McLEAN COUNTY HISTORY & GENEALOGY MUSEUM
By Euleen Rickard
The history of Calhoun and other towns of McLean County have been greatly influenced by the Green River. Through the years its waters have been used for commerce, travel and pleasure.
When the Rhoads brothers, Henry and Solomon, came to the Green River Valley to claim grants of land earned for their Revolutionary War service they found a crossing in the shallow rapids of Green River that the Indians used, called Long Falls. Some historians have written that Green River at a point just above the shallow rapids would sometimes be a dry bed.
Soon the Rhoads brothers helped found a settlement on the north side of the river that became known as Rhoadsville.
One of the first families to come to the settlement was the John Rowan family. He and five other families came from Louisville in May of 1784. Willard R. Jillson in his “Tales of the Dark and Bloody Grounds” tells of the Rowans leaving the Falls of the Ohio River at Louisville coming down the Ohio and up the Green River to a place called “Long Falls.” They planned to settle at Long Falls of the Green River on land they had bought before leaving Pennsylvania.
In confusion over land grants the Rhoads brothers left Rhoadsville and later the John Rowan family moved on to Bardstown where he build Federal Hill better known as “My Old Kentucky Home.”
Hubert Mattingly in his ‘Early History of McLean County, Old Fort Vienna and Calhoun’ wrote “The opening up of the Green River country brought about an important population movement that affected the early development of McLean County. The Green River flowing through fertile lands on either side left marked effects upon the history of the county that it divides.” It provided the principle way of transportation but divided the county.
The early settlers had great interest in river navigation and wanted to improve the river. They wanted a way for boats to get over the shallows. In 1810 the Kentucky legislation passed an act making counties contiguous to the Green River responsible for clearing and keeping its waters navigable. They were to remove fish pots, logs and any obstruction from the river. In the state’s action Colonel Alonza Livermore was sent to build a lock and dam on the river. He located in Rumsey, built the beautiful home that is now the Gatton home and completed the locks and dam in 1837. The shallows were gone and the river was navigable.
From 1838 until 1888 steamboats plied the waters of the Green River with navigation companies fighting for toll-free rights on the water. In 1888 the federal government took control of the river. Federal control and the coming of the railroad changed river traffic but a few packet-boats continued to operate through the 1920s.
An article from the McLean County News dated January 14, 1954 tells of the effort of many to get a new dam at Calhoun/Rumsey. The writer stated that “Senators Earle C. Clements and John S. Cooper and Representative William H. Natcher are cooperating to get funds for the Green River job and the Corps of Engineers estimate that the cost will be approximately fourteen and one half million dollars.”. Senator Clements said, “The Green River project will not only pay for itself within fifteen years but will have multiplying benefits to Kentucky and the Nation for many years to come.
The appropriation of funds for the dam were approved and construction began in July 1954. The new locks and dam were dedicated on July 14, 1956. At the same time a flood control water storage program was initiated.
In searching online through the Western Kentucky University library I found the following description of Green River locks and dams # 1 and #2 …. “these small, old locks and dams provide a usable channel for recreational and commercial traffic on Green River.” So the river with its old dams continues to play an important role in development of the county, with commerce and recreation and its bridges give rapid travel from one side of the river to the other, bringing the towns and the people ever closer together.