Ohio History Journal

FLAT BOATING ON THE OHIO RIVER.

 

BY REV. ISAAC F. KING.

 

In the early settlement of Ohio, the pack horse was first

used on which to transport merchandise. The American Indian

left us no high-way for wheeled vehicles. A wagon road is a

thing he never made, and if given to him, he seldom used.

As soon as the white-faced Emigrant reached the North-

west territory he projected wagon roads to bring his goods and

supplies from the East. These roads were hard to make over

the mountains and hills, and the crossing of the rivers added

much to the task. Naturally he looked to every source for free

and cheap transportation.

At a very early date, the Ohio pioneer launched his canoe,

framed his raft and made his Keel boat. Many of the first

settlers were men whose early life had been spent in European

Country where rivers and water courses were used to transport

merchandise.

It is a matter of surprise to us, in this age, when we read

the findings of the men who first surveyed the State of Ohio.

They put down on their charts such streams as the Darbys and

Deer Creek as navigable. At that time our territory was mostly

unbroken forest and the creeks and rivers kept, at all seasons,

a larger and more sustained volume of water, than now exists.

For these reasons, the early settlers used the water courses

much, and they had high hopes that these streams would in

the future be the great arteries of trade.

The Ohio and the Mississippi rivers were looked upon as

the hope of the West, not only to reach such markets as the

cities located on their banks might afford, but also as the route

to reach the ships of the ocean.

As soon as the lands of this State were cleared off, and

the farmer had a surplus of corn and pork, he sought for cheap

conveyance to such markets as were afforded down these rivers.

(78)

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Flatboating on the Ohio River.           79

It was not until 1795 that Spain granted to the United

States free transportation to the mouth of the Mississippi river.

Before that no water craft could enter New Orleans, without

paying an exorbitant tax. The first flat-boat to reach New

Orleans was in 1782.

For good reasons the early settlers of Ohio made and used

flat-boats to carry to market certain kinds of products. This

began about 1790 and continued for some sixty years. Since

these boats have so long since gone out of use, it may be proper,

here, to describe the structure of this kind of water craft.

Along our water courses, in the early part of that century

there was a liberal supply of timber of many kinds. From this

source the pioneer made his flat-boats at small cost. These

boats were often called "broad homes" because the stem was

not sharp, nor even rounded, but square. They were made to

float after the manner of a raft of logs. These boats usually

were about 100 feet long; 18 feet wide and 8 feet deep, draw-

ing when loaded 4 feet of water. The logs used as a floor were

either held together with wooden pins or withes. Such a craft

could carry a cargo of 350,000 pounds. Usually the crew con-

sisted of 8 men, though half that number sometimes did the

work. It had a good supply of large strong rope called hawser.

There was a steering oar some 80 feet long, which had a blade

which went into the water, being three feet by seven. This

was balanced on the stern-post at the extreme end of the boat.

On each side was an oar, some 36 feet long, with a blade two by

six feet. There was a similar one on the bow called a "gouger".

This was used to aid in steering, in extreme cases. On the

boat was a cabin or tent for sleeping and eating.

The bottom of these boats was calked with tow, and some

times painted with tar. Many of them were supplied with poles

about 18 feet long, finished with iron spikes on the end, which

went into the earth. These were used in emergencies to move

the boat and start it to floating.

At first each owner made his own boat. In later years some

were built by companies for sale. They brought $3.00 or $4.00

per lineal foot.

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80        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

When these boats were first used, they encountered many

dangers in a trip to New Orleans. At that time the rivers were

not made safe for navigation, as they were in after years. In

them were snags, from felled timber; also there were hidden

rocks and sand bars. I need not mention dangers from fog,

which imperils navigation to this day. At that time there were

eddies, whirlpools and sand banks. There were also dangers

because of the crookedness of the Mississippi. We are told

if one were to follow its current, it would be 3,300 miles long;

when on a straight line it is only 675 miles. One of the places

of the greatest known peril was the falls of the Ohio river,

where the stream falls 221/2 feet in two miles. On an average

as one descends the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers the fall is

9 inches to the mile. We are not surprised to learn that the

average speed of a flat-boat was three miles per hour. These

boatmen encountered more dangers in a trip from Marietta, Ohio,

to New Orleans than we encounter now in circumnavigating the

globe. In those early days the crew often had to forsake the

wrecked or stranded boat and walk through the wilderness for

many miles to find a way to get home. Experienced boatmen

had some one, at least, at all hours, on guard.

Since these boats made little or no use of their oars, they

depended mostly on the current of the river to propel them.

Sometimes it took three months to go from the mouth of the

Muskingum river to New Orleans; but some boatmen in 1850

made the trip in one-fourth of the time.

The merchandise carried at first was corn, pork, potatoes,

whiskey and cider. This last commodity cost then in Ohio, not

more than $3.00 per barrel, and was sold down the river for

$5.00 and $6.00 per barrel. In after years these boats carried

also wheat, flour, apples, crockery and glass ware. As soon as

we began to make salt in this state, it was shipped in this way

to a great extent. A boat could carry 350 barrels of salt.

Toward the end of this kind of boating, much lumber was

shipped; and in some cases sheds were constructed on the boat,

and families used this means of passing as emigrants from

Pennsylvania to Illinois and Missouri.  In some cases the

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Flatboating on the Ohio River.            81 emigrants had on board much of the material for his future home in "the new country". It is a well known fact that the first school house used in Cincinnati came to town on a boat. On reaching its destination the owner first disposed of the cargo and then sold the flat-boat for either building mate- rial, or fuel. The return trip was usually made on a steam- boat, which took some 18 days.* In about the year 1855 these crafts went out of use, and steam boats and steam cars supplanted them. Many of the old flat-boatmen found employment, especially as pilots, on the steam boats, and some of the owners became proprietors of the nineteenth century crafts. As a rule flat- boatmen made a good living at the business, and not a few made comfortable fortunes. *The first steamboat on the Ohio River was the "New Orleans," launched at Pittsburgh, October 20, 1811.-EDITOR.

Vol. XXVI-6

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