Okay, Phil, I have taken your good advice and bushwhacked my way back upstream in this thread and re-read all of your notes and the rest of the thread as well. I think the cursed fog may be lifting., with a sip of whiskey from the jug (I like Elijah Craig) and maybe just a pinch of that good flaky salt (I am partial to Malden Salt and use it all of the time).   I appreciate the work that you and Lighter did to make these sources available. I have seen some of thisi material before but I never quite got it into focus and I was missing some of the important historical context, especially as regards “Mike Fink”. I must have been about 12 when Davy Crockett floated down the Ohio with him and that all very much still affects my own imagination. I can see now how Bustin appropriated the two early verses for the beginning of his song. And while I don’t know what he was imagining, surely he also knew abou the Mike Fink connection. And that would strongly suggest that he had Keelboats in mind. I think it gets confusing trying to deal with two distinct historical time frames, or maybe even three: the early history, the time when Bustin wrote his song, and perhaps the ongoing times of whenever the song continues to be sung (and often modified). It’s all history but some distinctions are helpful. I appreciate the way you do this. So, I will begin to devote more of my attention to keelboating as I continue to think abut this song. I am imagining more regional commerce, on the Ohio and its tributaries, up and down, back and forth, rather than the long-haul trading down to New Orleans. John