In older documents, the payment to the towman (tower), namely – a person who, by muscular strength (muscular strenght) or with his own draught cattle (draught cattle) – pulls a ship – on a towpath (towpath, also called towpath, treppelweg and Reckweg: the path laid out along a river or canal) – from the shore upstream; downstream, the natural gradient (water flow rate) drives the ships by itself. – On the European rivers, the towers were mostly working on a commercial scale. Often, however, outside of the time of farming operations, and especially in the winter months, farmers bordering rivers and canals worked as towers, which brought them extra income. – The advent of machine-driven watercraft (steamships on European rivers from about 1830 onward) made towage superfluous and led to a considerable reduction in transport costs, especially for bulk goods such as salt or coal – see Gussgeld, Rheinoctroi, Triftgeld, Wassermaut.
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