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49-581: The River was modified for transportation around 1745 and further modified over its years of use. Much of the canal system was built by slaves. Freed Blacks of Israel Hill worked as Boatman. The Canal took damage in the Civil War and was used until faster rail transportation was available. The Appomattox River was cleared for bateau by 1745. These boats were the same dimensions as the James River bateau , sixty feet long, six feet wide and two feet deep. It

98-737: A charter for the Petersburg Railroad and it opened in 1833. The railroad was partially sponsored by the Commonwealth of Virginia . Against the wishes of the Railroad's principal owner, Francis E. Rives , the State also sponsored the additional Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad . While the railroads competed, a wheat farmer could get twice the price per bushel for his wheat, by getting to market to meet advertised demands more quickly. Previously, flour had to be moved by bateaux through

147-558: A hundred other laborers. The Petersburg Railroad owned 14 locomotives in 1893. They had two first class passenger cars, two second class passenger cars, and three cars for baggage, express and mail. For freight they had 116 box cars, 77 flat cars for oversized freight such as timber, four stock cars , and seven other freight cars. They had four caboose cars, ten for shoveling gravel, and one other car. They owned another 88 cars for their fast freight line service. The company provided Janney couplers and Westinghouse automatic brakes on

196-557: A large dam that would be difficult to cross. The dam failed and washed away the 1826 navigable aqueduct and the Southside Railroad . In 1872, W.E. Hinton, Jr, as president of the Upper Appomattox Canal Company, asked shareholders to agree to correct mismanagement, since there had not been a shareholder meeting since 1866. This mismanagement included paying out dividends before making repairs to

245-761: A million pounds of manufactured goods, barrel staves , cotton, corn, salt, lime and iron. By 1836, Petersburg was connected to docks at City Point by the City Point Railroad rather than carriage. Petersburg was also connected to the north by rail on the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and the South on the Petersburg Railroad in the 1830s. Epps Falls, at the Eppington Plantation, were deemed dangerous for passing boats by

294-435: A road lay where their mills would be. The mill owner would have had to buy water rights to the water power in a competitive bid, but having built a road where their competition would build mills, they paid a much lower price for the water. Hinton suggested that $ 600 was a reasonable rent to charge the mill owner, because there should have been a competitive bid allowed. Senator Hinton, was elected as an officer in 1872 and got

343-741: A town on the land and farmed, built buildings on the land and operated many of the boats on the Appomattox, transporting goods for a fee. They were still living there as freemen up to the time of the Emancipation Proclamation . In 1829 the Virginia General Assembly hired a public engineer to determine the possibility and cost of connecting the upper Appomattox River to the Roanoke River at the Mouth of

392-489: A warehouse and a dock. Neighboring farmers could ship farm produce from the docks. There were large loading facilities. When coal was first mined at the Clover Hill Pits , in 1837, it was taken by mule, later by rail, to the docks at Epps Falls. A boat that could carry seven tons of coal, made a four-day round trip to Petersburg for two dollars and thirty eight cents. This would soon be replaced by transport on

441-649: Is no longer used, historians and river enthusiasts still keep the memory alive. Replicas of the bateaus have been built around the country and bateau river cruises are available in a number of states. Since 1985, the James River Batteau Festival has promoted a bateau run from Lynch's Landing in Lynchburg to Maiden's Landing in Powhatan, a distance of about 120 river miles (200 km). Seventeen bateaux crews and many canoeists participated in

490-574: The Chesapeake Bay and beyond. One third of Bateau were owned by Free people of color . Bateau owned by White People employed white boatmen as well as freemen and slaves. One fourth of all cargo was transported from Farmville in bateau on the Appomattox River. Slaves on one plantation, including Sam White, inherited land from a repentant southerner, Richard Randolph, in 1810. He had freed them upon his death in 1796. They formed

539-650: The Clover Hill Railroad . Water flowing below the Basin down into the Appomattox powered mills and factories. The mills produced cotton, wool, hemp flax and flour. The flour was exported as far way as Brazil. During the Siege of Petersburg , in the American Civil War , there were not enough soldiers to block Union advancement in all places. The Confederate States Army dammed Rohoic Creek with

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588-784: The Dismal Swamp Canal or through transshipment to carriage taking longer and paying tolls to get from the Roanoke River to Portsmouth and Norfolk . An 1848 map showed stations at Stony Creek , Jarrat's , Hicksford , Pleasant Hill , Garysburg , and Weldon . Competition in the 1850s from north–south rail routes through Lynchburg , to the west, did not cause a decline of revenue. Trade coming from an improved Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System , improved methods of communication such as telegraphy , and population growth of Richmond and Petersburg contributed to growing profits. The company had enough money to replace

637-612: The 2005 festival. The number of bateaux on the river during the festival has increased to 25 in 2009. Petersburg Railroad The Petersburg Railroad ran from Petersburg, Virginia , south to Garysburg, North Carolina , from which it ran to Weldon via trackage rights over the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad (later eliminated with a new alignment). In 1830 the North Carolina General Assembly and Virginia General Assembly ( state legislatures ) granted

686-589: The Canal would have had competition with the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad which competed with the Southside Railroad . The Farmville and Powhatan was connected all the way to Bermuda Hundred on the James River and Chester, Virginia , just north of Petersburg, in 1891. The railroad was narrow gauge but could provide transportation for goods and people over a similar route as the canal in just four hours. The railroads were pricing lower due to competition and made

735-626: The General Assembly gave the company the right to sell bonds to buy company stock back from the state. The General Assembly also let the company have an additional 10 years to buy back the stock. After the Emancipation Proclamation and after the end of Reconstruction Era on April 2, 1877,the Virginia General Assembly approved the Virginia governor providing twenty to twenty five prisoners under convict lease to

784-646: The Staunton from the Appomattox past Farmville by canal or rail. However, that canal connection was never built. The Upper Appomattox Canal, in Petersburg, was rebuilt by John Couty as a lock and dam system with a total of 17 locks and 8 miles. It was still designed for bateau. Tolls were paid by shippers to support the cost of maintaining the locks and dams. In fiscal year, 1831, boatmen shipped around 20,000 barrels of flour and 20,000 barrels of wheat; 5,000 hogsheads of tobacco leaf, and some tobacco stems; half

833-706: The United States sold them the iron to replace the ten miles of track for $ 65,000. The bridge over the Roanoke River was rebuilt by a private company owning the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad , which rented the bridge to the Petersburg Railroad. The train was running by April 11 of 1866 and company began to consolidate and pay debts. There was a small debt to North Carolina and England of $ 12,000 and $ 6,600. The Confederate States of America owed money in Confederate States dollars but that did not help as

882-504: The Upper Appomattox Company in 1795. The state had bought 125 shares by 1801 to support the growth of transportation. In 1807, the company is allowed to sell bonds for one fourth of the expense of building the canal. A 335 foot long dam in the Appomattox diverted water to the canal. The canal was built entirely by enslaved Africans owned by the company. The Appomattox Canal, built in 1816, connected 5.5 miles from

931-478: The Upper Appomattox canal company. Convict Lease was described by the writer Douglas A. Blackmon as "a system in which armies of free men, guilty of no crimes and entitled by law to freedom, were compelled to labor without compensation, were repeatedly bought and sold, and were forced to do the bidding of white masters through ... physical coercion." The Canal was used in part until the 1890s. In 1890,

980-472: The Virginia General Assembly gave the City of Petersburg the right to form a board and take over ownership of the Petersburg Railroad. The Petersburg Charter from the 1830s had only been granted until 1891. Wilmington and Weldon Railroad leased the Petersburg railroad, in 1891, and claimed tax exempt status for both railroads. Due to non-taxable nature of Petersburg Railroad, the State legislature only renewed

1029-479: The Virginia General Assembly. The General Assembly gave Archibald Thweatt, owner of Eppington, compensation from any damages but allowed the Upper Appomattox Canal company to build a dam and locks around the falls in 1819. Archibald Thweatt and his heirs were also given leave to build a grist mill on the dam. In the 1830s Eppington plantation at Epps Falls on the Appomattox River had 100 slaves,

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1078-410: The annual reports as hired bonds. In some cases they paid a dollar or two for medical attention to slaves. In 1857, stations were located at Stony Creek , Jarratt's , Belfield , Hicksborough, Pleasant Hill , Garysburg , and Weldon . The Petersburg Railroad took 3 hours and fifteen minutes to travel between Petersburg and Weldon. The Petersburg Railroad saw much action and destruction during

1127-537: The bateau by heirs of the Ruckers. George Washington also mentioned the bateau in his diary entry, dated April 7, 1791. Unfortunately, none of the original bateaux exist. Some remains were uncovered by construction workers at the site of the James River and Kanawha Canal Basin. The five Rucker brothers were among the tobacco planters in Amherst County, Virginia . Anthony Rucker was a tobacco inspector for

1176-534: The bateau sharply declined after 1840 when the James and Kanawha River Canal reached Lynchburg. The packet boat and rail took over the cargo. The James River bateau was designed for freight and for ease of navigation in the shallow rocky waters of the Upper James. Thomas Jefferson, in 1775, recorded the purchase of a bateau in his account book, stating, " Apr. 29. Rucker's battoe (sic) is 50. f. long. 4.f. wide in

1225-507: The bottom & 6.f. at top. she carries 11. hhds & draws 13½ I. water." Typical bateaus were thought to be about 58 feet (18 m) long, some shorter, some longer. They had no keel to interfere with navigating river rapids and were well adapted to shallow water, having a draft of about 12–18 inches (30–46 centimetres) when loaded. They measured 6–8 feet (1.8–2.4 m) at the beam. The sides varied from 18–24 inches (46–61 centimetres) in height. Very long planks, fastened to ribs, formed

1274-465: The canal. Dividends were paid out ignoring 70 shares of stock, out of roughly 1100, which allowed others to get a higher dividend. Also, one shareholder who tore down canal property tried to sell off the bricks. An unauthorized grist mill was built using the canal water. One officer who let the city of Petersburg take cobbles from canal property to build a road across the canal property to the officers own mill. This made other rentals of water useless, since

1323-712: The connection company. Twenty years later, in 1886, the railroads in the south were changed to standard gauge on one day in May, allowing point-to-point transportation across the entire east coast. In 1878, in Petersburg, the Readjuster Party was gaining control of the Virginia General Assembly led by General (CSA) William Mahone and Parson John E. Massey . The readjusters wanted to protect public schools from cuts due to state debt and promised better representation for workers of all races. These efforts included state ownership of railroads. In this climate, in 1878,

1372-608: The county. The need to transport large hogshead of tobacco to the port at Richmond, Virginia , likely motivated the Rucker brothers to develop the bateau. It was just wide enough to accommodate standard hogsheads (barrels) across the floor. The tobacco hogshead became standardized by the 1760s and measured 48 inches (120 cm) long and 30 inches (76 cm) in diameter at the head. They held about 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of tightly packed tobacco. Larger bateaux could transport 10 or more hogsheads, depending on river conditions. Tobacco

1421-557: The dollars could not buy anything. A few cars rented by the Seaboard and Roanoke were destroyed and the Seaboard had to pay back the value of the cars. These and other debts were consolidated for $ 45,000, which was paid over time. A ferry ran over the Roanoke River until the bridge was rebuilt. Temporary bridges were built over smaller rivers, such as the Meherrin River , with wood from a sawmill that had been moved south to avoid

1470-583: The effort to cut supply lines to Petersburg for the Siege of Petersburg .The rails were damaged in the Battle of Globe Tavern , the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road and Second Battle of Ream's Station . Since the Petersburg Railroad was the road to Weldon, North Carolina the first two are sometimes referred to as the Battles for the Weldon Railroad. The Petersburg Railroad Company resumed operations of

1519-709: The head of the falls at the Fall Line on the Appomattox River to the Turning basin in Petersburg, Virginia . Built for $ 60,000, the canal was big enough to carry the bateau, six feet wide and three feet deep. With another $ 10,000 it could carry all river traffic. Slaves enhanced the Appomattox River from Farmville over 100 miles to Petersburg with numerous wing dams to keep the flow high. The river also had four stone staircase locks . Four watermills along

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1568-426: The latter part of the American Civil War . During the Civil War, the Petersburg Railroad carried food and equipment to General (CSA) Robert E. Lee 's Army of Northern Virginia The Petersburg Railroad carried supplies south and sometimes carried U.S. prisoners of war. The railroad requisitioned supplies from Tredegar Iron Works during the war. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant severed these rails as part of

1617-547: The lease for two years from 1891 to 1893. William T. Walters of Baltimore, Maryland formed a holding company, in 1889, later called the Atlantic Coast Line of five consecutive railroads starting with the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and connecting all the way to Charleston, South Carolina . The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad bought the Petersburg Railroad in 1893. In March 1898, the Petersburg Railroad

1666-660: The plurals bateaux, batoes, and batteaux. Bateau is the French word for boat . In the colonial days, bateaux were used extensively in rivers throughout the eastern part of the United States , but the coverage of this article is confined to those that plied the James River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Anthony and Benjamin Rucker were the original inventors and constructors of the James River bateau in 1775. It

1715-552: The railroad after the War in 1866. Ten miles of track and bridges needed to be rebuilt because of damage from the War. The company needed $ 65,000 for the rails and that much also for the bridges. The railroad company had no funds and could not get a loan. Bonds sold to Northern cities raised only a few thousand dollars. The Adams Express Company and Southern Express Company was willing to give them an advance of $ 70,000 for an exclusive freight contract for four years. The Federal government of

1764-492: The rails on an ongoing basis without taking on debt. In 1855–60, the chief products to ship were cotton , grain , tobacco and flour . Cars were built with heart pine , ash , white oak , poplar , black walnut , and even mahogany . The cars were painted red, white and French Zinc. Iron was finished with Japan Black . Sperm oil from sperm whales was used as a lubricant for the machinery. The Petersburg Railroad hired enslaved Africans from plantation owners, listed in

1813-595: The right to sell bonds. In 1876, Bonds are given to Hinton as $ 4000 salary; sold to Captain N. M. Osborne and Major John Robinson of Baltimore and given to the State of Virginia, the Bank of Petersburg, and private banker N.M. Osborne and E.S. Stith as collateral. The money from the bonds, was used to rebuild the Navigable Aqueduct on Old Town Creek, now called Rohoic Creek, and rebuild a lock keeper's home, buildings, several locks and dams for mills. The next year

1862-461: The river had locks in their dams . Two of these watermills had stone locks. The Canal around the falls had a navigable aqueduct made with Stone Arches and stone culverts to take boats over the Rohoic Creek confluence on the way to the canal basin . A short distance from the Basin, connected a by carriage route, were deep water ports that allowed for transport of to goods to and from

1911-400: The sides and bottom. The nose cones were built and attached separately to facilitate maintenance since the ends of the bateau received abuse from the river rocks. The bateau had no rudder and was guided by long sweeps that engaged notches formed in the tip of the nose cones. The cargo versions had no seats. Passenger versions had a canopy and some had oar locks. Even though the working bateau

1960-571: The transporting of goods through cities. During Reconstruction, southern railroads had distant owners who wanted good to pass efficiently through cities. Union stations were created to connect rail lines. In 1866, The Virginia General Assembly allowed the City of Petersburg to open books on the Petersburg Connection Company that connected by rail, the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad to the Petersburg Railroad (to Weldon) and to let these two railroad companies also own parts of

2009-512: The trip in hours rather than days. The wing dams can still be seen in some places. The first few miles of the canal from the abutment dam, a contour canal , can be walked in Appomattox River Park in Petersburg. Remains of the navigable aqueduct and other stone work remain on the Appomattox River & Heritage Trail in Petersburg, Virginia. The straight part of the canal to the turning basin follows Upper Appomattox Street and

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2058-432: The war. The Petersburg Railroad hired general officers and their clerks; station agents and other station men; enginemen, firemen , conductors and other trainmen to operate the trains; machinists, carpenters and other shopmen to repair the trains; section foremen, switchmen , flagmen , watchmen and other trackmen to run the tracks; telegraph operators and telegraph dispatchers to send and receive telegraphs ; and over

2107-529: The war. The bridges would be rebuilt permanently with heartwood . Stations had been burned and warehouses were being used instead. Stations would be rebuilt with minimal expenditures. Cotton purchased by the railroad and had not been destroyed could be sold to pay much of the debt. Before the war, railroads had been built by cities to bring trade into cities. Railroads did not connect through cities. Passengers had to port luggage and stay over night, spending money in cities. Cities could get financially involved in

2156-406: Was a boat essentially different from any before that time used on the rivers of Virginia. The Ruckers' design was successfully patented many years after its development. The earliest known reference to the bateau comes from Thomas Jefferson 's account book, dated April 19, 1775. Jefferson had been present at the first launching, and forty-six years later he was witness to the successful patenting of

2205-448: Was a shallow draft river craft used during the period from 1775 to 1840 to transport tobacco and other cargo on the James River and its tributaries in the Commonwealth of Virginia . It was flat bottomed and pointed at both ends. The length of the bateau varied greatly, 58 feet (18 m) being a common length. The bateau was propelled by bateaumen pushing with long sturdy poles. Alternate spellings of bateau include batteau, batoe, and

2254-469: Was a very profitable crop, and because of cheap slave labor vast amounts were produced by planters along the James River basin. The bateau became such a useful craft that it was also used for other cargo as well as passenger transportation. During the period of 1820 to 1840, at least 500 bateaux and 1,500 bateaumen operated on the James River between Lynchburg, Virginia and Richmond. Boatmen were nearly all Slave and Free African Americans . The use of

2303-463: Was also designed to carry the largest load through the smallest parts of the river system. Unlike the James River bateau, the Appomattox trips went up and down river so they were not designed to be sold as lumber at the end of the voyage. The Virginia General Assembly passed laws to protect navigation on the James River and Appomattox. By statute, a dam could not be built unless it had locks for boat passage. The Virginia General Assembly incorporated

2352-492: Was merged into the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad , which was renamed to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad of Virginia . In 1900, all five railroads were merged to form the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad from Richmond all the way to Augusta, Georgia . This track is still used today by Amtrak and CSX . While slaves and hired workers were used before the civil war, paid employees were hired after

2401-572: Was part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad for many years. The location of the turning basin is at Dunlop Street, High Street, South Street and Commerce. The water used to flow down Canal street back to the Appomattox River. Eppington is still in Chesterfield and is open to the public a few days a year. Israel Hill has a historical marker in Farmville, Virginia . James River bateau The James River bateau

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