Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1939-06-29

was over three feet high. Capt.
Wallace was at that time a young
man and was pilot, deckhand and
general utility man, and here it was
that he first met and later
married Miss White, who did not
live long after marrying George
Many things happened in those
days, that are somewhat hazy in
my mind, so will now devote lit
tie space to some of the principal
freight carried by the many fine
boats of that day. Salt is now, and
always has been thing indispen-
sable to the human family as well
as the animal kingdom, and we had
many salt works on the river. The
first well was drilled just below
(Windsor) now Stockport, which
was never worked; next at Hooks
burg, then Douda, Sherwoodsburg
Malta, and the last one up the river
was 'tBalous," this however may
not be correct as / did not at that
time know the river above McCon-
nelsville. Sherwood furnace was
probably the biggest producer. l
have seen hundreds of barrels piled
on bank ready to ship.
Merit comes to my mind is tobac-
co, which was raised quite extern
sively in the Chesterhil1 and Penns-
vile neighborhoods. Tobacco was
quite source Of income to the
farmer and furnished work for d
lot of teams and men. The average
load for four horses was from three
to four hogsheads in summer, one
half that number in winter, when
roads were bad, and I must say the
roads We're bad-limestone roads in
many places hub deep in mud The
Pittsburgh boats usually loaded
about rs hogsheads for a trip. Flour
was another big item of freight
thousands of barrels of flour were
shipped from the old Windsor mill,
which was one of the largest on the
river. / wonder if there are many
now living who can remember seeing
the old boat gunwales hauled to the
river. The picture is fresh in my
memory of how they were hauled
from the woods, sometimes miles
back from the river They were gen
80 inches wide, and six inches thick
They were loaded on two OK carts
then from one to which from two to
three yoke of oxen were hitched,
and the hind one going reverse and
dragging on the ground. In the end
of the tongue there was a hickory
withe attached with which a man
walked along and dragged the
tongue to the right or left, thus
steering the course of the wheels to
make the turns in the road which
was often full of short turns.
And now a word as to the mode
of preparing and shaping these i'm
mense timbers. While the writer
never saw the real work of prepar-
ing these gunwales, he has heard it
SO often described it was almost like
seeing it. First the poplar tree was
selected and felled. Then it was
hewed on both sides so that the CEN
ter part left was 12x24 or 80 inch
es. This part was raised from the
ground, by building a crib in center
and tettered up and down, add
ing a stick or fulcrum at each al
ternate ends until the stick of tim
Der was high enough from the
ground for a man to stand under.
Now 1t was ready for some real
work; for this immense stick of
timber must be split in two, to get
two boat ugnwales. This is done
with a whip-saw One man stands
on top of the timber, the other un-
derneath. / can't remember of
ever hearing how long it took to
saw one if these sticks in two, but I
know it was some job.
Well | have now taken more of
your valuable space than this article
deserves, but truly 1 can't see how
l could really shorten it.
Mr.. Blake is one of the few old
river men now living. |
His wife who was Laura Sheridan |
Blake, is deceased. For some time |
the family resided in Beverly, where |
Mr. Blake owned and operated the |
flour mill. Later they moved to Ma
rietta, and from there to Reno. |
He recently disposed of his farm at |,
that place and is now making his |
home in Woister with his sister, |
Mrs. Florence Danford.