" More than a
year passed before they again saw and tasted spirits.
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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