Pittsburg, the great gateway of the West, stood at the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers joined to form the Ohio River, and was the usual point of embarkation for emigrants bound down the river. As early as the year 1784 Pittsburg was inhabited almost entirely by the Scotch and Irish who lived in paltry log houses. A good deal of trade was carried on, the goods being brought from Baltimore and Philadelphia at the expense of 45 shillings per hundred, and exchanged by the merchants in the shops, for money, wheat, flour and skins.[172] Merchandise was sent from Pittsburg in Keels and flatboats down the Ohio to Limestone and Louisville. In the spring of the year 1784 the town was laid out and surveyed by Col. George Woods, by order of Teucle Francis, attorney for John Penn, and J. Penn, Junior.[173] John Pope in 1790 gives most anything but a pleasing account of the town. He says, "The town at present, is inhabited with only some few exceptions, by mortals who act as if possessed of a charter of exclusive privilege to filch from, annoy, and harass her fellow creatures, particularly the incautious and necessitous; many who have emigrated from various parts of Kentucky can verify the charge. Goods of every description are dearer in Pittsburg than in Kentucky, which I attribute to a combination of pensioned scoundrels who infest the place."[174] The increase of the town was not rapid until the year 1793, in consequence of the inroads of the savage tribes which impeded the growth of the neighboring settlements. The Western insurrection more generally known as the "Whiskey War," once more made this the scene of commotion, and is said to have given pittsburg a new and revising impulse, by throwing a considerable sum of money into circulation.[175] From that time it increased rapidly, and on April 22, 1794 was incorporated as a borough.[176] In 1795 Pittsburg contained about two hundred houses, fifty brick and frame, and the remainder log[177].

The surplus produce of the country about Pittsburg, was, during this time, consumed by the numerous emigrants who were continually passing down the Ohio.[178] Goods from Philadelphia and Baltimore were sent to Pittsburg, stored there in warehouses,[179] and later sent down the Ohio to Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Northwest Territory.[180] The gain on these goods sent to Kentucky was about 33 per cent.[181] Little effort had been made to establish manufactures, even for articles of the first necessity, these being obtained from Philadelphia and Baltimore at exorbitant prices.[182] The carriage from Philadelphia to Pittsburg was from $8 to $10, and from Baltimore $7 ot $8, two wagons, nevertheless, coming from Philadelphia against one from Baltimore.[183]

Boat building was carried on in Pittsburg at this time, but Collot advised travelers to buy their boats on the Monongahela, where the greater number were built as they would in that way be able to save much time and about one-third of the expense.[184] By the year 1802 the ship building industry had assumed importance in Pittsburg, one of the principal ship yards being upon the Monongahela The lumber being near at hand rendered the expense of building less than that in the Atlantic States. The cordage was manufactured at Redstone and Lexington, and sent also to Marietta and Louisville where ships were built.[185] In 1802 a three mast vessel of 150 tons and bin of 90 were launched at Pittsburg, and during the spring of 1803, three ships from 160 to 275 tons were launched.[186] The merchants living in or near Pittsburg were either the partners, or else the factors, belonging to the houses of Philadelphia.[187] Trading boats were sent out from Pittsburg to supply the settlements along the River.[188]

Schultz, 1807, writes thus of Pittsburg, "There are probably between 60 and 70 stores, well stocked with every kind of goods. The price of wagon carriage from this distance, (Philadelphia and Baltimore), is $5 and $6 a hundred pounds weight. It contains between 400 and 500 houses. From the best information I could collect, it is supposed to contain at least 2500 inhabitants, the most of whom are German and Irish settlers from various parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland. This town has likewise a number of public buildings, principally built of brick. Ship building is carried on here with considerable spirit; they have already launched about one dozen brigs and schooners. Boat building, boat buying, and boat selling seem to be part of the business of at least half of the town. Pittsburg has likewise a considerable number of factories established already, among which may be enumerated distilleries, breweries, printing presses, an air furnace, a glass house and cotton factory; likewise, smaller establishments for the manufacture of nails, brushes, ropes, copperware, tinware, and earthenware, with many others too tedious to mention, Pittsburg appears to be in the "full tide of successful experiment."[189]

Fort Washington was established on the present site of Cincinnati in 1789,[190] and at that time, 1789, the settlement numbered 20 log cabins.[191] In 1792, fifty persons were added by emigration, and in 1802 the Territorial legislature incorporated the town of Cincinnati. The population of Cincinnati, 1792, consisted of about 250 inhabitants, living in 30 log cabins; within the next four years the population increased to 600, and the cabins to 100, besides which there were about 15 frame houses,[192] with stone chimneys. Collot in 1796 says, "The town of Cincinnati contains already 300 families. The spot offers no advantage for commerce; and it is probable that when the army shall have left this place, whatever industry it possesses will be carried to the little town of Newport."[193] Such was this traveler's opinion of the town which was later to become one of the greatest commercial centers of the Ohio country. By the year 1805 the population did not exceed 500;[194] in 1807 Cincinnati contained about 300 houses, had a bank, market-house, printing office, and a number of stores well stocked with every kind of merchandise in demand in the country.[195] About the year 1808 a disastrous period commenced which lasted until 1818, during which a short period of imprudent banking and wild speculation ensued, which proved disastrous to the city.[196] In 1810 Cincinnati contained 2320 inhabitants.[197]

Wheeling settled in 1770, contained in the year 1795 about 50 log and frame houses.[198] Harris in 1803 says that "Wheeling is increasing very rapidly in population and in prosperous trade; and is, next to Pittsburg, the most considerable place of embarkation to traders and emigrants, anywhere in the western waters. During the dry season, great quantities of merchandise are brought hither, designed to supply the inhabitants on the Ohio River, and the waters that flow into it, as boats can go from hence, when they cannot from higher up the river. Boat building is carried on at this place to a great extent, and several large keel boats and some vessels have been built."[199] At this point the great post roads from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Northern Virginia united, and crossed the river, on the route through the States of Ohio and Kentucky, to Tennessee, and New Orleans.[200] In 1807 Wheeling contained about 200 houses, amongst which there was a considerable number of stores, well supplied with every kind of merchandise. It still continued to draw trade away from Pittsburg, many of the lower country merchants preferring to send their goods overland to this place, rather than risk a detention of 3 or 4 weeks at Pittsburg.[201]

The settlement of the Ohio Company's purchase commenced in April 1788, when they planted the colony of Marietta at the junction of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers.[202] By the end of the year about 300 persons had settled in Marietta, and aside from these there was not a single white family within the present bounds of Ohio.[203] In 1795 the town contained about 200 wooden houses, and was protected from theattacks of the Indians by soldiers stationed there. From 1790-1795 the Indians were very troublesome and stole a great number of horses from the settlers.[204] The population, at this time, was composed of five or six hundred families from New England and a few unfortunate French families, the victims of American land speculators, and of the ignorance of the chiefs of the Scioto Company.[205]

As early as the year 1798 or 1799 Commodore Preble built a brig of 120 tons at this place, which probably was the first sea vessel launched in the western waters.[206] "The inhabitants of Marietta were the first that had an idea of exporting directly to the Carribee Islands the produce of the country, in a vessel built in their own town, which they sent to Jamaica. The success which crowned this first attempt excited such emulation among the inhabitants of that part of the western country, that several new vessels were launched at Pittsburg and Louisville, and expedited to the Isles, or to New York and Philadelphia."[207] The ship yard at Marietta was on the Muskingum, and there in 1803 was built the brig "Mary Avery" of 130 tons.[208] The ship building industry increased; ships completely equipped for sea at $50 a ton, brigs, schooners,[209] and bun boats[210] were built at Marietta in 1807. Schultz says, "Ship building is carried on here with more spirit than any other town on the Ohio."[211] From 1801-1808 ship building was carried on with great spirit at Marietta, not less than 20 ships, brigs, and schooners, from 150 to 450 tons being built, besides some gun boats.[212] The embargo of 1808 overwhelmed several of these merchants with ruin, especially such as had ships on hand unsold. One man who had a ship in New Orleans at the time lost $10,000 on her and the cargo. No town in the United States suffered so much as this, according to its capital. Three extensive rope walks, working up large quantities of hemp raised in the country, and furnishing rigging for the ships, were put out of employ, and in a few years fell into ruins. The business of the town did not revive for many years.[213]

Limestone, Kentucky, in 1790 was a little town and the point where emigrants from Virginia disembarked.[214] It later, 1796, became the depot for whatever goods passedfrom Baltimore and Philadelphia to Kentucky.[215] The grow th of the town was slow, and in 1807 they were only 80 houses. Schultz says, "from the great number of boats of every description lying along the shore, it must have a very considerable share of business. Ship building, I was informed, is likewise carried on with much spirit, but I saw nothing of the kind going on while I was there."[216]

Louisville was, in 1796, a small settlement containing from 80 to 100 houses.[217] This was one of the earliest settlements on the Ohio and was rendered the more important at that time, by its position at the Falls of the Ohio. All the boats which touched at Louisville to take pilots were obliged to ascend the river more than two miles above the town to gain the current on the opposite side, which led to considerable expense and loss of time. This disadvantage in the situation of the town probably prevented it from increasing.[218] The Falls were occasioned by a bed of rocks extending from one side of the river to the other. There was a fall of 22½ feet in two miles.[219] In the year 1807 the legislature of Kentucky had incorporated a Company for the purpose of opening a canal around the Falls.[220] At this time Louisville contained 120 houses. Ship and boat building was carried on with considerable spirit.[221] Pilots were appointed to conduct boats over the falls, at the price of $2 per boat.[222]

Steubenville, Ohio, laid out in 1798, and incorporated as a town in 1805,[223] contained, in 1807, about 130 houses, a number of brick buildings, and several stores well stocked with every kind of merchandise.[224] Chillicothe, was laid out on the Scioto by Nathaniel Massie in 1796. Galliopolis, settled in 1791, by a French colony,[225] is a good example of the bad faith of the Scioto Company.[226] This town rapidly declined.[227]

Fort Vincents and Jeffersonville, Indiana, were in 1796, small villages, one of 50 houses,[228] and the other 40 houses.[229]

In 1796 a large number of merchants had already established themselves at Frankfort on the Kentucky River, which was navigable for the largest boats ten months in the year.[230] Henderson, Kentucky, carried on a considerable export trade 1807-1809.[231]

Shawneetown, Illinois, made its first appearance in 1805 and 1806, and increased considerably for some time. Great fleets of Keel boats concentrated at this point, engaged in the salt, and other traffic, and diffused life and energy to the new colonies.[232] Cuming says, 1807-1809, "there were several trading boats, and more appearance of business than I had seen on this side of Pittsburg."[233]

Brownsville, on the Monongahela, and McKeesport on the Youghiogheny carried on an extensive boat-building business, in 1803, furnishing craft for the emigrants.[234]

Such was the beginning of the early rivers towns of the West, many of which were destined, as agriculture, manufactures, and trade developed, to become great commercial centres.

CHAPTER I.
THE COMING OF THE STEAMBOAT.

"The first fruits of the enterprise were far from encouraging; failure after failure attested the numerous and embarrassing difficulties by which it was surrounded. For although all the early boats were capable of being propelled through the water, and although the last was usually better than those which preceded it, it was long a doubtful question, whether the invention could be made practically useful upon our western rivers, and it was not until five years of experiment and the building of nine expensive steamboats, that the public mind was convinced by the brilliant exploit of the Washington, which made the trip from Louisville to New Orleans and back in 45 days."[235]

The substitution of machinery for manual labor occasioned a vast diminution in the number of men required for the river navigation. A steamboat with the same crew as a barge, was able to carry ten times the burden,[236] and perform her voyage in a much shorter space of time.

The complete success attending the experiments in steam navigation made on the Hudson and the adjoining waters previous to 1809, turned the attention of the principal projectors to the idea of its application on the western rivers; and in the month of April of that year, Mr. Roosevelt of New York, pursuant to an agreement with Chancellor Livingston, and Mr. Fulton, visited those rivers, with the purpose of forming an opinion whether they admitted of steam navigation or not.[237] Mr. Roosevelt surveyed the rivers from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and as his report was favorable, it was decided to build a boat at the former town. This was done under his direction, and in the course of 1811 the first boat was launched on the Ohio.[238] It was called the New Orleans, and intended to ply between Natchez, Mississippi, and the city whose name it bore.[239] In October it left Pittsburg for its experimental voyage.[240] On this occasion no freight or passengers were taken. Mr. Roosevelt, his wife, and family, Mr. Baker, the engineer, Andrew Jack the pilot, and six hands, with a few domestics, formed her whole burden. There were no wood yards at that time and constant delays were unavoidable. Late at night on the fourth day after quitting Pittsburg, they arrived in safety at Louisville, having been but 70 hours descending upwards of 700 miles. The small depth of waters in the Rapids prevented the boat from pursuing her voyage immediately, and during the consequent detention of 3 weeks, in the upper part of the Ohio, several trips were successfully made between Louisville and Cincinnati. Then the waters rose, and in the course of the last week in November the voyage was resumed, the depth of water barely admitting the passage of the boat.[241] They reached their destina tion at Natchez, at the close of the first week in January, 1812,[242] having passed through a severe earthquake on the way. The Louisiana Gasette notices her arrival at New Orleans on January 11th.[243] This steamboat continued to run between New Orleans and Natchez, making her voyage average seventeen days. She was wrecked in 1813 or 1814.[244]

From 1812-1817, the following steam boats were built and launched upon the Ohio River. The Comet, a boat of 25 tons was built at Pittsburg. She descended to Louisville in the summer of 1813; reached New Orleans in the spring of the year 1814; made two voyages from thence to Natchez, and was there sold.[245]

The steamboat Vesuvius of 400 tons was launched at Pittsburg in December 1813, designed as a regular trader between the falls of Ohio and New Orleans.[246] In April, 1814, she sailed from Pittsburg, having been successfully tested in several trial trips of four and five miles up and down the Ohio and Monongahela.[247] Her voyage from Pittsburg to Shippingsport was made in 67½ hours, from Shippingsport to Natchez in 125½ hours, from Natchez to New Orleans in 33 hours, total 227 hours.[248] She was employed for some months between New Orleans and Natchez, and was finally destroyed by fire.[249]

The steamboat Enterprise, built on the Monongahela, arrived at Pittsburg in July, 1814, designed as a packet between that place and the Falls of the Ohio. She was tried against the current of the Monongahela, unusually high and rapid for the season, and made 3½ miles an hour, and then returned with the stream in ten minutes.[250] Having reached New Orleans, the Enterprise made five trips to the Balize, and one to the Rapids of Red River. One of the trips to Natchez was made in four days, a distance of 313 miles, against the strong current of the Mississippi River, without the aid of sails. Another trip from New Orleans, to Beardstown, 1500 miles against the current was made in 25 days.[251] In August, 1815, this steamboat reached Brownsville, in ballast, having discharged her cargo at Pittsburg. The Enterprise was the first steamboat that ever made the voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi and back. The voyage up the rivers, about 2200 miles, was made in 54 days, 20 days being employed in loading and unloading freight at the river towns.[252]

The Buffalo, of 285 tons, was launched at Pittsburg in July 1814, designed to ply between that place and Louisville, once a month.[253] The Despatch, owned as well the Enterprise, by the 'Monongahela and Ohio steam-boat Company ' was built at Bridgeport in 1815, and was expected to pass through the water at the rate of nine miles an hour.[254] The Etna, in 1816, performed a voyage from the Falls of Ohio to New Orleans in 15 days.[255] The Oliver Evans, built at Pittsburg in 1816, was intended for the conveyance of passengers and goods on the Ohio and Mississippi.[256] The Washington, built at Wheeling in 1816,[257] was the boat which made the voyage from Louisville to New Orleans and returned in 45 days, convincing the public that steamboat navigation on the western waters would succeed.[258] Her boilers were on the upper deck, and she was the first boat on that plan.[259] The James Monroe, the Franklin and the Harriett, were also built at Pittsburg.[260]

That the importance of the steamboat to the commerce of New Orleans was clearly recognized as early as 1815, is shown by the following newspaper article. "We have had undoubted proofs of the good effects of the steamboat navigation between this city (New Orleans) and Natchez, and why not extend its beneficial effects to the Ohio and to the different navigable streams emplying into that river. The want of public spirit, properly directed has retarded the salutary object so long. If enterprising men would propose and form associations and companies for building steamboats on the different navigable waters west of the Allegheny mountains it is reasonable to suppose that few men of capital would withhold their support ... surely interest most clearly points out something like the foregoing plan to immediately operate in favor of the trade of the rivers Ohio and Mississippi. The steamboats now in use cannot carry one twentieth part of the goods that might be in demand from this city.... Experience alone will establish what size of boats, or draught of water will be best for the navigation of both rivers ... it appears very reasonable, however, to suppose that the boats of small draught of water would be best calculated for the Ohio, taking into consideration the different stages of the water and how subject that river is to fall very low.... To the commercial interest of New Orleans the steam navigation is of immense consideration, the vast sums of money annually paid in Philadelphia and Baltimore for goods, and carried over the mountains in wagons, would concentrate here. View the course of trade. The merchants of Cincinnati, Lexington, Nashville, and the small towns in the western states, after the extreme labor, anxiety and expense of getting their goods carried from the seaboard by land, are obliged to receive produce in payment, which is floated down to this city, and converted into money for the coffers of the New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore importers—whereas, if the steamboats were in complete operation, the whole western states could be supplied with every kind of goods here, and on better terms than they now are from Philadelphia and Baltimore ... but certainly it is not chimerical to say that if exertions are not made by individuals, or companies through views of gain or otherwise to bring more steamboat tonnage into use for the western trade, it would have been better (as it relates to that trade) that the steam boats had never been in operation—then the old laborious, tedious barging would have continued in full vigor."[261]

The steamboats, making occasional trips up and down the river, created great excitement along the banks, and at the towns and villages their arrival and landings were great occasions.[262] These boats were a queer style of water craft, as they had not assumed the forms that were afterward found to be suited to the river navigation. Their builders copied the models of ships adapted to deep water, and the boats all drew too much water to be available in the dry season, so that they could not be used on the upper Ohio more than about three months in the year. They looked just like a small ship without masts. Some of them were of peculiar models, and all of them had very little power in comparison with boats built later. The first boats had no more decking than a common sailing vessel. Very few of them could make over 2 or 3 miles against the stream when it was strong.[263]

When Fulton commenced steamboat building, be patented the side paddle wheels, and held a monopoly of that form of boat. Niles notes the following incidents arising from this monopoly. "Mr. Livingston of New Orleans under a patent of the State of Louisiana, as the assignee of Fulton and Livingston's exclusive right to navigate the Mississippi and its waters, by steam, so far as respects the navigation from New Orleans to and up the Red River, has prevented the steamboat Despatch, of Pittsburg, from taking a return cargo at New Orleans, though it appears she is worked by machinery quite distinct from that under the aforesaid patent. He has, however, permitted her to go out of the limits of the State without incurring a penalty. The procedure appears likely to create much sensation in the "western world."[264] "The Louisville Correspondent" announces a second attempt of the Livingston steamboat company to interrupt the steam navigation of the Mississippi by boats not under their charter. The procedure excites much sensibility in the western world."[265] "The question of Fulton and Livingston's privilege is again agitated by a suit brought in the federal court of New Orleans, against the steamboat Constitution. We wait with anxiety the result of a question involving the most prominent interests of W. America."[266] The evasion in many of the western boats consisted of placing a wheel on each side of the keel at the stern of the vessel, so that the wheels were out of sight from behind.[267]

The General Pike, built at Cincinnati in 1818, and intended to ply as a packet between Maysville, Cincinnati, and Louisville, is said to have been the first steam boat constructed on the western waters for the exclusive convenience of pass engers. The length of her cabin was 40 feet, the breadth 25 feet, in addition to which there were fourteen state rooms.[268]

The Post-Boy, built at New Albany, in 1819, was intended for the conveyance of mail between Louisville and New Orleans, under an act of Congress, passed March, 1819. This was the first attempt on western waters to carry the mail in steam boats.[269]

Steamboats now multiplied rapidly on the western rivers. In 1817, nine were building on the Ohio and Mississippi, sufficient to make the total number of twenty on those waters.[270] In 1818 there were about twenty-five boats,[271] and the Weekly Register of November 7, says, "Our Western papers inform us of the launching of several new steamboats, and they seem to be building by dozens."[272] The trade between New Orleans and the upper and adjacent country was carried on in this year, by twenty steamboats carrying about 4000 tons,[273] although about nine-tenths of the entire trade was still carried on in the usual craft.[274] Nuttall in 1819, says that there were at that period, about seventy-five steamboats upon the Mississippi and its tributaries, but that owing to the general and unfavorable fluctuation in the commerce of the United States, the number had become greater than their actual employment would warrant.[275] The boats ascending to a point below the Falls were from 300 to 500 tons burthen.[276] Of the 40 boats, built since 1812, 7 had been wrecked, burned, or abandoned, 33 were still plying from place to place, and 28 new ones were building in 1819.[277]

From this time on, the boats multiplied very rapidly; 72 were employed in 1821;[278] in 1826 the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio was carried on in 95 boats;[279] in 1827, 109 steamboats, averaging 170 tons were employed in the trade of these rivers;[280] and in 1829, about 200 boats, whose tonnage may be stated at 35,000 tons, were plying on these rivers.[281]

"The following is a list of the steamboats built on the western waters from 1811-1830."

"Add to this number 188, 15 boats finished this spring (1830) and now running, and 10 built in the last, and the whole number now running on the western waters will be 213. Of this number 86 were built at Cincinnati."

Of the 133 lost or worn out there were

1Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 97.

As the steamboats were perfected, their speed was greatly increased, rendering communication between the different ports easy and rapid. In 1817, a steamboat made the voyage from the Falls to New Orleans, with a full cargo, in seven days.[282] The steamboat Vesuvius, in the following year, made the passage from Louisville to New Orleans, 1600 miles, in the same space of time.[283] The average speed of a vessel heavily laden was about 60 miles a day.[284] In 1819, the James Ross, coming from New Orleans to Louisville, made the voyage in 14 days.[285] In 1824 the passage from New Orleans to Shippingsport was made in 11 days and 2½ hours, said to be the shortest passage by 12 hours that was ever made up to that time.[286] In 1826 the passage down was made in 6 days, as against 12 to 14 days in 1817; and from 10 to 14 days were required to come up stream as against 22 days in 1817.[287] The steamboat, Lady Washington performed a voyage, in 1827, from Pittsburg to Nashville and back, 2600 miles, in less than 17 days.[288] In The same year, the Huntress made the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville, in 8 days and 11 hours, having lost 10 hours in a fog.[289] The first boat ascending the Allegheny, 1827, proceeded up the river at four or five miles an hour, and returned at the rate of ten miles an hour.[290] A shipment made in 1827, from the port of New York via New Orleans, by the ship Illinois, reached St. Louis in 29½ days. The distance was 3300 miles, and there was a delay of probably two days at New Orleans while the goods were transferred from ship to steamboat.[291]

In 1818, rates for passengers from New Orleans to the mouth of the Ohio was $95; from New Orleans to Shawneetown $105; to Shippingsport $125; children from 2 to 10 years at half price; children under two at one fourth price; and servants at half price.[292] The passage up the river to the Falls, in 1819, cost $100, including provisions; from Shippingsport to New Orleans the cost was $75.[293] The passage up the river to Cincinnati from New Orleans in 1823 was $50; Cincinnati to New Orleans, $25; Cincinnati to Louisville, $4; Louisville to Cincinnati, $6; Cincinnati to Pittsburg, $15; Pittsburg to Cincinnati, $12; Cincinnati to Wheeling, $14; and from Wheeling to Cincinnati $10.[294] In 1827 the passage up the river to Louisville was about eight pounds, which included every expense of living. Many of the vessels carried seven hundred passengers, besides merchandise.[295] A year later, the regular charge for a cabin passenger was $35 from New Orleans to Louisville; for a deck passenger the rate was $10, $2 being struck off, if they were willing to assist in carrying wood.[296] By 1830 passage from Louisville to New Orleans and back was reduced to $30 each way.[297]

Steamboats with their safety barges in tow were to be seen on the Ohio. The Merchant from Pittsburg to Cincinnati, having in two her safety barge with 95 passengers, in 1826, was the first attempt of the kind. The barge had 52 berths and 3 cabins. The steamboat had 2 cabins.[298]

Goods were carried, about the year 1818, at 6¼ cents per pound weight,[299] by 1820 the increase of craft, together with the decreasing quantity of goods imported, had lowered the freight from New Orleans to the Falls of the Ohio to 2 cents per pound.[300] In 1829-1830 goods were delivered at the wharf of Cincinnati for one dollar per hundred pounds, from Philadelphia by way of New Orleans.[301]

The larger boats, on account of the shallowness of the water, usually ascended no farther than Shippingsport.[302] The navigation of the Ohio was often obstructed part of the year by large masses of floating ice.[303] From the middle of February or the first of March to the end of June, and in October or November were the best seasons for navigating the Ohio.[304]/

The steamboats were in constant danger from Planters, Sawyers, and Wooden Islands in the river. A Planter was a tree rooted fast to the bottom of the river and rotted off level with the water. Sawyers were less firmly rooted, and rose and fell with the water, being more dangerous when they pointed down stream. Wooden Islands were logs accumulated against planters.[305] From 1822-1827, the loss of property on the Ohio and Mississippi by snags alone, including steam and flat boats, and their cargoes, amounted to $1,362,500. The losses on the same items, from 1827-1832, were reduced to $381,000 in consequence of the beneficial action of the snag boats.[306] These boats, constructed under the direction of the government, were successful in removing these obstacles at small expense, and with great facility.[307]

As the settlements and business of the valley of the Ohio increased, the danger, delay, and expense of passing the Falls of that river, became a subject of general solicitude. Men of intelligence and enterprise, who were engaged in the river trade at Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and the intermediate towns, having been subjected to the inconvenience and expense caused by that obstruction, from the first settlement of the country, began to discuss the question, whether the difficulty could not be removed. William Noble, an enterprising merchant of Cincinnati, found that, at the time when the commerce of the West was in its infancy, the loss sustained by traders residing above the Falls, amounted in one year to $80,000, including storage, drayage, cooperage, commissions, and the wages of hands during the delay.[308]

The Falls were impassable for steamboats, except during the high floods which usually occurred in the spring and continued for a few days only at a time. They were passed by means of a laborious and expensive portage, extending from Louisville to Shippingsport, a distance of two and a half miles.[309] To remedy these inconveniences, the Louisville and Portland Canal was built round the Falls.[310] The first steamboat that passed through the Canal was the Uncas, on December 21, 1829.[311] This work,which was intended as a great benefit to the commerce of the West, seemed to have failed in accomplishing that purpose, for the following reasons: I. During the greater part of the year it afforded the only outlet for the productions of the larger portion of the Ohio Valley, and the only channel of ingress for the valuable imports of the same region. It was found that boats of great length were those of the greatest speed, and best suited to the navigation of the rivers, and the character of the trade. The length which was found most convenient was greater than the dimension of the locks of the Canal, and thus the boats best adapted to the trade between Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and other ports on the upper Ohio, and St. Louis or New Orleans, were excluded from that commerce, and a smaller class of boats, which were much less profitable, were exclusively employed.[312]

II. The width of the Canal was such that steamboats could not pass each other within it, nor could a loaded boat work her way through, but by a great effort, which occasioned a great loss of time.

III. Excessive tolls were levied, thus imposing an unjust burden upon the owners of the boats navigating the Ohio. The government, as a stockholder, participated in these profits.[313]

In spite of these various adverse conditions, steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rapidly increased, and gradually took the place of the slower and more clumsy draft which had formerly enjoyed a monopoly of the carrying trade on those rivers.

CHAPTER II.
OTHER CRAFT OF THE PERIOD.

The lumber from the upper river was all rafted, and in the spring and early summer, when the water was high, the rafts were a leading feature of the river life. They were made up through the winter on the small branches of the Allegheny, and floated out on the first spring freshet.[314] Sometimes several rafts would be joined together, till they would cover an acre of space, or even more. On these were built shanties for the men, and vast heaps of shingles, and lath in bundles occupied a part of the space. As the region of Pennsylvania and New York, drained by the Allegheny, was a pretty good place to emigrate from, families were constantly leaving for the countries down the river, and made these rafts available as the means of moving. Indeed, for the purpose, nothing could be more convenient, for the movers could build themselves a comfortable shanty of the loose lumber, a shed for their horses and cows, if they wished to take them along, and be quite at home during a journey, that would often occupy three or four weeks.[315]

Howell says, "Often I have seen the shanties of two or three families, with wagons, horses, cows, and even poultry, all snuggly situated, with room for the children to play outside. I have seen the women washing, and a clothes-line hung with the linen."[316] Hall also gives us a pleasing account of this mode of travel. "Today we passed two large rafts lashed together, by which simple conveyance several families from New England were transporting themselves and their property to the land of promise in the western woods. Each raft was 80 or 90 feet long, with a small house erected on it, and on each was a stack of hay, round which several horses and cows were feeding, while the paraphernalia of a farm yard, the ploughs, wagons, pigs, children, and poultry, carelessly distributed, gave to the whole more the appearance of a permanent residence, than of a caravan of adventurere seeking a home. In this manner these people travel at slight expense."[317]

The smaller forms of boats, the skiffs, and the pirogue were still in use on the Ohio. The total expense of two people, for a voyage of seven hundred miles in a skiff, down the Ohio, was but seven dollars each.[318] Birkbeck speaks of forming two pirogues, out of large poplars, lashing them together, and placing large planks across both, thus creating a roomy deck and good covered stowage, making it possible to take a bulky as well as a heavy cargo.[319]

Arks, which Schultz says were not much used on the Ohio in 1807 were at this period often used by emigrating families to transport themselves down the river.[320] They were long floating rooms, built on a flat bottom, with rough boards, and arranged within for sleeping. Boatmen were hired, provisions were laid in, and when the end of the voyage was reached the boat was sold.[321] They were sometimes called flat bottoms, and described as being "planked up at the sides, and covered at the top." Emigrants generally procured them at Pittsburg and Wheeling, and after reaching their destination sold them to persons wishing to take produce to market.[322] This was a pleasant and cheap method of traveling.[323] About 1817-1818 hundreds of these boats were to be seen on the river, great numbers of them being built at Pittsburg.[324] Tranchepain describes a boat which must have been a form of ark. He says, "During our voyage we passed a great many flat-bottomed boats. Some of them were small, and merely contained an emigrant's family and its furniture. Some of the emigrants who were better off, were going to the Missouri and the Illinois, and their boats, besides their family, contained also a small wagon, and two or three horses. These boats are built in the shape of a parallelogram, whose sides are in the ratio of three, four, or even five to one. They are planked up on each side and behind, and are protected by a slightly curved roof made of thin boards, their height being in the interior about that of a tall man. The upper part of the front, and a few feet on each side of the front are left open like a sort of balcony. From this opening project two long oars which serve to steer the boat, and, in case of necessity, to move it out of the way either of a sand bank, or of a mass of drift wood. Each boat is often divided into two or more apartments, one of which has a fireplace and chimney; so that each of these strange habitations might not inappropriately be termed a floating cottage."[325] Flint describes the flat boats used by emigrants as being from forty to one hundred feet in length, fifteen feet wide, and carrying from twenty to seventy tons. They were very large and roomy, and had separate apartments, fitted up with chairs, beds, tables, and stoves. He says, "It is no uncommon spectacle to see a large family, old and young, servants, cattle, hogs, horses, sheep, fowls, and animals of all kinds, bringing to recoll-ection the cargo of the ancient ark, all embarked and floating down on the same bottom; and on the roof the looms, ploughs, spinning wheels, and domestic implements of the family."[326] Family boats cost from $30 to $50 in Pittsburg.[327] These boats were sometimes tied end to end, two boats carrying as many as forty people.[328] In 1818-1820 "family boats are almost continually in sight," on the Ohio, near Louisville.[329]

The larger sort, called Kentucky Arks, and of about 150 tons burthen, were used for purposes of trade. They contained a vast assortment of articles, such as horses, pigs, poultry, apples, flour, corn, peach brandy, cider, whiskey, bar iron and castings, tin, copper wares, glass, cabinet work, chairs, millstones, grindstones, and nails. These boats passed down the Ohio, selling what they could at the river towns.[330] When the crew reached New Orleans they sold the boat, and returned overland or by steamboat.[331] Latrobe describes the ark as "a broad flat-boat with a deck of two or three feet elevation above the water. They have generally a small window fore and aft, and a door in the middle, a peep into which will show you a goodly store of pots, pans, or flour barrels. A narrow ledge runs round them for the convenience of poling. A small chimney rises above; racoon and deer skins, the produce of the hours spent ashore, are nailed on the sides to dry. The larger are propelled by four oars, and I have occasionally seen them surmounted by a crooked mast or top mast. Here you will meet one fitted up as a floating tinshop, gleaning many a bright dollar from the settlers. Others again are of a more simple construction, and have merely a temporary deck supported upon rails, through which the sheep and other live stock may be descried. Hay for their consumption will be piled above, and cabbages stowed away in a compartment behind."[332]

The flat-boat belonged to the same class as the ark. Their construction was temporary and they were broken up at New Orleans as not being sufficiently strong to be freighted up the the river.[333] These flat boats or Orleans boats as they were sometimes called, were from twelve to twenty-five feet wide, and from thirty to ninety feet long, and carried about seven hundred barrels of flour.[334] Farmers built these boats and sent their produce to New Orleans in them.[335] Freight on board a flat boat in 1817 was 50 cents per cwt.[336] In 1818, one traveler on a steamboat counted as many as 643 flat boats descending the Ohio and Mississippi.[337] In one month, in the early part of the year 1831, it was estimated that one thousand flat boats entered the Ohio from the Wabash, with cargoes estimated at $2000 each.[338] Five hundred of these boats passed Vincennes.[339] In 1827, Bullock says that there were from 1200 to 1500 flat boats, averaging from 40 to 60 tons, at New Orleans.[340] Basil Hall in 1827-1828 counted about 100 arks at New Orleans.[341] The margin of the shore at New Orleans was lined in the early part of the year 1831, with these flat boats from all parts of the upper country.[342] The descent of a flat boat to New Orleans, if in autumn, usually occupied fifty days.[343]

Retail trading boats continued in use on the Ohio. Every considerable landing place on the Ohio and Mississippi, had in the spring, a number of stationary and inhabited boats, lying by at the shore. They were often dram shops.[344] Flint says, "While I was at New Madrid, a large tinner's establishment floated there in a boat. In it all the different articles of tinware were manufactured, and sold by wholesale and retail.[345] A still more extraordinary manufactory, we were told, was floating down the Ohio, and shortly expected at New Madrid. Aboard this were manufactured axes, scythes, and all other iron tools of this description, and in it horses were shod. In short it was a complete blacksmith's shop of a higher order. I have frequently seen in this region, a dry goods shop in a boat, with its articles very handsomely arranged on shelves."[346]

Keel boats were still used on the Mississippi and Ohio in low stages of water, and on the boatable streams where steamboats did not run. Before the introduction of the steamboat, there were six times as many of these boats used as afterward.[347] These boats were used to carry merchandise down the river, eight or ten boatmen being required for a journey down stream,[348] and from twelve to twenty-four to pole the boat up stream.[349] Emigrants sometimes took passage down the Ohio in keel boats.[350] As early as 1817 the steamboats were beginning to supersede them.[351]

Barges, varying from 40[352] to 170[353] tons burthen, were used in the transportation of merchandise. About twenty[354] or twenty-five[355] hands were required to work an ordinary barge upstream, the boatmen being able to make about six or seven miles per day against the current.[356] During the years 1812-1818 these barges were used to carry large cargoes both to and from New Orleans.[357] These boats often were equipped with sails, masts, and rigging. From ninety to one hundred days was a tolerable passage from New Orleans to Cincinnati. In this way the intercourse between Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, and St. Louis, for the more important purposes of commerce, was kept up with New Orleans.[358] A rather interesting article appeared in the Louisiana Gasette of October 24, 1815, which was as follows: "The steamboats now in use cannot carry one twentieth part of the goods that might be in demand from this city (N. O.)—the common barges, always slow and expensive in their operations are in a great measure paralyzed by the few steamboats in use, the bargemen know that steamboats will always have the preference, hence they are prevented from preparing barges, the expense being great, and the barge owners generally men of very limited means, so that the public will be worse served than if steam were not in operation unless a spirit is immediately diffused that will bring the steam navigation into use commensurate to the demand of transportation."[359] As time went on the barges fell into disuse,and about the year 1830, few were to be seen.[360]