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sturgeon-head (boat)
[so called because the shape of the bow and stern resembled the shovel-snout of a sturgeon]
Northwest, Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
n.
a freight boat about 55 feet long and 11 wide, with a draught of little more than two feet, capable of carrying 10-12 tons and propelled by poles and or oars, or, in later days, an outboard motor.
Quotations
1889
These inland boats, as they are termed, are extraordinary specimens of marine architecture, classified according to shape as York boats, sturgeon-heads, and scows. . . .
1892
The same sturgeon-head boats of the downward trip were in readiness, loaded with bales of furs.
1928
A large sturgeon-head boat powered with an outboard motor put out to meet the steamer as we came abreast of the fishing camp.
1930
Goods were sent to Athabasca Landing, taken up the river by steamboat and then hauled in a sturgeon-head to Lesser Slave Lake post and carried by trail to Peace River.
1948
Here the rapids boats--sturgeon-head boats they were called, "something between a scow and a York boat" with blunt, rounded bows. . . .