September, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
489 
The Government has constructed a series 
of wing dams in order to straighten out 
the course of the river channel. These 
wing dams occur in groups of from five 
to eight and are always on the wide-bend 
of the stream proper. They are made of 
willow sticks and trap rock dumped 
rather than built with any care. When 
the water is down to a stage so that these 
dams are a few feet out of water is the 
best time for fishing. This stage is gen- 
eral throughout summer and fall. It is 
on the down stream side and near the 
outer ends of the dams that Mr. Bass 
lurks, awaiting his prey. Here the water 
is swift. The casting is done from a boat 
and the boatman must be as clever at 
handling his craft as the caster is with 
his rod for when Mr. Bass is hooked the 
boat must head for the open water with- 
liad seen since leaving the Mississippi. 
And this camp site was made to order 
so we pitched to spend the night. Sup- 
per was over before dark and the camp 
fire had usurped the cook fire site. Here 
we toasted our shins and aired our stories 
of other travels in the Great Outdoors 
until one by one we crawled into our 
sleeping bags for a much needed rest. 
O UR next day’s run was a fine, long, 
fast current ride down the Broken 
Gun through a number of lakes and 
ponds which led back into the Black River 
and finally into the Mississippi above La 
Crosse. This country is so wild and beau- 
tiful that it can hardly be described. The 
ponds are very rich in wild rice growth, 
and for this reason form one of the chief 
duck-breeding grounds in the west. Wis- 
one of these canoes to put into my fleet 
and I hope that others will join me. It 
is the purpose of this article to have this 
craft replace the atrocious and unsafe 
home-made canvas canoe. The Three 
Board Canoe is to be made at home. No 
one would ever think of giving it to a 
professional canoe builder primarily be- 
cause of its simplicity in construction. 
Certainly it does not compare with the 
fine lines of its manufactured sister but 
it will surely answer many of her pur- 
poses. It seems to be particularly well 
fitted for the country in which I found it. 
The “Mixing Box” as it is known on 
the Mississippi is made principally of 
three clear white pine boards, a bottom 
and two sides. In general the boards 
may be said to be flat except that they 
follow the shear and rocker lines to a 
Biw 
TKe three Boat'd. Canoe (Mixing Box) 
out wasting a second. Then the fight is 
on. When Mississippi bass mgn up to 
fight there is no limit to the number of 
rounds. It is to a finish. 
We weren’t fishing this trip, just cruis- 
ing but right there while we slipped over 
the tops of wing dams and bass flirted 
with the bows of our canoes, our plans 
for a fishing trip were all sealed up. 
We slipped down the Great River admir- 
ing the wonderful cliffs that reared sheer 
up some seven hundred feet from the 
water’s edge to the table lands above. 
Our plans were to explore the bottoms be- 
tween the Mississippi and the Black 
Rivers so we turned off to the right en- 
tering Gibbs Chute, which led into the 
Broken Gun and a myriad of lakes. It 
was in this wilderness that Charlie’s 
guiding powers stood in well for he led 
us to the only possible camp site that we 
consin has just passed a law that forty- 
five ducks per day per person shall be the 
limit and that no blinds can be used, all 
of which may give some idea of the hunt- 
ing there in season. 
On the second leg of our cruise, Charlie 
had elected to paddle the freight which 
left Harry and I to double up. Toward 
the end, Harry began to lag a bit and 
turned to fishing for pickerel, much to the 
disgust of our friend Charlie. “Snakes” 
he called them and paddled far ahead of 
us so that he could not even see us fish- 
ing. My, but how a fly caster does hate 
a pickerel. I am afraid Charlie hurried 
us a little to the finish of our cruise 
through trying to keep ahead. At any 
rate he gave me a little more time to 
sketch and take measurements from the 
Three Board Canoes. 
I am now making preparations to build 
nicety. The bottom board is rockered 
fore and aft, just enough so that the ca- 
noe will heed every deft stroke of the 
paddle. The sides are flared to varying 
degrees, its general lines conforming to 
those of the ordinary canoe. Its one “stiff 
rib” in the center and the two decks are 
all the lateral strengthening materials 
that the boat possesses, and all that are 
necessary. 
T HE materials used in the “Mixing 
Box” are: Bottom board, white pine, 
15' x 20" x (Note: If a board 
of this width cannot be found, two 10" 
boards will have to be dowled and glued 
up. Finish this construction with a half 
round oak strip for a keelson.) The sides 
are white pine boards, 16'-6" x 12" x 
Decks are of %" white pine, length to 
(continued on page 512) 
