gates21
Full Member
lets get some conversation going here...I check back everyday hoping something good will pop up
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Hi Les!! Boy, this IS interesting!! Sounds like these flatboats were like miniature barges. It is amazing that the wood lasted that long, without rotting and breaking up. But, someone found a wooden "submarine" from the Civil War that the South had used. I think a movie was made about that...... You mention that the article said they had to get permits and such. all the beuracratic hoops we have to jump thru here in the US as treasure-hunters really burns my chaps! But, i was just reading about what our friends in the UK have to do just to take ownership of a coin that is over 200 years old! And, it does not matter if it is on private land there, either! Those laws still apply to some 'Archaelogolic Act" or something.....miles of paperwork and waiting, etc.....so, i gues we ain't got it so bad when compared to other countries. (I hear Greece is even worse than the UK laws!) Treasure really si where you find it. I remember reading about someone that found an old ORIGINAL copy(I think there were a dozen made back then, not sure exactly) of the US-Constitution in someone's barn back East! Wow, that mustuv been a heart-pounding find, eh? stvn.les said:Hi Randy: I don't have a link at this moment, It was in our local paper which comes out every Monday,,The paper name is ("The Monday Pub")
(Vol)28#37 September 17th-2007, Reppert Publications,Anna,Illinois,62906 Here is part of the article!
Robert Swenson Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University, School of Architecture,Carbondale Ill, is overseeing the removal of the Flatboat,which has been named America,since it was found Close to the Ghost Town America IL. & Olmsted IL,,along the Ohio River
For More than a hundred years Flatboats traveled American Waterways with Passengers & Loads of Goods,Supplies etc,But usually at a Journeys end these vessels were broken up & Sold for the Lumber,none Preserved for future generations to See.
John Schwegman a local resident of Olmsted Contacted Siuc about the Flatboat which was at the time part submerged along the Ohio River just a few miles From where it joined with the Mississippi River.
It took nore than a year to get permits & Property access permissions, When the River Level Dropped,,Mark J. Wagner an archaeologist with Siuc,Center of archaeological investigations Led the Preservation effort along with Robert H. Swenson,,
The Flatboat is the Only known remaining Shoe box Shaped Example Of a Flatboat built in America,Out of a Estimated 100,000 Flatboats that traveled American Waterways, Flatboats were used from around 1780 to the 1900's & were one of the main ways that Pioneers Of America Moved Crops & Other Commodities to Market in the Early 1800's, The Flatboat was about 45 feet long & 12 foot wide,this Flatboat was constructed with Wooden Pegs, rather than nails ,it's Construction didn't match any previous written accounts of Flatboat Construction down through History,So this Find Has Gave a Unique Peak At unknown History. The Pic in our paper Showed a backhoe removing part of the Flatboat.
This is almost word for word out of Our paper Also,
Les