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The Last of the Flatboats / A Story of the Mississippi and Its Interesting Family of Rivers

Chapter 2: Preface
By George Cary Eggleston
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About This Book

The narrative follows a group of boys who build and pilot a flatboat from an Ohio River town down the Mississippi and its connected waterways, living aboard through long voyages. Their journey mixes daily routines and shipboard camaraderie with recurring dangers of the rivers—chutes, fog, crevasses, and violent currents—prompting rescues, hard physical struggles, and an occasional makeshift surgery. Episodes visit river towns, encounters with pilots and captains, and scenes of publicity and settlement in New Orleans, while themes of resourcefulness, teamwork, and coming-of-age emerge as the boys learn navigation, seamanship, and the practical rigors of life on America’s rivers.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Last of the Flatboats

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Title: The Last of the Flatboats

Author: George Cary Eggleston

Release date: February 15, 2014 [eBook #44922]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by David Edwards, Fred Salzer and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST OF THE FLATBOATS ***


THE RESCUE OF THE CASTAWAYS.
“The rescue occupied considerable time and work.” (See page 283.)

The Last of the Flatboats

A Story of the Mississippi and its
interesting family of rivers

By

GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON

Author of “The Big Brother,” “Captain Sam,”
“The Signal Boys,” “The Wreck of
the Red Bird,” etc., etc.

BOSTON
LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY

TO MY LAST-BORN BOY

CARY EGGLESTON

A brave, manly fellow
Who knows how to swim
How to catch fish
How to handle his boat
How to shoot straight with a rifle
And how to tell the truth every time

I Dedicate

This Story about some other Boys of his kind

GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON

Culross-on-Lake-George

Preface

Vevay, from which “The Last of the Flatboats” starts on its voyage down the Mississippi, is a beautiful little Indiana town on the Ohio River, about midway between Cincinnati and Louisville. The town and Switzerland County, of which it is the capital, were settled by a company of energetic and thrifty Swiss immigrants, about the year 1805. Their family names are still dominant in the town. I recall the following as familiar to me there in my boyhood: Grisard, Thiebaud, Le Clerc, Moreraud, Detraz, Tardy, Malin, Golay, Courvoisseur, Danglade, Bettens, Minnit, Violet, Dufour, Dumont, Duprez, Medary, Schenck, and others of Swiss origin.

The name Thiebaud, used in this story, was always pronounced “Kaybo” in Vevay. The name Moreraud was called “Murrow.”

The map which accompanies this volume was specially prepared for it by Lieut.-Col. Alexander McKenzie of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army. To his skill, learning, and courtesy I and my readers are indebted for the careful marking of the practically navigable parts of the great river system, and for the calculation of mileage in every case.

G. C. E.