Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-12-31

SNAPPED TO make the pointed PROV, and
finally the last two, or side logs were
rolled into place and shaped The
next thing was to fasten the logs to-
gether. We got three planks two
inches thick, one foot wide and eight
feet long. One of these was placed
four feet back of the forward end Of
the center log. The next one was
placed six feet back of the first, and
the last was placed two feet forward
of the stern of the raft With an inch
auger we bored seven holes in each
plank, one above the center of each
log and about five inches into the log.
Then we made twenty-one pegs seven
inches long and one inch in diameter
just the least bit more than an inch,
for tightness' sake. Wetting each peg
before driving it into the hole, we
tackled" the logs and the cross-strips
together with these pegs of wood,
knowing that the water would expand
them and make them hold better than
spikes. Between the two forward
cross-strips we nailed strips of floor
ing. Now for the mast. Directly in
front of the forward cross-strip and
in the center of the middle we bored
four auger holes close together, form
ing a square with a diamond shaped
piece of wood in the center. Knock
ing out the centerpiece We had mast
hole six inches deep and about four
inches across. We cut straight sap
ling five inches in diameter and taper
ing to height of about nine feet.
This we set in the mast hole and fast
ened with wedges. Then we cut two
slender saplings, each six feet long.
for arms on which to fix the sail We
made the sail from strong canvas, get
ting a strip fifteen feet long and a
yard wide. This we cut into two strips
seven and one half feet long by three
feet wide and sewed them together
engthwise-only we got our four sis
ters to DO this. Then the ends were
turned over three inches and stitched,
thus forming sheaths through which
to slip the sail arms. The arms were
slipped into place and rope tied to
each corner of the sail thus formed
At the center seam at the top and bot
tom of the sail, pieces of rope were
fastened to attach the sail to the
mast, which had been notched at top
and bottom. The next thing was to
prepare the house at the stern of the
raft For the supports of this struc-
ture four slender saplings were cut,
each being about fifteen feet long.
hi Cd @ka,,
were partially nattened and would
bend easily into place. Beginning
just astern of the platform a hole an
inch in diameter was made in each
of the side logs. Two feet back of
this another set was bored, and two
feet back Of these the last set. Then
the poles were bent into position and
fastened into the holes. Back of the
platform a hole was bored for flag
pole to rest in. To complete the
house we got twenty-one yards Of
yard wide canvas, cut it into strips
six feet six inches long getting our
sisters to sew the strips together) to
make covering for the top and sides
of our cabin. The rest was used to
make back and front flaps.
After putting these things in place
all that remained to do was to put up
oar or sweep" supports to use in
case we had to row the raft and to
help steer it. These supports were
simply pieces of one and one-half inch
planking fastened midway of the plat
form and about two feet above the
water, with places followed out to ad-
init the oars or Sweeps" OF the
sweeps there were three-two for the
sides and one for the stern. The
sweeps consisted each of handle six
feet long and two inches in diameter
and blade two and half feet long,
six inches wide and little more than
half an inch thick. When the craft
was completed we rolled 1t along tho
saplings into the water and sailed
away. 1t took us about a week to get
the raft completed, but the craft last
ed as long as we had any use for it.