SOME NOTES ON THE MEN OF THE INLAND RIVERS
1963; American studies; Volume: 4; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2153-6856
Autores Tópico(s)American Environmental and Regional History
ResumoThe remarks which follow are based on material contained in a collection of tape recordings of the recollections of inland rivermen which is now deposited in the Division of Inland Rivers of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio. The subjects of the interviews were men whose work associated them with the last days of steam packetboatsandtowsonthe Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Occupations varied widely among the seventy men interviewed by the present writer. They included deckhands, lograftsmen, captains, pilots, civil engineers, mates, roustabouts, steam engineers, cooks, commercial fishermen, musicians and others . The form which the interviews took was a simple one: the men were asked to establish their occupations and backgrounds, and were then encouraged to dwell at length on the phases of river activity which most interested them. As a result, although the tapes are often discursive, they contain a large quantity of information and also reflect individually the attitude toward the river of each of the speakers. Generalizing from some of the recorded experiences, one can say that the old rivermen constituted a rather special society. Many of the survivors of the age of steam are the sons, grandsons and even great grandsons of rivermen. Their competitive instinct, though strong, was modified by an intricate network of blood relationship and acquaintance that crossed whole generations in time and spread out over the midcontinentwith its three great rivers . If there was a tradition for a tough, cash on the barrelhead kind of business, there was an equally strong willingness to trust a man in a transaction. The value of a man's word was high, and deals were made with handshakes that involved the change in ownership of valuable packetboats . A captain could take possession of a boat by verbal agreement and pay it off with the profits from the next summer's run. He signed no paper that said he had to. This casual method of exchange makes documents relating to boat ownership somewhat untrustworthy. An owner's name on a steamboat list means merely that he was the owner of the vessel on the morning the information was gathered. This willingness to do business on trust, it seems to me, is ancillary to the general attitude of independence of these rivermen. A captain hired his own crew, regardless of the boat owner's desires. After the dams were
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