Riverfrontiers
— Stories of Beaver County & its Rivers —
The great Ohio River - and the Beaver River that flows into it - played important roles in attracting settlers to the Rochester area. Two hundred years ago, the rivers here served as main transportation routes, sources for industrial water power and shipping, and, of course, a food source through fishing.
In those days, the waterways were very useful but also were barriers - without a bridge or a boat, people and towns remained isolated on opposite shores.
Indian tribes and early explorers used
dugout canoes to travel the rivers and cross them; but, to haul many people or heavy goods, larger sturdier boats were needed. In time, vessels such as the
flatboat, the
cotton boat and the
keelboat were built to carry heavier loads and were also specially designed for traveling against the river current. Long poles were used to help these boats move upstream or in shallow areas. A keelboat was used by
Lewis and Clark in 1803 to move upriver during their expedition on the Ohio and Missouri Rivers.
Aaron Burr (Vice President of the U.S. under president Thomas Jefferson) commissioned the building of covered keelboats across the river in Bridgewater around 1805. These boats were to be used in Burr's plan to rouse western states to secede from the U.S. - a plan which failed and caused him to be tried for treason.
By 1807, the
steamboat had been invented. This boat was powered by a steam-heated engine instead of using man-powered paddles or poles. Ideal for hauling heavy cargo and for providing fast, safe passenger travel, the new steamboats were so successful that by 1811, boat building was one of Beaver County's largest industries.
At one time there were numerous boatyards right here at the mouth of the Beaver River. Countless boats were constructed, launched, docked, loaded and unloaded at Rochester, linking it to other towns along the Ohio River.
River Transit TodayToday, the Ohio River is still widely used for shipping - you can still see barges loaded with freight and coal, but many more boats on both the Ohio and the Beaver are used for recreation. Riverboats are a common sight, carrying sight-seeing travelers on short excursions. More common are the hundreds of private leisure and fishing boats. About 6,500 private craft are registered in Beaver County resulting in the many marinas and boat launches along the shores of the local rivers.
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