From Shore to Shore: the Construction of Ferries in Saskatchewan, Canada

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Prior to the construction of bridges, the most common and safest method to cross the rivers in the Canadian prairies was to be ferried a crossed, due to the severe and dangerous currents within the rivers. These ferries were locally manufactured to no standard plan, with the knowledge that the ferries would have a limited useful life span before being discarded.

This paper describes the geographic region of their service, their construction methods, and the recreation of working drawings and a 3D model based upon a preserved ferry. Thus, providing an archaeological record of these important, but easily overlooked, watercraft in the Canadian Prairies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow