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Show 1836- 1837] F/ agg's Far West 61 since the introduction of steam upon the Western waters, most of these unique and primitive contrivances [ 31] have disappeared; and with them, too, has gone that singular race of men who were their navigators. Most of the younger of the settlers, at this early period of the country, devoted themselves to this profession. Nor is there any wonder that the mode of life pursued by these boatmen should have presented irresistible seductions to the young people along the banks. Fancy one of these huge boats dropping lazily along with the current past their cabins on a balmy morning in June. Picture to your imagination the gorgeous foliage; the soft, delicious temperature of the atmosphere; the deep azure of the sky; the fertile alluvion, with its stupendous forests and rivers; the romantic bluffs sleeping mistily in blue distance; the clear waters rolling calmly adown, with the woodlands outlined in shadow on the surface; the boat floating leisurely onward, its heterogeneous crew of all ages dancing to the violin upon the deck, flinging out their merry salutations among the settlers, who come down to the water's edge to see the pageant pass, with occasional aid from the pole, was the usual mode of locomotion. In ascending the stream, however, sails, poles, and almost every known device were used; not infrequently the vessel was towed by from twenty to forty men, with a rope several hundred feet in length attached to the mast. These boats were built in Pittsburg at a cost of two to three thousand dollars each. The barge was constructed for narrow, shallow water. As a rule it was larger than the keel- boat; but of less draft, and afforded greater accommodations for passengers. Broad- horn was a term generally applied to the Mississippi and Ohio flat- boat, which made its advent on the Western waters later than the barge or the keel- boat • It was a large, unwieldy structure, with a perfectly flat bottom, perpendicular sides, and usually covered its entire length. It was used only for descending the stream. " The earliest improvement upon the canoe was the pirogue, an invention of the whites. like the canoe, this is hewed out of the solid log; the difference is, that the pirogue has greater^ width and capacity, and is composed of several pieces of timbers - as if the canoe was sawed lengthwise into two equal sections, and a broad flat piece of timber inserted in the middle, so as to give greater breadth of beam to the vessel." Hall, Notes on the Western States, p. 218.- ED. |