Big River

Historical Notes


The story of Big River, and of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place, probably sometime in the 1840s. Here are some events of the period.


From around 1800 to 1860 the main transportation link between the midwestern states (or "western states", as they were called then) was the Mississippi River.  Farm products would be floated down the Ohio and Mississippi on rafts, and then the boatmen would walk back on such roads as Natchez Trace.  With the advent of the riverboat, most traffic used these.  It was not practical to carry grain across the Appalachian mountains: a horse or mule would have to eat all the grain it could pull in a wagon just to make it over the mountains!

Around 1860, a rail network was complete in the northeast and midwest.  Although rail transportation cost more per mile than riverboat transporation, the distance to the coast was less, and railroads were more reliable; less subject to weather.  From this time the midwestern states were bound more closely to the northeast than to the south.


Presidents of the United States

Admission of States to the Union


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