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“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Augusta in Richmond County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)
 

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Navigation Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, May 11, 2017
1. Navigation Marker
Inscription.
During the period of exploration and settlement of the North American continent, the earliest means of transportation were the rivers, and the Savannah River was the major artery of the Southeast.

Most of the river trade was in deerskins and furs, and other products of the forest. Later, as farming became established in the region, agricultural commodities were transported downriver on "Petersburg boats,” narrow flatboats designed to be maneuvered easily through the swift upriver rapids and named for an early north Georgia town now vanished.

As cotton rapidly replaced tobacco as the South's major crop in the nineteenth century, Augusta gained dominance as a regional market center. Loads of cotton from all directions in Georgia and South Carolina were sold and reloaded on rafts or flat-bottomed pole boats for shipment to the coast. William Longstreet, an Augusta inventor, demonstrated the first use of steam power on the river with a craft of his own design in 1808, ushering in the great era of the steamboat.

One veteran boatman remembered the Savannah as a lively highway through dangerous twisting banks with colorful names—Cut Finger Cut, Devil's Elbow, Head of Stingy Venus—a wild jumble conjured up by rivermen with humor and with fear. "It's the prettiest river in the world,”
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he said, "and the meanest to navigate.”
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & CommerceWaterways & Vessels.
 
Location. 33° 28.637′ N, 81° 57.721′ W. Marker is in Augusta, Georgia, in Richmond County. Marker can be reached from 7th Street north of Reynolds Street, on the right when traveling north. Marker is located on the Augusta Riverwalk between 7th St and 6th St. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1 7th Street, Augusta GA 30901, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. The Colonial Church of Augusta (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Five Indian Nations (about 400 feet away); Fort Augusta (about 500 feet away); Railroads (about 500 feet away); Washington's Southern Tour (about 500 feet away); The Levee (about 500 feet away); U.S. Marshal Robert Forsyth (about 600 feet away); William Bartram Trail (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Augusta.
 
Also see . . .  First US Steamboat Patent Issued By Georgia To William Longstreet. On February 1, 1788, the Georgia legislature awarded the only patent it ever issued to William Longstreet and Isaac Briggs. The patent was to build a steamboat and run it on the Savannah River. The
Marker detail: Steamboat loaded with bales of cotton at the Fifth Street Dock, c1860 image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, May 11, 2017
2. Marker detail: Steamboat loaded with bales of cotton at the Fifth Street Dock, c1860
patent was for a term of fourteen years and gave the two the exclusive right to operate a steamboat. (Submitted on February 22, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.) 
 
Navigation Marker (<i>wide view; Savannah River in background</i>) image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, May 11, 2017
3. Navigation Marker (wide view; Savannah River in background)
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on March 10, 2019. It was originally submitted on February 22, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 500 times since then and 9 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3. submitted on February 22, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 19, 2024