Song by Dillon Bustin - Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I believe that it's "beech oar", as in an oar built of wood from a beech tree.

However, it seems that "Sing Out" thought it was "beach oar" (see below)


From Vol. 41 No.3 SingOut! (Nov/Dec/96/Jan97) "Indiana writer, musician, and dance caller Dillon Bustin (now based in Massachusetts) combined a song fragment he heard from a year-round fisherman on the White River with background found in travel logs and novels of the keelboat era and his own melody to make this song. Shawneetown, in Southern Illinois, was the first Anglo settlement on the Ohio River and, before 1830 was a major trade center for settlers and Indians. Nearby salt mines provided the town's major commodity. Music Editor Grey Larsen recorded "Shawneetown" with Malcolm Dalglish on The First of Autumn (June Appal #026; 306 Madison St. Whitesburg KY 41858). He tells us that keelboats were the most efficient commercial boats in those days, but had to be pulled upriver against the current on the return trip- grueling work for the strong, often rowdy crew. Floating downriver, a long oar (the beach oar) was used to guide the craft as well as to maneuver it off mudslicks and snags."