Topic starter
12/11/2006 3:24 am
I was reading the "Rivers of America" book on the Ohio, and there was a section that mentioned that when passenger steamboats let their passengers get off for a while in Wheeling and Marietta ... I was under the assumption that pre Civil War steamboats would stop in these cities only long enough to discharge passengers and cargo, and pick up same, and then cast off and move on.
How long would they "lay over"?
12/11/2006 1:25 pm
Bruce, packet boats laid over any amount of time from one minute to infinitum. If there was a big freight shipment to be loaded or delivered, the passengers could take a stroll. If they stopped to get a newspaper, nobody got off the boat. You must remember that conditions governed peoples' actions just as they do today. If there was a big event going on, say a championship horse race, the boat would linger. Many stops were made where only a madman would go ashore, such as a remote farm landing. If the boat had a train connection or was scheduled to meet another boat, conditions changed and were met. Time was not measured as it is today. If you read old-time steamboat advertisements they often listed time by the half-hour. "The boat will leave promptly at 8 1/2 o'clock," but if something happened, a machinery breakdown, or a wait for a congressman, they may have not departed until 6 1/2 o'clock.
For these reasons, your question is unanswerable.
Topic starter
12/11/2006 1:38 pm
Alan Bates;2156 wrote: Bruce, packet boats laid over any amount of time from one minute to infinitum. ... For these reasons, your question is unanswerable.
Thanks Alan. Actually, you have given me a very detailed answer, and the exact information I wanted. Thank you!!
It would make sense that a stop in the towns that had Federal Land Offices, Courts, etc would be longer, as there would be more people to generate activity. Thanks again.
Bruce
12/11/2006 5:28 pm
Hi, Bruce:
Interesting question on your part to the above and Alan has given one of the clearest explanations I can think of. I was drawn to his comment, "...meet a train or another boat." Packet lines often worked in close harmony with other boat lines and the railroads of the day for on-going passenger, freight and mail connections. Wheeling, W.Va. and Pittsburgh were two prime cities for these links. In the days of the old National Road passengers slogged it for days from the East over the mountains via stage coach to connect with steamboats on the Ohio. The building of the PENNSYLVANIA and the BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROADS made this connection faster in order to meet the boat. There was no railroad in the 1850s from Wheeling following the Ohio River all the way down to Cincinnati. Numerous long and short hall packets ran the trades just as long distance and short haul trucking companies do today.
When the CHESAPEAKE & OHIO RAILROAD was built to Huntington there were boats termed 'Railroad boats' from Cincinnati to connect with the steam trains for the East. If the packet line and railroad had been awarded U.S. Mail contracts then there would have been some 'waiting' to tranship the valuable mail. The famed BOSTONA & FLEETWOOD were two famous boats making the connection. It is easy to see why, in addition to Alan's erudite posting, there would be 'time to kill' in waiting for either the train at the depot or the boat at the landing. Old letters of the 1840s/'50s mention boat delays so long that some passengers went up town and booked a room in a local hotel or boarding house to await the long-anticipated departure of their boat. Others remained aboard the boat eating at the company expense and passing the time as best they could. Several mentioned even having enough time to take an excursion to the nearby country for a look see. Jim Herron who posts here is an expert in rail history and, perhaps, has other information.
The prevailing idea that there was always a 'war' between the railroads and steamboat companies is only partially true. For a long time they were partners in keeping the vital link moving.
The list of packet lines on the long and short haul routes is a long and interesting one with ever constant changes of boats, routes, ownerships etc.
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
Topic starter
12/11/2006 6:22 pm
Marietta being mentioned would make sense as Marietta did have rail service going west.
12/11/2006 7:12 pm
Bruce:
Interesting that you would mention Marietta as one of the rail terminals back then. The railroad ran fairly straight--more or less--across the state from Marietta to Belpre, Athens, Chillicothe and thence on in to Cincinnati many miles north of the Ohio River.
I examined an old diary last spring penned in 1867 by a young woman on the journey from the Steubenville, OH area west to St. Louis by rail across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The packet boat connections she mentions for the upper Mississippi didn't start until St. Louis with various boat transfers up and back. Yes, there were many stops and long waits with stays in river town hotels. She attended church, took carriage rides etc. In one account her Mississippi steamboat was hit by early November ice and grounded. Passengers with luggage were led down a ladder from the deck to hoof it across the ice to a waiting boat just below in slushy, open water. Heady stuff to say the least.
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick