Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1873-09-08
A srRy1cEABLE BOAT.

back and forth by hand. Another pro-
position made by Lieut.. Ray was to ex-
temporize boat. All that he aske d
was wagon bed, some rope, and tar.
paulin. The railroad finally gave way
to the boat line. There was danger in
hauling car back and forth, that its
center of gravity might not receive due
respect, in which case we should rob
our horses to feed the stream On the
other hand there was much distrust in
the boat. Prophetically it sprung a
leak several times before it was launch
ed. alphabetically, it was so laden
with contingencies that there was no
need of launching it at all. But Lieut..
Ray said, [ shall show my faith by my
works. Gen. Stanley answered Yea
and Amen" A wagon body was dis
mounted. It was wrapped on its bot
tom and sides in heavy "pauling"
which was firmly secured by ropes. 1t
was the work of few minutes to make
it and launch it. The heavy canvas
effectually kept out water. 1t was safe
ly navigated to the other side. Gen.
Stanley and Lieut.. Ray were among
the first to cross the rapids stream. A
number of men, stationed ON each side,
easily pulled the boat across, receiving
no little aid from the current On
this little craft we could safely put one
thousand pounds of forage. 1t solved
one element in the problem. In five OF
six hours we had ferried enough stores
and forage to supply the company of
cavalry and two companies of infantry
that formed the surveyors escort.
The next question was, how should
we get over our heavy train and teams
On Sunday afternoon, while we were
crossing our forage, the stream showed
q decided tendency to fall. Its level
was quoted at various stages during the
day, but toward night our stake showed
a decrease of three or four inches. 1t
is characteristic of these streams that
they rise and fall very rapidly. If the
rise is rapid, the fall that succeeds is
most likely to be so too. As the stream
was decreasing, it was hoped that by
morning it would be sufficiently low
and narrow to permit building with the
Snort timber that grew along its banks.
The hope was delusive, the expectation
vain. Instead of going down, the
stream, refreshed by some remote tri-
Nutary, went up to its original hight.
When Monday morning came, we were
just as far from the other side as the
day before.
BRIDGE OF WHISKY KEGS.
Gen. Stanley was determined to wait
no longer. The Commissary, Lieut..
Ray. once more solved the problem. He
offered to build bridge and cross the
command. But how could he build
bridge without timber, pontoons, or
lumber We have in this expedition
over one hundred water kegs. Nearly
all of them are reformed whisky kegs.
They finally leaked dry and became
hopefully converted These temper
ance kegs have been heretofore carried
on the wagons. Lieut.. Ray now pro-
posed to carry the wagons on the kegs.
Perhaps the use of these kegs, though
not new for this application, was sug-
gested by an incident at one of our
crossings. The sutler accompanying
the cavalry train had one of his wagons
stalled in the mud. The efforts of his
team to move it were unavailipg. A
number of soldiers cat rest" were sit
ting listlessly on the bank observing the
situation. The driver, in despair Of re-
scuing his wagons by horse power,
brought forth a key of whisky and
,pe. He tied one end of the rope to
tho wagon and the other end to the
whisky. The wagon came out as quick
as it went in. Some of the men who
pulled on that rope came near being
drunk that afternoon. 1t showed the
tractive power of a full whisky key. To
the success of our plan, however, it was
necessary that they be entirely empty
of everything but air.
Ninety six empty kegs were accord
ingly ordered to report at the stream.
-Four wagon beds were dismembered of
their covers and wheels. Twenty five
or thirty men were then set to work to
bung or plug the kegs. Only those
thoroughly coopered were accepted the
dry and unserviceable ones were reject
ed ana their places supplied by others.
Each of the wagon beds just held TWEEN
ty-four kegs placed on their ends side
by side in three rows, Some timber
was, meanwhile, out into poles, and one
pole placed lengthwise over each row of
kegs to keep them in place. Ropes and
chains were passed over the poles and
completely around the wagon beds, SO
that the booms ana kegs were firmly Sc
cured. The wagon bodies were then
dragged down the bank and launched in
the water bottom side up-that is, with
the kegs down. Each wagon bed was
then floating upside down, upheld by
twenty-four air tight kegs.
These extemporized floats were then
moored lengthwise in the stream. The
next trouble was to lash them securely
side by side. This was no easy matter;
but Mr.. Ray met it as he did every
other difficulty in the construction with
ready brain and ready hand. He
had one man on the first float with him.
and with his coat off and sleeves rolled
up, lashed them together with his own
hands, The shoreG were lined with
officers and men watching the expert.
ment. Very little confidence was ex-
pressed in the structure by the wagon
masters and teamsters. 81 tell yer,"
said one, this here thing Amt goin to
work no how. Jest as soon as one of
them big wagins gifts on that bridge the
old thing II sink an wagins and mules
viii go to -" The destination iDdi
Gated was much further than the yell
lowstone. Some of the less experienced
officers considered the whole thing as O
foregone failure. The bridge, like the
boat, was born under cloud OF doubt
BK means of some wagon. caches and