Look Back: Tales of the Ohio River
Trending
Boating on the Ohio River More Than Century Ago
Described By Cordelia Moellendick and published in The Parkersburg News, Jan. 17, 1937
Some weeks ago I wrote an article concerning boat travel on the Ohio but in gathering material I missed the following bit of history recorded right here in our own city of a voyage from Marietta to New Orleans by schooner which was built in Marietta, more than a century ago.
Woods along the Muskingum and Ohio furnished an abundance of oak and pine suitable for naval architecture. As soon as ship building commenced in Marietta in 1780, the farmers thought it would be wise to turn their attention to the raising of hemp in addition to other crops. In a short time enough was raised to furnish cordage to the ships of the west.
Kentucky and the regions of the Monongahela, having been much longer settled, had already began, as early as 1795, to send flour, whiskey, and tobacco to towns on the Mississippi, at that time in possession of the Spaniards.
As this was the natural outlet to the western country through its mighty rivers, it was then thought to be the only way by which they could send their produce to market. No man dreamed then of railroads. They were also shipping iron, so important to all the mechanical arts of civilization from forges on the Junita (sic), without which it has truthfully been said, we would yet be in a savage state.
Numerous Boats Built.
By the year 1805 no less than two ships, seven brigs and three schooners had been built and rigged by citizens of Marietta. Capt. John Devoll ranked among the earliest of the Ohio shipwrights. He was a native of Rhode Island and at Howland's Ferry had wrought at the art of ship and boat building.
He, together with others, was one of an advance party sent on under Gen. Rufus Putnam in the year 1787 who spent the winter at "Simrel's Ferry" and constructed a boat called the "May-flower," from which in April following, they landed at the mouth of the Muskingum and began laying the cornerstone of the great state of Ohio.
After the Indian war he settled on a farm about five miles above Marietta. Here he built a "floating mill" for making flour, [and] in 1801, a ship of 230 tons. In 1804 he built a schooner on his own account and in the spring of 1805, she was loaded for a voyage, aided by his two sons and Richard Greene who was a partner. The sailing vessel was named Nonpariel and sat on the water like a duck in its native element.
Her load was 200 barrels of flour, 50 barrels of kiln dried corn, 4,000 pounds of cheese, 6,000 pounds of bacon, 100 sets of rumpuncheon shooks, and a few grindstones.
The flour and meal were from Capt. Devoll's mill and the cheese was made in Belpre, then one of the most flourishing agricultural districts in Ohio.
Passengers on the boat were Mr. Mansfield, United States surveyor general, and his family.
Trip of Nonpariel.
The Nonpariel left Marietta (then a port of clearance) April 21 [1805] and pushed out on the beautiful "belle riviere." They passed without landing the little town of Newport, twelve miles down the river at the junction of the Little Kanawha. This little village is now our fair city of Parkersburg. It was then the seat of justice in Wood County but nothing more than a village.
Across the river was Belpre, a settlement of New England farmers. As the Nonpariel glided along Backus island, now Blennerhassett, whose original owner was Col. P. Devoll of Virginia, they passed the site of Farmer Castle, a strong stockaded garrison, where the first settlers of Belpre passed five long weary years in pinching famine and suffering from wasting disease during the Indian war.
The Parkersburg News
Jan. 17, 1937
To be concluded....
***
Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.