The Imperiia Project: a spatial history of the Russian EmpireMain MenuProjectsDashboardsData CatalogMapStoriesGalleriesGamesWho said history was boring?Teach Our ContentCiting the ProjectKelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5The Imperiia Project // Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
The Drowned Log
12018-09-25T02:10:34-04:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f591plain2018-09-25T10:48:00-04:00Kelly O'Neilldc20b45f1d74122ba0d654d19961d826c5a557f5Don’t be fooled by the elegant blue lines on the map: even an ice-free river could be treacherous. The famous rapids below Ekaterinoslav rendered the Dnieper (Dnipro) River unnavigable, but many rivers were plagued with rapids, rocks, shoals, and sandbars. Shipwrecks were common. Many men drowned, and a great many logs sank to the riverbed.
In 1802 an ambitious Polish landowner ran the Dnestr River in a handmade boat. In so doing he became the empire’s first famous whitewater rafter and opened a major river to timber shipping.