About the year 1820, a steamboat, laden with lead, was sunk in mid-channel several miles below St. Louis.  An island formed over this steamer, and a growth of cotton-wood trees soon covered it.  These trees grew to a goodly size, and were cut for fuel.  The island was cleared, and for several successive years produced fine crops of corn.  About 1855, there was a change in the channel of the river, and the island disappeared.  After much search the location of the sunken steamer was ascertained.  By means of a diving-bell, its cargo of lead, which had been lying thirty-five years under earth and under water, was brought to light.  The entire cargo was raised, together with a portion of the engines.  The lead was uninjured, but the engines were utterly worthless after their long burial.

The numerous bends of the Mississippi are of service in rendering the river navigable.  If the channel were a straight line from Cairo to New Orleans, the current would be so strong that no boat could stem it.  In several instances, where “cut-offs” have been made, the current at their outlets is so greatly increased that the opposite banks are washed away.  New bends are thus formed that may, in time, be as large as those overcome.  Distances have been shortened by “cut-offs,” but the Mississippi displays a decided unwillingness to have its length curtailed.

From St. Louis to the Red River the current of the Mississippi is about three miles an hour.  It does not flow in a steady, unbroken volume.  The surface is constantly ruffled by eddies and little whirlpools, caused by the inequalities of the bottom of the river, and the reflection of the current from the opposite banks.  As one gazes upon the stream, it half appears as if heated by concealed fires, and ready to break into violent ebullition.  The less the depth, the greater the disturbance of the current.  So general is this rule, that the pilots judge of the amount of water by the appearance of the surface.  Exceptions occur where the bottom, below the deep water, is particularly uneven.

From its source to the mouth of Red River, the Mississippi is fed by tributaries.  Below that point, it throws off several streams that discharge no small portion of its waters into the Gulf of Mexico.  These streams, or “bayous,” are narrow and tortuous, but generally deep, and navigable for ordinary steamboats.  The “Atchafalaya” is the first, and enters the Gulf of Mexico at the bay of the same name.  At one time it was feared the Mississippi might leave its present bed, and follow the course of this bayou.  Steps were taken to prevent such an occurrence.  Bayou Plaquemine, Bayou Sara, Bayou La Fourche, Bayou Goula, and Bayou Teche, are among the streams that drain the great river.

These bayous form a wonderful net-work of navigable waters, throughout Western Louisiana.  If we have reason to be thankful that “great rivers run near large cities in all parts of the world,” the people of Louisiana should be especially grateful for the numerous natural canals in that State.  These streams are as frequent and run in nearly as many directions as railways in Massachusetts.