Note: The following is part of a series of columns exploring the use of rivers in the early history of Georgia and Bulloch County. The Augusta, Petersburg, and Savannah River Steam and Pole Boat Navigation Company of North-Eastern Georgia, or APSR, was founded in 1859 in, not surprisingly, Augusta. The major investors were J.J. Field, J. and E. Lockhart, D.B. Cade, W. Gibson and F. Blodgett Jr. Their charter gave them sole rights to "opening and clearing out a channel in the Savannah and Tugalo Rivers to the Georgia boundary."