Riverboats and the early ferry operations
James Piggott,
a late eighteenth century pioneer, settled in Cahokia
and established a ferry operation, providing passage to St. Louis
for travelers on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.
The first ferries crossing from Piggott's complex to St. Louis
were pirogues, small boats similar to canoes, made from hollowed
out logs. Requiring people to paddle or pole them across the river,
the pirogues were slow and could carry only a few people and a
small amount of goods. Large items like horses and barrels were
placed on platforms lashed on top of two pirogues. This form of
transportation served for the twenty years between 1795 and 1815,
at which time John McNight and Thomas Brady, two St. Louis merchants,
purchased part of the Piggott ferry operation.
Between 1815 and 1820 the McNightBrady Ferry used keel boats.
Traveler Edwin Draper described the crossing in 1815:
"The ferry boat on which we crossed was a small keel
boat, without upperdeck or cabin, and was propelled by four oars
by hand. The wagons, then the only means of land travel, were
run by hand on to the boat, across which were placed broad planks
transversely, resting on the gunwales of the boat, while the tongue
of the wagon projected beyond the side of the boat...The horses,
wagon, and, saddle, family, slaves, and dogs were stowed in the
bottom of the boat between the wagons."
In 1820 the McNight-Brady ferries changed boats again, this time
to team-boat ferries that worked using a horse treadmill to turn
one or more paddle wheels. This technological innovation helped
the McNight-Brady Ferry secure more business than the smaller
Cahokia ferry or than John Anthony, who rented out boats to people
wanting to cross the river north of the McNight-Brady operation.
The basis of the ferry operation between St. Louis and Illinois
consisted of supplying St. Louis with agricultural products and
transporting immigrants heading west to the new territory acquired
from Spain in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. St. Louis relied on the
American Bottoms region for most of its foodstuffs and materials.