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Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), S. (search)
position for some time, and gradually increasing its dimensions, at length attains an enormous magnitude, and often becomes an impassable barrier, extending along the river's course for many miles. This is what the boatmen call a raft. It generally occurs in the tributaries of the Mississippi, and not in the river itself. One instance of this is afforded by the Red River, and another by the Atchafalaya, a river flowing out of the Mississippi, at a point about 250 miles from the sea. The Atchafalaya raft extends over a space of 20 miles; but the river's bed, for the whole of this distance, is not filled up with drift-timber, — the actual length of the raft itself being only about 10 miles. The snag-boat consists of two hulls, firmly secured to each other, at a distance of a few feet apart; and over the intervening space a deck is thrown, having an aperture left in the center. A powerful crab is placed over this aperture, from which strong chains and grapplings are suspended in th