setting-pole

A check of the setting-pole can hold it steadfast on the brink of wreck.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 59, September, 1862 Various

"Pluck the superabundant huckleberry," said they, "while we, suspending your firkin and your traps upon the setting-pole, tote them, as the spies of Joshua toted the grape-clusters of the Promised Land."

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 61, November, 1862 Various

But when we came to the next cascading bit, though the mist had now lifted, we lightened the canoe by two men's avoir-dupois, that it might dance, and not blunder heavily, might seek the safe shallows, away from the dangerous bursts of mid-current, and choose passages where Cancut, with the setting-pole, could let it gently down.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 61, November, 1862 Various

Mr. Lincoln's perilous task has been to carry a rather shaky raft through the rapids, making fast the unrulier logs as he could snatch opportunity, and the country is to be congratulated that he did not think it his duty to run straight at all hazards, but cautiously to assure himself with his setting-pole where the main current was, and keep steadily to that.

Harvard Classics Volume 28 Essays English and American Various

He is sure to know what to do at the supreme moment when you jam your setting-pole immutably between two rocks and, with the alternative of taking a bath, are forced to let go and grab your paddle; and are then hung up on a slightly submerged rock at the head of the chief rapid just in time to see the rest of the party disappear majestically around the lower bend.

The Joyful Heart Robert Haven Schauffler 1921

Mr. Lincoln's perilous task has been to carry a rather shaky raft through the rapids, making fast the unrulier logs as he could snatch opportunity, and the country is to be congratulated that he did not think it his duty to run straight at all hazards, but cautiously to assure himself with his setting-pole where the main current was, and keep steadily to that.

Our American Holidays: Lincoln's Birthday A Comprehensive View of Lincoln as Given in the Most Noteworthy Essays, Orations and Poems, in Fiction and in Lincoln's Own Writings Various 1921

I put out my setting-pole to try to stop the raft, that the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet of water; but I fortunately saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft-logs.

Boys' Book of Famous Soldiers 1917

Mr. Lincoln’s perilous task has been to carry a rather shaky raft through the rapids, making fast the unrulier logs as he could snatch opportunity, and the country is to be congratulated that he did not think it his duty to run straight at all hazards, but cautiously to assure himself with his setting-pole where the main current was, and keep steadily to that.

Abraham Lincoln, 1864-1865 1909

Rumsey's first effort was a copy of the old setting-pole idea.

The Paths of Inland Commerce; a chronicle of trail, road, and waterway Archer Butler Hulbert 1903

Harvey seized the setting-pole from the bottom of the canoe, dropping his paddle in its place.

The Rival Campers Ashore The Mystery of the Mill Ruel Perley Smith 1903