Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 15 February 2004 Vol 3 Issue: #07 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, Valentine's Day is a "romantic" day, and, in my pre-teen and early teen years there was just a tiny bit of historical romanticism in me. Well, maybe it was more like fantasy and daydreaming. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, Roger's Rangers, and the Leatherstocking Tales were my inspirations. In those days of my youth I lived among the Loblolly Pines and along the New Bern River. There in an old flat bottom swamp boat and a paddle I would sit in the bow and paddle my "canoe" exploring the river banks. There I would fantasize getting into my canoe in Fort Pitt and floating all the way to New Orleans. During the first century of colonization of this continent, our forebears were limited to coastal settlements. George Washington had his daydreams also. He dreamed of a network of roads and canals. His dreams, however, were very slow in materializing. Think of it ... a trip from Baltimore to Philadelphia took as long as five days by stagecoach. It was an overnight trip from East Toledo to Maumee, Ohio in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Before the Revolution, it was quicker, timewise, to travel to Europe from New York than it was to travel from there to the Appalachians. Philadelphis, New York and Boston could be reached by Concord Coach, horseback, or by boat. The quickest was by schooners known as the "Apple Tree Fleet", so called because they took their bearings on the orchards along the shores. Government and commerce were hobbled by a poor transportation system. Of necessity America utilized its greatest natural resource — its inland waterways. This system was not new. The First Americans had from time immortal used water transportation. Before the American Revolution the trappers and fur traders followed the way of the Indian. After the Revolution, settlers crossed the mountains and followed the waterways. The population of the United States of America increased 500% during the first sixty years of Nationhood. This expansion spilled over in the only direction possible from the east coast --- westward. After the War of 1812, canals were the frenzy and for a very short time they were "super" highways for settlers and commerce. Almost before the canal could be finished it was replaced by the "iron horse". Yet, the canals did cut the travel time from New York to Buffalo from twenty to six days. The early freight canoes were made in the style of the native canoes. They were called canots maitre and it is said that no better vehicle was invented to travel the rivers and lakes and yet be portaged when necessary. These canoes were about thirty-three feet over the gunwales, and six foot across the beam. They were nearly three feet deep amidships and weighed about six hundred pounds, wet or empty. Amazingly these boats were so strong and flexible that they could survive white water runs. They were sleek, fast and maneuverable. The frame was make of cedar and spruce. The covering was the bark of the white [paper] birch. When we hold a piece of this in our hands we can't envision amazing strength, flexibility and durability of this native material. It withstood the bruising of logs and rocks. Further it held its strength during portages, as well as the weight of the freight being carried in them. If the skin should be damaged, repairs could be made on the spot with a bark patch attached with spruce root and gum. Bark was stripped rom the birch tree in large sheets. Seams and joinings were caulked with the cooked gum of the black spruce mixed with powdered charcoal and a bit of animal fat. The frame was lashed together with the strong and very flexible roots of the black spruce. It is not very difficult to understand that these boats were constructed by contract with the experts of the continent, mainly the Iroquois. The outbound cargo consisted of everything imaginable for use on the frontiers. Included were axes, shot, gunpowder, gun tools, lead, flints, awls, firesteel, powder horns, knives, fish line and hooks, kettles, pans, net twine, tomahawks, hatchets, needles, thread, vermilion and ochre, wax, chains, hammers, nails and trinkets such as garters, mirrors, rings, combs, blankets, and even hair pieces. In addition were food rations and personal property of the crewmen. These were covered and lashed down with canvas tarpaulins eight by ten feet. All toll, the freight, supplies and crew would add up to eight thousand pounds to the canoe. Though I grew up with the rocking of a Pullman Car and the clicking of the rails, I still dream of drifting down the Ohio, past Paducah, Kentucky and Metropolis, Illinois. At Cairo, turning up the Mississippi to the Mighty Missouri and up that river to its source. Today, I would probably add an outboard motor to the canoe to make it a bit easier "upstream". After all, I'm not as young as my dreams. <grin> e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- PostScript: Other sites worth visiting: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html