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How did the wagons avoid sinking / not take on water through the wood plank edges? Constant bailing while on the water?
by metadat 2y ago
How did the wagons avoid sinking / not take on water through the wood plank edges? Constant bailing while on the water?
- oxidant 2y agoI think you take the wagons apart and put them on a ~boat~ edit: was it a raft? In this context, "Float them down" doesn't refer to the wagons floating by their own bouancy, but rather their position atop the water.
- metadat 2y agoI think you're right, in Oregon Trail they float on a raft.
- thoroughburro 2y agoIncorrect. It refers to the wagons, which were temporarily converted.
- Dalewyn 2y agoThey caulked the wagon[1] turning it into an impromptu boat, which consisted of removing the wheels and axles and then filling in the seams and cracks between the wooden boards of the wagon with soft materials and an oil like tar. [1]: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6ouy10/june_17_1848_on_the_oregon_trail_i_have_reached/dkkijuj/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6ouy10/june_... >"Oit came all the old clothes we could spare," he wrote later. "Out came the tar buckets, old chisels and broken knives. They stuffed scrap cloth into creaks and crannies in the wagon and tarred over them.