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Types of Boats on the Inland Western Waters
Bateau or Bateaux 
A variety of keelless, often flat-bottomed, plank boats made with pointed ends and straight flaring sides. High, pointed ends were also common, and some had rounded sides, lapstrake planking, and endposts, " knees" , or other framing elements. Bateaux were typically propelled by rowing, poling, and water currents, or they were sailed with the wind. Smaller bateaux were sometimes called " the white man's version of the canoe," though they were more durable and difficult to portage.
- Bateau plat or Chaland: A smaller bateau of light draft and narrow beam.
- Mackinaw or Albany Boats: Generally larger boats equipped with sails, oars, or tiller. This was a noted American Fur Company vessel used on Lake Superior and the St. Louis River upstream to Fond du Lac and on the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in southern Minnesota.
- York Boats: Said to be descended from the bateau, but made for portaging (rolling over logs laid on portage trails). This was a noted Hudson's Bay Company vessel used on Red River.
- Sacking Boats: Large, narrow, flat-bottomed bateau-like boat used in logging operations to facilitate the movement of log booms across open water. Primarily used to transport men or, in conjunction with headworks, to move anchors and tend anchor ropes.
Keelboats 
Craft of plank construction with interior frames built over a keel. Typically equipped with masts, sails, rudders, and large oars, or moved upstream by poling or, early on, by steamboats.
- Ordinary keels: Generally of 40- to 80-foot length and 7- to10-foot beam.
- Barge (Berge): A somewhat wider and flatter variant; a good shallow-water craft
Bark Canoes 
Narrow, light, shallow-draft bark boats moved with paddles. Canoes were developed by North American Indians and later adopted and modified by European Americans for use in trade, exploration, travel, and, most recently, recreation. Paddlers and passengers usually faced in the direction of travel. Larger canoes were run with specialized crews; in some cases, on big water, they were equipped with make-shift oarlocks to facilitate rowing. Canoe sails, some as simple as holding up a blanket or mat, were also used.
Wood Canoes 
Other than simple floating rafts, wooden dugout canoes may have been the earliest form of water craft in inland waters. They have likely enjoyed the longest use; they were still around during post-contact times. These include pirogues or dugouts and variants: Vessels fashioned from hollowed tree trunks. A variation of the pirogue was a dugout split in half longitudinally and then reassembled with planks inserted between the halves.
Skin Boats 
- Skin-covered frame canoes: Used only as a temporary emergency vessel.
- Bullboats: Bowl-shaped; used on streams in crossing from one side to the other.
Felucca or longboat 
A poorly-known vessel type said to be long and narrow; it moved by sailing with lateen sails or by rowing. Hull construction is uncertain. A felucca was used by the French trader-explorer, Pierre Charles Le Sueur, during his expedition to the Blue Earth River, in southern Minnesota, in 1700.
Flatboats 
Strong, box-like boats with flat bottoms, perpendicular sides, and upturned ends. They sometimes were covered throughout their entire length. They were constructed to float with the current and steered by large oars or sweeps placed at the ends. Most flatboats never returned after descending the river; often, they were dismantled and used or sold for lumber at their downstream destination.
Rafts
Rafts are any of a variety of floating platforms serving as transport or utility craft or as vehicles for conveying their material parts.
Citation: The Minnesota Historical Society website at http://www.mnhs.org/places/nationalregister/shipwrecks/mpdf/incraft.html