The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-10-02
Wheelings Steamboat Interest.
Rise aud Progress OF our River Trade
1.-The Various Lines of the Past aud
PTSssHs, [Ssss1ai,y ,cy,,te, 70, 0e n,e,,tgenee,,

ample of the truth of the closing para
graph of our first article, may he found
in n brief review OF the trade to Par
kersburg and other places.
% The difficulties in the way of estab-
fishing anything like npermanent, well
regulated trade from wheelingto points
below, were many, and though not
mountains, wcro still jvexatious and
discournging. Inthe first place, Wheel
ing was not considered, even by unprc-
tending people and towns, as boIng by
any means the head of navigation,
and it seemed n little green, not TO say
ridiculous to them, that she should
make any prctensions to an indepen-
dent trade. She had then but few man
ufactures, and they scarcely well es-
tablished. Her dry goods came large
ly by way of the National Road, or
through Pittsburgh, and the latterplacc
having no such great net work of rail
roads US now centre in her limits, was
extremely jealous of every effort, made
by our steambOatmen to build up II
trade which should have its upper ter
minus in the city of Wheeling. There
were always those among the business
men of Pittsburgh who knew that
Wheeling had eminent advantages for
n manufacturing city, and IL not Jealous
OF her advancement, deemed 1t nt least
the part of prudence, so long as the out
let of her own trade, to a VeryIlnrge eX-
tent, consisted OF the river, to secure the
trade of the river by whatever means
might be found necessary; hence herin-
ducementS in the way of freights, which
were sufficient OF themselves, for n long
time, to carry much trade to her mar
kets that might have found but little
difficulty in accommodating itself in
our city, as 1t has been able to do with
perfect facility since. Against these and
many other difficulties best known to
steamboat mon, have our boatment la
bored earnestly and faithfully for the
city of Wheeling in their efforts to
build up her prosperity with their own.
We shall give a brief history of the
Parkersburg trade.
So many men have been connected
with the building up of this trnde, in a
greater or less degree, that we fear i'll
an article of the length to which we
must necessarily contine ourselves so
as not to weary our readers, some may
he overlooked, but we assure them that
it is not matter of design, rs we wish
to give every man credit for the good
he has done the city. The first boat
that ever ran as Wheeling and Par
kersburg boat WIS the Robert Wight
man, about the. year lSis. She wns
owned in Pittsburgh and WINS cons
mRnded by Capt. Williamson, and j. G.
Jelley was Clerk. She was n little
stern-wheel dinky OF about 1lO feet in
length and had u carrying capacity of
about 10 tons. Her passenger accom-
mOdations were extremely scant, hnv-
ing been originally intended for n tow
boat her cabin was not larger thnn the
Tsa1ra fNf "a ct KNyh
OF the present day. The total receipts
of the boat for her first trip were TWEEN
ty-seven dollars, She ran about
month in the trade, when she blow up;
the receipts for her, last trip amounted
to about one hundred and fifty dollars.
After the loss of this boat the trade
was temporarily. abandoned. Early
in the winter of 1889 the Friendship
was started out with view of running
to Mathmor1s. Geo. Davis, Of West
Wheeling, was Captain, and Hiram
Armstrong, OF Fulton, was Clerk. She
ran till some time in April, making
three trips per week
Shortly after the Friendship COM
menced running, and Parkersburg still
being considered Il desirable terminus,
the 1TroELine was purchased by Cap
tainS Reed, Roberts and NI1mre, and
was the second boat put into the Par
kersburg trade proper. She was
with cabin accommodations for about
thirty passengers, and carried only
single crew. She made three trips per
week, only one of which, however, was
clear through TO Parkersburg, the other
two being TO Matamorns.
Although the ATroiDlinc scarcely paid
expenses, the Company resolutely kept
her in the trade until the fall of 1850,
when they succeeded in getting n con-
trnct to carry the mail from Wheeling
to Parkersburg, three times per week,
for which they received about thirteen
hundred dollars per year. About the
snme time they bought the AHe1heIiy
Clipper, to be used ms n mail boat, MAX
ing n second boat in the trade, and was
the first establishment of anything like
n daily line. - itsii
This arrangement continued I'LL the
spring of 1882, when Capt. Reid died,
and the boats were sold, but continued
in the trade only short time. BY the
untiring efforts OF those from time to
time engaged in the work, with the aid
of the mail contracts, the ParkersbHrg
trade began to look like permanent
thing. go
Capt. Roberts repurchnsed the dr.
rotclinc, and n new hull on the stocks Mt
Parkersburg, which, when finished in
October, 1852, was the first Courier, in.
which Capt. Roberts was three-fourths
and Capt. Jelly one-fOurth owner. She
was the first new boat ever put into the
trade, and may be said to have been
specially built for It. She continued in
the trade III the spring Of 1857, when
In the fall of 1853 Jelly & List, of
Wheeling. Antony Sheets, of Grand
view, Hall & Co., of Marietta, and A.
NJ. Sturrett, of Parkersburg, bought
the Fort Pitt, and run her in the Par
kersburg trade till June, 1854, and sold
her., In the fall of 1854 the ATessrs.
Booth, who owned the Bdydrd and had
of a trade to Sunfisb, extended her
cabin and otherwise fitted her TOR the
PnrkersburE trade, and commenced
running her sometime between Christ
mas and New Year. In 1865 Capt.
Roberts a1d Capt. Jelly built tho Abe
built the ". g. IYo0dsiie. Thus we
lind that just as fast us the trade gave
promise OF Increase, those, engaged in
1t were prompt to provide abundant
means Of Transportation.
In the spring of 1851 the first CbitTier
and tho BGyard were sold.n Roberts d.
Jelly continued the iI6emdrLe in the
trade, and Capt. Booth chartered the
jane F'runklft to run in place of the
| .Bdydrd. The 4Atbemdrie ran till June,
when her place was supplied by the
second CottTfcT, built especially for the
trade. a1.i .iifg1..-- Htsfi iiEfI .t,la
a short time afterwards tho AIessrs.
Booth brought out the Liberty. These
boats proved to be too large, ms there
was not trade sufficient to Justify the
running Of two such boats. Accord
ingly, In the fnl1 of '57 they commenced
running to Cincinnati, and the 44lbe-
marie and WoOdSide resumed theiTplh-
ces in the Parkersburg trade. These