Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.

The Adirondack Mountains, New York, circa 1902. "An Adirondack hand cart carry." Yet another example of hybrid transportation. 8x10 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
For two or three summers, I did portage, or haulage as you will, humpin' anything the camper couldn't or wouldn't. Skiffs, dorys, canoes and home built, though they were some heavy clunkers, I wanted to lecture them on the virtues of birch and cedar over oak and hemlock. But at the end of most trips, I must say they all tried to shoulder out their craft. I miss them, because now I camp alone on Benson Lake.
What's being hauled is an Adirondack guide boat, itself a hybrid - not a canoe, not a rowboat, but the best of both. It's been around since the early 19th century. In the photo, it's probably moving between lakes or ponds over a "carry," many of which connect the Fulton Chain of Lakes in the eastern side of the Adirondacks.
What's with the tree on the left it appears to have its bark peeled away in several bands. One at its base somewhat large, then two smaller above that one both about the same size, then one much larger above those.
[Horizontal peeling is typical of the white and paper birch. -tterrace]
Today's Top 5