The mystery of the boats

from hmdb.org
You ask me, that's a little boat. But yet, George Rogers Clark left us little clue as to the boats he used to get down the Ohio, other than the fact the guide John Saunders had to talk him out of sinking them when they got to Fort Massac(The image was taken from the Floodwall in Paducah, ky, just up the river.) But that does tell us something besides he wanted to leave no tracks. One of the other themes of the Vincennes expedition was that done on a bare bone budget, with Colonel Clark signing a string of IOU's with full faith and trust of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which he then had to pay back when he became General Clark and Virginia repudiated the notes. So what would be cheap, disposable, and carry a lot of cargo? The only disadvantage is that they are impossible to get upstream, but I imagine that Colonel Clark had planned on crossing the Mississippi and throwing himself on the mercy of the Spanish Governor there. At least that's how I wrote it.

Where is Vincennes?

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So, how did a little town in Southern Indiana become a focal point in the American Revolution?

Water - it was a place where one could ford (wade across)the Wabash. A lot of population patterns then were predicated on rivers, since they were the Interstates of the day. Albany, where I'm at now, is at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. Saint Louis is also situated near a river junction, that of the Mississippi and Missouri. The Indian's 'capital', Kekoinga (now Fort Wayne) is at a portage(Carry your canoe a few miles) between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River via the Wabash. If you know George's story, you know it also involves some more towns. Let's take a look at another: Kaskaskia, Illinois:

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You probably notice several things odd about this map, like how there appears to be no town there, and that the line between Missouri and Illinois doesn't follow the Mississippi river. Well, therein lies the tale. Kaskaskia was another town started by the French at what was then a major junction, the meeting of the Kaskaskia and Mississippi rivers. You've probably noticed the current location is nowhere near the two rivers. That's because it used to be up where the green spot to the north of town is on the map. The Mississippi did run down the state line, and the town was used to shortcut of the Oxbow(big bend) 'Old Man River' made here. In the flood of 1844, the Mississippi changed its course, wiping out the town. The townsfolk relocated to present location until the flood of 1993 turned it into a Ghost town. All's that left of the former capital of Illinois is the Church(with Moi in front):

and the Bell, which Father Gibualt rang in 1778:

There was some reminders of yesterday, when Kaskaskia had a Big Street:

And the final town I'm going to talk about was called Corn Island. It goes by a different name now:

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Louisville was the site of the Falls of the Ohio, a series of Rapids on the Ohio river. Once again, a natural junction and choke point. Colonel Clark built a fort here on an island. Like Kaskakia, the river moved, and now I-64 in downtown Louisville sits on Corn Island.

And the Falls? well, our friends from the Corps of Engineers got busy and built a Lock and dam over the falls to make the transit easier. Hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time. Jana