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Subject: [MDSTMARY] Kentucky Migrations Information by Sandi Gorin
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 01:58:12 EDT

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TIP #647 - GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE IN EARLY KENTUCKY

Kentucky, from the beginning, was at a disadvantage. They had great
products - produce, timber, tobacco and many more sellable commodities -
but - getting them to the larger markets outside of the state boundaries
presented a problem. The Kentucky River was depended upon almost totally;
it spreads out like a fan from the Ohio River to the southeastern part of
the state and including the creeks and tributaries finds its way to the
richness of the state. But the pioneers read with interest the ideas
presented by the State Board of Internal Improvements and one day, the
Kentucky and the Cumberland Rivers would be united and commerce would flow
freely. The larger towns in Kentucky were doing a lot better than the
little towns and settlements scattered throughout. Much fertile lands were
unsettled and one reason was the lack of water transportation.

In the early 1800's fewer than 6,000 people out of 220,000 in the state
lived in towns. By the 1810 census the towns were growing because of easier
transportation waterways with the largest being Lexington, Louisville and
Frankfort in that order. Governor Shelby was an advocate of improving the
roads; remember most roads outside of the bigger towns were simply buffalo
trails converted to wagon roads. He wanted wagon roads to lead to the
eastern states, an improvement in the Wilderness Road route leading to our
parent state, Virginia by way of the Cumberland gap. There was an
established post road from Pittsburg, PA via Wheeling, on the Ohio and
Limestone, Lexington, Frankfort, Harrodsburg and Bardstown road ending in
Louisville. It was still primarily river navigation that reached the most
of the state. Families who had spread out throughout the state had
difficulties also.

THE FALLS OF THE OHIO
Before any thought was given to other improvements, the Falls of the Ohio
was a prime candidate. To encourage southern trade somehow the state needed
to circumscribe all the rapids (fall) at Louisville and open the Ohio to
commerce. Under the entire width of the river at the Falls City is
limestone, irregular in shape, which formed a series of rapids, pools and
falls for about 2 ½ miles. At low water were three channels connected by
sloughs allowing torrents of water to dash from one to the other and
exposed the rocks. Thus, a canal had to be built around all the
obstructions at Falls City. It was in 1804, twelve years after the
Commonwealth of Kentucky had been added to the United States, that the
Legislature passed an act incorporating a company called the Ohio Canal
Company which was charged with building a canal around the fall on the
Kentucky side of the river. To pay for the canal, tolls were extracted
based on the length of the boat and the cargo it was carrying. However, the
costs soared and Kentucky appeal for national funds and the Kentucky
Legislature increased the capital of the company. It was estimated that the
canal would be completed on January1, 1815. More appeals were made to the
United States but many people had lost interest in the entire project and
subscriptions dropped.

In 1825, the Louisville and Portland Canal Company was chartered by the
Kentucky General Assembly with a larger capital and finally, on December
21, 1829, the first board, the Uncas, passed through the completed canal.
It did not take long before Kentucky goods were on their way to Pittsburg
to New Orleans and the canal was a money maker. Governor Joseph Desha
complained that Kentucky was not receiving the benefit of its revenues and
in 1828stated that the state did not, with her own resources undertake the
construction of the canal at Louisville instead. In 1826 the U S Government
was talked into buying forfeited stock in the canal and its future looked
very bleak. When the canal opened, it was really owned by the US government
instead of Kentucky and thus was under federal control. When opened to
navigation in 1830, the canal was two miles long and 64 feet wide;
contained 3 locks (each 50 feet wide and 200 feet long). This was enlarged
in 1872, after 12 more years from the date of approval.

By 1874, the federal government had invested so much money that it had
total control of the canal thus in 1880, they abolished the tolls.

WHAT ABOUT THE RIVER NAVIGATION ELSEWHERE IN THE STATE?
Kentucky adopted, in 1816, the Virginia law regarding improvement of
streams. Kentucky county courts were authorized to "lay off" navigable
streams into precincts, appointing overseers to superintend any
improvements. The overseers were allotted a sufficient number of male
"hands", i.e., laborers, to remove any obstructions from the waterways.
Their pay? Exemption from working on the roads. In 1818, $40,000 was
allotted for improvements of the Cumberland river below the Fall and of the
Green, Licking, Salt and Kentucky Rivers and their navigable tributaries.
Most of the money was spent for material and then really nothing was
accomplished. The State ended up selling all the spades, crowbars and tools
purchased for this project to save some of its investment.

It wasn't until 1835 with the establishment of the State Board of Internal
Improvement when a general plan was agreed upon. A study had been done of
the Kentucky River in 1828 which covered that part of the river from the
mouth of the river, Boonsboro in central Kentucky - 178 miles. The board
recommended in 1825, a complete system of "slack" water to extend from the
mouth of the main river to Middle Fork and up the Three Forks, involving
three locks and dams and other improvements. The work there began in July
1836; suspended in 1842 because of the lack of State funds.

Frankfort lies 65 miles above the mouth of the Kentucky River and became
the center of a continuous steamboat navigation (except during the high
water seasons). Then a highway bridge and a railroad bridge interfered with
all the boats except keelboats. Then it was discovered that the engineers
had used inferior material when building the dams and locks - when floods
or ice came it caused constant damage and a few of what was recorded as
catastrophes.

Governors James B McCreary and Luke P. Blackburn kept the pressure on the
Legislature to do SOMETHING to improve or revive improvements along the
Kentucky River. This was especially important to the mountain and mining
districts. During some seasons, these areas were almost cut off from the
rest of the state. In January 1880 - the state system of river navigation
was falling apart. Private companies had come and gone. In March of the
same year Kentucky transferred total jurisdiction back to the federal
government which included the locks, dams and the lands adjoining. In
return the federal government had to guarantee that the locks and dams
would be repaired, operated toll free and the slack water extended into the
mountains.

The federal government resumed working and between 1880 and 1885 the
original locks and dams were restored. However, no work had been done on
the Three Forks and the latter was loaded with mill dams, trees, boulders
and shoals. Work was done on the roads and eventually travel was easier in
the upland region. But the road were merely dirt and not the best at that.

Next week, Rivers vs the Roads

© Copyright 5 July 2007, Sandra K. Gorin

SCKY Archives:
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=south-central-kentucky
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