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]/