When Horses Walked on Water: Horse-Powered Ferries in Nineteenth-Century America

Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/very good. Signed Dedication copy. Near book in a jacket with spine sunned. First printing, full number line. Bibliography with notes, index and appendices. The "dedication copy" signed by Cohn on the title page with an inscription to the dedicatee on the appropriate page. The authors "show how a confluence of geographic, technological, economic, and social conditions in the United States and Canada turned an ancient idea into a practical alternative to more expensive and dangerous steamboats. Reviewing evidence from travelers' memoirs, regional histories, pictorial records, and the only horseboat ever studied by archaeologists - a wreck on the floor of Lake Champlain's Burlington Bay, in Vermont - the authors trace the evolution of horseboats from early mechanisms that forced the animals to walk in tight circles to "endless floor" treadmills that resembled modern exercise machines. In a lively narrative interspersed with quotes from passenger accounts, the book charts the rise and demise of horseboat businesses on the Hudson River, as well as in New York City, St. Louis, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The authors also describe and record the underwater excavation of the Lake Champlain wreck, revealing a wealth of detail about the construction and operation of a typical treadwheel horseboat of the 1830s and 1840s." WorldCat abstract. Dedicated to Dr. Marjory Power, Professor Emerita of the University of Vermont, Department of Anthropolgy. Dr. Power was a supporter of thr Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, the research home of the authors. She was active in Vermont archaeology for more than 25 years. Her most widely known scholarly work was The Original Vermonters: Native Americans Past and Present, co-authored with Dr. William Haviland. Every effort is made to ship all books and other items within 24 hours. Clean recycled packing material will be used when possible. The Book Shed has a been a member of the Vermont Antiquarian Bookseller's Association since 1997. An online bookseller with a bookshop sensibility!