A COOL WAY TO TRAVEL

HUDSON RIVER ICE BOAT, 19TH CENTURY

CHECKING THE ICE BOAT OUT

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  25 degrees F at the ferry dock, 22 on the ba porch.  Wind S, mostly calm with light to moderate gusts.  The humidity is 87% after several inches of snow fell last night.  The barometer is rising, now at 20.72".  The next ten days is predicted to be more of the same; temperatures in the twenties, mostly overcast and cloudy, with snow and snowflurries.

   The ice of the big lake is usually a rough affair, full of ridges, bumps and cracks and probably much too rough for most ice boats to sail over, but the recent melting and refreezing has left it much smoother than normal.  So, out will come the ice boats on the lower Bay at Ashland, the one pictured being the first I have seen this winter.

   When we lived in New York big ice boats were often seen on the broad Hudson River, where they could go full speed, and with room to maneuver, even tack into the wind. Ice Boats have been around on the Hudson since 1790.   In the days before railroads ice boats carried passengers and freight on the frozen river.  They can travel at breakneck speed in a good wind.

   Talk about a cool way to travel!