Barge Transportati on

Chapter 12 Barge Transportati on369 Chapter 12: Barge Transportation Before there were locks and dams on the Nation s rivers, the early commercial vessels were designed to travel in shallow waters and had flexible cargo capability to handle passengers, freight, or livestock. Some were equipped with second decks for additional carrying capacity. These boats, called packets, made regular trips between river cities and were a primary mode of transportation in the central United States for the first half of the 1800s. Packets were propelled by steam-driven paddle wheels that permitted shallow-draft navigation on the constantly changing and unpredictable rivers. Early steamboat traffic was most prevalent during the spring, when high water permitted travel along most of the river system. The topography of the valley on the lower Mississippi River, combined with water flows from the Upper Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio Rivers, produced conditions for year-round navigation.

accommodate the side barges, the paddle wheel was moved to the stern of the boat. Eventually, the packet evolved into today’s diesel-powered tow boat with propellers that pushes barges up and down the rivers.243 However, it became evident that improvements to the river system were necessary to allow safe and dependable movements on the river.

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