Towboat History
Towboats have been employed moving barges on all the navigable waters of the Western Rivers, and have been an important component of the American transportation system since the 1850s. More mundane sisters to the packets operated carrying passengers and cargo, wherever it could be found. Such non-scheduled steamboats often pushed one or more barges to increase cargo capacity or to decrease draft in periods of low water. Coal was carried in barges alongside packets from the 1840s and later salt, hay, iron ore, and grain were carried. A few boats specialized in pushing huge log rafts downstream to lumber mills. By 1850, a system of moving barges and log rafts lashed alongside and ahead of the towboat was developed which allowed greater control than towing on a hawser. This type of service favored sternwheel propelled boats over sidewheelers and promoted other improvements as well. Towboats became a distinct type by 1860.
Most towboats moved only materials produced ashore. One extractive industry, however, developed along with towboats. Sand and gravel for construction was dredged up from river bottoms, and pumped aboard cargo barges. Simple hydraulic dredging rigs on small barges did the work. Towboats moved the dredge and sand barges around as needed. Later, small towboats were modified by installing sand dredges aboard, and used to dredge and tow the full sand barges to company terminals.
Barges also developed in size, construction, and soon were built in standard sizes. Early barges were of two general types. The more common type was a long narrow scow hull, built of planks and used on one-way trips downriver carrying coal. This type was generally developed from the flatboat, and like it, was broken up and sold for lumber when the cargo was disposed of. The other type of barge was used for voyages both up- and downstream. These vessels, called model barges for their finely modeled ends, were usually greatly enlarged versions of the barges of the 1820s. Barges of all kinds were carrying more than 19 million tons of freight per year by 1889.
Towboats were designed as floating engines to propel barges. Only the barge need be detained while loading or unloading cargo, and not the expensive towboat. Barges towed on a hawser are hard to control in narrow river channels. Barges lashed alongside and ahead of a towboat are easier to control. To ease tying off to a string of barges, nearly all towboats have straight sides and ends with large towing bitts and cavils. On the Lower Mississippi, strings of up to 60 barges were pushed on occasion. Today 15 barges is the more usual number on the upper rivers, because the limited size of river locks requires breaking tows into several pieces. On smaller rivers towboats could only handle one or two barges.
Following the turn of the 20th century, the packet and barge freight system failed to compete with railroads, and lost even the bulk cargoes formerly carried by river. Freight tonnage on the Upper Mississippi fell below 1 million tons per year in 1916 and hovered around 750,000 tons until 1931. A number of factors had led to this decline. Log rafts and raft towboats had disappeared and river cargo service had shifted to short-haul instead of long distance hauling. The First World War made crewmen scarce and helped to make the railroads stronger.
The First World War also caused word to be spread of the need for several forms of river improvement. River navigation hazards needed removal, cargo terminals needed to be built, barge and towboat design needed updating, and cargo shippers needed to be enticed back to shipping by water. In spite of these problems, the heavy transportation needs of wartime could not be met by railroads and river transport took off some of the pressure. In 1917, the United States Shipping Board allocated $3,160,000 to the Emergency Fleet Corporation to build and operate barges and towboats on the Upper Mississippi. Federal control was augmented by the Federal Control Act of 1918. The U.S. Railroad Administration formed the Committee on Inland Waterways to oversee the work. All floating equipment on the Mississippi and Warrior River systems was commandeered and $12 million was appropriated for new construction. Service was provided primarily on the Lower Mississippi.
New floating equipment was designed by prominent naval architects, and built by boat yards known for high-quality work. Modern terminal facilities were constructed to handle bulk and package freight. A special rate system was put into place to reflect the lower cost of river transportation in comparison with railroads. In spite of their innovative approach, the Railroad Administration lost money on river services and in 1920 the Federal Barge Fleet was transferred to the War Department.
The name was changed to the Inland and Coastwise Waterways Service and the experiment continued. The Waterways Service lost less money than the Railroad Administration and in 1924 was modified yet again to allow even more economical operation in a less restrictive environment. The government transferred $5 million worth of floating equipment to provide the capital stock for the new Inland Waterways Corporation. The Corporation continued earlier government operations on the Lower Mississippi and Warrior rivers and sought to demonstrate the feasibility of river transportation to shippers and to open new routes, try new methods, and develop new equipment.
A Minneapolis-St. Paul group formed the Upper Mississippi Barge Line Company in 1927 to seek extension of the Inland Waterways Service to the upper river. A fleet of towboats and barges to be delivered in 1927, was ordered by the Upper Mississippi Barge Line. In 1926, the Inland Waterways Corporation began operations on the upper river when it took over operation of the River Transit Company. The next year it leased the Upper Mississippi Barge Line fleet when it was completed.
New propulsion methods and new engines were introduced on the rivers as they were in other parts of the country. Compression ignition or diesel engines were first used about 1910 for smaller sternwheel towboats, but did not gain ascendancy until the late 1930s, when diesel-powered propeller boats appeared. The introduction of screw propellers to the rivers came late because of their vulnerability to damage and the greater depth of water required for efficient operation. The Federal Barge Lines experiment was successful in restarting the river transportation industry. By 1938, the tonnage of cargoes carried by the Western Rivers, that had totalled only about 750,000 tons in the 1920s, had grown to 2,767,210 tons.
Competition from newer diesel-powered, screw-propelled towboats, with lower crew requirements, made continued operation of steam towboats uneconomical during the late 1940s. Some steam-powered, screw- propeller towboats were built but were either later converted to diesel-power or retired. Sternwheel boats were considered to be more efficient for smaller horsepower engines and shallow water than screw propeller boats, and a few diesel sternwheelers stayed on the rivers after steam sternwheelers disappeared.
Advances in technology have been met by advances in operating methods. Powerful modern towboats push large tows of barges bound for different destinations. Tows are kept underway while various services are performed to make operation as efficient as possible. Fuel, groceries, and other boat stores are carried out to towboats by fast launches. Small "shifting service" towboats meet large tows underway, bringing barges to add to the tow and removing barges bound for separate destinations. The "shifting" service often is performed in conjunction with "fleeting" services. Barges are kept in holding areas, similar to railroad yards or parking lots, called fleets. Another towboat will tow the dropped barges on to their destination. Underway services substantially reduce the costly in-port time of large towboats. Other advances in operating techniques include radio dispatching and communications, computerized records, and "fully integrated tows" of matched barges to reduce water resistance.
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