Steaming on the River

Along with the Statue of Liberty and the skyscraper, the Mississippi steamboat or "paddlewheeler" is one of the classic symbols of the United States.    The great riverboats, with their tall chimneys and rotating rear paddles, were unlike any other boats anywhere else in the world, when they first appeared on the great river.    It was not really surprising, of course; Europe did not have any rivers like the Mississippi, and boats have always been designed in function of the conditions in which they were to be used.    Slow-moving and often shallow, particularly in summer, the Mississippi required boats that more or less sat on the water, rather than in it. The flat-bottomed stern-wheelers did just that, drawing only a few feet of water, in spite of their large size. Even the stern wheel was a result of the river's shallowness. Boats needed plenty of power to go upstream, but traditional side paddles would have had to go too deep; great wide stern wheels provided maximum thrust at minimum depth.
    The first steam boat appeared on the Mississippi in 1811; by 1850, thousands of steamboats were chugging up and down the river, carrying people between the riverside communities, cotton from the plantations, and other agricultural produce.
    Competition was intense and ruthless, as ship owners and masters competed for lucrative trade. In the mid 19th century, there were over 10,000 paddlewheelers on the Mississippi and its tributaries. Boats raced each other, and were often pushed to their limits.... and even beyond! The average length of life of a Mississippi steamboat was just 18 months.... but the cost of a boat could be paid for in two round trips with a full load of passengers and cargo!
    Navigation on the river was (and still is) frequently dangerous. Mudbanks and sandbanks could shift rapidly, and water levels rise and fall. In many places, pilots were necessary to guide boats past difficult sections.
    All kinds of boats could be seen on the river. The great passenger boats of the 19th century were magnificently decorated, like floating palaces with all the luxuries that first-class passengers could wish for; but other more ordinary boats carried a mix of passengers and cargo.
    There were the legendary "Showboats" too, floating cabarets, music halls and theatres that would bring entertainment to the towns and cities along the river and its tributaries.
    Today there are few paddlewheelers left on the Mississippi; and those that remain are for tourists. Nevertheless, one of them, the American Queen, is the largest stern-wheeler ever built. Launched in 1995, it has seven decks, a crew of 160, and a capacity for over 400 passengers.
    With two other large boats, the Mississippi Queen and the Delta Queen (the latter built in 1926), the American Queen now carries tourists up and down the river between New Orleans and St. Louis.

WORDS:

paddles: the wheels that  make the boat move- shallow: the opposite of deep - drawing: needing - stern: the back end of a ship - thrust: push, force - ruthless: determined, insensitive - lucrative: profitable - tributary: a secondary river - entertainment: amusements, shows .

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Steaming on the river

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