Topic starter
17/02/2009 1:57 pm
All this talk of dead cows in the paddlewheel reminded me of my experience with a dead hog. It was a warm night in winter when he floated into the wedge-shaped space between the Belle's bow and the wharfboat Renown, where I was winter-watchman.
I had no power other than a set of chain falls rigged to use the landing stage as a spar. Now this fellow was BIG. I very carefully (VERY CAREFULLY) worked the stern of the Belle out about six or seven feet and propped it there with a 4" x 4" timber that was lying around. Next I eased the bow out in much the same fashion hoping the current and Mr. Hog would float on through with the weeds, branches and cornstalks. Unfortunately there was no current. Using a spike-pole I gingerly urged the cornstalks and branches through the miniature canal I had made but that stubborn hog refused to follow them. Desperate, I got an oar and made a current downstream from the bloated animal and it gradually worked its way through. It took about seven hours and by the time I had the boats retied I was one very tired man.
When I came back the next morning, there he was: snagged on a paddlewheel bucket!
18/02/2009 3:02 am
Funny story Capt, thanks...
I'm sure there are a few dot.orgers that remember the bloated, floating, upside-down alligator stuck in the drift at the Baton Rouge Paperclip...
18/02/2009 4:37 am
Almost everytime I cruised the Delta Queen on the Ohio River, there was at least 1 dead animal of some sort floating by, however I never saw such on the UMR or Illinois...not to say of course it wouldn't happen on those rivers...just by chance I'm afraid...
18/02/2009 2:28 pm
A great story indeed, Alan, and one that any working river person can relate to. Drift, in whatever form it may take, can consume hours of work to get drift out from barge couplings, between docks and vessels, etc., etc. This drift includes driftwood and other trash and litter (often large pieces, but also small ones that cause more trouble than the big ones), ice and yes, even dead animals.
Topic starter
18/02/2009 3:44 pm
As the old saying I just made up says: "You ain't no riverman less'n you done dealt with a drift rack."
Topic starter
18/02/2009 3:55 pm
Drift racks are a truly universal catchall. A typical drift pile includes trees, brush, weeds, cornstalks, auto wheels and tires, soap bottles, somebody else's old dock, rope, and even political corruption, and all manage to knit themselves into every sort of knot from a granny to a barrel hitch doubled on a sheepshank. Even without dead animals they have a certain stink, a melange of tired oil, rotten lumber, mud and a distinct odor of desolation. You can't walk on a drift heap, burn it, dismantle it, blast it, tow it or pray it away and it won't sink. Only the next flood will take it away, and it always leaves a new one.
18/02/2009 4:35 pm
I've spent many a happy summer afternoon as a kid climbing over drift racks when we could convince Uncle Jim to take across to the Kentucky side in his little skiff. Many treasures have been found amongst all the melange of not so treasured items that Alan names.