ABOUT RIVERBOAT
BUILDING IN
PITTSBURGH, PA

pg 116
(Cont. from Page 115)

1877.-S. Woodyard, Black Hills, Big Horn, Coal Bluff No. 2, Decker, Bros., Elk Horn, E. S. McLain, Emma, F. S. T., Francis Murphy, Gen Custer, G. W. K., Bay ley, George A, Laskell, Hercules, Hiclus, Hawkeye, H, B. Leonard, Hattie Howland, Iron Clad, Ida, Iron Duke, Ironton, J. Bell, J. F. Hague, John Porterr James Laughlin, James Nixon, James W. Gould, J. R. Laskell, Jack Gumbert, Kate Hooper, Keystone, Katie Stockdale, Leonie, Little Charlie, Liberty, Lillie, Mamie McCIoskcy, McKelvy, Oakland, Orient, Occident, Onward, Pike, Robert Cook, Rose Bud, Rover, Smoky City, Sidney Dillon, T. C, Collina, Tillman, Viola, W. C. Geoffrey.

1878.-Alice, Annie Roberts, Alert, Albie, Alice Bell, Blanch, Boaz Bellaire, Buckeye State, Bessemer, Carrier. Clinton, Dick Fulton, Drake, Dacotah Belle, Emma Cooper, Eclipse, E. I. Billings, F. G. Batchelor, Germania, George Matherson, Gen. S. Terry, Gen, G. D. H. Rucher, Green No. 1, Geneva. Gen. Chas. H. Tompkins, Geo. H. Crawford, H. M. Graham, John P Thorn, Joe, J. B. M. Keklor, J. S. Neel, John P. Thorn, Josie Harry, Joe Seay No. 2, J. B. O'Brien, Jos. B. Scully, Katie Williams, La Belle, Lucy, Maud Wjllmot, Mary Morgan, Martin Speed, Montana, Nellie Brown, Norma, Frank B. Nimick, Pittsburgh, Pearl, Ruby, S. Thorn, Soho, Vigilant, W. Quickham, Wharton McKnight.

1879.- Dacotah, Harry Brown, James Lee, John E. Tygert, Mary C. Campbell, Plow Boy, Wyoming.

1880.- Alarm. Chas. Jutte, Dean Adams, Dove, Eagle, Exquisite, Florida, H. T. Dexter, Harry Earle, G. W. Bunton, Iron Age, Ida Lee, James H. Rees, J. MaC. Creighton, John S. Hopkins, John C. Fisher, James O'Connor, Little Bill, Little Fred, Pacific, Stella, Scotia, Short Cut, Tenafly, W. T. Wheless, W. Jones, W. Kraft.

1881.-Billy Ezel, Comet. Delta, Electa, Excel, Iron Duke, Iron Cliff, Jim Brown, John Gilbert, John Dippel, John Moon, John Lomas, James Caldwell, Keystone, Little Dick, Little Fred, Lud. Keefer, Mark Winnett, M.G. Krox, Mike Dougherty, Maggie, R. B. Kendall, Rescue, Sam Brown, S. L. Wood, Tide, Wasp, W. W. O'Neil.

1882 -Boaz, Charlie Clarke, Cora, Chattahootchie, Dan'1 Kane, J. M. PowcIl, James G. Blaine, John K. Davison, Kate Adams, Lulu Wood, Lizzie Timmonds, Percy Kelsey, Raymond Horner, W. Stone, Will S. Hays.

1883.-Alabama, Clifton, Chicasaw, Eugene, Frank Gilmore, Frank Stain, Fred Wilson, Gondola, Gayooe, Joe Peters, Little Ike, Monteray, Minnie Fay, R, A. Speer, Robert Jenkins, Phoenix.

1884.-Creighton, Ed. Roberts, Geo. F. Danna, Hattie Brown, Ida Stockdale, Pittsburgh, Orion, Slack Water, Two Brothers, Venice, W. D. Bishop.

1885.-Adam Jacobs, Geo. Kaplan, Josie W., Jim Wood, John Moren, Laura, May, Mary Disston, T. P. Leathers, Vanguard, Venus, Voyager.

1886.-Beaver, City of Chartiers, George R. Ford, Hudson, H. B. Sinclair, Nellie Hudson.

1887.-Butterore, Eugene, Geo. Wood, Ralph.

1888.-Elizabeth, Harmony.

117

Pittsburgh seems to be one of those locations predestined, if the expression may be allowed, for a ship-building centre. All the varieties of timber necessary is at her doors. The enterprise and skill of man has assembled all other materials for the complete construction of any vessel, from an armoured war-ship to a burden barge. Under the use of iron and steel, which has so largely obtained in shipbuilding in the past two decades, Pittsburgh has shown her ability. In the past ten years many steel boats have been constructed at Pittsburgh for foreign countries, and the industry bids fair to increase. As naturally as Pittsburgh became an iron centre because of her iron and fuel, so did it become a boat and shipbuilding point because of the materials there and the navigation. The skill of man is wonderful, and the forces of Nature are all powerful, so when at any given point the forces of Nature and the skill of man combine great results are a consequence. Pittsburgh in a result of natural advantages and accumulated skill.

While the advent of the railroads increased the iron and steel developments at Pittsburgh, it to some extent diminished the building of steamboats. The skill and natural advantages are as great as ever. In the future developments that must be of the water highways of the country, the natural and skilled advantages of Pittsburgh will reassert their force and make her a great steamboat and ship construction point, not only of wood, but largely of iron and steel. Iron boats Pittsburgh has been building since 1839.

The first boat built of iron that navigated the western waters was the "Valley Forge," built in 1839, by Wm. C. Robinson, Benjamin Minis and Reuben Miller, Jr., then proprietors of the Washington Iron Works, now carried on under the style of Robinson, Rea Manufacturing Co,

The hull of the "Valley Forge" measured on deck 180 feet. The breadth of beam was 29 feet, and depth of hold 5-1/2 feet. Across her deck and guards, at their widest point, the breadth was 49-1/2 feet. The frame of the boat was of angle iron, the bottom and deck beams T iron, and the outside one-fourth of an inch Juniata boilerplate. The boiler or first deck was all plate iron. The floor and hull plates were of plain smooth surface, the sheets being closely jointed at the butts. The sides were clinker lap. The keel, which was five-eighths of an inch iron, was laid in the summer of 1838, and the vessel was launched in the summer of 1839, and left the same fall on her first trip to New Orleans. There was one iron bulk bead the entire length, divided into eight water tight sections. Her tonnage was about four hundred tons, and her cost $60,000. She ran from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, St. Louis and Nashville, and ascended the Cumberland river as high as "Rome," Georgia. She continued to run until 1845, although once sunk by running upon a, snag, but was raised and repaired. In the spring of 1845, being unable to compete with boats built under improved plans with greater carrying capacity, she was dismantled, and the hull was cut apart and sold to iron manufacturers, and made into various descriptions of merchant iron. The last trip of the "Valley Forge" was in July, 1845, from Pittsburgh to McKeesport, with a large picnic party.

(Cont. on pg. 118)

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