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EVOLUTION OF RIVER CRAFT
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was a large sum at that day, was no small incentive to others, who perhaps never had a dollar of their own."[1]

The "ark" of pioneer days was, as the name implies, the earliest type of house-boat. "These boats," Mr. Harris records, "are generally called 'Arks;' and are said to have been invented by Mr. Krudger, on the Juniata, about ten years ago [1795]. They are square, and flat-bottomed; about forty feet by fifteen, with sides six feet deep; covered with a roof of thin boards; and accommodated with a fire-place. They require but four hands to navigate them, carry no sail, and are wafted down by the current."[2]

Rafting logs down the Ohio was one of the great employments of the men of three-quarters of a century ago. "Our raft," testified an old voyageur who went down the Allegheny and Ohio from Olean, New York in 1821, "was one hundred and twenty feet long and sixty wide and about two

  1. American Pioneer, vol. ii, pp. 163–164.
  2. Harris: Tour, pp. 30–31; cf. p. 139 where the author states the historical succession of river craft as: canoe, pirogue, keel-boat, barge, and ark.