Regarding river travel through Tennessee.... in 1846 if you had about $50 and three weeks time you could travel almost entirely by boat from E. Tennessee to Texas via the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Red Rivers. My great great grandfather Benjamin Bartlett Cannon left a detailed account of his 1846 river trip from Harrison, Tennessee to Shreveport, LA and ultimately into Cherokee Co, TX where he explored for and purchased farmland. The doctor of his wife Emily Tunnell Cannon recommended they move to a sunny climate for the sake of her declining health. This suggestion nearly coincided with the moment that Texas became a state and opening up bargain lands with long growing seasons. Benjamin already owned substantial property in Tennessee, but Texas land just seemed better. And of course, his wife's health. Though he was an attorney, a surveyor-engineer and Hamilton County Tennessee's first recorder, he listed his profession as "farmer" in the 1850 census even though, by that time, he had a law office in the town of Rusk, Texas. Early in the morning of April 7, 1846 he departed Harrison, TN (20 mi upstream from Chattanooga) by flatboat down the Tennessee River. Shortly thereafter they "lashed" with an undescribed vessel named the Wibb and Craft. A strong west wind, rain and natural obstacles, including a whirlpool known as "The Suck" downriver from Chattanooga kept his progress to under 100 miles after the first three days at which time he arrived in Decatur, Alabama. From there, on the 13th, he took the railroad for forty miles or so to Tuscumbia, Alabama where he boarded the steamer Herschel, that taking him to the former site of Eastport, TN where he boarded the steamer Mazippa (sp?). By April 18th he met the Ohio River at Paducah, KY. He would have arrived there at least 3 days earlier were he not held over catching different boats and waiting for cargo to be loaded in various river ports. On the 19th he made Memphis, well down along the Mississippi. The following day at noon an aged passenger on their boat, a Mrs. Duforce (sp?) great aunt of the Hixson family of Harrison, TN, died. She was buried at sundown 6 miles upriver from Montgomery's Point on the East Bank of the Mississippi. On the 22nd they passed the mouths of the White and Arkansas Rivers. As they cruised downstream Benjamin remarks that he is seeing "the finest farms that my eyes have ever beheld, anywhere. Cornfields, grain and cotton just making its appearance". The next day he was at the mouth of the Red River where he boarded the steamer Rudolph for the trip upstream to Shreveport. He landed at 5 PM on the 26th of April. The other members of his party stayed aboard the steamer Mazippa for the trip to Shreveport. An issue of fares. He describes Shreveport as a vibrant young town, well situated and seems impressed that drinking water is "supplied by five wagons kept constantly running from town". He set out on foot for Texas on the 28th and 20 miles later he was in that state with blistered heels and faced with Martins Creek, the first of a series of river crossings wide with spring runoff. He has rejoined his travel partners and friends from TN, John Taylor, William, John and Archibald Carmichael all of whom waded across Martins Creek, but Benjamin refused to follow them in and spent the entire day into the night looking for a more appealing crossing. The next day he was loaned a horse to take him over. As a Captain and a Major in the Tennessee Mounted Militia some years before, being buffeted in the current while on foot must have seemed so distasteful that he was willing to suffer some level of ridicule from the Carmichael brothers as part of the cost for keeping his shirt dry. On the 3rd of May he met with his sister-in-laws Emily Tunnell Bagley and Matilda Tunnell Reagan and stayed with his brother-in-law William Reagan at William and Matilda's home in Nacogdoches. They had moved there from Tennesse's Sweetwater Valley in 1836. Benjamin stayed with many people on his two month tour of NE Texas. It is interesting that most of them were already known to him from Tennessee. The tour was not a random exploration. Even though the countryside was nearly wilderness, specific people and places were visited as part of an appointed plan. The return trip to TN from Shreveport, begun two months later, took a full month because of many nuisance style delays. The last leg, along the Tennessee River from Alabama was done by a buggy which he purchased in Alabama. The trip evidently leaving him with extra money at its end and that last stretch being a difficult one to make against the current. The following April he took his family to the land he had bought the year before near Rusk, Texas. The youngest of Ben and Eliza's six children died on the boat near Muscle Shoals and Eliza died herself at her sister's, only a few days after arriving in Texas. The journey to extend her life may have prematurely ended it. Should anyone be interested, I have transcribed Benjamin's entire 110 page journal and included notations about people and places. It is a clunky Word 7.0 file at this time, but soon I will make it available for download. Bart Cannon (B.B.Cannon 5th)