2-752-400 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Ferry at Renovo', 1874. River crossing at Renovo, Pennsylvania, USA. 'There is a mountain-road here which penetrates through the country to the southward, and the teams cross the river in a dreadfully rickety ferry. This is a species of flat-boat, which is propelled across by a man hauling on a rope suspended from the high south bank to a huge pole on the other shore. In the wintry days, when the river is turbulent and the winds are high, the crossing here is not very pleasant; but in the jolly summer-tide it becomes a kind of pastime, and the visitors from large cities are so amused at this rude method of progression that they cross repeatedly for the fun of it. The view from the centre of the stream is beautiful exceedingly'. From "Picturesque America; or, The Land We Live In, A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes...with Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Eminent American Artists" Vol. II, edited by William Cullen Bryant. [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1874]