2400 miles from Ohio River

This is not the beginning. Seven years ago I had the thought of going down the Mississippi River in a boat.  I mentioned it to my brother then. About once a year he would say, “When are we going down the Mississippi? “   I thought he would forget, but he kept doing this. Finally in 2017, I realized the notion wasn’t going to go away. We pulled together a plan and went down the Upper Mississippi.   “Upper Mississippi” means from Minneapolis to Cairo Illinois, where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi. Lower Mississippi is the portion ending in New Orleans.
 We did a basic write up here: https://muddymo2017.wordpress.com/2017/09/02/from-dave/
Neither of my companions had any desire to go further. Another year passed, and I realized I could do a river trip by myself if I had a boat I could sleep in. I wasn’t looking for luxury.  Luxury would be taking the 11 day American cruise line trip from Pittsburgh to Cairo, roughly $6000 per person, double occupancy.   Going in my own boat will not be a cost savings, but will allow me to travel at my own pace.
 I bought a 1992 Arima Sea Ranger 17.  The 17 is the length.  The boat has an adequate cuddy cabin, about large enough for an adult and some stowage. 

These pictures were from the day I bought the boat, almost a year ago.

Why the Ohio?

 The Ohio River is not as well-known as the Mississippi or the Missouri. I have had a year to read about it, and can begin to answer the question. 

 Historically, the Ohio River, combined with the lower Mississippi, was the most important river of the interior.   Up until the 1850s, rivers were the primary highways for moving people and cargo.  When Lewis and Clark started their journey, they traveled on the Ohio River to get to St Louis, and then on the Missouri.  Early settlement began on the south shore, now West Virginia and Kentucky (then,  oath of them part of Virginia).  The north shore - now Ohio, Indiana and Illinois - was Indian 

territory, initially claimed by the French, contested with the English.  During the Revolution years, 

the English fought the colonists on this western border.  Key to this conflict were the numerous tribes,  which controlled the territo ry (much less so on the Kentucky side).  The loyalty of the tribes was manipulated for generations.  In the early days, travel on the River was some times perilous because of Indian raids, but such travel was considerably safer than by land.

You can define Ohio River periods of history by boats.  First, Canoes, then Flatboats and Keelboats, then Steamboats.  We are now in the Towboat era.

In 1811, the first steamboat, the New Orleans, started down the river from Pittsburgh. This boat was the creation of a syndicate which included Robert Fulton, the pioneer of steamboat design.  In ten 

years, steamboats were plentiful, carrying passengers and supporting a blossoming of trade.  Western

 Pennsylvania with abundant coal and iron, quickly became a major manufacturing center. The Ohio Valley produced lots of grain. The most transportable form of grain is whisky.  There was lots of stuff to fill steamboats headed to New Orleans. 

 Continuing this thumbnail history, when railroads proliferated, just before and then after the Civil War, they stole away passengers from the river, and also high value freight.  The last big era, up to the present, is the transport of bulk cargo. First it was steam powered boats, then steamboats hauling barges, and then the shift to diesel powered towboats and barges.   The other big evolution has been the creation by the Army Corps of Engineers of the locks and dams system. Before the dams, the river flowed too much in spring and fall, but was too shallow and winter and summer.   Now a 12 foot depth channel is maintained for the whole length.

Road trip

 The last two days I’ve been on the road trailering the boat east. With hundred degree temperatures yesterday and 94° today, I am being introduced to the summer heat.

July 26

100 miles to Pittsburgh. 

Here is a diagram of theOhio River, map plus elevation, with the19 locks and dams. Maybe it should be “lock and dams”since lock and dam is a thing. 

River knowledge

The exact origins of some rivers can be disputed, but not the Ohio. In Pittsburgh, the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers is the start of the Ohio. The western end is where the river meets the Mississippi.

Although the river ultimately flows west, along its route the river flows north, south, east and west. So to designate shores, they are referred to as”right shore” and “left shore” from the perspective of going downstream.