Launching The Bull Boat

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Gabe Hanratty and Bruce Day Launching the Bull boat on the Arkansas river

Got to get it in the water if you want to go downstream. This is a big task for just two guys even if they are mountain men. But these are tough mountain men and they get it done with the minimum of salty language.

You can get a good look at the sturdy construction and workmanship of this vessel as it is being rolled over. It’s pretty remarkable especially considering that it was created using the most simple of hand tools, the hatchet and and awl and needle. The frame is made from varying sizes of tree limbs which have been bent and fashioned together with lacing of hide and sinew. Then covered with the hides of buffalo stretched over the frame and the seams where they join sealed with pitch from pine trees. Certainly a remarkable example of early boat building created out of the necessity needed to travel the waterways of the west.

Bull Boats On The Arkansas River

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Bruce Day – Gabe Hanratty in Bull Boat on the Arkansas river

Bull Boats, they’re all the rage on the Western rivers in the 1830’s- 40’s. Here’s one now loaded to the gunnels with everything necessary for a journey. Including but not limited to beaver traps, miscellaneous beaver trapping paraphernalia other than traps, supplies, sundries, ointments, unguents, bandages, fulminate of mercury tablets, food stuffs, a book on how to trap beaver and make money, another book of maps of unknown beaver rich tributaries, 12th ed., fire starting gear, tobacco, pipes to smoke tobacco with, extra things to repair the boat in case it gets ruin’t, pen and water proof ink to write help messages with, many small letter size pieces of parchment to write on, compass, hatchet, extra gunpowder in Arkansas river-proof containers, 200 hundred individually flaked flints for their rifles, two rifles, musket balls, lead to make musket balls, small cast iron pot to melt lead, little patches of cloth to separate ball from gunpowder in rifle, another hatchet in case head comes off first one, English to Comanche dictionary, complete foldable chart of American English to Indian sign language with full illustrations, pistols, very sharp knives, extra feathers for hats, sinew to sew feathers back on if loosened by turbulence, extra leather soles to put in moccasins in case of walking in rocky river, small needles to remove splinters from eye if not ducking in time, beeswax to maintain buffalo tails at either end of boat, good intentions, two excellent mountain men bull boat drivers and other things too numerous to mention. All in all a perfect set up to be a successful river runner.

Arkansas River Journey

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Journey’s beginning – Launching onto the Arkansas river

The Arkansas river is one of the major tributaries to the Mississippi river and as such has been a favorite river to travel on for fun or profit for years. More fun now than it was in the past when people used it to move goods by using small boats to carry freight from here to there so they wouldn’t have to lug it on their backs, or deal with cranky mules and other beasts of burden. A boatload of stuff gained in value when it didn’t take as much effort to get it from one place to another. It wasn’t unusual to see small wooden boats called pireaux, a form of flat bottomed canoe, floating down the river sunk nearly to the gunnels, filled with hides and other items of value. Captained by hearty but not necessary fearless captains, they traveled over placid stretches of the river, or if unlucky, through class 5 rapids when they didn’t make the cautious decision to portage around them. Traveling through class 5 rapids usually meant disaster in one form or another and was considered a mistake by those that tried it.

Another form of watercraft used on the river was a small usually two man boat called a bull boat. This was a more definite canoe shaped boat made out of buffalo hides stretched over a crude wooden frame constructed of tree parts of some type. A small log about 3-4 inches in diameter ran the length of the boat and served as its keel. Thinner branches were bent into ribs and placed perpendicular to the keel and held in place by a gunnel, which gave shape to the boat and allowed buffalo hides to be stretched over them to complete the craft. The seams between the hides were then sealed with pitch obtained from pine trees. This allowed a certain fragility to be introduced into the making of these boats as the seams were the weak link in its manufacture. However when luck prevailed these were sturdy and serviceable craft.

They were much more maneuverable than the other form of bull boats in use, which were round bowl shaped craft that were obviously designed by a committee. They were completely impossible to steer or direct in any manner whatsoever, due to not having a front or back, and being round were completely at the mercy of the wind and currents. They were used in an attempt to somehow cross a body of water while carrying people and their belongings. Normally the boatspeople in this type of bull boat wound up on the other side of the water they were attempting to cross merely by good fortune and helpful currents their constant and frantic paddling not withstanding. Their main contribution to river use was to keep the passengers less wet than if they had to wade or swim across the body of water obstructing their travel.

In the spirit ot times past the folks in the picture above are starting out with high hopes and gentle souls in the belief that they will have a delightful but uneventful trip down the Arkansas river. Given how life works we know the odds on this happening are roughly one in several hundred thousand. You have a better chance of finding a solid gold nugget the size of your ex-mother-in-laws head. One can say with certainty however, that they did have a trip. It was eventful, and their gentle souls were tested by the vagaries of river travel of which more will be written later. At this point in time the launch was successful and it looked as if it will be clear sailing ahead. May the winds be at their backs.

You Can Lead Him to Water But…

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Abigail and Easy at Robidoux creek

Funny thing about wants and needs. Sometimes they line up, other times not so much. They aren’t always the same, the wants and needs that is. The maiden knows the donkey needs to drink. They’re going to be off today on a long trip and there may not be any springs available on the way. So for the success of the journey the donkey needs to drink.

The donkey on the other hand doesn’t give a damn about the journey or what the maiden wants or anything else except maybe eating some grass, he doesn’t feel like a drink. He had a big drink last night and he hasn’t done anything since then so that’s enough right now. Plus it’s obvious his companion wants him to so he won’t, just to be obstinate. Donkeys are like that especially Jack’s, the male ones, who are obstinate by nature. My Dad used to say “They’d bitch if they was hung with a new rope.” not just donkeys, he didn’t have much experience with donkeys, or as he called them ‘Lawn Ornaments’ but anyone who was obstinate just for obstinate’s sake.

The maiden being a maiden is used to males being obstinate. She deals with that every day and has found a few work arounds to get past this particular problem. For her the needs and the wants of this situation just happen to line up. She wants the donkey to drink because she needs the donkey to drink. To accomplish this she acts like they just happened to stumble on this creek, and it just happens to be full of water, which will taste good if one were to drink it. So she scoops up a little and tastes it and by god it is good so she kinds of ignores the donkey and has another taste. Shortly the donkey being curious, looks to see what she’s doing. She takes the handful of water and smacks him gently on the muzzle with that cool water and that’s all it took folks. Forgetting all about obstinance, drinking water is now his idea and she needs to get out of the way. She couldn’t stop him from drinking now if she had to.

In this case all’s well that ends well. The donkey’s been watered with the minimum of fuss, the maiden has accomplished her task and everything’s right with the world.

September Along the Madison

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Sunlit Grass – Cow Elk – Along the Madison River – Yellowstone

September in Yellowstone Park is a special time of the year, especially early September. The Rut is still some weeks away yet, the calves are big enough that they’re basically taking care of themselves, and during the hot afternoons the wolves are usually sleeping back at their dens waiting for the cool of the evening before setting out to see what bounty is available. It’s a rare moment for the cows to take a little time for themselves.

This particular cow had found a spot on a small island in the middle of the Madison river and taking advantage of the tall, golden grass covering it, has settled down for some time in the sun. A haven of relative safety she can let her guard down slightly in a rare moment of solitude. The heat of the afternoon, the absence of any breeze, the buzz of the occasional insect, plus the quiet murmuring of the river as it slowly made its way downstream was enough to allow her to recharge and get set for whatever Nature has in store for her. It’s September along the Madison.

Morning Snow

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Sandhill Cranes morning flight Bosque Del Apache

On an early December morning a group of Sandhill cranes left for their daily flight to the feeding fields near Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife refuge. It was bitter cold on the high desert near Soccoro, New Mexico and an unusual light snow was falling on the ponds where the Sandhills had spent the night.

Sandhill Cranes can appear ungainly in certain activities but when they take flight they are the epitome of grace and beauty. Similar to cranes in Asia, most notably in Japan, they are very similar in appearance to their Japanese cousins the Red Crowned cranes. The difference being Red Crowned cranes have black tail feathers that droop like a bustle where as the Sandhill crane has straight shorter tail feathers.

This is a photograph reimagined into an art image by the use of software programs and hand manipulation of the elements of the images on the computer. The purpose being to elevate a normal photograph into a vision that brings out the emotional content of the scene while still keeping the primary elements, the cranes, in their original captured state. In other words, Birds in Art.

The Mob

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Immature Bald Eagle and Ravens – Elk Cracass – Yellowstone National Park

The Cascade wolf pack dropped a cow elk out on the meadow floor last night. The herd was hurrying to cross the open space under the light of a full moon, nervous as they sunk to their knees in the snow because they knew they were vulnerable out here. The young cow wasn’t paying close enough attention and had gotten too far out from the herd and the pack made quick work of her. The snow wasn’t all that deep but it was deep enough to hinder her flight. They fed for a while then headed back to the den area with the promise that they’d be back in the morning to make a proper job of it.

But secrets don’t keep long amongst the neighbors when it’s cold and blustery and everybody’s got to eat. As always the first to visit the carcass are the Ravens. They have a sixth sense about the dead and dying so they are on the scene almost as soon as it happens. Even with their terrible sharp bills they have a tough time cracking into the frozen hide and unless the wolves left them a good entry point they don’t make much progress getting started.

It takes a real powerhouse to get the ball rolling and an immature Bald Eagle can easily do it. With its formidable hooked beak and powerful muscles in its neck and legs, all it needs to do is get settled by sinking its long talons into the carcass and using the leverage of its body to start slicing open the hide as if it were a surgeon wielding his scalpel. In just moments it has opened up a sizable fissure in the hide and can commence feeding.

This comes as both good news and bad news for the ravens. The good news being now they can start feeding. The bad news however, is the eagle doesn’t like to share. It won’t allow any other bird to join in until it is has fed until it can hardly hop. Ravens are incredibly intelligent creatures while the eagle has the IQ of a four slice toaster. As eagles get along perfectly well with the intellect nature has given them, they’re just not in the same league as the ravens when it comes to subterfuge. Consequently the ravens have to come up with a good plan to outsmart and drive the eagle off if they want to eat before the wolves come back. They can’t physically attack the eagle with brute strength as they’re about 1/5th the size of the eagle, and if the eagle ever gets a talon into one of the ravens it’s all over for the raven. But as a mob they can use their avian cunning to confront the eagle by mock challenging it face to face while the others sneak in and grab its tail feathers or its primary feathers and try and jerk them out. Or use their own sharp bills to strike the eagle anywhere it’s undefended. This makes the eagle absolutely nuts. The eagle will swirl and turn and lash out in an attempt to the grab a raven but they’re just too nimble and before long the eagle is driven to a frenzy and takes off. The ravens prevail.

Having vanquished the eagle they feed as quickly as possibly keeping a keen eye out for the wolves. Even tho a lot of crows are called a “Murder” of crows they’re still a mob and they act like one, using the strength of numbers to get their way. This strategy doesn’t work with the wolves. They will eat ravens as well as elk if they can catch them and often they do.