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 primitive forms of craft continued in use, upon the Ohio River, long after the introduction of the steamboat. The business of the country was small, and a few boats served the purpose. It was only after the steamboats had become very common, growing in numbers with the country, that they absorbed the great part of the carrying trade.
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]