Topic starter
26/04/2008 7:31 pm
Steamboating colleagues:
Hi, Virginia. Yes, for years Cincinnati bore the nickname 'Ragtown' and the question has come up from time to time on the web. Musician, historian, author, Carl Sandburg years ago set out from Pittsburgh to New Orleans in quest of ballads, songs and poems of the river that were quickly being lost from memory. A number of the early black roustabout songs were collected in their dialect. Many lyrics in those songs today if repeated in their 'earthy' manner would be considered 'Politically incorrect' from a racial view. Yet, they are valued with increasing recognition.
'Ragtown' came from steamboats bringing up river bales of old rags, cotton or a waste product known as 'batting.' Cincinnati and northern Kentucky just across were major centers in the manufacturing of cloth, bagging and paper products based in this trade. I've a photo of the Str. QUEEN CITY taken very late in her career coming up with bales of 'rags' on her deck for one of the many businesses once existing on/near the Public Landing here. Another roustabout term for Cincinnati was "Cincinnati River"--not the Ohio River. One verse from 'Ragtown' gives us a feel for the times.
"Yoh wanna know whah we is from?
It suah will make you shivah;
We's from dat dar ol' 'Ragtown.'
Un de ol' Cincinnati ribber!
All--night--long!"
For a time I always signed off using the term From 'Ragtown.' I received what I hoped was a tongue-in-cheek E=Mail with the criticism that I was 'insulting and demeaning' Cincinnati. Not the case. A good topic for this web would be the listing of other nicknames for river towns and cities. Hope this helps.
Well, what do I know?
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
27/04/2008 12:10 am
Another rivertown nickname was for Pt. Pleasant, WV as "snake harbor". I believe this was discussed on a previous thread, but I cannot find it.
27/04/2008 4:47 pm
Snake Harbor wasn't called that after the variety that crawls on the ground, but rather the two legged version that walks and talks. My father had great disdain for those, "Ka-Noy River Snakes."
27/04/2008 10:20 pm
Thanks, Frank, for clearing that up; I really never would have guessed. Maybe you and/or Capt. Bill can shed some light on this...I've always heard about Kanawha River men to be sort of a "different breed of cat". Not being very familiar with that area (I only occasionally get above Cincinnati) I have no real idea what they are talking about.
Along those same lines, and Capt. Ted Davisson posted on this some weeks or months ago, it is amazing how different regions have their own peculiarities when it comes to boating, the terminology used, and the methods used. I perceive the ways of the Upper Ohio to be stranger than most others, but that is probably because I spend so little time up there. A boatman from the Intracoastal Canal would be lost, figuratively as well as literally, on the Upper Miss or the Tennessee. A boatman from Pittsburgh would be baffled by the ways of a pilot on the canal or on the Missouri River. All are good boatmen, and their ways have evolved, I guess, to best deal with the conditions they encounter most frequently, but they are as different as can be. So, what is it about the Kanawha that sets it apart?
Topic starter
27/04/2008 11:00 pm
RE: NICKNAMES/'PT. PLEASANT, W.VA.'
Hi, Bill & Frank,
Long, long time since I heard 'Snake harbor' applied to Pt. Pleasant, W.Va. Frank and Bill probably know more about this that we'll have to prod and dig for the rest of the story.
A shy poster E=Mailed here mentioning several sites on the Internet with lists of 'City nicknames.' 'Doug's List of Lists' & 'City Nicknames' only gives in most cases non-steamboat/river names for cities and towns. This not what we're looking for. No doubt Gilroy, California is a nice place and all of that. I get a kick out of their nickname: 'Garlic Capital of the World.'
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
28/04/2008 1:13 am
Thank you for enlighting me. I had never heard the term "Ragtown".
Virginia
28/04/2008 12:06 pm
The Kanawha River, including Snake Harbor at its mouth, has traditionally produced some of the finest boatm'n on the river. Some notable examples that come to mind include J.T. Hatfield, Amos Shinkle, J. Emory Edgington, Bob Bosworth, Bert Shearer, Harry White, Doc Hawley, Bill Davis, Clem and John Beatty, Charles and Nelson Jones, Tom Price, Lawson Hamilton, Clifford Dean, Tony Harrison, Todd Mace, and generations more that I did have the personal pleasure of their acquaintance. My two years on the Great Kanawha didn't hurt me none.
It must be something in the waters.
Topic starter
28/04/2008 2:17 pm
RE: KANAWHA RIVER BOATM'N:
Hi, Shipyard:
Thanks for tuning us all in with your above list of famed Kanawha River boatmen--'Snake Harbor' and all. Another famed named from those parts who later moved from dealing in salt to becoming a captain, steamboat tycoon, meat packer, investor etc., was 'Commodore' Fred Laidley of the old L&C LINE and the 'Big Sandy Wharfboat' days here in 'Ragtown.' Are there more names to add on our Kanawa list? Who out there knows what river city carried the nickname 'Brick Town?'
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
28/04/2008 3:37 pm
OK Dale, you started this. Here are more nicknames that apply to river towns.
Pittsburgh= Steel City, Iron City and Smokey City; Huntington= Jewel City; Portsmouth= P-town; Louisville= FallsCity; Zanesville= Clay City; St. Louis= Gateway City and Mound City; Quincy, IL= Gem City; Dubuque=Key City;
Memphis= Bluff City; Charleston,WV= Chuck Town and Chem City. Now we all know New Orleans as the Cresent City, but I was on a boat recently where the crew referred to it as Bayou Central. The interesting thing is that almost every nickname listed is a name used on a steamboat.