In a Park zone of Rybinsk, located on the Volga embankment, near Old pilot corn exchange, is the world's only memorial monument to the Hauler. This sculpture is associated with a collective image of the workers of the Volga – porters, boatmen and Kluchnikov.

Installation of the sculpture came in 1977 in the street Proletarian, which coincided with the 200th anniversary from the date of assignment by the Empress Catherine II the so-called Rybnaya Sloboda status of the city. The architect was Losev N., and in the face of the sculptor made Pisarevsky L. In height, the sculpture reaches 1, by 6 meters. She poured in bronze and mounted on a large boulder. There is a memorial marble plaque, on which is written the text: "the Hauler. Sculptor L. M. Pisarevsky (1906-1974). The monument was erected in the city of Rybinsk – the former capital of the boatmen on the day of the 200th anniversary of the city in 1977." In mid-1996, a decision was made about the transfer of the monument on the waterfront – pilot exchange. The sculpture is included in the excursion program in Rybinsk.

As you know, Rybinsk always been famous as a fishing settlement, the capital of haulers and grain state exchange. For many years fresh fish – sturgeon and sterlet – was served to the Prince's table. There was a period of time, when the bread was concentrated trading in the entire Volga region. With this city could only be compared Odessa and St. Petersburg, only almost the entire water surface was occupied by small boats or large ships. During the navigation here was piling up a huge number of Plavsic forest, sailors and boatmen. Described in detail the work of boatmen in the literature Nekrasov N. And., Accompanying annotations, VA and some other popular poets and writers.

It was believed that the boatmen worked as cooperatives, while the number of employees reached more than three hundred people. At the age of 18 V. A. Gilyarovsky was so gang way, starting from Yaroslavl and ending Rybinsk, as he later wrote in a story titled "My wanderings". In the book were written verbatim word with which the boatmen pulled their vessels.

If to tell more precisely, the boatmen were salaried workers, while this name has been since the 16th century. Boatmen manually moved inland vessels using tow, oars and ropes. These people were peasants, migrants from non-Chernozem provinces – it turns out that they had to pay taxes in the form of quitrents. The number of boatmen greatly reduced by the mid-19th century – because at this time found their use of horses, and, after some time, began to appear on steam engines to move the court. According to reliable sources, in 1851 in the town of Rybinsk, there were around 150 thousand boatmen.

To carry grain or other products he used various vessels, a move which was not one way. For example, on a big boat it was possible to bring the anchor weighs about 200 pounds ahead for 1 km, then dropped in water to a depth and then returned to the boat and unwound the rope. While on the ship, each worker snapped a strap which was attached to a rope, and so they walked up to each other on the deck. For the total concentration of forces was necessary to accompany your move a few dull singing – these efforts could move the ship in the right direction to anchor. To summarise, we can say that the ship took place approximately 30 km. as for the second way, that it provided that to the mast of the ship was fastened a long rope with a length of 200 m. the boatmen wore special straps and pulled them – the ship was moving at a speed of 25 km per day.

In addition to the indigenous Russian people in the role of the boatmen were out of town, for example, Chuvash or Tatar. It is clear that the work was very hard, thankless and exhausting, but not always for the boatmen came from acute needs – some have chosen this type of activity by vocation, because many were literally prone to such works.

The grueling life of boatmen was completed with the first-rate ships. Today we can see only one that has survived from those times Burlaka, and it is made of bronze.