Hey Guys,
???? The Women of the fur trade have a great web site and have some pics of two of the Ladys making and floating in their bull boats. The one trip was for a week or so. Great pics and info to boot. Respectfully, Mike Drougas
-----Original Message-----
From: ferguson@???
To: David Scott <davmscot@???>
Cc: hist_text@???
Sent: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:58 am
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Bull Boats
Dave,
My understanding about bull boats is that their size was determined by the
size of the bison hide itself in that they are essentially a fresh hide
laced onto a willow hoop or similar rawhide lashed sapling frame... fast
and easy to make and as ungainly as they were simple... maybe someone else
can elaborate? As for paddles? who knows but if simplicity was the
objective I bet they weren't labored over much... how about using a small,
spade type shovel? Some would argue that they were present.
Chris
> One reads about the mountain men making bull boats but little about making
> paddles. How did they make a paddle? Seems like that would take a while.
> Did they cut a pole and pole across a river? Did they put their goods in
> the boat and swim the boat across the river?
>
> And, were there various sized bull boats? There's the famous painting
> of Mandan women crossing the Missouri in a small round boat, maybe 6
> feet across but Jedediah Smith speaks about "skin canoes" in California
> for trapping and a round tub would seem sort of hard to handle. How did
> they keep the boats from leaking? I've heard about really big bull
> boats for sending fur down river but would such a craft be strong enough
> to stay together?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
>
>
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