My characters are headed upriver from New Orleans in 1826. What are they riding on? Based on drawings of the Teche, which exploded in 1826, I'm thinking that a steamboat with a side paddlewheel would be reasonable. Thanks. Oh, and along the same lines: how would folks travel up Red River from the Mississippi to Natchitoches the same year? My research is showing a lack of steamboats on the Red that year.
Not an expert, but my limited google-fu shows you are correct. https://www.louisianasportsman.com/fishing/river-wild-part-ii/
Could have been something like the Enterprise. No, not that one. This one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_(1814)# She was a sternwheel steamer rather than sidewheel driven. I imagine it would depend on how old the vessel was.
Thanks, KiraAnn. I hadn't read that article and it added the rapids at Alexandria to my store of information. It still doesn't answer the question of how people got upriver to Natchitoches before Shreve tooled up to destroy the Great Raft. They must've waited until the water was high enough to bypass the rapids or used flat boats that needed to be poled along. I also can't find information about traces along the river that might've been used during low water. Given the weird swampy nature of Red, roads might've been some distance away. Ugh. Why don't historians write stuff I need to know? By the time I'm done with this chapter, I may have to write an historical article as well. Naomasa, thanks for chiming in. Both stern and sidewheelers were in use at the same time. Incidentally, I've ridden on The Natchez, one of the only paddlewheelers left on the Mississippi. It's a sternwheel. I thought the ride would be meh, but my daughter arranged it, so off I went. It was fabulous, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I'll see if I can find anything out from my community of historians. Someone will be bound to know something.
I just hit the damn jackpot. I found an online interview with a man who specializes in steamboat travel on Red River. Went looking for his contact information and discovered he runs the historical museum in the tiny little Texas town where my cousins have lived in for forty years, about an hour from my own home town. I called the museum and ended up talking to him for an hour getting answers to everything I wanted to know and more. I go down there every spring, and this year, guess who I'm going to go spend an afternoon with? He's about as tickled as I am to come across another person interested in the same obscure history. Happy dance! Happy dance! For anyone who is interested, flat boats or keel boats could, with a tremendous amount of trouble and effort, get past the Great Raft clear to Fulton, Arkansas. The first steamboat arrived in Fulton in 1831.
@Catriona Grace - here's one answer I received: "Most likely, a person would take a barge propelled by one or more a poles. Canoe or bateau are also possible. I agree that's too early for steamboats. There might be a few cotton plantations in the Natchitoches area by that time. They would barge their crops down to market in New Orleans. At some point cotton was also hauled overland from Texas to Natchitoches and then transshipped onto river barges. From New Orleans the barges would return upstream either empty or carrying city goods purchased with the cotton profits. I would not expect scheduled passenger service that early. Most traffic was privately owned, but it might be possible to negotiate a ride from a private boat owner." https://historum.com/t/riverboat-travel.197627/#post-3762548 EDIT: I'm too damn late.
I'm no expert on anything like this, but I remembered an old song called "Waiting on the Natchez Trace" (that I used to think was the Natchez Train), so I googled for that. There's a historic trail called that, but I have no idea if a trail is what you're talking about. It sounds like you're looking for some kind. of waterway running alongside the river maybe? Anyway, in case something adjacent to this might be helpful: History of the Natchez Trace @ Wikipedia
A trace is a land trail. The Natchez Trace ran from Natchez (natch!) to Nashville. I've travelled part of the route through Mississippi. Some of the old trace is still left around Natchez. Pre-Great Raft Clearance, cotton was transported from the port of Jefferson, Texas over the Great Raft and down the Red River on flatboats or keelboats. Post-clearance, everything changed and Jefferson lost its port. So did Natchitoches. So did a bunch of other places. Shreve's great effort caused more problems than it solved, economically and environmentally. I used to have a tee shirt that said, "Dam the Army Corps of Engineers." Wore it until it literally fell apart on my body. The power of water is constantly underestimated.
Aha! Apparently there were steamboats on the Red River from at least 1822! He found this: http://www.penhook.org/red_river_raft.htm "As early as 1822 as many as five steam packets regularly plied the Red between New Orleans and Natchitoches." Your man will probably have more info.
Oh, bless your little researching heart, Naomasa. Thank you. This same site has a map of my own town circa 1916. Too cool! The area where my grandparents had houses and where our house sat wasn't developed in 1916 (it was developed shortly after the map was made), but I discovered that one of the developed areas is called "Arnold Addition" after my great-great-great grandfather who had the bounty warrant on that land in the 1830s. That's a nice bit of serendipity you handed me! There's also a long essay on the little village (now just a post office) near where our family farm is located. Damn. I just remembered: Penhook was the original name for Columbus. (Slap on the head to me). Looking at these pages, I saw all sorts of my mom's relatives. Ooo, you are my favorite history person right now, Naomasa.
I visited Gimli, Manitoba recently and browsed some books in their library - only one!!! Small town..... There was mention of how the boats used fish oil for fuel. Maybe that helps? I wish I'd seen this thread while I was there...
