File:Annual report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of the State of New York (1899) (14752250931).jpg

Identifier: annualreportof6189919newy (find matches)
Title: Annual report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of the State of New York
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: New York (State). Forest, Fish and Game Commission
Subjects: Forests and forestry Fisheries Game and game-birds
Publisher: (Albany, N.Y. : The Commission)
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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ther securely. At the corners of each platform, and at intervals along the four sides, roundwooden stakes, about two inches in diameter, extended from the under side of theraft to the top, passing through augur holes in some of the boards. These grubstakes, as they were called, were cut from sapling trees, the bark peeled, and theroots cut away until only a knob remained at the lower end, a little larger than theauger hole in the boards above it. These stakes were then passed through the over-lying courses and were wedged solidly at the augur holes in the binding boards ofthe top course so that they could not pull out. Five platforms thus constructedwere connected closely, forming a five-platform piece. The larger rafts weremade up by coupling three of these five-platform pieces side by side, and fasteningthree more behind them. A raft of this size would then be 48 feet wide and 160feet long; and if it had twenty-five courses it would contain over 180,000 feet oflumber, board measure.
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wo i-I Piwp-iPi w FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 253 The greater part of this floating mass was submerged, the top course being fromsix to eight inches above the water. Occasionally a deck load of shingles ordressed lumber was carried on top ; but the latter was not taken unless the ownerintended to peddle it out along the river at places where there were no planingmills. At the forward end of each five-platform piece was a large oar. On a raft, suchas just described, there were three oars in front and three behind — not on thesides, but at the ends, projecting forward and backward. The oar blade was a six-teen-foot plank, fourteen inches wide, thin on the lower edge ; the oar, made from asmall tree, was about eighteen feet long and eight or ten inches in diameter at thelarge end where it was attached to the blade. It was hewed tapering to the smallend or handle at which the men stood. So large and clumsy were these rafting oarsthat two, and often three, men were necessary in han

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