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Show 1836- X837J Flagg's Far West S7 since the improvements commenced, under the authority of Congress, by the enterprising Shreve, has become safe and easy. 10 The classification of obstructions is the following: snags, trees anchored by their roots; fragments of trees of various forms and magnitude; wreck- heaps, consisting of several of these stumps, and logs, and branches of trees lodged in one place; rocks, which have rolled from the cliffs, and varying from ten to one hundred cubic feet in size; and sunken boats, principally flat- boats laden with coal. The last remains one of the most serious obstacles to the navigation of the Ohio. Many steamers have been damaged by striking the wrecks of the Baltimore, the Roanoke, the William Hid-burt, u and other craft, which were themselves snagged; while 19 At the age of twenty- five, Henry M. Shreve ( 1785- 1854) was captain of a freight boat operating on the Ohio. In 1814 he ran the gauntlet of the British batteries at New Orleans, and carried supplies to Fort St. Phillip. The following year, in charge of the " Enterprise " he made the first successful steamboat trip from New Orleans to Louisville. Later he constructed the " Washington," making many improvements on the Fulton model. Fulton and Livingstone brought suit against him but lost in the action. May 24,1824, at the instigation of J. C. Calhoun, then secretary of war, Congress appropriated seventy- five thousand dollars ( not $ 105,000, as Flagg says) for the purpose of removing obstructions from the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. As early as 1821, Shreve had invented a device for removing snags and sawyers from river beds. But it was not until after two years' fruitless trials with a scheme devised by John Bruce of Kentucky, that Barbour, at Calhoun's suggestion, appointed Shreve superintendent of improvements on Western rivers ( December 10, 1826). This position he held until September xx, 1841, when he was dismissed for political reasons. In the face of discouraging opposition Shreve constructed ( 1829) with government aid the snagboat " Hekopolis " with which he later wrought a marvellous improvement in navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi. From 1833 to 1838 he was engaged in removing the Red River " raft" for a distance of a hundred and sixty miles, thus opening that important river for navigation. For a good biography of Shreve, see the Democratic Review, xzii ( New York, 1848), pp. 159- 171, 241- 251. A fair estimate of the importance of his work can be gained from the following statistics; from 1822- 27 the loss from snags alone, of property on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, including steam and flat- boats and their cargoes, amounted to $ 1,362,500; the like loss from 1827- 32 was reduced to $ 381,000, although the volume of business had greatly increased.- ED. n The " Baltimore " ( 73 tons) was built at Pittsburg in 1828; the " Roanoke " ( 100 tons), at Wheeling in 1835. It is reported that from 1831 to 1833, of the |