USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > Steubenville > Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, 20th > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
There seemed to be no further adven- tures until Pittsburgh was reached, in five days from leaving Steubenville, although there were plenty of incidents, among them the capture of a wounded deer in the river, when passengers and crew indulged antici- pations of a repast of venison. When it was brought to the table it was so impreg- nated with gas and smoke that only the pangs of hunger compelled its consump- tion, as was, indeed, the case with all the cooked victuals. Cooking stoves were then a novelty, and both stoves and cook re- ceived the anathemas of passengers and crew until they reached Pittsburgh, when the maker of the stove was seut for and duly reviled. Couvulsed with laughter, he pointed to a plate perforated with holes,
which was intended to let the steam bear on the victuals, but which had been so mis- placed as to let all the smoke and gas (in- stead of steam) penetrate and perfume everything they had eaten. It was found that eight or ten days would be required to repair the boat for the return trip, so the passengers went home by other means, doubtless using the stage or keelboat, which was not yet quite ready to abdieate in favor of the steamer. Whether the writer qnoted above has drawn on his imagination for any of the details, we are not prepared to say, but no doubt the trip was an eventful one. Elijah Murray was the captain and Adam Wise the engineer. Ambrose Shaw is said to have gone along to top out the chimney.
But the failures of the first experiments were only incentives to success, and the Murray boatyard turned out the "Robert Thompson," "Steubenville," "Aurora," "Congress," and others that were promi- nent in river annals. The first named was completed in 1821 and was built to run be- tween Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Louis. ville. She soon after took up the lower trade, and was the first steamer to enter the Arkansas River. An item in the Cin- cinnati Commercial of June 10, 1870, tells the following: "Capt. John S. Devenny has presented to ns one of the steamer ' Robert Thompson' posters, about five by seven inches in size, which announces that that boat will leave Fort Smith for the month of White River on Wednesday, May 26, 1822, at 9 a. m. This boat was com- manded by Capt. George A. Dohrman, with Jacob A. Dohrman, clerk, and Peter A. Dohrman, pilot. The ball of the 'Thomp- son' was built where Wellsville, Ohio, now stands and the cabin and machinery at Steubenville. The Ill was sixty-five feet keel, eleven feet beam, with three-foot hold and sidewheels. She had one double flue boiler, the first on the river. She started on her first trip to Pittsburgh March 17, 1821, and made several trips from Pitts- burgh to Louisville. About the middle of June she commenced plying as a regular
Dighedby Google
223
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
packet between Cincinnati and Louisville. her pass, when the engineer would raise the making two trips per week, carrying all safety valve (this was before the day of. whistles) and enjoy seeing them stampede. passengers and freight, through and way, then offering during the low water season. She carried several pleasure parties from Cincinnati and Louisville to and from Big Bone Landing. In February, 1822, she left Steubenville for the purpose of transport- ing 300 tons of army stores to Fort Smith, Ark. She towed 32-foot keel boats to Montgomery Point, above White River Island. On her first trip from the point she towed one of her keels loaded and a flatboat 80x18 feet containing 100 barrels of flour, up White River some six miles through the pass six miles into the Arkansas River, and thirty miles up to the post of Arkansas, where she left the flat and proceeded to Fort Smith. She was the first boat above Little Rock, made four trips from Montgomery Point to Fort Smith, and left Little Rock, July 4, on her last downward trip. On the way from Steubenville to her destination she landed just below the mouth of Wolf River, and lay all night where Memphis is now lo- cated. There was no house or cabin in that vicinity until you came down to Fort Pick- ering."
It will be seen that the "Thompson" was capable of very different work from her predecessor above described, and with her steam river navigation began to be a prac- tical thing. She has been further described as a plain looking but stont boat, and could easily make from three to four miles an hour up stream. The last upward trip was to the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville. Here an attempt was made by taking out her engines to raise her over the falls, but arriving at a point to cross the river they failed, and then ran her back to the foot of the falls, where Captain Dohrman sold her for $2,500 to some Louisville men, and she subsequently plied there some two years and was finally lost. There were said to be some ludicrous scenes among the spec- tators who came to inspect her machinery, but the most bewildered persons were the Indians who would gather in groups to see
It was now eleven years since the first steam boat had descended the Ohio, and yet to most people a steamer was almost as great an object of curiosity as the first one. There were a few spasmodic efforts to run regular packets, but they were about as "irregular" as it was possible to make them, and the bulk of freight was still transported down the river at least on barges. Why this slow progress! In the first place the country was still thinly set- tled, the population of Jefferson County in 1820 being only 18,531, so that a heavy passenger trade could not be expected. Manufacturing was beginning, but from Pittsburgh the heavy machinery could be shipped in barges more easily, and cheaply than on the little steamers, and a few hours gained or lost in transport were no object. Then the steamers themselves, besides be- ing expensive, were uncertain. Skilled mechanics to build them properly were scarce, and the only plentiful thing was the standing timber of the country. Accidents were numerous and the craft were regarded as highly dangerous. We have seen that the "New Orleans," an insignificant boat, cost over $40.000, and capitalists were not ready to place their money, which was in fact very scarce, in such risky enterprises. The boats were slow, and it was even prob- lematical at first whether they could be profitably operated up stream. But better things were coming. The success of the "Robert Thompson," followed by the other boats mentioned, demonstrated that the steamboat had come to stay, and speedily a number of yards along the rivers from Brownsville to Cincinnati began turning out boats, constantly increasing their size and speed until they became a great fleet of swift going palaces. Through packets be- tween Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, St. Louis and New Orleans furnished a delightful and easy method of travel, and although Charles Dickens in his American Notes, characterizes these boats as flimsy, yet they
Dighed by Google
224
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY
were adapted to their purpose which was to carry a maximum of passengers and freight upon a minimum of water. It could not be said that travel on them was as safe as in these later days, when there is strict government supervision, improved channels, kept clear of snags and rocks, and shore lights at night, but the traffic developed a large army of masters, pilots, engineers and others who were the equals of navigation anywhere. Of these Jeffer- son County had her full share, and the Dolirmans, O'Neals, Batchelors, Doyles, Roberts, Wintringers, Shouses, Devennys and Lucases are only a few of the many who gave a character of its own to the river traffic. When age and infirmities caused his retirement from active work it was the habit of the river-man to build him- self a home on the banks of his favorite stream where he could still hear the sound of the bell and whistle, and from his veranda watch the steamers gliding by. Some thirty miles above Steubenville is the quaint old village of Georgetown, with its pretty little church, streets of grass and ancient dwellings ; once a community of re- tired river-men, and which as yet has never been desecrated by a railroad, steam or trolley, an immunity which we fear will not last much longer.
Capt. C. W. Batchelor in his reminiscences considers the "Allegheny," built at Pitts- burgh in 1830, as the first real stern-wheel boat, as her wheel was supported by two projections extending aft of the stern in- stead of occupying a recess in the hull as was the case with the "Enterprise." She had two cylinders in the centre of the hull, working two wheels and coupled by links at the cranks. The "Beaver," built by Capt. John Vandergrift, was the first stern- wheeler with two engines working on op- posite centres on the outer end of one shaft, the accepted type of stern-wheelers of the present day.
Steubenville, while building boats for other trades, did not become a terminal port for any packet line until 1831, which year may be considered as the beginning of the
halcyon period of river traffic extending to about 1860, when the influence of railroad competition began to be severely felt. About the date named George A. Dohrman and Matthew Roberts, who had been run- ning mail coaches to Wheeling, recognized the new order of things, and contracted with Murray for a small steamer called the "U. S. Mail," which was promptly built and put into service under command of Capt. Peter A. Dohrman, who also carried the mail. Most of the boats of that day were side-wheelers. stern-wheelers not be- ing regarded with favor. In 1835, she was succeeded by the "Post Boy," built for Roberts, with Captain Lueas in command, John S. Devenny, engineer, and Capt. Hugh Caldwell, elerk; subsequently Mr. Devenny became captain. About 1838, the "Post Boy" was succeeded by the "Wabash," commanded by Capt. Arthur Watt, which only ran a year, when there seems to have been a lapse of about three years, when in 1843 the "Cabinet" appeared, a boat 130 feet long and 18 feet beam, under command of Capt. P. Dohrman, her principal owner. It may be noted here that the length of beam does not give the full width of the boat as the "guards" or cabin floor usually extended over the hull from two to four feet on each side, and on side-wheel boats were broad enough at the centre to enclose the wheels, running out to nothing at each end. The next boat we hear of is the "Viroqua," a small stern-wheeler under command of Capt. Ahner O'Neal, George ()'Neal, engineer, and B. W. Doyle and J. C. Doyle, clerks. She ran until the later fifties when she was replaced by the "Con- voy" a considerably larger boat. About the year 1860, some differences arose be- tween the owners, and the O'Neals sold out their interests to B. W. Doyle and John O. Russell, Capt. John Shouse and Nathan Wintringer afterwards coming in. Addi- tional stock being secured the O'Neals built a trim craft of 200 tons, probably the best and fastest in the trade up to that time, named the "James Means," after one of Steubenville's leading citizens. As it was
Dia zedby Google
227
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
pretty certain that the trade would not pro- fitably support two boats a lively compe- tition at once began. The "Convoy" being the slower and heavier boat of the two the "Means" became the favorite with the traveling publie, with whom speed was a factor, and her lightness enabled her to carry freight to better advantage during low water. It became apparent to the own- ers of the "Convoy" that they must make a change or go ont of business. Accord- ingly that steamer was sold, and the "S. C. Baker," one of the fastest boats on the river, which had been plying between Pitts- burgh and Parkersburg, was purchased and fitted up for this trade. John Shouse was pilot, B. W. Doyle, clerk, and Nathan Win- tringer, engineer. Now the conditions were reversed, the "Baker" was able to show the "Means" her heels when the occasion demanded. A wharf-boat had been estab- lished at Steubenville by Capt. Whitaker O'Neal abont 1842. but at this time it was owned by Col. Alexander Doyle, which was considered to be an advantage to the "Baker" or the "Doyle" boat as it was poularly called, as the " Means" was called the "O'Neal" boat from their principal, although, as we have seen, not the ex- «lusive owners. To offset this real or sup- posed advantage the Means Company built a rival wharf-boat and tied it up just be- hind the other, so that the two concerns competed not only for the local but through traffic. The Civil War had begun, and not- withstanding railroad competition, river business was booming, and the excitement was almost as great as during the times of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, although not so sanguinary. Each morning as the boats pulled out from the wharf there was a crowd to see them off, the boats themselves were thronged with passengers for fares were cut in half and even lower. Some- times when the "Baker" would try to forge ahead of the "Means" the pilot of the latter would "lock," that is run one boat over against the other until the guards would overlap and hold the steamers to- gether in close embrace while the crews
and even the passengers would exchange left handed compliments with each other. There was of course more or less friction, but on the whole the contest was carried on good humoredly, and after their six day rivalry the principals worshipped at the same altar in old St. Paul's. After a conple of seasons of this kind of business the owners began to realize that while they were paying running expenses they were accumulating no sinking fund to cover the depreciation of their property, which is always rapid in the case of steamboats. Accordingly arrangements were made to consolidate the companies, which was ac- complished. The "Means" was sold and the "Baker" retained in the trade with O'Neal as captain and pilot, Doyle, clerk. and Wintringer, engineer. After running for some months under this arrangement an offer was made by lower river parties for the "Baker" at considerable advance over her cost, for the necessities of the government had made steamboat prices abnormally high. Accordingly she was sold and a cheaper boat purchased for the local trade named the "Henry Logan." About this time a company made up largely of Steubenville people had two steamers run- ning in the Pittsburgh and Parkersburg trade, the "Grey Eagle," a large side- wheeler, and the "Forest City," a small sternwheeler. The business was not a pay- ing one, and the boats were finally sold, the "Forest City" being bought to succeed the "Logan." This boat continued in service until about 1875, when being worn ont, a new lmull was built at Brownsville and brought down to Steubenville to which the cabin and machinery of the "Forest City" were transferred, the new boat being named "Abner O'Neal." When the Pitts- burgh, Wheeling & Kentucky Railroad, ex- tending from the east end of the Pan Han- dle Railroad bridge to Wheeling was opened in 1876, it was expected to destroy or at least greatly diminish the Steuben- ville and Wheeling business. Accordingly the "O'Neal" was transferred to the Pitts- burgh and Wheeling run in charge of Capt.
Digiiced by Google
225
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY
George E. O'Neal, who had been piloting on the lower river, John Edie, clerk, and and placed on the Wabash River. She Nathan Wintringer, engineer, while the was accompanied by the Steubenville, brought here by Captain Boggs and about 1840 was sold for service on the lower rivers. One or two trials were made after that, but the run was too short for through business and too long for local. "Oella," a smaller boat was procured for the local run. The trade increased instead of diminishing, and in 1883 the "C. W. Batchelor," a much larger boat, was built for the Pitsburgh trade and the "O'Neal" brought back to her old place. Capt. Abner O'Neal dying, his place was taken by his son, George E., and a new " Abner O'Neal" built, which was one of the finest and fast- est boats ever ou this run, being especially adapted to excursion business. The okd "O'Neal" was sold to lower river parties, and her name changed to "Cumberland." her whistle being retained for the new boat on which William Wilkin was clerk. After three years' service she was sold to west- ern parties, and the Wheeling trade seemed to be abandoned, although the "Phaeton" (built here), "Return," and some other boats ran spasmodically here and up the river to East Liverpool where there seemed prospects of better returns. When the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad was opened to this point the Olivette was put reg- ularly in the East Liverpool trade and ran about a year when the experiment was abandoned. Later the Enos Taylor, F. H. Goebel and T. M. Bnyne took up the Wheeling trade again, the latter in charge of Captain O'Neal, W. A. Tisher and Abuer MeCoy, and prospects seemed good for a permanent revival in this direc- tion. But after running abont eight years, the Bayne was eut down by the ice at the foot of Washington street on the night of January 21, 1904. This ended the Sten- benville and Wheeling trade, although some feeble efforts were made to revive it.
trade three years longer when she was sold
It was April 1, 1842, that Charles Dick- ens boarded the steamboat Messenger at Pittsburgh for Cincinnati. She had been recommended as less liable to blow up than most of her contemporaries, and had been advertised to start positively every day for a fortnight, and had not gone yet, nor did her enptnin seem to have any very fixed intention on the subject. It of course seemed strange to a visitor from the old world that a vessel should have "no mast, cordage, tekle, rigging or other boat-like gear, and except that they are in the water, and display a couple of paddle boxes they might be intended, for anything that ap- pears to the contrary, to perform some un- known service, high and dry upon a moun- tain top." For.the rest of this interesting description we must refer our reader to "American Notes." Nevertheless the high tide of river navigation was near at hand. There was the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati line composed at first of the Cincinnati, Buckeye State, Philadelphia, Allegheny, Brilliant. Pittsburgh and Clipper, giv- ing a daily boat ont from Pittsburgh with a rival line from Wheeling. The survivors of these bonts were later trans- ferred to the lower trade. Once while the Philadelphia was coming up the river she struck a rock just below Steu- benville which knocked a hole in her hull, which was filled with hogsheads of sugar. She kept afloat until reaching the Steuben- ville wharf, when she went down, the water fortunately barely covering her lower deck. All hands were set to work pumping, bal- ing and rolling the sugar ont on the wharf. The sweet contents had been reduced to the consistency of cream which poured through the angur holes in the heads of the hogs-
In 1836, Captain Devenny with Messrs. Roberts, Orr and Henning placed a fine side-wheel boat, the Entaw in the Steu- benville and Pittsburgh trade. She did a good business but about two years after her initial trip, while lying at the Steuben- ville wharf an explosion killed one of the crew, and injured several others. The boat was repaired and continued in this heads. Never were the town youth in such
Dgiized by Google
Daszed by Google
........-.....
L
-
SCENES ON THE OHIO RIVER. NEAR STEUBENVILLE
PANHANDLE RAILWAY BRIDGE, STEUBENVILLE
STANTON BOULEVARD, STEUBENVILLE
OHIO RIVER BRIDGE, STEUBENVILLE
B.
LABELLE VIEW, STEUBENVILLE
229
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
clover, if the metaphor may be pardoned. They filled themselves one and all with the delicious liquid, and that there was not a community of sick boys it was due to the fact that sugar is not as unhealthy as children are generally informed. A few hours straightened matters up, and the boat proceeded on its journey.
A favorite river captain of the fifties was Charles W. Batchelor, afterwards sur- veyor of customs and a leading citizen of Pittsburgh, but then a resident of Steuben- ville. A genial pleasant gentleman but with vigorous will power. His boat, the "Hi- bernia," left Cincinnati on one trip in 1852 with 500 passengers for Pittsburgh. The crew of the "Hibernia" numbered 60. It was on this trip Captain Batchelor with a revolver in each side pocket and a number of his crew at his back went to the lower deck where there was a large number of the rough class of passengers determined not to pay their fare. The captain said to the men: "I am going to have every fare or a fight." There were a hundred not will- ing to pay, but they were when they ob- served game in the master and behaved themselves the rest of the journey. That same year a party of congressmen were on the Hibernia with their families home bound from Washington, and were two days out from Pittsburgh, heading toward their southern home. One of the congress- men from Texas knocked a young colored girl off of the piano stool, and the captain was hurriedly brought to the scene. He was told by the magnate "that was a nigger wench playing the piano." The master informed the big-feeling fellow that there was no rule on the boat barring a young woman from playing the instrument on ac- count of color. The congressman was in- dignant and called it "a damned abolition boat." Captain Batchelor preserved order and the colored girl was not further mo- lested, especially so because she had been requested to play the piano by one of the white ladies. There was no distinction on that boat when behavior justified good treatment, as it was in this particular case, again.
notwithstanding the indignity to a law- maker and a southerner. The position of the captain was indorsed by a majority on board; whether or not it was his determin- ation of the right thing to do, and it was done. The Texas representative found out that he could do some things at home that would not be tolerated elsewhere.
In early times nearly all men employed as deck hands on steamboats were Amer- icans, after which the Germans took to the river, followed at the outbreak of the war with an aggregation of the colored class, and they are still at it at 66 cents a day and board.
One instance in the river life of Capt. C. W. Batchelor is that an Indian chief offered him "plenty of land" if he would make his habitation with the tribe, which was a semi-civilized class, located where Kansas City is now, although there was not a house there then. He refused the tender, al- though it would have made him worth millions.
There was almost a military discipline on board of the packets, and every degree of duty would be carried out to perfection without undue ceremony in the way of or- ders. Each officer and worker about the boats seemed to thoroughly understand what was expected and exacted from him, moving along in their path with that regu- larity which gave confidence to the pas- sengers that nothing would go wrong.
"Beating" the boat was not an uncom- mon practice. A case is related of a man who had been carried from Wheeling to Cincinnati with the promise that he would pay his fare when the boat reached the wharf, as he would there be met by his family, who would have the money. In- stead, the man sneaked off the boat, hid until the craft was leaving shore and then shook a big wad of money at the captain. Instantly the boat was ordered to make the shore. Off jumped the captain and in full speed overtook the rascal, beat him and caused the fare to be handed over. That man never tried to beat his way
Deiized by Google
230
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY
The Arctic, Capt. Henry K. Reynolds, Steubenville, was a New Orleans packet, and one of the crack boats of the day. Then there was the Eunice, named for Mrs. Eunice Collier; the Rosalie, a trim sternwheeler; the Diurnal, Winchester, and original Forest City in the Wheeling and Pittsburgh trade, in all of which Steu- benville men were interested; the boats of Capt. Henry Dohrman in the Mississippi River trade, and others, which, if they were all collected, would fill a vohime.
Although railroad competition was do- ing its work, yet the needs of the govern- ment during the war made steamboat busi- ness profitable and between 1857 and 1875 there were built on the upper Ohio and Monongahela Rivers 649 steamboats, with an aggregate value of $22,000,000. The steamer Great Republic, built in 1867 at a cost of $375,000, was the finest conducted and equipped boat that ever left Pittsburgh wharf. Her hull was 34415 feet long; freight capacity 4,000 tons; cabin 300 feet long, 30 feet wide and 18 feet high. She was built in 1867 and made her maiden trip to New Orleans, where she remained in that trade. When she reached Steuben- ville bridge it was necessary to take the ornamental work off the top of the pilot honse to allow her to pass under the chan- nel span. The new Winchester, built for the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati trade, Was burned near Babb's Island in 1867, and twenty lives were lost. The Paragon was the largest freight boat built in Pittsburgh and could carry over 2,000 tons, On a passage from Cincinnati to Wheeling she carried 1,400 long tons on a six-foot stage of water and made the distance in forty- eight hours. That was in the year 1874 and she was destroyed by fire in 1875.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.