Journeying West Before 1840

From John Bradbury, Travels in the Interior of America In the Years 1809, 1810, and 1811


It shall be supposed that the design of the the emigrant is to proceed to the the countries east of the Alleghanies, therefore he ought not to stay more than two or three days in the city, which he can leave when he pleases, as great numbers of waggons start from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, or from Baltimore to Pittsburg or Wheeling, every day. The charge is by the hundred weight, both for passengers and their luggage, and their rate varies from five to seven dollars per hundred; but the men may go cheaper if they chuse to walk over the mountains, which is recommended. The waggoners travel with great economy: many of them carry a small camp-kettle with them to cook their provisions, and some have even a bed in their waggons, in which they sleep at night. A traveller who chooses to adopt a similar mode, may travel very cheap; or, as there are plenty of inns on the roads, he can be accomodated every night with beds, at a very reasonable rate. When the emigrant arrives at Pittsburg or Wheeling, he will find that numbers of Europeans and Americans are arriving there every day, and the same causes that operated against them in the maritime cities, as respects employment, will, in some degree, have an effect here; but as he will have occasion for information, it would be advisable for him to stop a few days to make enquiries. If he find it necessary to descend the Ohio, the best mode of proceeding will be to enquire for one or more families, who have intentions of going to the same neighbourhood as himself, who may join him in the purchase of an ark, one of the kind of vessels in which families descend. These arks are build for sale, for the accomodation of families descending the river, and for the conveyance of produce. The are flatbottomed, and squre at the ends, and are all made of the same dimensions, being fifty feet in length, and fourteen in breadth; which last is limited, because it often happens that they must pass over the falls at Louisville, when the river is at a low state, at which time they pass betwixt two rocks in the Indian schute, only fifteen feet asunder [There are regular pilots resident at Louisville, who conduct the boats over the falls, and deliver them safe at Shipping Port: - they charge two dollars for pilotage. -Bradbury] . These arks are covered, and are managed by a steering oar, which can be lifted out of the water. The usual price is seventy-five dollars for each, which will accomodate three or four families, ans they carry from twhenty-five to thirty tons: and it frequently happens that the ark can be sold for nearly what it cost, six or eight hundred miles lower down the river.

pgs. 300-301