e "three Rs," but was
not. It was, however, comparatively easy to locate a cargo by means of a
flag, and identification seldom failed, as the flags could be varied in
color, shape and size, so as to provide distinction as well as
difference.

Those who remember the busy levee scene, with the flag adornment
referred to, will agree that there was something picturesque as well as
noisy about the old river days, and will be inclined to regret, and
almost deplore, the fact that things are not, from a river man's
standpoint, what they were.

In no country in the world has railroad building been carried on with so
much enterprise as in our native land. Prior to the enormous expenditure
on track building and railroad equipment, advantage had to be taken of
the extraordinary opportunities for navigation and transportation
afforded by the great waterways of the country. As railroads were
naturally built in the East before the West, the value of our Middle and
Western waterways is naturally best understood by the average reader,
because they continued to play an indispensable part in the transaction
of business of every character until quite a recent period.

The Eastern rivers are less magnificent in extent and volume than those
of the West, though many of them are picturesque and attractive in the
extreme. The Hudson has often been spoken of as the "Thames of America,"
not because there is any resemblance between the length of the two
rivers upon which are situated the two greatest cities of modern times.
The simile is the result rather of the immense number of costly family
residences and summer resorts built along the banks of both rivers.

In another chapter we say something of a trip down the picturesque
Hudson, whose banks are lined with historic landmarks and points of
pressing interest. We give an illustration of a pleasure boat on the
Hudson, which reminds one of many delightful river trips taken at
various periods, and also of the events of national importance which
centered around the river that is crowded, year after year, with
pleasure-seekers from the overcrowded metropolis at its mouth.

The Mississippi River is the largest and grandest in North America. A
few miles above St. Louis it is joined by the Missouri River, and if the
distance from the source of the latter to the Gulf of Mexico be
calculated, the longest river in the world is found. At a considerable
distance from the source of the Father of Waters a