Historic Highways of America (Vol. 9)

ppalachian uplift and the Mississippi, and the Blue Ridge and the Great Lakes, this river was, from the beginning of the eighteenth century onward, the main route of immigration a

t was a straw which marked the direction of the sweeping current of advance, and the swiftness of it. Compared with the evolution of methods of travel by land, the evolution on our rivers was rapid and spectacular. The "freighter" or "Conestoga" of 1790 was practically the same as that of 1840: a half century had witnessed little change in wagons and stages, save minor improvements. But compare the craft of 1790 on the Ohio with that of 184

pirogue ran easily with the current but could not ascend the stream without the expenditure of much labor. Often the words canoe and pirogue were used interchangeably of the same craft; in George Rogers Clark's famous march to Vincennes in 1779, the army, upon arriving at the Little Wabash, February 13, built a boat which in Bowman's Journal is called a "canoe," and in Clark's Memoir, a "pirogue." The batteau, better known in the W

t be repeated here or elsewhere. There is no other valley in the world that is to be found, explored, conquered, reconquered and settled like the Ohio Basin. What a line of daring voyageurs that was from La Salle to Céloron and Washington, who feasted their eyes upon the virgin beauty of La Belle Rivière, from their heavily-loaded, long canoes; in these craft came the explorers of Ohio and Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois; they ploughed the waters of the Muskingum far back in the distant day when those waters were, as the name implies, clear as an elk's eye; they forged slowly up the Licking and Scioto, the Beaver and the Kanawhas. In the early days the canoe was the customary bearer of two significant kinds of freig

large canoe," October 20, at Pittsburg, "with sufficient store of provisions and necessaries, and the following persons, besides Dr. Craik and m

and commissariat's sole reliance, and in these great clumsy hulks which floated with the current, sometimes with the aid of sails, were transported the armament and stores which made possible the forts that at once came into existence in the valley-Forts Mclntosh, Henry, Harmar, Finney, Washington, an

e ordinary early barge was much the shape of the present-day coal

total tonnage received and entered at the port of Pittsburg was 63,221 tons; of this, 41,533 tons was export. In 1837 the total number of boats arriving at Pittsburg from February 10 to July 1 was five hundred and ninety-three; the total number departing was five hundred and eighty-two.[48] If the upstream trade did not equal

er. Colonel Burd, the English officer who led one of the marauding expeditions from Detroit into Kentucky in the Revolutionary War, came from the lakes and ascende

h man was provided with a pole to which was affixed a heavy socket, The crew, being divided equally on each side of the boat, "set" their poles at the head of the boat; then bringing the end of the pole to the shoulder, with bodies bent, they walked slowly along the running boards to the stern-returning quickly, at the command of the captain, to the head for a new "set." "In ascending rapids, the greatest effort of the whole crew was required, so that only one at a time could 'shift' his pole. This ascending of rapids was attended with great danger, especially if the channel was rocky. The slightest error in pushing or steering the boat exposed her to be thrown across the current, and to be brought sideways in contact with rocks which would mean her destruction. Or, if she escaped injury, a crew who had let their boat swing in the rapids would have lost caste. A boatman who could not boast t

the earliest times until today, have found the favorite sites of occupation to be in the interior of the country, beside the lesser tributaries of the Ohio.[51] Thus as the pioneer settlements spread up on the Licking, Muskingum, Hockhocking, Scioto, and Miami, a boat like the keel-boat, which could ply in any season of the year and on the narrow creeks and "runs," was an inestimable boon. Again, take for instance the salt industry, which in the day of the keel-boat was one of the most important, if not the most important, in the Central West; as values were a century ago the best of men did well to "earn his salt." These salt springs and licks were found at some distance from the main artery of travel, the Ohio, and it was the keel-boat, more enduring than the canoe, and of lighter weight and draught and of lesser width than the b

ed the Ohio and its tributaries; its special functions: first, the upstream trade, seco

untry" barges of England and the "wherries" of London. They were great, pointed, covered hulks carrying forty or fifty tons of freight and manned by almost as many men. They were the great freighters of the larger rivers, descending with the current an

s and lay hold of their oars, for the river must be crossed, it being seldom possible to double such a point and proceed along the same shore. The boat is crossing, its head slanting to the current, which is, however, too strong for the rowers, and when the other side of the river has been reached, it has drifted perhaps a quarter of a mile. The men are by this time exhausted, and, as we shall suppose it to be 12 o'clock, fasten the boat to a tree on the shore. A small glass of whiskey is given to each, when they cook and eat their dinner, and after resting from their fatigue for an hour, recommence their labors. The boat is again seen slowly advancing against the stream. It has reached th

un is now quite low, and the barge is again secured in the best harbor within reach for the night, after having accomplished a distance of perhaps fifteen miles. The next day the wind proves favorable, the sail is set, the boat takes all advantages, and meeting with no accident, has ascended thirty miles-perhaps double that distance. The next day comes with a very different aspect. The wind is right ahead, the shores are without trees of any kind, and the canes on the bank are so thick and stout that not even the cordelles can be used. This occasions a halt. The time is not altogether lost, as most of th

the month of July, sometimes not until October; and after all this immense trouble, it brought only a few bags of coffee and at most one hundred hogsheads of sugar. Such was the state of things as late as 1808. The number of barges at that period did not amount to more t

istory; they were the freighters which carried on the larger rivers the heavy cargoes of a country fast filling with a new population. They plied, like the keel-boat, up and down stream but could not ascend the smaller rivers or reach portages of the larger streams

feet wide and eight feet deep. It was square and flat-bottomed and was managed by six oars; two of these, about thirty feet long, on each side, were known as "sweeps" and were manned by two men each; one at the stern, forty or fifty f

stronger and was entirely covered with a roof. How to buy or build a "flat" was the first query of the pioneer father as he finally arrived at one of the ports on the upper Ohio. Often several families joined together and came down the river on one flat-boat, a motley congregation of men, women, c

horn by means of which some one on board would announce their arrival or make known their whereabouts in a fog.

along the Mississippi River plantations. Any enterprising man who owned or could build a "flat," bought up the crops of his neighborhood, put them aboard, and was ready to start on the "fall rise." Flat-boats were loaded at the bow-sometimes through trapdoors in the roof-the cargo stored away in the hold. For through freight, apples an

or of one "flat" purchased the entire product of a neighboring farm and took

t @ $1.05 pe

toes @ 2.05 p

otatoes @ 1.2

lbs. @ 4.33 pe

beans

? lbs. saue

f a flat

-

230

,230.79 would make many a

work was to keep the craft in the current. Several miles above the "falls" at Louisville, pilots would be found in skiffs ready to climb aboard and steer the "flat" down the rapids for ten dollars or less. If the cargo was intended for the coasting trade, business began at the first large p

tock and boat, invested his money in sugar and molasses, and embarked

ning of the war flat-boats were frequently fired upon. When the business was again revived in 1866 it was a new, sad South the flat-boat men fou

o New Orleans in 1782; "the late Capt. Jos. Pierce of Cincinnati, Ohio, had erected over the remains of

OB Y

and in May, 1782, from Fort Redstone, | on the Monongahela river, in the | First Flat Boat. | That ever descended the Mississippi river, he landed in |

etimes numbered several hundred, and a greater proportion of them were armed. They were provided with mules to carry the specie and provisions, and some spare ones for the sick. Those who were able purchased mules, or Indian ponies, for their use, but few could afford to ride. As the journey was usually performed after the sickly season commenced, and the first six or seven hundred miles was through a flat, unhealthy country, with bad water, the spare mules were early loaded with the sick. There was a general anxiety to hasten through this region of malaria. Officers would give up their horses to the sick, companions would carry them forward as long as their strength enabled; but although everything was done for their relief which could be done without retarding the progress of their journey, many died on the way o

been invented by Mr. Krudger, on the Juniata, about ten years ago [1795]. They are square, and flat-bottomed; about forty feet by fifteen, with sides six feet deep; cov

or that purpose.... Our crew consisted of ten persons, including a man and his wife and one child, who were going to migrate.... There are many eddies along the river and at them we tried to tie up at night in order to be out of the current.... From Pittsburg to Cincinnati, five hundred miles, the river being broad and deep and free from snags, we could travel night and day.... At one point in our trip we saw a raft stranded on an island; but the Captain did not seem to take the matter very seriously to heart, and answered our salutations by singing and dancing and lustily waving his hat as we passed by.... At Limestone, [Maysville] Ky., seventy miles east of Cincinnati, I stopped and s

A. M. every alternate Saturday, requiring one month for the round trip. The proprietor took great credit to himself, "claiming to be 'influenced by love of philanthropy and desire of being serviceable to the public.' He further stated: 'No danger need be apprehended from the [Indian] enemy, as every person on board will be under cover, made proof against rifle or musquet balls, and port holes for firing out of. Each boat is armed with six pieces carrying a pound ball; also a number of good musquets, and amply supplied with ammunition, strongly manned with choice hands, and the masters of approved knowledge. A separate cabin is partitioned off for accommodating ladies on their passage; conveniences are constructed so as to render landing unnecessary, as it might, at times, be atte

The great barges of early days were moved by sails when the wind was favorable.[62] Both barges and keel-boats were "provided with a

masters, and the experiences of their crews, is a subject worthy of a volume. The building of these larger craft for the Mississ

trade. These brigs and schooners were, without doubt, distinctively down river craft, which never returned; they were therefore the export carriers, and the importance of their place in history ma

n May 4 he wrote at Marietta: "the schooner 'Dorcas and Sally,' of 70 tons, built at Wheeling and rigged at Marietta, dropped down the river. The following day there there passed down the schooner 'Amity,' of 103 tons, from Pittsburg, and the ship 'Pittsburg,' of 275 tons burden, from the same place, laden with seventeen hundred barrels of flour, with the rest of her cargo in flat-bottomed boats. In the evening the brig 'Mary Avery,' of 130 tons, built at Marietta, set sail. These afforded an interesting spectacle to the inhabitants of this place, who saluted the vessels as they passed with three cheers, and by firing a small piece of ordnance from the banks."[67] "The building and lading of ships is now considered as an enterprize of the greatest importance in this part of the country. The last (1802) there were launched from the ship-yard of Captain Devol, on the Muskingum river, five miles above its mouth, the ship 'Muskingum,' of 204 tons, owned by Benjamin Ives Gilman, Esq. and the brigantine 'Eliza Greene,' of 115 tons, owned by Charles Greene, Esq. merchants at Mariett

the winds and the amount of rainfall at any time were very uncertain, it must have been a most difficult thing to cope successfully with low water and shifting sand bars and other inn

n cannot be introduced better than by quoting

, calculated for 300 or 400 tons burden. And there is one building at Frankfort, Kentucky, by citizens who no doubt will push the enterprise. It will be a novel sight, and as pleasing as novel to see a huge boat working her way up the windings of the Ohio, without the appearance of sail, oar, pole, or any manual labour about her-moving within the secrets of her own wonderful mechanism, and propelled by power undiscoverable!-This plan if it succeeds, must open to view flattering prospects to an immense country, an interior of not less than two thousand miles of as fine a soil and climate, as the world can produce, and to a people worthy of all the advantages that nature and art can give them, a people the more meritorious because they know how to sustain peace and live independent, among the crushing of empires, the falling of kings, the slaughter and bloodshed of million

nty barges, averaging one hundred tons each, and making but one trip a year. The number of keel-boats employed on the Upper Ohio could not have exceeded one hundred and fifty, carrying thirty tons each, and ma

ain greater speed, the builders soon made the boats long and narrow but it was not until they came to the decision that boats would run faster on the water than in it, and began making them flat and broad, that they finally got a boat capable of carrying a thousand tons, when drawing only four feet, and when empty only two and one-half feet. Then with a high pressure engine at each wheel they could make unprecedented speed; and these boats afforded traveling and freight accommodations equal to any. Although the prices of passages did not exceed hotel rates

furnishing, supplying, loading and unloading these boats, was ninety thousand. At this time, 1832, the boats numbered four hundred and fifty and their burden ninety thousand tons. In 1843 the whole number of steamboats constructed at Cincinn

ore length and less draught, and were faster than those of the last generation, while the hulls were more staunch, though they contained les

gregate value, at $80 per ton, was $7,200,000. Many of these were fine vessels, affording most comfortable accommodations for passengers, and compared favorably in all particulars with the best packets in any part of the

usand descending the Mississippi, and counting five men to a boat there were 20,000 persons employed in flat-boating. The cost of these boats was in the neighborhood of $400,000, which, as

s two hundred and thirty, and they carried 39,000 tons, th

108 running days, at $1

240 running days, at $

s, 270 running days, at

--

y expenses

he calcul

, 180 running days, at $

, 240 running days, at

tons, 280 running day

--

y expenses

erent items producing it, wou

s, 36% $

, 30% 2,

ions, 18%

encies, 16%

-

$9,0

should b

% on $7,200,0

Portland Canal

00,000. Investme

r of boats,

--

$12,23

boats, as abo

--

t of transportat

the heavier portions of the work, 320 hands at the boatyards, 200 joiners, 200 en

Jeffersonville, 35 boats, of 7,406 tons, which cost $700,000. These

uilt 25 boats, of 4347 tons; the average

of boats built in 184

45 boats,

ny, and Jeffersonvil

, 25 boat

her places, 15

-

26,78

by destruction and superannuation being twenty per cent, the decrease by the latter cause

the whole steamboat tonnage of the United Stat

thw

ans, 80,

uis, 1

nati,

urg, 1

ille,

lle, 3

-

126,27

thw

o, 8,2

it, 3

Isle,

o, 1,

oga,

-

17,652

ab

k, 35,2

ore, 7

e, 6,

lphia,

ston,

rn, 2

Amboy,

icola,

n, 1,

lk, 1

gton,

town,

k, 1,

aneous,

-

76,064

tons, it appears that two-thirds belonged to the West; and as a portion of the other tonnage was employed on routes leading to the West and connecting with our highways, the commerce of the West no doubt amounted to more

ort of New York there were some seventy or eighty steamboats constantly running-on the Lakes there were hundreds. In the valley of the Mississippi the number of steamboats they employed

Ships

d 434

nd 105

nd 84

ependenci

-

, 672

eat Britain was only two-thirds that of the Mississippi Valley. The magnitude of this fact will be best appreciated by considering that the entire tonnage of the United States was but two-thirds that of Gr