Tobacco Hauling
The five Rucker brothers were among the tobacco planters in Amherst County, Virginia. Anthony Rucker was a tobacco inspector for the county. The need to transport large hogshead of tobacco to the port at Richmond, Virginia, likely motivated the Rucker brothers to develop the bateau. It was just wide enough to accommodate standard hogsheads (barrels) across the floor. The tobacco hogshead became standardized by the 1760s and measured 48 inches (120 cm) long and 30 inches (76 cm) in diameter at the head. They held about 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of tightly packed tobacco. Larger bateaus could transport 10 or more hogsheads, depending on river conditions. Tobacco was a very profitable crop, and because of cheap slave labor vast amounts were produced by planters along the James River basin.
Read more about this topic: James River Bateau
Famous quotes containing the word tobacco:
“My excuse for not lecturing against the use of tobacco is, that I never chewed it; that is a penalty which reformed tobacco-chewers have to pay; though there are things enough I have chewed which I could lecture against.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)