Flatboat

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A Flatboat is a rectangular boat with a big bottom and square ends used to transport freight on inland waterways. Essentially a large, sturdy raft, a flatboat also had a raised edge. A flatboat was almost always a one-way vessel, and was usually dismantled for lumber when it reached its downstream destination. Varieties of flatboat in the early 19th century included the mid-range broadhorn and Kentucky boat, and the longer-range New Orleans boat, which was fully covered.

Depiction, smaller flatboat.

An average of 3,000 flatboats descended the Ohio River each year between 1810 and 1820. Abraham Lincoln twice piloted a flatboat carrying produce from Illinois to New Orleans (1828, 1831).

The flatboat gradually became obsolete with as the steamboat and other faster vessels, which could also transport goods upstream at a profit, became popular.