Before the Steamboat . . .
"In the 18th century, transportation was primitive by today's standards. The majority of the time if you wanted to go anywhere you either walked or rode a horse on trails or rough roads. Most folks could not afford carriages or wagons. People traveled from one country to the next by small wooden ships or stagecoach services. People and goods got around on land by horse drawn wagons, coaches, and carriages. For personal transportation, people used the horse. Oxen and mules pulled wagons and carts, loaded with goods and personal property from one destination to the other" (Brainard). Water transportation via boats, such as the flatboat and the keelboat, was powered by oars or sail. Traveling was thus considerably tedious and time-consuming.
"The flat boat was an unwieldly box, and was broken up, for the lumber it contained, on its arrival at the place of destination...The only claim of the flat boat, or 'broad horn,' to rank as a vessel was due to the fact that it floated upon water and was used as a vehicle for transportation."
- J. H. B. Latrobe, detailing his 1811-1812 voyage in The First Steamboat Voyage on the Western Waters (1871)
Flatboats
“The first flatboat was built in by Jacob Yoder at what is today Brownsville, Pa. for use along the Monongahela River . . . in May 1782” (Sample). Flatboats were rectangular, flat-bottomed boats without keels. “Flatboats . . . were of different varieties . . . being named ark, barge, broadhorn, Kentucky boat, and New Orleans boat” (Bogan). These boats failed at upstream navigation, a key component and advantage of the steamboat.
 (Source: "Broadhorn or Kentucky Boat on Ohio"; Steamboat Times) Broadhorn or Kentucky Boat on Ohio - circa 1788
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 (Source: Webb; 200th Anniversary of Bethel Church, Jackson, Missouri & Flatboat "Journey of Remembrance") The Journey of Remembrance
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"Keel boats, barges, and flat boats had prodigious steering oars; and oars of the same dimensions were hung on fixed pivots on the sides of the last named, by which the shapeless and cumbrous contrivance was, in some sort, managed."
- J.H.B. Latrobe, detailing his 1811-1812 voyage in The First Steamboat Voyage on the Western Waters (1871)
Keelboats
The keelboat was a slight improvement over the flatboat. The keelboat was a versatile vessel that "could carry up to thirty tons of cargo and travel at about five miles an hour" ("Keelboats"). However, traveling upstream was difficult: "Return trips, often from New Orleans to Pittsburgh, could take as long as four months, traveling sometimes at apace of less than one mile per hour" ("Keelboats").
(Source: "Keelboat"; Lewis and Clark Trail)
Replica of Keelboat used in Lewis and Clark Expedition
