Ohio History Journal

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FLAT BOATING ON THE OHIO RIVER

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)