Keelboats and more

Keel-boats were some of the first vessels to sail the Monongahela. These large, flat river boats were used to haul freight and were controlled by oars. The keel-boat had walkways along the sides for men to propel the boat with poles. They would stand at the bow facing the stern, stick a long pole into the river bed and walk toward the stern, thus propelling the boat forward. The only way to make a return trip in a keel-boat was to pull her against the current, using ropes and trees for leverage. Being that this was exceptionally hard work, keel-boats were usually just disassembled at their destination. The wood would then be recycled into houses and whatever else was needed.

Brownsville, PA was an early hub of commerce due to it's location on the National Road and the Mon River. Laid out in the early 1700's, Brownsville quickly became a keel-boat building center. Soon steamboats were being built there as well. As mentioned in a previous post, the New Orleans was the first steamboat to sail from the Mon to New Orleans, but it did not return. The first ship to return was the privately owned vessel, Enterprise, built in Brownsville and owned by the Monongahela and Ohio Steamboat Company (owned by Fulton and Livingston).



First captained by Israel Gregg, the Enterprise was launched in 1814 and was only the 4th steamboat west of the Alleghenies. She transported passengers between Brownsville and Louiville, KY proving that steamboat commerce could be practical on the Ohio River. Command was transferred to Henry Miller Shreve late that year to carry munitions cargo to American troops in New Orleans. On her return voyage the Enterprise became the first to make the trip from New Orleans to Louisville.

Check out this site on keelboat replicas called, appropriately enough, www.keelboat.com

More steamboat history: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/transport/steamboats.html

Sources: wikipedia and www.lewisandclark.net/boats.htm, www.barcpa.org