Flatboats were generally floated down the river to New Orleans, then broken up and sold for their timber while the crews hiked back upstream or along the Natchez Trace. Keelboats (later) were more valuable and they were hauled back upstream by "bushwhacking" brute labor.

The text in the blue clicky thingy takes you to one that is not exactly the way Caroline and I learned the song. We do sing the first verse as "Some rows up, we floats down." However, we did make one conscious change, used only when singing the song for a bunch of junior-high students. I just couldn't face singing "Hard on the beech (beach?) oar" and listening to the giggles from the kids. We started singing "Haul on the beech oar" instead. Call me chicken, but those kids are hard enough to control as it is!
(To answer your question, Mark, yes, Caroline and I started the Folk-Legacy label, with Lee Haggerty, back in 1961.) I think Legacy must be Dillon's own label, on which he has released a number of cassettes of his original material. He's a brilliant songmaker and an excellent folklorist. He was "state folklorist" of Massachusetts (and every state ought to have one) until they got stingy with the budget up there.

Sandy