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Horse-Powered Ferries in Nineteenth-Century America (1999)
- Reason077 6y agoYou still occasionally see horses powering boats along canals here in the UK. Of course, they're pulling from the towpath, not actually onboard the boat. https://www.horsejournals.com/popular/history-heritage/horses-jobs-barge-horses https://www.horsejournals.com/popular/history-heritage/horse...
- smogcutter 6y agoI suppose you could run the horses on a treadmill connected to a water wheel... but I’d probably stick with tow ropes.
- spiritplumber 6y agoThe horse would probably agree.
- anateus 6y agoBetter horses than people, as was the case in Russia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlak Inspiring a famous painting by Repin and The Song of the Volga Boatmen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNb54rwDQJM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNb54rwDQJM
- metabagel 6y agoUlysses S. Grant mentioned this technology in his personal memoirs, in the context of his childhood. "I kept the horse until he was four years old, when he went blind, and I sold him for twenty dollars. When I went to Maysville to school, in 1836, at the age of fourteen, I recognized my colt as one of the blind horses working on the tread-wheel of the ferry-boat."