What to see in America . blue. On January 10, 1812, shearrived at New Orleans. As thesteamboat business developed,the rivalry between difterent linesbecame very fierce and resultedin many strenuous races for su-premacy. Often the boats werestripped for the contest andpressed to the utmost. Probablythe greatest steamboat race the world has ever seen wasthat between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee in the afternoon of June 30 the Lee backed out from theNew Orleans levee to start for St. Louis. All parts of herupper works that were likely to catch the wind and thatcould be spared had bee
What to see in America . blue. On January 10, 1812, shearrived at New Orleans. As thesteamboat business developed,the rivalry between difterent linesbecame very fierce and resultedin many strenuous races for su-premacy. Often the boats werestripped for the contest andpressed to the utmost. Probablythe greatest steamboat race the world has ever seen wasthat between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee in the afternoon of June 30 the Lee backed out from theNew Orleans levee to start for St. Louis. All parts of herupper works that were likely to catch the wind and thatcould be spared had been removed, and all business for waylandings had been refused, and no passengers had been re-ceived. Five minutes after the departure of the Lee theNatchez followed. The whole country was interested in therace, and the details of its progress were reported by tele-graph. Immense sums of money were wagered on theresult. Crowds gathered at the various cities along theriver. The Lee completed her trip in three days, eighteen. Old Plantation Home 288 What to See in America hours, and fourteen minutes, but her rival became envelopedin a fog above Cairo and did not arrive at St. Louis until sixhours later. New Orleans, the largest city in the United States southof St. Louis, was founded by the French in 1718. At firstit was mostly a village of trappers and adventurers. In1762, when the French were being crowded out of the valleyby the English, Louisiana, with the Mississippi Riverserving for most of the eastern boundary of its then vastterritory, was acquired by Spain. It again became a Frenchpossession in 1800 only to be sold three years later to theUnited States by Napoleon, who was fearful that he could nothold it against the English. The domain swept northwardto Canada and westward to the Pacific. The price paid was115,000,000. On Good Friday, 1788, a lighted candle in a home chapelfell against the lace draperies of the altar and started a firewhich in five hours reduced more than
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
