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The Illinois side of the River
During the first twenty years of the nineteenth century there
were few people living along the Illinois side of the Mississippi
River in the American Bottom. However, across the river, St. Louis
was growing into a large town and travelers coming from the east
needed passage to it. Some of the people who did live on the Illinois
side of the river made their living operating ferry services for
the growing number of people heading west. Eventually the ferry
businesses helped establish more people on the Illinois side.
The first ferry operation belonged to an early pioneer and settler
named James Piggott.
Piggott started his operation in the 1790s
and his family continued it for some time after his death in 1799.
However, other people interested in the growing need for ferry
service invested in the Piggott ferry. Before too long new ferry
businesses began.