| TRANSPORTATION ON THE MONONGAHELA BY W. ESPEY ALBIG Although the traffic on the Monongahela River from Brownsville to the Ohio had advanced from the canoe of the Indian and the Kentucky boat of the emigrant of Revolutionary times, to a water borne traffic of no mean size in passengers and miscellaneous freight, and to more than a million bushels of coal annually before the Monongahela waterway was improved by the installation of locks and dams late in l 841, yet no r ecords remain of the constantly increasing stream of commerce passing over this route between the east and west. Here and there remains a fragment from a traveler, a ship builder or a merchant giving a glimpse of the river activity of the later years of the 18th century and the early ones of the 19th century. The Ohio Company recognized the importance of this waterway, and early in 1754 Captain Trent on his way to the forks of the Ohio by Nemacolin's and the Redstone trails built "The Hangard" at the mouth of Redstone Creek. From April 17th, when he surrendered his works to the French and retreated in canoes up the Monongahela, this avenue became more and more important until tile steam railways supplanted the slower traffic by water. The easy navigation of this stream led that man of keen insight, General Washington, into error, when, under date of May 27th, 1754, he writes: "This morning Mr. Gist arrived from his place, where a detachment of fifty men (French) was seen yesterday I immediately detached seventy-five men in pursuit of them, who I hope will overtake them before they get to Redstone, where their canoes lie." These men, however, had come by Nemacolin's Trail; but the force of 500 French and 400 Indians which followed close upon the heels of Washington after his defeat of Jumonville, and captured him at Fort Necessity, came up the Monongahela from Fort Duquesne in piraguas. The expedition of General Braddock in 1755, disastrous though it was, opened up the way from the East to the fertile lands of the Ohio Valley. Under date of May 24th, 1766, George Groghan, Deputy Indian Agent, writes from Fort Pitt: "As soon as the peace was made last year (By Colonel Bouquet) contrary to our engagements to them (the Indians) a number of our people came over the Great Mountain and settled at Red stone Creek, and upon the Monongahela, before they (the Indians) had given the country to the King, their Father." A letter written from Winchester, Virginia, under date of April 30th, 1765, says: "The frontier inhabitants of this colony and Maryland are removing fast over the Alleghany Mountains in order to settle and live there." This migration was augmented by Pennsylvanians, following the act passed in 1780, which provided for the gradual abolition of slavery. About this time, too, it became generally known that the Monongahela Valley was Pennsylvania territory rather than of Virginia. Kentucky was an inviting district and her charms were made patent to all. So general became migration to Kentucky that the name "Kentucky Boat" was applied to the flat used in transportation on the Monongahela at that time. Boat yards for the constructing of all manner of river craft were opened at Brownsville where the overland route from Cumberland and the east first reached communication with the western waters, and at Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth) fourteen miles from the mouth of the Monongahela River. In 1784 a petition was presented at the September term of the Fayette County Court for a road from "Redstone Old Fort along the river side to the grist—and sawmill at the mouth of Little Redstone and to Collo. Edward Cook's," since, "the intercourse along the river is so considerable, by reason of the number of boats for passengers, which are almost constantly building in different parts along the River side." The petition was granted. The Pennsylvania Journal, of Philadelphia, in its issue of February 13th, 1788, carried the statement that "Boats of every dimension may be had at Elizabethtown, in the course of next spring and summer...... where provisions of all kinds may be had at a very cheap rate, particularly flour, there being no less than six grist mills in the circumference of three or four miles." In its issue of August 20th in the same year the P'ennsylvania Journal carried an advertisement that at "Elizabeth, town on the Monongahela" the proprietor (Stephen Bayard) "has erected a boat yard, where timber is plenty, and four of the best Boat Builders from Philadelphia are constantly employed." Captain John May, who gave his name to the settlement at the mouth of Limestone Creek, Kentucky, and who in 1790 was killed by the Indians while descending the Ohio, under the date of May 5th, 1788, writes in his diary: "This day was raised here (at Elizabethtown) a large shed for building boats. Almost all the Kentucky boats from the east pass this place: near two hundred have passed this spring." The hardships entailed by this migration were enormous. During the severe winters when the Monongahela was ice bound the road leading through Brownsville to the river was lined on both sides with emigrant wagons whose occupants with difficulty prevented themselves from perishing from the cold. The Indian ravages on the boats on the Ohio and on the settlers in the Kentucky country occurred with terrifying frequency. Possibly fifteen hundred people perished through these attacks in the seven years following the close of the Revolutionary War. Finally the boats going down from Pittsburgh formed in brigades. Denny's Military Journal, of April 19th, 1790, gives an account of one such flotilla containing sixteen "Kentucky Boats," and two keel boats. The flat boats were lashed together three abreast and kept in one line. The women and children along with the animals were placed in the middle boats, while the outside ones were defended and worked by the men. These boats were guarded on either flank by the keels. In this case the Indians did not attack, but the unwieldy craft were almost wrecked in a furious storm of wind and rain. Despite these drawbacks, however, by 1790 the Kentucky country had a population of approximately seventy-four thousand people, many of whom had come down the Monongahela. With the opening by France of the West Indies to trade and the right of deposit secured at New Orleans from Spain, the western trade, enormously expanded, bid fair to be controlled by Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh at the mouth of the Monongahela had a commanding part of that traffic. Except for three Of four months in the dry season this town was crowded with emigrants for the western country. Boat building was the chief industry of the place. Log canoes, pirogues, skiffs, bateaux, arks, Kentucky broad horns, New Orleans boats, barges, and keel boats with masts and sails—all were waiting the emigrant. The people of the Tennessee and Kentucky country brought all their supplies from Philadelphia and from Baltimore, now almost an equal commercial rival of her northern neighbor, and shipped their produce to New Orleans. On March 31st, 1836, the "Monongahela Navigation Company" was authorized by Act of Assembly. It was to make a slack water navigation from Pittsburgh to the Virginia State line, and as much farther as Virginia would allow it to go. The capital was to be $300,000, in shares of fifty. The locks were to be four and one-half feet high. The charter was issued in 1837. The state subscribed $25,000, and later in 1840, $100,000 on condition "That all descending crafts owned by citizens of Pennsylvania, not calculated or intended to return, from any point between Millsborough and the Virginia State line, shall pass free of toll thru any lock or dam of the lower division of said improvement, until the company shall put the first dam above Brownsville in the second division under contract, and complete the same" The ill-starred United States Bank, now an institution of Pennsylvania, was required to subscribe for $100,000 of stock. The total subscriptions amounted to $308,100. From Pittsburgh to Brownsville was found to be fifty-five and one-half miles, and the ascent thirty-three and one-half feet; forty-one feet -a total of ninety and one-half miles, and ascent of seventy-four and one-half feet, requiring seventeen dams. Higher dams were then authorized, making four necessary below Brownsville, and three above to the State line. Before these dams could be completed the credit of the state, which had been strained to the breaking point during the '20's and '30's for internal improvements, broke; the United States Bank collapsed, leaving unfilled its obligation of $50,000 to the Company; many of the private stockholders refused payment; the State's subscription of $100,000, being in bonds was collected at a loss; Baltimore capitalists refused aid; and, crowning all, a break developed in Dam No. 1 in 1843, which made expensive repair necessary. The whole project became a "mortification to its friends and projectors, and a nuisance to the navigation." The Legislature, however, in order to improve the financial condition of the state, directed, by Act of July 27th, 1842, repeated by Act of April 8th, 1843, sales of all its corporation stocks, including the $125,000 in this Company. This stock was bought in for $7,187.50 by a group of men -who with effective energy had on November 13th, 1844, the entire improvement repaired and completed for use to Brownsville, where connection was made with the National Road, which in turn connected at Cumberland, seventy-five miles distant, with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Baltimore. Pittsburgh at last was brought within thirty hours of the Atlantic Seaboard. Long before the Monongahela River had been improved, however, and the steamboat had driven the keel boat and the flat boat from the western waters, the feeble frontier settlements of the Monongahela Valley were preparing to utilize the commercial possibilities of the southwest. In 1800 certain farmers near Elizabeth built a schooner of two hundred and fifty tons burden, launched it in the spring of 1801, christening it the "Monongahela Farmer." Her cargo taken on at Elizabeth and Pittsburgh, consisted, among other things, of 721 barrels of flour, 500 barrels of whiskey, 4,000 deer skins, 2,000 bear skins, large quantities of hemp and flax, and firearms, ammunition and provision for the crew, which consisted of eight men. The vessel was not rigged for sailing at this time. In the instructions to the master, Mr. Jno. Walker, he is directed to "proceed without unnecessary delay to the City of New Orleans Should the markets for flour be lowest New Orleans and the vessel appear to sell to disadvantage you in that case have it in your power to sell a part of the cargo, to purchase rigging, fit out the vessel and employ hands to sail her to any of the Islands you in your Judgment and to the Best information May think best, and then make sale of the vessel and cargo." This boat left Pittsburgh on a June rise, was attacked by the Indians, lost one man by drowning, was detained by reason of low water for three months at the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville), and for some weeks on a bar, now called Walker's bar, above Hurricane Island, reached New Orleans and with her cargo was sold profitably, although the flour was soured by being stored in the damp hold. The master contracted yellow fever, but recovered, and returned home after an absence of fourteen months; and, during the following year (1803), superintended the construction of the brig Ann Jane, 450 tons burden, loaded her with flour and whiskey, and sailed her with profit to New York by way of the rivers, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Thus the commerce of the Monongahela flourished until the Enterprise, 45 tons, the fourth steamboat produced on western water, was built at Brownsville in 1814. The era of steam had begun. The Monongahela products were becoming well known. Its flour "is celebrated in foreign markets, for its superiority, and it generally sells for one dollar more per barred in New Orleans than any other flour taken from this country to that market. The best and greatest quantity of rye whiskey is made on this river. Peach and apple brandy, cider and cider-royal are also made in great abundance." The slack water equipment multiplied commerce enormously. It was estimated that during 1837 the loss occasioned to coal alone by the ice was at least $40,000. In October of 1838 there was approximately 750,000 bushels of coal laden on boats which had been waiting three months for a shipping stage of water. Under date of January 1st, 1840, Thomas McFadden, wharf master of Pittsburgh, gives a statement of the number of arrivals and departures of steamboats employed regularly in the Monongaheia trade: "In addition to which a number of steamboats have occasionally gone to Brownsville, &c., and a large number of flatboats, loaded with coal, have descended the river without stopping at this port." Steamers. Tons. Voyages. During 1845 toll was received to the amount of over $15,000 from freights and rafts, etc.; above $8,000 for passengers of whom almost twenty-three thousand were through passengers; and above $5,000 for coal, amounting to more than four and one-half millions of bushels. This favorable showing was increased during the next year to above $20,000 for freights; to above $12,000 for passengers; of whom almost 35,000 were through passengers to or from the east; to above $10,000 for coal, amounting to more than seven and one-hall millions of bushels. Commerce continued to increase. Classified freights continued until the tolls in 1852, when the Pennsylvania Railroad reached Pittsburgh, and the B. & O. reached Wheeling, amounted to more than $30,000 annually. Coal tonnage grew steadily greater until in 1855 it reached the amazing total of almost 1,000,000 tons, and fifteen years later to twice that amount, this latter rapid increase being due in part to the building in 1856 of two locks above Brownsville, which carried the slack water navigation to within seven miles of the Virginia line. Through passenger traffic reached its climax in 1848 with a total for the year of almost forty-eight thousand souls. To this latter traffic and classified freight the National Road contributed largely. For from the time it was thrown open to the public in the year 1818 until 1852 it was the one great highway, over which passed the bulk of trade and travel, and the mails between the East and the West. As many as twenty four-horse coaches have been counted in line at once. During the eight years before the coming of the railroads more than two hundred thousand passengers traveled over the load by way of the Monongahela; also another one hundred thousand traveled between Brownsville and Pittsburgh, and over four hundred and fifty thousand traveled part of the way between these two places. William Henry Harrison as President-elect of the United States, used this route, and his body was returned by the same route. It looked like the leading avenue of a great city rather than a road through rural districts. One man in 1848 counted 133 six-horse teams passing along the road in one day, and took no notice of as many more teams of one, two, three, four, and five horses. "It looked as if the whole earth was on the road; wagons, stages, horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, and turkeys without number." In the year 1822 six commission houses in Wheeling received approximately five thousand loads of merchandise, and paid nearly $400,000 for its transportation. About two-fifths of this passenger and freight traffic after 1844, when the slack water improvements reached Brownsville, was directed through the Monongahela. Of the classified freight in the commerce of the Monongahela, salt occupied a large place, as immense quantities were brought from the salt works in New York. Whiskey, butter, lard, cheese, flour, oats, sand, apples, hoop poles, nails, tobacco, wool, feathers, bacon, pork, staves, brick, ginseng, and beeswax were staple articles of commerce. Pittsburgh continued to be the distributing point. The Monongahela proved to be a valuable feeder to the State canals. Of the 80,000 barrels of flour, which came down it in 1851, more than nine-tenths were reshipped eastward by the Pennsylvania canal; and other items in like manner. Braddock's contribution to the commerce on the Monongahela began early. On June 12, 1839, Messrs. Corey and Adams, of Braddock, began quarrying stone above McKeesport for the construction of Lock and Dam Number Two, which was to have been placed at Braddock's lower riffle, but by reason of changing the height of the dams to eight feet Lock Number Two was eventually located at the head of Braddock's riffles above the mouth of Turtle Creek. This Lock was completed by Corey and Adams and opened for navigation on October 18, 1841. The tolls for the succeeding two months of that year amounted to $1,000 per month. In 1846 the tolls at this Lock amounted to almost $3,500, while in 1870 they made the amazing total of almost $82,000. In 1893, despite the growing competition of the railroads, the tolls exceeded $53,000. The operation of the Edgar Thomson Plant of the Carnegie Steel Company increased the importance of the Monongahela's commerce to a marked extent, although the greatest tonnage was that of coal shipped to the southern markets. In the years 1844 to 1872 a little less than 400 millions of bushels was shipped from Pool Number TV\TO. A better idea can be had of this great amount when it is remembered that in one acre of coal there is about one hundred thousand bushels. One of the best remembered events connected with the history of the Locks in the Braddock district was the breakup of the ice pack in February, 1867. The engineer of the Navigation Company describes it as making a noise like distant thunder, and striking the dam with such force as to shake the lock walls and rattle the windows in the houses in the village of Port Perry. Of all the workers on Lock Two, the name of one stands out clear—Michael Hart. He had been employed in its construction, and was continued as a lock tender for more than twenty-five years afterwards. He was regarded as the most active and speedy lock-tender on the River at that time. The boatmen had a maxim, "We will have a quick passage through the lock, old Mike is on watch". It is not to be thought that the improvement of navigation in the Monongahela was secured by the harmonious co-operation of the Valley, or that its practical operation was materially helped by the shippers. "It is a remarkable fact," says the engineer, Sylvanus Lothrop, in his report to the President of the Company, January 4th, 1847, "that with so many unanswerable arguments to recommend it to, and enforce it upon, the public attention, no work in the country has ever encountered greater obstacles than this. Instead of being, as it ought to have been, fostered by our citizens, and hailed by the inhabitants of the Monongahela Valley as a blessing to themselves, it met with nothing but the most chilling regards from the one, and with either the most violent prejudice, or the most determined hostility from the other." Protests were made against the toll charges, and in 1848 the Valley was aflame with the cry that the locks should be cut down to a height of four and one-half feet so that in times of freshet the boats might float, unhindered by locks, to the Ohio. Much difficulty was encountered in securing rapidity of movement through the locks. Rival coal crews fought, in the face of definite regulations, for precedence in passing through the locks. The Company early established rules, in vain. The State legislature (1851) passed special legislation to facilitate passage, and later (1864) made the penalties more severe, yet many times the locks for hours at a time were idle while the fighting crews blocked the entrance, and the prosperity-carrying Ohio "rise" receded below the boating stage. When the Monongahela River was about to be bridged at Smithfield street in Pittsburg, it was seriously proposed that the bridge be built so low that the boats could not pass under, thus necessitating the transfer of freights, and a profitable business for longshoremen. Out of such strife and from such humble beginnings Close the mighty traffic which now yearly sweeps down the Monongahela through locks, augmented in number and increased in size, and now owned and operated without charge to the traffic, by the United States Government. No longer does the Ohio wait upon the "rise" of her tributary from the south, but rather is the waiting reversed, until such time as the United States shall have done her "perfect work" for "the beautiful river." |