as a merchantable wood. 
The rims for bicycle wheels were made of rock 
elm, and it proved to be a most valuable timber 
for this purpose. From this modest beginning 
woodworking concerns in all parts of the coun- 
try gradually became acquainted with the timber. 
Fifteen years ago Michigan was the largest 
exporter of square timber in the United States. 
Millions of feet of rock elm and white pine were 
cut in the forests here and shipped by boat to 
the St..Lawrence River, where it was rafted 
through to Montreal and loaded on ocean freight- 
ers for the Clyde and Liverpool, there to be used 
in shipbuilding. This foreign trade is now a 
thing of the past, and where there were over fifty 
firms in this State fifteen years ago engaged in 
the export timber business there remains to-day 
but one man who still sends Michigan lumber to 
England, Thomas Denton, of Saginaw, who was 
one of the pioneers in the foreign trade, is still 
a shipper of elm and pine to English ports, How- 
ever, it is with considerable difficulty that he is 
able each year to’secure enough timber to supply 
even a small portion of his trade, and his opera- 
tions now cover the entire State, where a few 
years ago he secured most of the timber on the 
Cass and Saginaw rivers. 
Experienced lumbermen ‘say that tracts of pure 
white pine are hard to get nowadays at any price. 
Timber bought at $2.50 an acre ten years ago 
cannot be bought now for $20, and even the most 
optimistic lumberman in the early days would 
not have ventured a prediction of such an in- 
crease in value. The hardwood or mixed timber, 
considered as possessing little value a few years 
ago, has since 1897 increased in value over 800 
per cent. Maple, birch, ash and even beech are 
eagerly sought, and, since the introduction of 
ash, oak and maple in the manufacture of furni- 
ture, there has been a steady market for these 
woods. The manufacture of maple flooring has 
also caused a large demand for this class of 
timber, 
Memoir on Saurians. 
THERE has just been issued as Part II. of Vol- 
ume IX. of the Memoirs of the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, a superb paper by Mr. 
J. H. McGregor on the Phytosauria, with special 
reference to the two genera Mystriosuchus and 
Rhypitododon. 
The Phytosauria, or plant saurians, are mis- 
named, for these reptiles were unquestionably 
carnivorous. Belodon is a name that is much 
better known and will serve to identify them in 
the minds of many who have not kept up with 
the recent progress of paleontology. In the pres- 
ent work this group is compared with many of 
the other saurian suborders and interesting con- 
clusions drawn. 
The Phytosauria resembled the crocodiles in 
external form and habit and were found in many 
of the fresh-water lakes and rivers of the Triassic 
period. On the other hand, they were different 
from the crocodiles in many ways, and form a 
suborder by themselves. 
The work is illustrated with two beautiful full- 
page plates besides many drawings in the text. 
