River Steamer Research Articles

Unmanned aerial vehicles for the assessment and monitoring of environmental contamination: An example from coal ash spills

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer new opportunities to monitor pollution and provide valuable information to support remediation. Their low-cost, ease of use, and rapid deployment capability make them ideal for environmental emergency response. Here we present a UAV-based study of the third largest coal ash spill in the United States. Coal ash from coal combustion is a toxic industrial waste material present worldwide. Typically stored in settling ponds in close proximity to waterways, coal ash poses significant risk to the environment and drinking water supplies from both chronic contamination of surface and ground water and catastrophic pond failure. We sought to provide an independent estimate of the volume of coal ash and contaminated water lost during the rupture of the primary coal ash pond at the Dan River Steam Station in Eden, NC, USA and to demonstrate the feasibility of using UAVs to rapidly respond to and measure the volume of spills from ponds or containers that are open to the air. Using structure-from-motion (SfM) imagery analysis techniques, we reconstructed the 3D structure of the pond bottom after the spill, used historical imagery to estimate the pre-spill waterline, and calculated the volume of material lost. We estimated a loss of 66,245 ± 5678 m3 of ash and contaminated water. The technique used here allows rapid response to environmental emergencies and quantification of their impacts at low cost, and these capabilities will make UAVs a central tool in environmental planning, monitoring, and disaster response.

O poder da representação: a relação entre Executivo e Legislativo na política imperial de meados do século XIX

Resumo Este artigo tem por objetivo analisar brevemente dois momentos da dinâmica política brasileira de meados do século XIX: os debates em torno da criação da província do Paraná, em 1843; e os debates em torno do estabelecimento de linhas de navegação no rio Amazonas, em 1853. A partir da constatação de que a relação entre os poderes Executivo e Legislativo ao longo destes debates não se baseava na submissão de deputados e senadores às determinações e opiniões emanadas do ministério, é feita a indicação da necessidade de se repensar o processo político do império brasileiro sobre novas bases, que confiram maior importância ao parlamento na formulação e adoção de políticas reputadas fundamentais para o conjunto da nação.

Coal Ash Disposal in North Carolina: The Road after Eden

Coal ash legislation came to North Carolina in the wake of two significant spills, one at the nearby Tennessee Valley Authority coal power plant in Kingston, Tennessee, and another at the Dan River Steam Station along the Dan River in the town of Eden, North Carolina. These two events, combined with an impending study by the USEPA, would galvanize the North Carolina General Assembly to pass Senate Bill 729 (the Coal Ash Management Act). This bill mirrors the federal system of prioritizing the different energy utilities based on their hazard potential and eventually terminating their use as power production and coal ash storage facilities. Additionally, the act created a coal ash management commission and the process for confirming members. In summation, this legislative step shows the North Carolina General Assembly taking concrete steps to address a problem in the handling of coal combustion residuals. In North Carolina, however, only time will tell if these measures are substantial enough to ward off another Eden.

Captain W. W. Withenbury’s 1838–1842 Red River Reminiscences ed. by Jacques D. Bagur (review)

Reviewed by: Captain W. W. Withenbury’s 1838–1842 Red River Reminiscences ed. by Jacques D. Bagur Debbie Liles Captain W. W. Withenbury’s 1838–1842 Red River Reminiscences. Edited by Jacques D. Bagur. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2014. Pp. 335. Maps, notes, index.) In response to trade from the Midwest moving to Red River ports in the 1870s, organizations in New Orleans began to protest the loss of business. As can be expected, the most prominent newspaper in that town, the Daily Picayune, did all it could to broadcast support of its city’s commercial enterprises by publishing a series of editorials. These editorials suggested midwesterners had no place claiming any rights to Red River trade, as they had no history there. Cincinnati resident W.W. Withenbury, a retired Red River steam boat captain, responded with a series of letters about the contributions of midwestern traders to the early Red River region. These letters, published in the Cincinnati Commercial, became collectively known as Withenbury’s “Red River Reminiscences.” When Sam Bowers Hilliard published his exceptional study of food in the South, Hog Meat and Hoecake (Southern Illinois University Press, 1972), he made it a point to mention that there was very little evidence about the river trade north of New Orleans. This study fills that need. As Withenbury’s letters more than adequately show, early trade on the Red River was depended upon by planters and other settlers in the region, [End Page 431] and it was most often delivered by those from the Midwest. The words of this experienced steamboat commander transport the reader to the antebellum years, for which he colorfully describes customs, people, and the multiple problems that occurred above the Red River logjam known as the Great Raft. Jacques Bagur, whose previous book Antebellum Jefferson, Texas (University of North Texas Press, 2012) demonstrated his expertise with the Red River region, has expertly edited Withenbury’s reminiscences, and he has added much more to the original text with maps, background information, annotations, and detailed footnotes. Bagur selected thirty-nine of Withenbury’s fifty-four letters, which focus on three boats and their activities: the Concord, the Hunter, and the Relief. These letters produce a study free of distractions from Withenbury’s original intention, which was to show the involvement of midwesterners in the trade of the upper Red River. For those interested in the development and settlers of early northeastern Texas, activity along the Red River, and early commerce in the American Southwest, this book will add an important layer of understanding that is difficult to obtain elsewhere. And readers who just like to read an interesting tale cannot go wrong with this work. Debbie Liles University of North Texas Copyright © 2014 The Texas State Historical Association

Steam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers and the Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier

America's psychological need for transportation speed is as new as high-speed trains and as old as Fulton's Folly. Americans need speed. This psychology appears to have been the same in the early 1800s when steam power was being introduced. Cost, danger, and thrill of change were in the air. So above all, Steam Coffin is a book about people, places, and steam.The adventure starts with Captain Moses Rogers guiding the steamboat Charleston to Savannah, Georgia.But Captain Rogers turned out to be the person with the perfect combination of skill, knowledge, luck, and determination to start the steam revolution in shipbuilding. He, of course, ended up being the captain of the first steam-powered transatlantic voyage on the steamship Savannah.But how he got to be captain of the first voyage involves many other events and individuals. There was Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steam-powered boat in 1807. Next was William Scarbrough, “President of the Savannah Steam Ship Company,” who came to prominence in helping to finance the transatlantic voyage. James P. Allaire built the steam engine that powered the Savannah. Last, the man who would retell the story, Stevens Rogers, a distant cousin of Moses Rogers, was the first mate on that inaugural voyage. His logbook entries and recollections would survive until 1868 when Steve died of heart failure.Second, the book is set between New England and Georgia. America had turned to its waterways for transportation. Charleston, Savannah, New York, and Philadelphia were, and still are, major hubs of transportation and trade. The book reports that Moses Rogers captained sailing ships or steamboats in all of these areas and gained the knowledge needed to be a pioneer steamboat captain.The climax of this book is the voyage of the Savannah to Europe and back. But before that passage could happen, Moses Rogers had to conquer some old psychological fears. “In due course, the mariners of New York effectively responded to the … floating contraption tied up to the wharves with a description of their own—‘steam Coffin.’” Eventually, the steamship Savannah was manned with able-bodied sailors. Other dignitaries, kings, and even the president of the United States, James Monroe, visited the ship. However, the economic conditions of the time marred that first voyage.Finally, Captain Moses Rogers learned how to use steam power. In the days of sail power, people would be at the whim of the wind. But with a steam-powered ship that was needed was fuel to run the engine. This hybrid ship was a transportation revolution in the early 1800s. No longer did the passenger have to wait. The author speculates: Moses made it to Gotham in plenty of time for first advertised commercial run of Fulton's newly registered North River Steam Boat…. Nevertheless, many years later, Moses Rogers would be described as having been “actively and usefully engaged on the North River in the earliest experiments” of Robert Fulton. The story ends as all stories must with bittersweet memories of what history does to people, places, and things.The author tried to include the research that he so carefully collected in this book, but he speculates all too often. Do we really know the whereabouts of Moses Rogers in 1807 when Fulton's steamboat powered to Albany? How did James Allaire come to build the steam engine? Finally, what were the real reasons why William Scarbrough and the shareholders would not sail on the Savannah? This book is a tome of over 700 pages, which to this reviewer seems to be overly verbose. Finally, the end of the Savannah and Captain Rogers seems inevitable. To be first is important in history, but the legacy of these people, places, and ideas is the psychological foundation of the American transportation dream for speed.

The Research of Inland Ship Sewage Treatment Based on Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

At present, the sewage of China’s inland waterway vessels was mostly discharged directly without any treatment, therefore, the inland water pollution is increasingly serious. How to deal with the sewage of inland river steamer in an effective way has become one of the most urgent problems to be solved regarding the inland water environment protection. In this paper, with comparative studies, using the membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology, we have designed and developed the ship sewage treatment device, which is small in size, high efficiency, no secondary pollution and suit for 8 people to use. This provides an effective solution t sewage treatment for our country’s inland waterway vessels.

Dzherzhinskii and the Gerd Case: The Politics of Intercession and the Evolution of "Iron Felix" in NEP Russia

Unprotected by law, the civil rights of groups and individuals in 1920s Soviet Russia were at the mercy of tides of repression, whether those emanated from central campaigns or from local forces. In the personalistic order created by the Bolsheviks one of the most important avenues of redress against rights abuses, especially as concerned heterodox intellectuals, was intercession by regime oligarchs (Old Bolsheviks). (1) For this to occur, entree to such figures was needed. However, another factor that permitted efficacy of intervention was the continuing existence of relatively autonomous spheres of power--administrative fiefdoms--and of independent political authority, in the absence of a dictatorship by a single supreme leader. Such conditions perdured in the Soviet Union roughly until the 15th Party Congress but arguably had already become largely inoperative by mid-1926 with Politburo member Lev Kamenev's fall from power and especially the death of United State Political Directorate (OGPU) chair Feliks Dzerzhinskii. Although it is true that Commissar of Enlightenment Anatolii Lunacharskii was able to protect people until early 1929 and Commissar of Heavy Industry Sergo Ordzhonikidze did so until the mid-1930s, their power of patronage was based on borrowed time. (2) The Gerd Case, as it was labeled in Dzerzhinskii's files, is a revealing exhibit of the complicated 1920s politics of repression and intervention. For one thing, it demonstrates just how vulnerable was the broad intellectual life under the New Economic Policy (NEP) and how widespread, especially among local and provincial party elites, were illiberal views and prejudices. (3) It illustrates how these illiberal currents collaborated on the local level in the selection of specific targets for persecution. For another, it underscores the degree to which the security of individual members of the old intelligentsia was dependent on from among the Old Bolshevik oligarchy, whose salvatory power was limited both by political contingency and by their own understandings of the requirements of regime loyalty (as opposed to the claims of justice). Finally, the Gerd Case reveals that intercession itself was a practice that some influential party members had become emboldened to contest, even if the were none other than Dzerzhinskii and Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaia. Hardliners discovered that by placing vulnerable clients or former friends of Old Bolshevik rivals in peril, as bait, they could draw those rivals out as intercessors and render them politically vulnerable as well. The Gerd Case: Background In October 1926 members of the Moscow Pedagogical Society met to honor the memory of Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gerd, a noted science teacher, educational theorist, and reformer, who was decisively influential in the pre-Soviet progressive movement. A third-generation pedagogue, Gerd collapsed of a heart attack after running to catch a Volga River steamer in July. Shocked colleagues and relatives were unprepared for the news. Emilia Orestovna Vakhterova, who wrote a short memorial piece, was certain that a full-length biography of Gerd would appear. However, Gerd, along with the memory of his educational initiatives, sank with scarcely a trace into the deep Soviet memory hole. (4) During the 1920s Lunacharskii himself once admitted that perfectly well understand that the very best kind of which we could succeed in creating is something very close to the new progressive schools of the past. (5) After the Bolshevik accession to power these schools--Tenishev Gymnasium, the Stoiunina Gymnasium, and the Lesnoe, Vyborgskoe, and Gerd's Putilovskoe kommercheskie uchilishcha (commercial schools) became part of the unified labor school network and Lunacharskii's People's Commissariat of Enlightenment (Narkompros) allowed most of them to retain as much of their staff and programs as possible. …

Steamboat Montana (1879?1884)?Leviathan of the American Plains

Thanks to Hollywood, average Americans would define the history of the opening up of the West in terms of epic pistol duels, vast open plains, and wagon-trains of hopeful immigrants. Large segments of American Western history, however, are still unexamined. These include a fascinating maritime history, a hidden saga of river steam transportation that explains the efficient westward movement of huge numbers of immigrants and vast quantities of supplies. This text outlines the archaeological documentation and analysis of the western river-steamer Montana, of immense proportions and an advanced marine technology far removed from her ocean-going ancestors. © 2006 The Authors

“A War Between Officers”: The Enforcement of Slavery in the Northern United States, and Of the Republic for Which It Stands, Before the Civil War

I will begin this essay with a fugitive slave case in my home state of California, Ex parte Archy, decided by the state Supreme Court in 1858.9 Cal. 147 (1858). A full narrative of the case is in Paul Finkel man, “The Law of Slavery and Freedom in California, 1848–1860,” California Western Law Review 17 (1981): 437–464. While he lived in Mississippi, Archy (Lee), nineteen years old, was the slave of a man named Charle s Stovall. In 1857, Stovall brought Archy with him to California on a visit for health reasons, planning to stay no more than eighteen months. Having sold his wagon and team before crossing the Sierras, Stovall bought a farm, moved to Sacramento, and open ed a school. He hired Archy out to another man, but after a few weeks, when the slave became ill, he put him on a river steamer to San Francisco with the intention of shipping him back to Mississippi in the custody of an agent. Archy escaped.

A Technique For Measuring Steam And Water Relative Permeabilities At Residual Oil In Natural Cores: CT Scan Saturations

Abstract A technique has been developed for measuring the relative permeabilities to steam and water in natural cores at steam drive residual oil saturation under in situ conditions. Liquid saturations were measured by means of CT scans on the natural cores t each equilibrium data point. The technique for pressure drop measurements is essentially the same as that used in previously published work on liquid-liquid systems. The measurement of temperature at the inlet and outlet on the cores permits an estimate of the heat losses during flow. The pressure data and inlet and outlet temperatures are used in calculating the steam and water permeabilities. Relative permeabilities to steam were found to be close to previously published values for gas flow in porous media, after allowance is made for scatter in the results. Relative permeabilityo water appeared to fall somewhat below the relative permeability urve measured by Leverett on coarse sands.The presence of clay mineral in the cores complicates boththe pressure measurement, due to swelling and particle movement, and also the saturation determination. Nevertheless, this technique appears to be a viable method for determining relative steam permeability in porous media in which the absolute permeability is stable. Introduction Since the relative permeability to steam plays a significant role in predicting and simulating steamflood performance, it is important to have reliable values for this parameter. The work described here on Peace River cores was initially undertaken as part of the laboratory effort in support of Shell's Peace River steam pilot(1). It was later extended to include core material from the Tulare formation in California. The intention in this work was to develop a method of steam permeability measurement which could be used on natural cores containing their original liquid saturation. Because of the nature of these unconsolidated cores and their tendency to undergo irreversible dimensional changes as the effective stress varies, it was necessary to design a procedure which permitted maintaining a constant overburden stress on the cores until testing was completed. The chief published data on relative permeability to steam are those those for geothermal systems(2, 3, 4, 5), where there is no oil phase presem, and of Trimble and Menzie(6) for stearn mobility In the presence of residual oil. Work at the University of Texas(7) has provided sorne measurements of permeability to steam in conjunction zith surfactant systems and has also produced results in essential agreement with those for steady state nitrogen/waterflow(8). Other published work (9) on external gas drive with vaporization present at various temperatures suggests that the gas phase permeability is only moderately sensitive to temperature. In our work, we made simultaneous measurements of the permeability to stearn and water in natural cores with residual oil present. The chief constraints affecting equipment design and operating procedures in these experiments were the following:Use of original core material containing original in situ fluids.Maintenance of overburden stress on the core during the entire run.Use of the CT scanner to measure saluration in the core.

Book Review: Clyde River Steamers, 1872–1922

Book Review: Clyde River Steamers, 1872–1922

From The Lancet: Overcrowding of river steamers

From The Lancet: Overcrowding of river steamers

Britain's contribution to medicine and the teaching of medicine in Iraq

The British contribution to medicine and public health in Iraq formed part of their interests which followed in the wake of Bonaparte's sweeping conquests in the Near East in the early part of the nineteenth century. For Britain the territory of Iraq, or rather its southern half, formed part of the Persian Gulf 'sphere of interest' in which British diplomacy had for two centuries built up a unique position. The suppression of piracy and the slave traffic, charting and safe navigation in the Gulf and Shatt al-Arab--these were valuable and commendable achievements that grew out of British interests and the presence of Britain in the area. On the commercial side a proportion of the Basra traffic was in British hands. Inland, the oldest-established river steamers on the Tigris were British. It was against this background that the Church Missionary Society established a mission with its church and hospital at Baghdad in 1882. Later it extended its work to Mosul. The British Resident and Consul-General together with his staff and a resident doctor kept a watchful eye on these establishments. With their own Residency surgeon and his dispensary, their river steamer 'The Comet' of the Royal Indian Marine, their sepoys, and their extraterritorial Indian post offices, successive Residents were forced, by the jealous disfavour of the velis, to fight hard for their privileges. At Karbala a Consular Agent of Indian Muslim extraction watched over Shi'ite interests.

The Feasibility of Smallpox Eradication

JN JUNE 1958 the World Health Organization gave consideration to a proposal that it undertake a worldwide smallpox eradication program. The proposal was approved in principle, and the Director General was instructed to study the feasibility and possible means of accomplishing the task. WIHO's action lends timely interest to smallpox control experiences such as a group from the Communicable Disease Center of the Public Health Service had in the spring of 1958 in East Pakistan. This Province, formerly known as East Bengal, has long been known as a stroiighold of smallpox and a place where control efforts are beset with difficulties as great as any to be found in the world. If eradication of the disease is feasible in the circumstances presently existing there, it should be feasible anywhere. The occasion for the CDC team's trip was a smallpox epidemic of alarming proportions. Many countries, including the United States, extended assistance in combating both this epidemic and a cholera epidemic that was raging concurrently. U.S. assistance was coordinated by the International Cooperation Administration's Mis;sion in East Pakistan under the direction of Dr. Thomas A. Cockburn, ICA's public lhealth adviser in Dacca. This team reported to Dr. Cockburn and with him to the Minister of Health and Home Goverminent of East Pakistan. It was assigned the task of serving as the eyes and ears of the smallpox control campaign with the following duties: 1. Study the history and characteristics of smallpox epidemics in East Pakistan and the various related factors. 2. Define the nature, extent, and distribution of the smallpox epidemic. 3. Assess the resources that could be brought to bear on the control of the epidemic and the obstacles to be overcome. 4. Evaluate the current control campaigns in the districts and identify areas of success and failure. 5. Identify, in cooperation with Pakistani health personnel, epidemiological factors of importance to the smallpox control program. In the execution of these duties the need to obtaini data that would be as nearly representative as possible of the entire Province led to field trips to all 17 of its districts. Team members traveled by airplane, train, river steamer, jeep, oxcart, rickshaw, country boat, and on foot. On most trips each of us was accompanied by a young Pakistani physician who had volunteered his assistance. The associations with these dedicated young mnen turned out to be most rewarding both to them and to us. It is not the purpose of this paper to describe the control campaign that was conducted or the activities of the team. Some of our observations, however, are pertinent to the question of whether it would be feasible to attempt eradication of smallpox in East Pakistan at this time, and what would be required in order to achieve this goal.

Two Isochronic Maps of Settlement in Oregon

36Yearbook of the AssociationVol. 18 TWO ISOCHRONIC MAPS OF SETTLEMENT IN OREGON Georgia Ellen Adams University of Oregon Following the examples of the Dodge1 and the Zelinsky2 isochronic studies of New England and Georgia respectively, I have attempted to analyze the settlement pattern of the state of Oregon.3 The importance of such a method for understanding the impact of settlement on the culture of this particular region is apparent when one realizes that even today Oregon has the major portion of population, political groupings and major industries in the Willamette valley, the area first settled by the pioneers. In addition to cultural values pertaining to settlement, I have attempted to determine the extent to which natural barriers and routes of transportation have affected settlement frontiers, as well as to determine the nature of the flow of settlement in Oregon from one place to another. There are few data in the many histories of Oregon that give specific historical settlement data for geographical locations in the state as a whole, though several have discussed settlement of the Willamette valley. In fact, there were many areas for which the data were so meager that these areas could not be adequately plotted on the accompanying maps. The first map includes some 600 dates which were gleaned from various state, county and local histories. (See Fig. I). These dates represent the first significant agricultural settlement for each area. As can be expected, there were few dates available for initial rural settlements. Land deeds were of little use in determining first settlements, as many of the pioneers failed to file a claim for from 5 to 20 years after settling on the land. The second map was plotted entirely from Payne's study of post offices in Oregon.4 (See Fig. 2). This list contained some 2000 cities and towns, giving both the date of opening and closing for each. However, many of these were representative of towns no longer in existence and of the total number only 902 could be plotted for this study. This map was done separately to show the differential in this type of information from those given as historical dates, although Zelinsky suggested a postal study as a possible means of determining settlement patterns. In order to interpret the accompanying maps, some of the historical and geographical features of the state will be included. There are four principal mountain ranges and several minor ones in the state. The Cascade mountains and the Coast Range both run north and south through the entire state, and have acted as primary natural barriers to the advancing frontiers. The Siskiyou mountains are located in the southern quarter of western Oregon and the Blue mountains in the north eastern quarter. All are 1956of Pacific Coast Geographers37 extremely rugged mountain chains, with the Coast Range being lower than are the other groups. The Cascade range divides Oregon into two distinct sections, western and eastern Oregon. Eastern Oregon consists largely of a high volcanic plateau, colder in winter, warmer in summer and considerably drier than the western part of the state. There are no great agricultural valleys in central Oregon, but in the far eastern section, the valleys of the Grande Ronde, Powder and Burnt rivers resemble those in western Oregon. Among the distinctive features of western Oregon are the numerous valleys formed by the several mountain chains, the principal ones being the Willamette, Rogue and Umpqua valleys. The Willamette is by far the most attractive in all respects, being approximately 150 miles long and fron 30-60 miles wide. It is the most thickly populated area in the state and is the best suited for varied agriculture. The Willamette River and its tributaries, along with that of the Columbia River, formed the major means of transportation for the early pioneers and at one time in the early pioneer history, a river steamer operated from the falls at Oregon City to the city of Eugene, a distance of almost 120 miles. Historically speaking, the region was first entered by an American in 1792, when Capt. Robert Gray discovered and ascended the Columbia River, thereby forming the basis for the subsequent claims to, and acquisition of, the...

The Case for India

THE Americans in their intercourse with strangers, says Tocqueville, appear impatient of the smallest censure and insatiable of praise. The most slender eulogium is accept able to them; the most exalted seldom contents them; they unceasingly harass you to extort praise, and if you resist their entreaties they fall to praising themselves. It would seem as if, doubting their own merit, they wished to have it constantly exhibited before their eyes. In this passage toward the end of his great work, and in others earlier, the astute but senten tious Frenchman was perhaps yielding to an impulse of irritation aroused by chance encounters on river steamers or stage coaches or in taverns, where no doubt a good many of his comprehensive generalizations had their origin. The phenomenon to which he refers is recognizable just the same, a century later, as being char acteristically, although not exclusively, American. Disagreement with American foreign policy, even when it comes from our oldest and best allies, is fiercely resented both in private and in public expressions. It sometimes seems that the right to free, honest difference of opinion, which was the principal basis of our Repub lic at its foundation, has come to be restricted more and more to our own citizens, and perhaps not even to all of them. A difference of opinion from abroad is repelled as if it were an attack. This is a time of tension and strain, when feeling runs high and when, above all, tremendous efforts and sacrifices are being de manded of the American people. Most of the effort is asked on behalf of countries of the free world, by which is meant practi cally any country not harnessed to the Soviet machine. Criticism of American policy is taken particularly ill when it comes from the beneficiaries of the policy. That is, the criticism of our ene mies may be disregarded, but that of our friends strikes home. The government of the new Republic of India has criticized little, but that small censure has been much resented. American impatience with Indian policy is shown both in the press and in private talk, in the halls of Congress and in the United Nations. It dates from December 1950 in its more pronounced manifesta tions, although it began to be perceptible some weeks earlier with the crossing of the 38th Parallel in Korea. During these months

The End of an Era?

WE cannot help having nostalgic thoughts about river boats. A considerable part of our childhood was happily spent in or near Hudson River towns. We knew every boat from the famous old Mary Powell down the list. We frequently traveled in them and never ceased to get a thrill at the sight of the graceful river queens majestically moving in midstream, monarchs of a vast and beautiful territory. When we moved to Washington, the Washington-Norfolk Line revived earlier memories. One of the first expeditions of the family was a visit to Williamsburg via the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay in the District of Columbia , last of the Potomac River queens. We always referred to river steamers as boats until we left for Bikini in the S. S . Appalachian (The Big Apple) in 1946. Before we passed through the Golden Gate the executive officer reminded us politely, but firmly, that we were on a ship, ...

Ants on a Nile River Steamer

Ants on a Nile River Steamer

The Maugerville Church and the American Revolution

On the east bank of the St. John River, sixty miles above the city of St. John and eighteen miles below Fredericton, is an attractive white church building of the New England type. Its graceful spire cannot fail to catch the eye and call forth expressions of admiration as travelers pass by motor or river steamer. This houses the oldest Protestant church organization in what is now the Province of New Brunswick, though this building is not the original one. It was a “society” of the Congregational order, now an integral part of The United Church of Canada, and known as Sheffield.

NILE AND CONGO:COMPARISONS IN RIVER TRANSPORT

THE two great river systems of the Nile and Congo provide the principal means of surface communication between the outer world and the vast territory, loosely called Equatorial Africa, which includes the southern Sudan, the north-eastern Belgian Congo, and a large part of the hinterland of French Equatorial Africa. Other areas are served by the two rivers, and large tracts of Equatorial Africa are traversed by alternative means of communication. The existence of Imperial Airways, which strides Africa from north to south, of SABENA, the Belgian air line which links Stanleyville with the West Coasts and the railway systems of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, serves as a reminder that river-borne traffic has no monopoly. Here, however, we limit our comparison to the two rivers, the Haut Fleuve of the Congo and the Sudan Nile, as media for long-distance inland transport. The river fleet plying on the Nile between Khartoum and Juba is an important link in the chain of uninterrupted communication by rail, road and river connecting Port Sudan and the ports of Egypt with centres as far distant as Mombasa, Nairobi, Kampala and the towns of the Province Orienta,le of the Belgian Congo. Throughout the length of the Nile Valley from the Mediterranean to the Great Lakes this composite organisation provides regular services throughout the year for passengers, mails and merchandise. Two lines of communication connect Khartoum with the coast. Northward lies the rail and river steamer route to Egypt; eastward, over the Nubian desert and the Red Sea hills, is the modern harbour of Port Sudan, joined to Khartoum by rail. These two routes from the hIediterranean and the Red Sea converge at a point near Khartoum, whence the river steamer service prolongs the route southward to Juba, a provincial capital within little