
Horse-Powered Ferries in Nineteenth-Century America (1999) - metabagel
https://www.nasw.org/users/sperkins/hrsferry.html
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anateus
Better horses than people, as was the case in Russia:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlak)

Inspiring a famous painting by Repin and The Song of the Volga Boatmen:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNb54rwDQJM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNb54rwDQJM)

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Reason077
You still occasionally see horses powering boats along canals here in the UK.
Of course, they're pulling from the towpath, not actually onboard the boat.

[https://www.horsejournals.com/popular/history-
heritage/horse...](https://www.horsejournals.com/popular/history-
heritage/horses-jobs-barge-horses)

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smogcutter
I suppose you could run the horses on a treadmill connected to a water
wheel... but I’d probably stick with tow ropes.

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spiritplumber
The horse would probably agree.

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metabagel
Ulysses S. Grant mentioned this technology in his personal memoirs, in the
context of his childhood.

"I kept the horse until he was four years old, when he went blind, and I sold
him for twenty dollars. When I went to Maysville to school, in 1836, at the
age of fourteen, I recognized my colt as one of the blind horses working on
the tread-wheel of the ferry-boat."

