THE OHIO RIVER TRADE 1788-1830 BY HAZEL YEARSLEY SHAW, A.B., 1907 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1908 [Illustration: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS May 28 1908 THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY Hazel Yearsley Shaw ENTITLED The Ohio River Trade, 1788-1830 IS APPROVED BY ME AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts in History Evarts B Greene Instructor in Charge. APPROVED: E B Greene HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF History.] _THE OHIO RIVER TRADE_ _1788_-_1830_. I. THE OHIO RIVER 1788-1811. I. BOATS AND BOATMEN. II. ARTICLES OF TRAFFIC, AND PLACES WITH WHICH TRADE WAS CARRIED ON. III. EMIGRATION. GROWTH OF THE RIVER TOWNS. II. THE OHIO RIVER 1811-1830. I. THE COMING OF THE STEAM-BOAT. II. OTHER CRAFT OF THE PERIOD. III. ARTICLES OF TRAFFIC, AND PLACES WITH WHICH TRADE WAS CARRIED ON. IV. EMIGRATION. GROWTH OF THE RIVER TOWNS. _CHAPTER I._ _BOATS AND BOATMEN._ With the opening of the great West, the Ohio River became the main route of immigration and commerce, and it is in a careful study of the various forms of craft which floated upon "La Belle Riviere" that we catch a glimpse of the rapid and almost marvelous economic development of the Ohio Valley. The Indian canoe, though sometimes used by travelers, was entirely inadequate for the purpose of commerce, and was never used, in any regular branch of trade.[1] The earliest improvement upon the canoe was the pirogue, an invention of the whites. Like the canoe this boat was hewn out of the solid log, the difference being that the pirogue had greater width and capacity, and was composed of several pieces--as if the canoe had been sawed into two equal sections, and a broad, flat piece of timber inserted in the middle, so as to give greater breadth of beam to the vessel.[2] These boats were occasionally used by the immigrants for the transportation of their goods and furniture.[3]