BIG MUDDY - part 2

(Cont. from last week)

By Dan R. Conway
(Originally printed in the Hysham Echo March 24, 1927)

The Pirogue

The pirogue was primarily a French craft, introduced with the beginning of the fur trade, to which it was especially adapted. In reality it was a double canoe built in the shape of a flatiron, with a sharp bow and square stern. Two canoes were squarely fastened together about six feet apart, the whole being decked over with plank. On this floor was placed the cargo, which was protected from the weather by skins. The boat was propelled upstream by oars or a line and steered by an oarsman, who stood on the stern. A square sail was also resorted to, going upstream when the wind happened to come from the right quarter, and distance of from ten to fifteen miles a day could be made with this craft under favorable conditions. The pirogue was usually from thirty to forty feet long with a beam of from six to eight feet. Being of light draft they were good carriers. They were much safer than the canoe, as it was impossible to upset them.

The Bateau

It was also the French fur trader who introduced the bateau on the Missouri. This was a flat-bottomed, clumsily constructed boat especially adapted to the transportation of cargoes downstream and did not differ materially from the flat-bottomed boat. It was usually from fifty to seventy-five feet long and with a beam of from ten to twelve feet. The gunwales were hewn from cottonwood logs and the bottom was spiked onto stringers running lengthwise of the boat. The bow and stern were square, with a sufficient rake to prevent impeding headway. The oar, the pole, the line and the sail were the appliances relied upon for motive power in ascending the stream, but in descending, the boat was merely permitted to float with the current, being kept in the channel by the steersman.

The Bull-Boat

Perhaps the most unique boat used by the early-day fur traders, from about 1810 to 1830, on the shallow tributaries of the Missouri, was the bull-boat. It was practical along these streams because of its light draft. It was probably the lightest draft boat ever constructed, for its size, but was capable of successfully transporting a cargo of from 5,000 to 6,000 pounds. The framework of the bull-boat was constructed of willow poles, 25 to 30 feet long, laid lengthwise, and across these other poles were laid. All were then securely fastened together with rawhide thongs. Along the tops of the vertical portions of the framework on the inside were then lashed stout poles, like those forming the bottom of the boat, which served as gunwales. To these gunwales were lashed cross-poles, to prevent the former from spreading. Not a nail was used in the entire construction process, all fastenings being secured with rawhide thongs. The frame so constructed was then covered with buffalo hides sewed together with sinews, the seams being pitched with a cement made of buffalo tallow and ashes.

Buffalo boats, constructed in a similar manner to those described above, although much smaller and of a somewhat different shape, were in use on the upper Missouri by the Mandan Indians when they were first visited by Jean Baptiste Trudeau, David Thompson and the La Verendryes in the eighteenth century. The Mandan bullboat was about the size and shape of a large wash-tub and one buffalo hide was sufficient to cover it. It could safely carry one person.

The Keel-Boat

The keel-boat was usually from fifty to seventy-five feet in length with a beam of from fifteen to twenty feet. The keelson extended from stem to stern, and it was as staunch vessel, well modeled with sharp bow and stern. It was the work of skillful artisans in boat building, patterned after the most approved methods of ship craft in vogue in those early days. Such a boat had a carrying capacity of from ten to twenty tons, and took a draft of about thirty inches light. It represented a cost of about $2,000 to $3,000. Amidships was a cabin, extending four or five feet above the hull, in which was stored the cargo of Indian merchandise. On each side of the cabin was a narrow walk, called by the French “pass-a-vant,” on which the boatmen walked in pushing the boat along with poles. The appliances used for ascending the river were the cordelle, the pole, the oar and the sail. The cordelle was a line, sometimes 300 yards long, which was fastened to the top of a high mast which stood a little forward of the center of the boat. It passed through a ring which was fastened by a short line to the bow to help guide the boat, and was drawn by from twenty to forty men strung along the shore. The reason for attaching it to the mast was that it might swing clear of the brush along the shore line.

How It Was Operated

When an obstacle was encountered which prevented men from walking along the shore, the line was made fast to some object on the bank, and she was pulled up by men on the boat pulling on the line. This process was called “warping.” There were also shallow places along the river where it became necessary to use poles. These poles were of various lengths suited to convenient handling and were equipped with balls or knobs to rest on the hollow of the shoulder. To propel the boat by means of these poles the voyageurs ranged in single file on each side of the deck near the bow, facing aft. Planting their poles in the river bottom, pointing down stream they pushed steadily against them, at the same time walking toward the stern. The oars came into use when it became necessary to cross from one side of the river to the other.

Crew of the Keel-Boat

The crew of the keel boat in the fur trade days, called “a brigade,” frequently consisted of as many as 100 men, although this number always included many hunters and trappers bound for the mountains. They always went well armed and every keel-boat carried on her bow a small cannon, called a “swivel.” The captain of the boat, called the “patron,” did the steering, and his assistant, called the boss-man, “stood on the bow, pole in hand, and gave directions to the men at the cordell.” It was necessary that these officers be men of great energy, physical strength and courage. The sail was seldom used except in the upper water, where the absence of timber rendered the winds available.

The boatmen employed on these keel-boat voyages were, for the most part, French Canadians and creoles, many of them descendants of the coureurs des bois. These were in some respects different from their progenitors, for they were a hard-working, obedient, cheerful class, and were happy and contented under the most discouraging conditions.

The Mackinaw

The mackinaw boat was made entirely of cottonwood plank about two inches thick; it was about fifty to sixty feet long with a twelve foot beam, and had a flat bottom. It was about three to four feet deep in the hold. In the middle of the boat was a space partitioned off with bulkheads, similar to the cargo box of the keel-boat. In this was stored the cargo of furs put up in bales, which extended several feet above the gunwales. The cargo usually consisted of about fifteen tons. The oarsmen, four in number, were bestowed in the boat, and the steersman on a high perch in the stern. For mutual protection, the mackinaw boats usually went down stream in fleets of six to twelve, but it was not unusual for a single boat to make the voyage alone. The rate of progress was seventy-five to one hundred miles a day.

As the mackinaw boat was intended only for a single voyage down the river, it was cheaply built. There was near every large trading post on the river, a boat-yard, called by the French a “chantier,” where the lumber was gotten out and the mackinaw boats constructed.

Trudeau Was First

Historians do not all agree as to the first white navigators of the upper Missouri river. So far as I have been able to learn, Jean Baptiste Trudeau was the first man to reach a point on the stream as far as the Mandan villages about where the city of Bismarck, N.D., today stands. In his journals written in 1796, Trudeau mentions having made trips in a pirogue, to the “Pays den Haut” as early as twenty-six years prior to that date. We do know that he and seven companions did make the trip in 1796 and 1797, he having been hired by a company headed by M. Clamorgan, to have charge of the trade with the tribes north and west of the Poncas. Manuel Lisa is generally credited with being the father of navigation on the Missouri, It is true that Lisa, with the exception of, perhaps, Gregoire B. Sarpy, was the first to bring the keel-boat into practical use, and Lisa navigated the waters of the Missouri as far west as the mouth of the Yellowstone, building a fort at the mouth of the Big Horn in 1809. Manuel Lisa made the fastest long-distance trip on record for a keel-boat traveling 1,100 miles in 61 days. Print this post