Negroes employed on vessels as servants to the travelling public amassed large sums received in the form of tips.
Furthermore, the fortunate few, constituting the stewards of these vessels, could by placing contracts for supplies and using business methods realize handsome incomes.

Many Negroes thus enriched purchased real estate and went into business in towns along the Ohio.
The other force, the rise of the Negro mechanic, was made possible by overcoming much of the prejudice which had at first been encountered.

A great change in this respect had taken place in Cincinnati by 1840.[32] Many Negroes who had been forced to work as menial laborers then had the opportunity to show their usefulness to their families and to the community.

Negro mechanics were then getting as much skilled labor as they could do.

It was not uncommon for white artisans to solicit employment of colored men because they had the reputation of being better paymasters than master workmen of the favored race.