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)
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.
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
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 |