this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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For sharing illustrations of history

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This magazine is for sharing artwork of historical events, places, personages, etc. Scale models and the like also welcome!

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Cotton bales on a 19th century steamboat (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[โ€“] kyle1320 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You got me curious, so I did some research -- this paper is pretty informative. The most likely explanation seems to be that it is a "snag" that was lifted out of the water, to prevent other boats from running into it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for digging, that might indeed be what this branch depicts. Interesting story told by a seemingly random piece of wood for sure!