THE HOUSEBOAT BOOK
The Log of a Cruise from Chicago to New Orleans
BY
WILLIAM F. WAUGH
[Illustration: Decoration]
THE CLINIC PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO
1904
COPYRIGHT, 1904,
BY WILLIAM F. WAUGH.
PRESS OF
THE CLINIC PUBLISHING CO.
CHICAGO.
[Illustration: THE HELEN W. OF CHICAGO.]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. Prelude 5
II. Gathering Information 9
III. Preparations 13
IV. The First Shipwreck 23
V. The Canal 27
VI. The Illinois River 40
VII. Building the Boat 46
VIII. The Lower Illinois 55
IX. Towing 68
X. St. Louis 77
XI. The Mississippi 81
XII. Cairo and the Ohio 90
XIII. Duck Shooting 103
XIV. Snagged in Tennessee Chute 109
XV. Mooring 116
XVI. A Levee Camp 118
XVII. Vicksburg 128
XVIII. River Pirates 133
XIX. The Atchafalaya 136
XX. Melville. Deer Hunting 141
XXI. Baton Rouge. The Panther 150
XXII. The Bobcat 163
XXIII. Ascending the Atchafalaya 167
XXIV. Ducking at Catahoula Lake 173
XXV. Some Louisiana Folks 185
XXVI. From Winter to Summer in a Day 192
XXVII. Voyage Ended 196
XXVIII. Dangers and Delights 199
XXIX. Results 205
CHAPTER I.
PRELUDE.
Once upon a time there was a doctor who, after many years spent in that
pursuit concluded to reform. But strong is the influence of evil
associates, and those who had abetted him in his old ways still
endeavored to lead him therein.
One day his good angel whispered in his ear the magic words, "House
boat;" and straightway there arose in his mental vision the picture of a
broad river, the boat lazily floating, children fishing, wife's cheery
call to view bits of scenery too lovely for solitary enjoyment, and a
long year of blissful seclusion where no tale of woe could penetrate, no
printer's devil cry for copy. Incidentally the tired eyes could rest,
and the long stretches of uninterrupted time be transmuted into creative
work; with no banging telephone or boring visitor to scatter the
faculties into hopeless desuetude. Sandwich with hours busy with those
recuperative implements, the rod and gun, the adventures and
explorations incident to the trip, and here was a scheme to make the
heart of a city-tired man leap.
So he went to the friend whose kindly appreciation had put a monetary
value upon the emanations from his brain, and suggested that now was the
time for the besom of reform to get in its work, and by discharging him
to clear the way for new and improved editorial talent. But the friend
received the suggestion with contumely, threatening to do the editor
bodily harm if he so much as mentioned or even contemplated any attempt
to escape. The scheme was perforce postponed for a year, and in the
meantime attempts were made to gather useful information upon the
subject.
The plan seemed simple enough--to leave Chicago by the Drainage Canal,
float down to the Illinois River, then down it to the Mississippi, by it
to New Orleans, then to strike off through the bayous or canals into the
watery wastes southwest, and spend there the time until the approach of
the Carnival called us back to the southern metropolis. By starting
about September 1st we could accompany the ducks on their southern
journey, and have plenty of time to dawdle along, stopping wherever it
seemed good to us.
So we went to work to gather information. The great bookstores were
ransacked for books descriptive of houseboat trips down the Mississippi.
There were none. Then we asked for charts of the Illinois and
Mississippi. There were none of the former in existence; of the latter
the Government was said to have published charts of the river from St.
Louis to the Gulf; and these were ordered, though they were somewhat
old, and the river changes constantly. Then a search was made for books
on American houseboats and trips made upon them; books giving some
rational information as to what such things are, how they are procured,
furnished, managed, what is to be had and what avoided; but without
avail. Even logs of canoe trips on the great river, and accounts of
recent steamer trips, are singularly scarce. People insisted on forcing
upon our notice Bangs' "Houseboat on the Styx," despite our reiterated
asseverations that we did not care to travel over that route just now.
Black's "Strange Adventures of a Houseboat" is principally remarkable
for the practical information it does not give.
Scarcely a juvenile was to be found treating of the subjects; nor have
the novelists paid any attention to the rivers for a third of a century.
Books of travel on the great system of inland American waters are
similarly rare.
It has finally come home to us that this is a virgin field; that the
great American people reside in the valley of the greatest river in the
world, and pay no attention to it; write nothing of it, know nothing,
and we fear care nothing. And while many persons utilize houseboats, and
many more would do so if they knew what they are, and how much pleasure
is to be derived therefrom, no one has seen fit to print a book that
would make some amends to an intending purchaser for his lack of
experience. Possibly the experiences detailed in the following pages may
in some degree fulfill this need, and aid some one to avoid the mistakes
we made.