In Thoreau's writing about his ascent of Mt. Ktaadn, he

>>956909
Today it would be a ridiculous amount of work. In mid-19th century Maine, however, it would have been the best way to get a group of people and supplies to the base of the mountain. Gear and supplies then were MUCH heavier then and humping all that shit to the base through deer trails and bushwacking would have been a major asspain.

In 1846, most of Maine was untouched wilderness. There were few roads or man-made trails. The whole reason HDT had a transcendentalist freak out on the mountain was because he'd literally never been anywhere that didn't have something man made on it. Batteauxs and canoes were the best way to move around.

>>956952
Would it not be easier to pull some kind of craft upstream than to pole your way up though?

Genuine question, I have zero experience with this kind of thing.

>>956975
Pull it from where, genius? The bank? His post covered that.

>>956975
It was common to do that with larger rivers where banks had been cleared for specifically that reason, but this was unmaintained wilderness, there was no trail along the river to pull from.

>>956952
In 1846 Maine was more industrialised than it is now, in fact, Maine is more heavily forested now than it was at the time of European contact.
The rest of your post is spot on though. Boats, ships, and canoes were far and away the primary mode of transportation through the state.

>>957058
Maybe along the immediate coast, but that far north?

>>957070
Not as much in 1846, but by the late 1800s the land around Kathadin was owned and cut by the Great Northern Paper Company, the largest paper mill in the world at the time.

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Poling can be pretty efficient in certain water conditions, especially with larger and heavier craft one person can propel it just as fast as two men rowing.

I live near the marsh and it's still pretty popular among sport fishers.

>>957336
This, poling can give you a lot of leverage, especially in slow moving water.

If your trying to head against current in a slow, shallow river poling is the way to go.