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One General Harmar, who was the man charged with building the first fort in Cincinnati (then called Losantiville), wrote to his commanding officer in 1790 that the new fort - Fort Washington - would cost Cincinnati citizens "but little." How were they going to build it cheaply? Because "About forty or fifty Kentucky boats have begun and will complete it. Limestone [Maysville] is the grand mart of Kentucky; whenever boats arrive there they are scarcely of any value to the owners; they are frequently set adrift in order to make room for the arrival of others. I have contracted for the above number for the moderate price of from one to two dollars each; thus much for the plank work." (A Kentucky Boat looked like a floating box with a small cabin on part of the deck. They were 40 feet long, more or less, and drew about 3o inches of water. There's a picture of one on the prior page.)
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