News of the death at Astoria of Captain Irving Stevens, the well known river pilot, was received here yesterday and occasioned much surprise among river men, because it was not known that he was dangerously ill. He was here for the last time on the 11th inst., and went over to his farm on the Cowlitz. A heavy rain came up, he was wet to the skin, and it threw him into a rheumatic fever.  His age was 48 years. Captain Stevens came to this state from Illinois in 1852 with his parents who are now living in Astoria. In 1857 he learned the lower Willamette and Columbia rivers, under the instruction of his brother-in-law, Capt. Hiram Brown, and since then has been continuously engaged in service as pilot. For twenty years he has piloted ocean steamships. He leaves a wife and two children. Among river men and other acquaintances Capt. Stevens was very popular.