DCHP-1 Online
flat-boat Hist. 
n. a boat having a flat bottom and pointed bow and stern, used for inland freight traffic.
See also: York boat batteau (def 3)
- 1859 (1932) A flat boat was built and they all embarked on it to drift down the river, as they had no crew.
- 1870 The construction of flat boats for river navigation and other preparations for the North-West expedition are actively going forward.
- 1936 Leaving the end of steel in their scows and flat-boats they floated down the Athabasca, the Slave and the Mackenzie rivers, carrying to the native the "blessings" of civilization . . . .
- 1963 In only five years [from 1858] the S.S. Selkirk would arrive with a flatboat bearing the "Countess of Dufferin," the first locomotive to enter the Canadian North-West.
- 1859 (1932) A flat boat was built and they all embarked on it to drift down the river, as they had no crew.