CORDELLING.
The "Nancy" and "Ohio Packet," were keelboats or
barges, propelled by hand, for it is well known that there were no
steamboats at that time. These were drawn up stream by ropes in the hands
of men trudging on shore by the water's edge. The immensity of this
undertaking can hardly be realized at this time, for it is something
fearful nowadays to move an empty barge a few hundred yards upstream, but
in early days, before the introduction of steam, men cordelled heavily
ladened[sic] barges, unconscious of the enormity of the undertaking, and
plodded along in quite as good humor, as will usually be found displayed
by the crew of one of the largest and finest Ohio River steamers.
History of Henderson County, Kentucky
by Edmund L. Starling
p. 127
published in 1887
public domain material
