Journey back Inside The Blanket Fort today, as we discuss a book near and dear to us at SIU Press. Jason Emerson’s Lincoln the Inventor, the book that inspired our popular Concise Lincoln Library series. This book was originally published in 2009 but finally took its rightful place in the series on September 19th when we released a new edition retrofitted in the style of the Concise Lincoln Library series.
In April 1831, Abraham Lincoln found himself stuck on a flatboat that was grounded on the Rutledge milldam below the town of New Salem. Lincoln worked to pry the boat loose, directed the crew, and ran into the village to borrow an augur to bore a hole in the end of the boat that was hanging over the dam, causing the water to drain and the boat to float free. Seventeen years later, while traveling home from a round of political speeches, Lincoln witnessed another similar occurrence. For the rest of his journey, he considered how to construct a device to free stranded boats from shallow waters.