Re: MtMan-List: Rubber goods

["Paul W. Jones" <pwjones@onr.com>]

Also consider that Sir William Drumond Stewart used an inflatable rubber boat in the 1840's on a lake in the Wind River Range.

I will get the cite for anyone interested.  Paul W. Jones

----------
> Ho the list,
>
> A question was raised a few days ago about whether or not Lewis and Clark had
> a rubber boat. This question came out of the thread relating to rubber
> ponchos, etc.
>
> Lewis and Clark did not have a rubber boat. They carried an iron frame (made
> in Pittsburgh) for a "portable boat" up the Missouri as far as Great Falls
> where they abandoned (or cached) it. This iron frame was intended to be
> covered with hides and/or bark. Although we have no good description of it, it
> was probably something like an Irish curragh--or even like a Mandan bullboat.
>
> John C. Fremont, in 1842-44, used rubber boats on his first two expeditions
> into the West. He refers to them as "India rubber" boats and mentions them in
> his journals as being used on both the North Platte and the Great Salt Lake.
> His rubber boat worked well on the Platte in 1842. The next year, on Salt
> Lake, he noted that the rubber boat didn't work as well since it wasn't "as
> well stitched together" as the one used on his first expedition. This suggests
> a boat made from several pieces of material sewn in some fashion. These rubber
> boats were 20 feet long and 5 feet wide and could carry a wagon. They were
> apparently inflatable (he  mentions several places "filling our India rubber
> boat with air"). Best source for Fremont is Donald Jackson and Mary Spence
> (eds.), THE EXPEDITIONS OF JOHN CHARLES FREMONT, 3 vols. Univ. of Illinois
> Press.
>
> If Fremont, in 1842-44, was using an inflatable rubber boat, then obviously
> the technology was in place to make serviceable ponchos, etc. out of rubber or
> rubber-coated cloth during at least the tail end of the Rocky Mountain fur
> trade era.
>
> Keep your powder dry.
>
> John
>
> Dr. John L. Allen
> 21 Thomas Drive
> Storrs, CT 06268
> 860/487-1346
> jlallen@snet.net
>
>