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River Navigation
Early nineteenth century travel on the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois
Rivers was fraught with danger. There were rapids, rocks, and
snags throughout the rivers that could easily wreck a boat. Snags
were the most significant threat to travel because they were often
undetectable.
River pilots described three kinds of snags. There were "rafts"
or "wooden islands" composed of an accumulation of logs
and tree debris that became grounded on a sandbar or other outcropping
from the shore. "Planters" were whole trees that had
fallen into the river and become embedded on the bottom, over
time becoming reinforced by the build up of silt. Similar to planters
were "sawyers", groups of trees embedded in the river
bottom at a less than perpendicular angle and subject to the pressure
of the current, appearing and disappearing at intervals mimicking
the motion of a saw at a saw mill. Often groups of planters would
have only a foot or two showing above the water. Contrary to their
flimsy appearance, planters could quickly ground a boat and tear
into its hull. Trees were constantly falling into the rivers as
the banks eroded or during high water, making every river trip
dangerous.