Map of the Cumberland River from the Falls of Nashville

This map, drawn by Randolph Coyle, was made to accompany a report on the improvement of the Cumberland River for the navigation of it by steamboats in obedience to a resolution of Congress date April 26, 1834. Before the development of steamboats, flatboats were used to bring goods from Nashville to New Orleans via the Cumberland River. By 1819, the General Jackson steamboat had sailed the Cumberland River to Nashville. During the "Steamboat Age" (1811-1830) steamboats were relied on to transport pork, tobacco, whiskey, cotton and passengers downriver. Railroads would replace steamer commerce in the 1860s as the dominant mode of transportation.