It is extremely
narrow, although navigable for some hundreds of miles.
Besides the danger of explosion--which, I apprehend, arises from
"racing" and carelessness more than from any other cause--steam-boats
on the "father of waters" are exposed to "snags." These snags are
trunks of large trees that have become fastened in the bed of the
river, and are often found lying against the stream at angles of from
30 to 40 degrees. As the river varies much with regard to the quantity
of water in its channel,--frequently rising or falling from 6 to 12
feet in a few hours,--these snags are sometimes so deep in the water
that they can be passed over with safety; at other times, however, they
are but just covered. If a boat coming--especially down the
stream--with high pressure and at full speed, making between twenty and
thirty miles an hour, runs against one of these firmly-fixed,
immoveable snags, it sustains a fearful shock. Not unfrequently a large
hole is thus made in the bottom; and boat, cargo, crew, passengers, and
all, sink in an instant. The danger is greatly increased by fogs, often
so dense that the helmsman, though situated on the hurricane-deck and
over the fore part of the vessel, can see nothing before him.
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