Question About Frieght Handling

Hi, Jim & steamboating colleagues:
Interesting question Re: on-going or trans-shipment of freight by steamboat way back then. Capt. Ellis Mace, and others, touched on this--somewhat--in their memoirs and other histories. Competition between lines, boats and captains also brought with it good cooperation. Trans-shipment from one boat to another was part of the network that kept things moving from point A to Z. Old photos at times show say a GREENE LINE boat tied at the L&C LINE terminal etc. In the case of the hypothetical bell it would have been easier to do a wharfboat 'touch landing' to put the bell on the packet for up river delivery. Old account books and receipts show such in notations, 'On-going' shipment. In later years the GREENE LINE had its own trucks for shipment from the landing to points up in town etc. The practice of receiving, holding, trans-shipment to another boat, or drayage to recipients in the area resulted in a lot of double billing and added expenses. Dependable motor trucks in time cut into the business in short order.

Teamsters were also termed 'draymen' and the business 'drayage.' Yeah, they could have had the teamsters--or roustabouts--slide or carry the bell over to the next wharfboat but dropping directly of on the wharfboat would have been easier. The DELTA KING/DELTA QUEEN each morning upon arrival in San Francisco were involved in the 'huckster trade' after unloading their passengers. The boats would make rounds of the various company piers/wharves picking up and dropping off freight. Don't forget the link also between railroads and steamboats for on-going freight, U.S. Mail and passengers. In time the big railroad companies had either part or complete holding control of some steamboat lines here and on the east coast.

Funny you'd mention the GREENE LINE and the L&C LINE wharfboat. The 'Big Sandy Wharfboat' here was the ultimate boasting huge freight capacity, lift elevator, well appointed offices with electric light, telephones etc. As early as 1904 there existed an era of good feeling between old 'Commodore' Fred Laidley and Capts. Gordon C. and Mary B. Greene. Not only trans-shipment of freight but Fred Laidley chartering one of the GREENE LINE boats for a time to supplement his business down river.
Well, what do I know? Alan Bates, Frank Prudent and others could add much more to the discussion.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

I don't know any more than anybody else about the transfer of freight in the good old days. If I were doing it I would have several means available and give priority to 1. moving the ball directly from boat to boat, or 2. transfering it via the wharfboat, or 3. getting desperate and moving the bell from boat to wharf to boat, or 4. getting REALLY desperate and having some wagoner move it.
Judging by what Captain Ellis C. Mace and Fred Way wrote about the Big Sandy Wharfboat, placing a concentrated load of 1,500 pounds in it would have led to a wharfboat sunk on top of a bell, so 2. may have been avoided.
On the other hand I must admit, nobody ever does things my way!

This is an interesting thread. Dale, thank you for clearing up in your posting the term "teamster" - to this kid from the South, this means a union member. I now realize Jim means an owner/operator of a team of horses or mules pulling a wagon!

I agree with both you and Alan...the easiest thing would be for the L&C boat to land briefly alongside the Greene Line boat and slide the bell over. 10 minutes and everything's done. Surely they would not move a very heavy, cumbersome thing like a crated bell over inclined cobblestones using wooden wheeled wagons (I can see the bell sliding right off the wagon!) when they could slide it over from boat to boat.

Freight trans shipment was common on the Red River. The larger boats couldn't go up past Shreveport, and often not past Alexandria. Freight and passengers were transfered to smaller boats to be taken up stream as a matter of course. Ads in New Orleans papers promise through passage via transfer to a specific vessel or to "a reliable boat". In the very early days there was a significant drayage business around the falls at Alexandia. Wharf boats were uncommon on the Red, and freight was all handled from the bank, which was often called the "wharf" even when it was an unimproved stretch of mud.

Hi, Alan & steamboating colleagues:
That 1,500 pound bell would, as you say, be a load. The bell would probably also been 'crated' in a kind of wood frame or crate for protection adding more weight if what I see being shipped from the VERDIN BELL CO. here in town is any indication. Look at the size of the bell on the bow of the DELTA QUEEN and that gives you a good idea making me wonder about the load on that deck. Much of that work then was by rousters using 'back and belly' along with rollers, skids and possibly pallets. 'Teamsters' is a good term coming from 'team' of wagons/horses etc. 'Drayage' is also used. Later application to the union was convenient. 'Teams' and 'drays' went out, naturally, with the advent of larger trucks with dependable rubber tires. As Alan posted not long ago, the old road from Cincinnati to Louisville gave some indication why the packet boats were able to operate with some extended life between the two cities.

The 'Big Sandy Wharfboat' here was something in its day and got a lot of wide press and 'big blow' in river circles. I posted an excerpt on it quite some time back on this web but can't recall now when. The diary Capt. Ellis Mace kept for years mentions incidents where wharfboats sank in the night with loss of freight awaiting boats for shipment out. A big winter ice meant many of the office staff and crew from the boats were on guard on the wharfboats to watch events--and the waiting freight. Mace pens this and how they "sent up town for lunches while watching."

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

I have a copy of a freight bill for a 1750 lb iron safe, shipped from New York to Jefferson, TX via New Orleans. Obviously they were accustomed to handling very heavy weights with only manpower or the most basic tackle, even on smaller boats. No mention of whether the safe was deck cargo or in a towed barge.

Hank & steamboating colleagues:
Hank, many thanks for finding the freight bill for the 1750 lb iron safe, it's shipment etc. Is there a 'date' on the bill you could post? No doubt the safe came via steamship from an East coast port. On steamships early on steam wiches were employed. After 1908 and World War I both steam and electric winches were used on ocean ships. Now, moving to a river steamboat was another matter. Again, 'back and belly' with lots of grunting and cussing for sure. I recall years ago here seeing massive scales once used to weigh freight still stored in corners of the old GREENE LINE wharfboat. There were trundle carts, dollys etc. No doubt many weights were known from the manufacturer prior to shipment. Components from DENNY BROS, Dumbarton Scotland for the DELTA KING/DELTA QUEEN in the 1920s were weighed along with the packing cases containing them in oak for billing and handling. Extensive inventory notes manifests state, "To be paid upon receiving by the contractor." An interesting topic giving insights on a less romantic side of steamboating. Stowage aboard for ballast and easy retrieval upon arrival was also important. No doubt under the domain of the boat's mate and/or freight master in the head office.

Some months back a question was posted on weight of a standard cotton bale. I think it may have come from Lexie. The weight I vaguely recall was on/around 500 lbs. European governments at ports, along with receiving parties, were sticklers back then on a guaranteed weight of cotton bales and were individually stamp marked with a guarantee. Same for bales of wool, animal skins, tobacco and leather. Fine fabrics and carpets were shipped in bolts or 'bales.' Carpets were either rolled or folded carefully and compressed with protective cotton or hemp sacking. Records indicate also fine Oriental carpets being shipped with dried tobacco leaves inside to ward off bugs and vermin. Heavy railroad cross ties were shipped on steamboats and if dipped in creosote were termed 'zinked' by the roustabouts who would have to haul them on and off. Some of these strong men could handle one tie on their shoulders. Remember, no protective helmets, steel tipped boots, eye goggles, ear devices against constant noise or much other labor--and human saving--devices. Today OSHA would have fits. That's the way it was.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

The safe was shipped 11 July, 1873 aboard the Cromwell New York and New Orleans Steamship Line's steamer New Orleans. It was reshipped at NO aboard Lotus No. 3, D. D. Daniels (or Dannels), Master and received at Jefferson, TX by Graham & Taylor, Wholesale Grocers, Commission, Receiving & Forwarding Merchants on 31 July. I doubt if you could get it much faster today. The handwriting is not easily decipherable, but it looks as though the steamboat freight, labor and storage charges came to $43.09. Lotus No. 3 was a 232 ton (registry) stern wheel boat, either 135x26x4 or 160x36.5x5.2. depending on whose figures you use. If I remember correctly, Jefferson had the only wooden wharf along the Red at that time.

Jim: Moving heavy equipment and other bulky or heavy items requires know-how. I have seen big machine tools of many tons weight moved with jacks, pipe rollers and 'come-alongs' (would have been blocks and tackle in the old days). On level, hard surfaces, pinch bars were used instead of come-alongs. This was done by two fellers, one rather old and the other in his prime although not a large fellow at all. It was not done rapidly as it would be by journeymen riggers (these fellows were NOT riggers). This was mostly on fairly level concrete but accommodated small grade changes too (up to a foot or so). Large changes in grade, and slanted and rough surfaces (like the Cincy Public Landing) add complication. My guess is that the transferor located the transferee and said something like: "here's what I got for you, Cap. How do you wanna transfer it?" And then one, the other or both of them would work out the details. Steam locomotives were sometimes shipped to destination via steamboat (at least one sank with locomotive/s aboard!). Reckon how THAT might be done...getting the loco down the bank and loading it on a boat that was going to tip and shift under the load as it was gradually transfered to the boat. Wooden crib-work, block and tackle, levers, boom-derricks, steam-hoists and brainpower were the deciding factors with a liberal application of muscle (man and mule) betimes. In my opinion, brain power and experience were the most important factors. Those supplying the latter likely never lifted a finger.

Tom, Jim knows all about moving heavy loads on steamboats, for he was a deckhand in his time. There has been much argument about how the capstone was placed on the biggest pyramid in Egypt. Anyone who has worked on a steamboat knows - they simply gathered enough men around it, picked it up and carried it there!
I am pretty sure Jim was involved in removing and replacing the steering engine on the Belle of Louisville. It hangs just below the engineroom ceiling. We got it down, rolled it along the deck and over the stage and loaded it in a truck for shipment to a machine shop without forklift, crane or any other machinery. When it came back, we did the job in reverse. It took a couple of hours each way, but human muscle did it.
We steered manually for about two weeks while it was gone. Excepting at the landing, that was the pleasantest steering I recall. We could set her toward a light or a tree and walk away while the boat held her course. At the landing it became work, but with men like Harris and Paul Underwood rudder movements could be reduced to a bare minimum. Backing was delicate, for the wheel wash could tear the pilotwheel out of a steersman's hands.

Re Louisville Freight Handling

To understand how heavy loads were handled depends on several factors: (1) What year (2) The need to portage around the Falls of the Ohio, which required freight transport by land from Louisville around the Falls, then re-loading the freight on another steamboat below the falls. (3) The place on the boat were large, single objects were placed, (4) The machinery required.

The Portland Canal was constructed about 1830 which enabled most boats with a hull width of 30 feet or less to go through the canal. Otherwise, about 33% of the shipping cost would be consumed in the transport around the Falls. In due course, the canal was widened to take larger width steam boats. I don't know whether the prominent overhang over the hull in earlier times was an effort to increase the width of the passenger/cargo area, but still permit the boat to traverse the canal.

One can visualize the wider canal as it exists today by searching for Louisville on google, then moving along the Ohio River, westward to Portland, and one can see the canal along the left bank of the Ohio River. There is an H shaped building about 1/3 of the distance along that canal which is the U S Marine Hospital that is now being restored. Last time I looked the satellite pictures had not been updated, for now there is a cupola/turret/belvedere on that building.

Hi, John & steamboating colleagues:
John, your posting with insights RE: Louisville freight handling/Portland Canal interesting. Freight handling has been discussed on this web in the past and is worth further study. Old steamboat photos of sloped wharves, wharfboats etc. are worth a 1,000 words glimpsing the logistics and tools used then. Most done by roustabouts 'back and belly,' on their shoulders or using rolling dollies and carts. As Alan Bates mentioned you can move what you have to with enough men on hand. It was labor intensive.

Seasonal shipments also figured in with argicultural products from farms, orchards, cotton bales and rags [Rags being important then for paper making and other needs], cotton seed, sugar, molasses, tobacco and coal. Lumber cutting and rafting was also a seasonal thing and I too wonder what they did getting valuable wood rafts around the falls for boat building below. Iron and related metal products were heavy to deal with. From Cincinnati flowed innumerable barrels of distilled whiskies, spirits etc. Some landings had no wharboats to service vessels and cargo. The famed 'Big Sandy Wharfboat' here in Cincinnati was a marvel of it's day built with extensive offices and a much-touted elevator system. How it worked on the wharfboat leaves me wondering if it was steam or electric powered as the wharfboat under Commodre Fred Laidley's management was fitted with electric lights. But that came much later than the dates you mention for the Louisville/Portland Canal. Others in the Louisville area may know: Alan Bates, Keith Norrington, Chuck Parrish, Jim Reising, Kenny Howe etc. etc. Alan Bates mentioned about observing years ago roustabouts handling freight from the old GREENE LINE with rousters carrying heavy bath tubs. Early steamboat business records comment on the % of profit from freight--some stating 50% or more of their business. Passenger trade, though important, was the 'walking freight' and the cream at the top of the operation. In-depth business operations of the boats is fertile soil for more study.

Another important factor in steamboat trade was the link between railroads and boats with trackage near the landings for transfer and connections. Steamboat/rail tycoon Jacob Strader realized this early in Cincinnati with the link from his 'Little Miami Railroad.' There were many factors leading in later years 'killing' the steamboat freight trade. One was the emergence of motor trucks for door-to-door shipments cutting out double billing from boat to wharf and then transport to the consignee. Other 'night boat'/freight steamers were 'side' or 'bow' loaders demanding intensive human labor with no cranes to lift from dock or wharf to boat. I marvel at scenes of roustabouts trundling cargo over the stages or those wood chicken run ramps.

Your research on the old U.S. Marine Hospital system [Louisville hospital] fascinating along with your interest in Dr. John Shaw Billings [Great Cholera epidemic of 1873] interesting from what you shared with me some weeks ago here in my home. Keep us posted on this. Good seeing you Monday night at Club.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

hi All
IN July 1862 Joseph Renshaw Brown brought his mighty Steam wagon to Nebraska City, This monster of iron is said to weight several thousand pounds. Bridges on her route west, she was to pull trains of freight wagons, were constructed to carry 20 tons. This engine moved from the steam boat to the levee on her own power, and up main street which is even today steeper then the St Louis levee. She was a $7,700.00 failure as she only went three miles of a 563 mile trip to Denver when a vital part of the machine broke and there she set of years and years.

Carl Jones