In Pittsburgh, Lewis witnesses a vibrant boat-building industry. Just last year, two large ocean-going ships had been built there. To reach deep water, they had to wait until the spring flood of 1803. With historically low water in August 1803, Lewis likely fears he may have to delay the expedition until next year’s high water.
Shipbuilding
By Wikimedia Common user jrtaylor08 who has published it under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shipbuilding_-_Alexandria_-_panoramio.jpg.
Ocean-going Ships
On my journey to Pittsburgh in the month of July 1802, there was a three-mast vessel of two hundred and fifty tons; and a smaller one of ninety, which was on the point of being finished. These ships were to go, in the spring following, to New Orleans, loaded with the produce of the country, after having made a passage of two thousand two hundred miles before they got into the ocean.
[Note:] I have been informed since my return, that this ship, named the Pittsburgh, was arrived at Philadelphia.
—François André Michaux[1]François André Michaux, Travels to the West of the Alleghany Mountains (1805 reprint from London edition), p. 63–4 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. … Continue reading
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Notes
| ↑1 | François André Michaux, Travels to the West of the Alleghany Mountains (1805 reprint from London edition), p. 63–4 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1904), p. 160. |
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