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THE BULLBOAT.
The bullboat of the fur traders, in distinction from the tubs which were used by some of the Missouri River tribes, was an outgrowth of the conditions of navigation on such streams as the Platte, Niobrara, and Cheyenne. The excessive shallowness of these streams precluded the use of any craft drawing more than nine or ten inches. The bullboat was probably the lightest draft vessel ever constructed for its size, and was admirably fitted for its peculiar use. It was commonly about thirty feet long by twelve wide and twenty inches deep.
THE INDIAN BULLBOAT
(After Maximilian)
The frame of the bullboat was constructed by laying stout willow poles, three or four inches in diameter, lengthwise of the boat, and across these similar poles, the two layers being firmly lashed together with rawhide. The side frames were made of willow twigs about an inch and a half in diameter at the larger end and six to seven feet long. The smaller ends were lashed to the cross-poles, and about two feet of the larger ends were then bent up to a vertical position. Along the tops of the vertical portions and on the inside was lashed a stout pole like those forming the bottom of the framework. To this gunwale were lashed cross-poles, at intervals of four or five feet, to keep the sides from spreading. No nails or pins were used for fastenings, but rawhide lashings only. The frame so constructed was exceedingly strong, and its flexible quality, by which it withstood the continuous wrenching to which it was subjected, was an important element of strength.
METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION.
The framework, being completed, was then covered with a continuous sheet of rawhide formed by sewing together square pieces as large as could be cut from a single buffalo hide. Only the skins of buffalo bulls were used for this purpose (whence the name of the boat), for they were the strongest and best able to resist abrasion from rubbing on the bottom of the river. The pieces were sewed together with buffalo sinew. Before this work was done the hides were carefully dressed by the Indians so as to be free of hair and perfectly flexible. When the covering was all sewed together it was thoroughly soaked and then placed over the framework and the sides and ends made fast to the gunwale of the boat. The hides would then dry and shrink until they were drawn as tight as a drumhead.
The final operation in the work was to pitch the seams. The material used was a mixture of buffalo tallow and ashes, and it was carefully rubbed into all seams or cracks until the whole covering was water-tight.