Adventure on the River — 1902
February 20, 2000

George Taylor and Alfred Border could have been excused if they glanced anxiously at their watches. They were waiting for the interurban trolley in Bascom on October 6, 1902.

George had his dog, "Bum", in tow.

The pair, in their early twenties, were embarking on an adventure. At 9 a.m., they were leaving for Loudonville and wouldn't see home until they had traveled over 200 miles by boat on three rivers to Pomeroy on the Ohio.

At Loudenville, George and Alfred rented space in a workshop and bought lumber. Four days later, they'd built a riverworthy 15 ft. boat with decks fore and aft.

At night Goerge and Alfred made a bed of their workbench. On October 8, they attended Loudenville's street fair, an event, they noted regretfully, "characterised by the absence of all games of chance."

The next day, George did a little hunting, gathered some chestnuts in the woods and watched a balloon ascension. At 11 p.m. that night, George and Alfred were hungrily waiting for a pot of beans to cook.

In the morning of October 13, they launched their boat in the Mohican River.

In short order, they got hung up on a riffle ( a small rapid), ran into a tree that had fallen across the river, and got tangled in a wire fence protruding into the river.

They pushed, sawed and cut their way free of all three obstacles. It was worth it for the scenery.

According to their journal, "The country is very hilly. Some hills rise from the water's edge to a height of 300 ft. or more and with almost perpendicular sides with rocks jutting out from the bottom to the top. Most of the hills have cedar trees on them. One place we saw pine trees."

Late each day, the explorers came ashore to camp for the night. That's when Bum, an accomplished hunting dog, swung into action.

"Bum rides on the after deck and on the whole learns his lessons very readily. When we approach the bank he makes ready to jump ashore. When we landed at the scene of our first encampment (he) was soon barking at the root of a large sycamore tree."

Alfred grabbed his rifle and bagged dinner - a nice rabbit.

The rivermen lived off the land. With Bum's help, they enjoyed a varied diet of squirrel, rabbit, duck, hen, pheasant and quail. They brought along a box of potatoes and foraged for nuts.

Above Brinkhaven, they made camp at the end of the day's rowing on October 15. Before dinner a large owl hooted at them. After dinner, a smaller owl took up the serenade.

Thereafter, each campsite had a name. Owl Camp for that night. Camp Duck for the spot they shot their first waterfowl. Camp Muddy for the muddy stream nearby.

One day they spotted a farmer in his field. After some conversation, the farmer allowed that his missus might be willing to part with a loaf of her bread. She was. For 6 cents.

On October 20, George and Alfred ran into a "very rapid and deep riffle."

Water swept across the rear deck. Gone were the potatoes, their cookstove, and George's spare overalls.

The doomed cookstove sank to the river bottom, but the potatoes and britches washed up on shore, safe but soggy. By this time, they were on the Walhonding River headed east near Warsaw.

By October 22, weary of rowing, George and Alfred rigged a "spit," a sail.

They pronounced it "satisfactory as far as it went, but we think we could use a larger one."

That day they camped near Conesville, south of Coshocton,, on the Muskingum. They met a man who survived an accident that broke his back.

He harnessed his 60 pound bird dog to pull him in his wheelchair. Man and chair together weighed 230 pounds. Sturdy pooch.

On October 24-25, they encountered the steamboat Valley Gem ("we went up and down on the swells caused by the steamboat") as well as many houseboats.

George and Alfred were headed south toward the Ohio River. They passed through nine locks before reaching the great river.

If they put ashore near a town, they bought provisions. Sugar was 5 cents a pound and lard anywhere between 12 and 18 cents.

But butter was "not to be had at any price. Ask a storekeeper for butter and he looks at you as if he thought you were crazy."

On November 1, George and Alfred negotiated the final lock on the Muskingum and pulled out into the broad Ohio.

The next day, Alfred decided three weeks on the boat was long enough and made plans to catch a train out of Parkersburg, W.Va. George and Alfred heard a man on Blennerhassett Island was looking to buy a boat.

When they looked the man up, he said he didn't know he wanted to buy a boat and now that they asked he was certain he didn't.

November 4 found the pair near Belpre, still near Parkerburg. They stayed at Camp Debate until they decided what to do.

Alfred packed and headed for the train depot. George went back to Camp Debate, rowed five miles and put in a Camp Lonesome.

He kept a leisurely pace. He stopped and hunted from time to time. He passed two scows with drilling machines drilling stone in the river bottom.

On November 5, he "saw corn today as green as in July."

On November 7, he met a couple who invited him to dinner.

"After supper I spent an hour very pleasantly there; (there) was an old fashioned fireplace in the house, the night being frosty. Bum lay down before the fire and seemed very well contented."

George reached Pomeroy on November 10, five weeks after leaving Bascom. He left his boat with a local man who promised to sell it and send him the money.

George and Bum boarded a passenger train. By the next day, he was in Columbus and at 9 p.m. the next evening he was home.

The journal of their trip is called "A Wild Goose Chase."

At the conclusion, they write, "It will be noted by this account, that though it is called A Wild Goose Chase, not one wild goose was killed."

No, George, Alfred and Bum sure had a merry adventure chasing them.

(Thanks to Wade Border for sharing his father's journal with us.)