The Kansas Historical Quarterly Vol 8

Excerpt from The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 2 of 29: 1933, (Kansas Historical Collection) Settlement of that portion of present Kansas bordering on the Missouri river at once established the need of communication with the outside world. Steamboats were not yet making regular trips up the "Big Muddy," so some other method of water transportation must be made use of. Mackinaw boats and bull boats used by early trappers and by the military at the time of the establishment of Cantonment Martin were pressed into use, and in the absence of anything better served their day and age very acceptably. When these mackinaw boats were not to be had the white man fashioned a dugout from the trunk of some suitable tree near enough to water to serve the purpose. Rafts were made use of, also. Then followed the primitive ferryboats, formed of two or three dugouts with poles laid crosswise and closely together; later the boats were made from sawed lumber, propelled by poles at first, then by oars, then by means of ropes or cables stretched across the streams, the current often furnishing the propelling force, and then "Old Dobbin" was harnessed and pressed into service. When immigration set in for Oregon, Utah and California, horse-propelled ferries were about the fastest mode of crossing the Missouri, but these were few. In the latter fifties and early sixties steam was adopted by the most enterprising ferrymen. With the coming of the missionaries and early settlers arose the necessity for permanent roads. These thoroughfares were laid out regardless of section lines, and usually followed the divides. When a stream had to be crossed a good fording place was sought. When this was not convenient or practicable, a ferry solved the problem. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.