 Attempts were made with moderate success to ascend the Ohio and Mississippi with teams of horses on board.In 1824 the team boat "Genius of Georgia" operated on the Savannah River, under Captain William Bird, carrying a cargo of sundries.An 1820 report by the South Carolina Department of Public Works described a five-man boat powered by eight mules; it carried 300 bales of cotton 250 miles in fifteen days at a cost of just $116.25.