Monthly Archives: July 2016
Pirogue
WHEELING WEST VIRGINIA’S FIRST MAJOR INDUSTRY BOAT BUILDING An 1803 Pirogue Lewis and Clarke Corps of Discovery 1803 PIROGUE Model by John Bowman “Pirogue”: defined as a large canoe employing a sail, French, from Spanish piragua, a Caribbean dugout canoe hollowed from logs. Many Pirogues were built in Wheeling in the 1700s and early 1800s. “Meriwether […]
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WHEELING WEST VIRGINIA’S FIRST MAJOR INDUSTRY BOAT BUILDING The Lewis and Clarke Corps of Discovery 1803 KEELBOAT Model by John Bowman “Keelboats”, using sails, oars and pike poles were the only large riverboats that had the means of locomotion that could propel them up-stream against the current. These boats were also referred to as “Kentucky” […]
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WHEELING WEST VIRGINIA’S FIRST MAJOR INDUSTRY BOAT BUILDING A 1770 FLATBOAT Model by John Bowman Boat building was Wheeling’s first major industry and Flatboats would be the mainstay of Wheeling’s boat building well into the 1840s. Flatboats were barges with a cabin or shanty built inside that served as living quarters. They were one-way crafts; […]
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WHEELING WEST VIRGINIA’S FIRST MAJOR INDUSTRY BOAT BUILDING AN 1800 BARGE Model by John Bowman Wheeling’s James Patton and James Palmer boat yards were building barges in the late 1700s. Barges are familiar to us today, as daily we see towboats pushing barges of coal on the Ohio River and the 1700s barges looked much […]
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WHEELING WEST VIRGINIA’S FIRST MAJOR INDUSTRY BOAT BUILDING A 1794 BATEAUX Model by John Bowman “Bateaux” were rowboats propelled by oars, sometimes called skiffs. They were built for speed. They were keel less, smooth, flat-bottomed boats with ends tapering to points. In 1766, at Pittsburgh, Bateaux’ were built for Baynton, Wharton, Morgan & Co. […]