Rigged Model, Keel Boat Packet Barge
date: label: Date made
content: 1961
notes: label: Description
content: Mainly sailing on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, keel boat barges were used to transport people and commodities. The earliest ones were powered manually rather than by sail or steam, only traveling 10 to 20 miles per day as the crew rowed, poled or hauled the keel boat along the river with tow lines. This model, dating to around 1810, would have been called an express boat, as it was able to travel faster than a traditional keel boat. It also could harness wind power with its sails, making the journeys up and downstream more quickly and efficiently.
label: Description
content: Often called “keelers,” keel boat pilots dedicated their careers to sailing on the rivers. Steering a keel boat was complex. Pilots had to have extensive knowledge of the ever-changing river, its currents, seasonal conditions, and flood patterns. For this reason, traditional keelers were ideal candidates to operate newer packet barges and steamships during the mid-19th century. By the 1830s, it was rare for someone to become a river pilot without prior experience.
label: Description
content: People living in isolated towns on upper river waters and tributary streams were dependent upon these barges. Because steamships were too big to travel in the shallower riverbeds, these packet barges—often painted bright red—were used to deliver manufactured goods, people, mail, and groceries to the town.
topic: label: related event
content: Revolution and the New Nation
label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.318826
label: catalog number
content: 318826
label: accession number
content: 236169
objectType: label: Object Name
content: model, keel boat
label: Object Name
content: model, keel boat
label: Other Terms
content: boat, keel; Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 in x 21 in x 10 in; 43.18 cm x 53.34 cm x 25.4 cm