Ill-Fated Frontier

Peril and Possibilities in the Early American West

Commissioned the building of a small flatboat 

Flatboat
Flatboats were the most common form of transportation on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers prior to the advent of steamboats during the early decades of the 19th century

An active boat-building industry, sprung up around Pittsburgh and points down-river, provided a principle means of transportation for riverine settlers and traders. Others included keelboats, capable of being poled on return trips up-river, and adaptations of Indians’ canoes. The Forman pioneer party included a 70 feet long flatboat and a keel boat. See end note for the book’s end note for the book’s Introduction, page xix, par. 3, line 1.