Great Expectations Were Entertained Of The Boat That Was Built Here On
The Iron Frame Brought All The Way From Harper's Ferry, Virginia.
The frame
was covered with dressed skins of buffalo and elk, the seams being coated with
a composition of powdered charcoal and beeswax, in default of tar or pitch.
This craft was well named the "Experiment," and a disappointing experiment
it proved to be.
Here is Captain Lewis' account of her failure:
"The boat having now become sufficiently dry, we gave her a coat
of the composition, which after a proper interval was repeated,
and the next morning, Tuesday, July 9th, she was launched into the water,
and swam perfectly well. The seats were then fixed and the oars fitted;
but after we had loaded her, as well as the canoes, and were on the point
of setting out, a violent wind caused the waves to wet the baggage,
so that we were forced to unload the boats. The wind continued
high until evening, when to our great disappointment we discovered
that nearly all the composition had separated from the skins and left
the seams perfectly exposed; so that the boat now leaked very much.
To repair this misfortune without pitch is impossible, and as none of that
article is to be procured, we therefore, however reluctantly, are obliged
to abandon her, after having had so much labor in the construction.
We now saw that the section of the boat covered with buffalo-skins
on which hair had been left answered better than the elk-skins,
and leaked but little; while that part which was covered with hair
about one-eighth of an inch retained the composition perfectly,
and remained sound and dry.
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