The Juniata
Photo courtesy of Murphy Library Special
Collections, University of
Wisconsin-LaCrosse
The Steamboat Era
For years before the 1820s farmers and merchants used the Mississippi to
send material down river on flatboats and rafts. Raft pilots built their
vessels from northern lumber. Upon reaching their southern destination
the pilots often dismantled the rafts and sold the lumber, leaving
nothing to waste before returning north by land.
The development of steamboats as reliable transportation made
inexpensive travel upstream possible. River workers could ride
their rafts to New Orleans and board a steamboat for the return
trip. So rather than replacing rafts and flatboats, steamboats
enhanced the usefulness and economy of the older technology. However,
between 1820 and 1860 the number of steamboats increased a hundredfold
and more goods were delivered via steamboats traveling north and
south than were floated downstream on rafts.