Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1879-03-15
THE FASTEST EARTHLY TRAVEL.
Boats that Easily Distance RaiI.
way Trains.

With the nominal-and perhaps be
fore long actual-adveut OF spring the
Hudson river steamboats, are being
reftted aud prepared for business
while the lce-boats r preparing &c
withdraw. Many are The accounts
given in the daily psbers Of the ice.
boat races every winter, and we,
many people have no idea what al
ice-boat looks like or what rate OF
speed it a attain, or how it is sail.
cd. "Well, 1t dosen't make much
difference" said a priori thinker
on the subject of ice-boats the other
day ; elf you do break through the
ice. OF purse you call stay quietly
in the boat till some one helps YOU
out" Imagine sitting quietly on a
triangular platform which, while
going at the rate of sixty miles an
hour, has been suddenly brought to
d standstill!
Poughkeepsie on the Hudson is the
headquarters of ice-boating, and of a
winters day can be seen hundreds of
the queer looking craft either skim-
ming over the CLASSY surface of the
river or lying with sails carefully
turled within q stones throw of the
docks. The interest people take in
the boats is evident OH the trains on
the New York Central and Hudson
River. Railroad. II a boat is sailing
about IN sight, an utter stranger will
call his neighbours attention TO il,
and in q moment every one has left
the opposite side of the car and is
gazing in wonder through the win
dows on the river side. Elderly gen
tlemen put down their papers and
say "Humph dangerous amusement.
very )" ladies lean forward with ex.
CARNATIONS of admiration at the ease
with which the boats are apparently
managed, and at the graceful turns
and circles they make. Then some
one says aloud, II wonder what time
they can make under most favorable
circumstances 2" This is quite
enough, if there is an ice-boatmau on
board to loosen his tongue, aud he
will give every particular concerning
the boat, from the time they are built
to the time they are wrecked. He
generally begins in this way:
MY dear slr,theY are as unlike anv
other kind of a boat as possible. The
only thing i'll common is the sails sand
AS for sailing i'll one, I'd rather do that
for half All hour thau-than-tban do
ANYTHING else for six months"
For all lce-boatmen are enthusi-
asts. And an ice-boat is unlike any
other boat. 1t is simply a triangle Of
hickory or spruce plank, say thirteen
feet long and two aud a half feet in
ches thick. The base is the bow, and
under each angle is a runner or skate
OF wood, shod with steel aud coming
down to a sharp edge like a knife
The skate is fastened between two
small chocks of wood, in order that
it may play a little mp and down and
glide over rough ice with greater
ease. This is called the ruuner-plank.
Another, somewhat shorter, is above
the runner-pfank, aud through this
runs b mast, which ia stepped in
the lower. From the r%unner-plank a
light though strong beam known as
the "stringer," extends aft and cor
responds to the keel in a ~sail-boat.
Two other beams Of about the same
size as the "stringer,"and bent at q
end so that when joined they form
the prettily rounded stern, also aft
from The runner-plank, the end rest
ing on-ihe plank and supporting the
upper or mast plank, thus making
the sides or taffrail of the boat. AT
the extreme stern or apex of the
triangle ia the rudder, which ia a skate
IKE the two others, but smaller. be-
ing only about eighteen inches or
TWO feet long. This skate is attached
TO the rudder-post. About half the
space inclosed by the side beams or
rails 10 cecksd over 1t the stern, af-