The pilots usually endeavor to keep on the dividing line, so that one can look from the opposite sides of a boat and imagine himself sailing upon two rivers of different character at the same moment.
Sometimes this distinctive line continues for fifteen or twenty miles, but usually less than ten.

A soldier wittily remarked, that the water from the Upper Mississippi derived its transparency from the free States, from whence it came, while the Missouri, emerging from a slave State, was, consequently, of a repulsive hue.

As Missouri is now a free State, the soldier's remark is not applicable.
Steaming up the Missouri toward the State capital, we found the sentiment along the banks of the river strongly in favor of the Union.
Home Guard organizations had been hastily formed, and were doing their best for the protection of the railway.

Most of the villages along the Lower Missouri contained a strong German element, which needs no question of its loyalty.

The railway bridges were thoroughly guarded, and each town had a small garrison to suppress any rising of the Secessionists.