KAFTING. 19 



In 1808, owing to international disputes, Congress laid an embargo 

 on all trade with Canada. This restriction bore heavily on the lumber- 

 men of Clinton County, who were dependent on the Canadian market. 

 That year a large timber raft, said to have been a quarter of a mile 

 long, lay at Isle la Motte waiting for a favorable wind to carry it over 

 the line. The United States revenue officer, supported b} r a company 

 of militia, was watching it, under orders to prevent any export of that 

 kind. The bold raftsmen, undaunted by the display of military, 

 pushed out into the stream, the soldiers following along the shore. 

 After a brisk exchange of musketry and rifle shots, in which no one 

 was injured, the lumbermen crossed the line and proceeded on their 

 way without further hindrance. 



CONSTKUCTION OF EAFTS. 



No history of the lumber business in this State would be complete 

 without some description of the construction of a raft. In 1865, and 

 for several years subsequent, the writer was engaged in rafting on the 

 upper Allegheny, both boards and square timber, putting in his rafts 

 at Olean, Weston's, and Portville, in Cattaraugus County, N. Y., and 

 running them to Oil City, Pittsburg, and Cincinnati. The details of 

 the business, its varied scenes and incidents, are easily recalled to mind. 



Board rafts, pine or hemlock, were from 2± to 30 courses deep, a 

 "course" consisting of inch "stuff," or its equivalent in plank or joist. 

 The number of courses varied according to the height of the "fresh" 

 and the judgment of the pil^t, on whose ability to handle the raft amid 

 bars and shoals the owner was dependent for a successful and profit- 

 able trip. In that part of the State all logs were cut 16 feet long, 

 except a small number of twelves, which were cut when necessary to 

 save timber. Hence the platforms of a board raft were 16 feet square. 

 They were built up in successive layers, the boards in each course being- 

 laid at right angles to those just below, thus binding them together 

 securely. 



At the corners of each platform, and at intervals along the four 

 sides, round wooden stakes, about 2 inches in diameter, extended from 

 the under side of the raft to the top, passing through augur holes in 

 some of the boards. These "grub stakes." as they were called, were 

 made of sapling trees peeled and cut away at the roots until only a 

 knot) remained at the lower end, which was larger than the augur hole 

 in the boards above it through which the stake was passed. The 

 binding boards in the top course were wedged solidly at the augur 

 holes, 80 that the stakes could not pull out. Five platforms thus con- 

 structed were connected closely, forming a "five-platform piece." 

 The larger rafts were made up by coupling three of these five-plat- 

 form pieces side by side and fastening three more behind them. A 

 raft of this size would then be 48 feet wide and L60 feet long; and if 



