crew two thousand miles up this stream. The same voyage is now performed in fifteen days by large vessels impelled by steam, carrying hundreds of passengers enjoying all the comforts and luxuries of civilized life. Instead of the hut of the Indian,—and the far more unfrequent log-house of the thinly scattered settlers,—villages, towns, and cities, have arisen on its banks; and the same engine which stems the force of these powerful waters, will probably tear from their bottom the obstructions which have hitherto impeded and rendered dangerous their navigation.[1]
(279.) The accumulation of many large manufacturing establishments in the same district has a ten-
- ↑ The amount of obstructions arising from the casual fixing of trees in the bottom of the river, may be estimated from the proportion of steam-boats destroyed by running upon them. The subjoined statement is taken from the American Almanack for 1832:—
"Between the years 1811 and 1831, three hundred and forty-eight steam-boats were built on the Mississippi and its tributary streams. During that period a hundred and fifty were lost or worn out.Of this hundred and fifty 
worn out63 
lost by snags36 
burnt14
lost by collision3 
by accidents not ascertained34" Thirty-six, or nearly one fourth, being destroyed by accidental obstructions.
Snag is the name given in America to trees which stand nearly upright in the stream, with their roots fixed at the bottom.
It is usual to divide off at the bow of the steam-boats a water-tight chamber, in order that when a hole is made in it by running against the snags, the water may not enter the rest of the vessel and sink it instantly.
