Voyage Of The Alligatorthe Story Of An Ocklawaha Steamboat Andrnsome Of The History Of The Lucas Line

摘要

In the years after the Civil War a small class of steamboats worked on the Ocklawaha River of Florida. The major tributary of the St. Johns River joins die larger river a few miles south of Palatka. In diose years the St. Johns port city of Paladca was the hub of operations for vessels which carried passengers and freight into and out of die hinterland of nordi-central Florida. Until improved roads were built and the railroad arrived, the Ocklawaha was a primary avenue for moving people, produce and other freight southward (upriver) about 150 miles to the developing settlements in the area of headwater lakes. Said to have "more bends than miles," the narrow, winding Ocklawaha itself determined the size, shape, and even the motive power of those nearly unique steamboats.