From collection New Albany Public Library News Collection
River News
During the war the trade of the lower river languished, was for a while wholly cut off, and most of the steamboats were either worn out or destroyed, but now that commerce is revived and bids fair to be greater than ever, Capt. Cannon has come back to his old trade and just had completed the master-piece of the age--the Robert E. Lee. In every respect, says the Louisville Courier, and all good qualities, she is the peer, unrivalled, and unequalled on the waters.. The Robert E. Lee was built expressly for the passenger and carrying trade between New Orleans, Vicksburg and the Bends, a distance of upwards of 500 miles, to make weekly trips, equal to travelling 1,000 miles every week, including her time in port, and attending to way business, receiving and discharging cargo. She was constructed at a cost exceeding $200,000, and is the largest, and will, we think, prove the fastest boat ever in the trade. Her outfit is undoubtedly the most costly and magnificent that has ever yet been placed upon a western steamer, the owners being determined that for the honor of the trade, as well as the name, that she will stand "sans peur et sans reproach," and without an equal or a rival in her career. The capacity of the boat is equal to the burthen of 7,000 bales of cotton, or 1,700 tons; and it is expected that she can carry, 6,000 bales with her guards clear of the water, and not a tier above the second deck. In former times a "3,000 bale" boat was a rarity, and a "5,000 bale boat" the wonder of the age; yet the Lee can carry 6,000 bales, with her guards clear of the water, and make railroad time.. The cabin and outfit of this great southern steamer surpasses that of any boat that has ever yet graced the trade, and her accommodations are on the same scale of grandeur and magnificence. She has sixty-one state rooms in the main cabin, twenty-four extra rooms in the texas for passengers, a nursery for servants and children, and a cabin for colored people adjoining the nursery in which are state rooms for fifty passengers. This gives her cabin accommodations for 220 persons in rooms; and take her all in all she is the most commodious and complete packet that has ever been built, and a very great improvement in all respects upon any boat that has preceded her, but whether her equal ever can come after remains to be seen. The main cabin carpet is a single piece, some 17 1/2 feet wide and upwards of 225 feet in length, a royal Wilton velvet, purchased of A. T. Stewart of New York, and made to order. The furniture was also made to order, all of the modern style and costly material, being in fact solid rosewood, the chair, sofas, sociables, &c., most artistically and elaborately carved. The cushions of all seats are heavy crimson satin, and the style of the furniture is of new and original designs, all made in this city, at the manufactory of John Simm. She has twenty extension dining tables in the main cabin, each to accommodate twelve guests; thus seating 240 for dinner with plenty of room for extra side tables.. This is the seventh boat built for Capt. Cannon, and in this magic number lies the charm, as she is the greatest and best of the fleet. First he commanded the Gov. Downes, then he built the W.W. Farmer, for the Ouachita, followed by the R.W. McRae, the Louisiana, the Bella Donna, the Vicksburg, the Gen. Quitman, and now the Robt. E. Lee. The new craft combines all the requisite proportions and outfit to make her the best and most serviceable boat ever in the trade. The dimensions are as follows: Length of hull, 300 feet; beam, 46 feet; hold, 9 1/2 feet; extreme width, 86 feet, or five feet wider than the new canal locks. The guards are 18 feet wide, her decks very high, and, with her great depth of hold, she can stow 6,000 bales of Mississippi or Louisiana cotton without at all encroaching upon the cabin or upper guards. When fully laden her capacity is equal to 1,700 tons.. The machinery of the Robt. E. Lee consists of two main engines, the cylinders of which are forty inches in diameter, with ten feet stroke, the largest high pressure engines on the river. She has eight boilers, each twenty-eight feet in length and forty-two inches in diameter, making a fire surface of over thirty feet, which will require a hecatomb of fuel to feel. The doctor engine is considered a triumph of mechanical art, it being of new style, with the parallel motion applied. It supplies the boilers with water, and can throw an immense volume. The boat is also furnished with three separate pumping fire engines, with an abundance of hose to use in case of fire. The water wheels are monsters, being thirty-nine feet in diameter.....Each of the cranks, which are also of wrought iron, weighs 6,000 pounds. They were all made east of the Alleghenies, and are the largest ever constructed for a western steamer..... The cabin with its rich garniture and splendid furniture, dazzling chandeliers, arched and fretted ceilings etched with gold, stained glass sky lights, immense mirrors, the velvet carpets, the pure zinc white of the side, the rosewood state room doors, and the immitation Egyptian marble sills, all combined, make it bear an appearance of oriental luxury, magnificence and splendor, seldom conceived, and never before seen floating the wild waters of this so-called, semi-barbarian Western world. As she now rides at anchor, the Robert E. Lee is the beau ideal of beauty, strength, and marine grandeur, unsurpassed and unequalled on the waters.. The builders of this boat deserve special mention, and to the artizans and mechanics of New Albany the full meed of praise is due for the great bulk of the work, all of which is well done. Louisville furnished a portion of the outfit, while New York was called upon for a full quota. The hull was the work of Hill, Roberts, & Co., the cabin by Hipple, Smith, & Co., the foundry work, engines, boilers, bell, and whistle by Stuckey, Twomey, & Co., the stoves by H.N. Devol, the blocks and anchors by Deacon & Co., the painting and decorating by T. Kunkle, one of the best steamboat painters in the West; china and silverware by J.E. Crane & Bro., and the state room carpets, &c., by Webber, Bentley, & Co., all of New Albany. The piano is from Chickering & Co., the linen goods and main carpet by A. T. Stewart & Co. of New York; the furniture by John Simm, the sheetiron and copper work outfit by Jas. A. Bridgeford & Co., the upholstery complete by Henry Wehmhoeff, and the immense mirror by J.V. Escott.. The Robert E. Lee takes her departure to New Orleans direct Sunday morning at 10 A.M. She goes out in command of Captain Cannon, presenting unsurpassed accommodations for passengers.