A submerged tree obstructing navigation. When it sways with the current it is called a SAWYER, q.v.
1819.
| I knew by the steam, that so spitefully curled | |
| Around the old boat, that a sand-bar was near; | |
| And I said, if there’s snags to be found in this world, | |
| The eye that is coozy may look for them here. | |
St. Louis Enquirer, Oct. 6. |
1822. See SAWYER.
1840. A rock itself, sharpened and set by art, could be no more dangerous than these dread ‘snags.’—Knick. Mag., xvi. 463 (Dec.).
1842. Mr. Linn of Missouri said that from the point where he lived he could see the wrecks of seven steamboats. Such must be the case where two or three thousand snags are accumulated.—U.S. Senate, June 22: Congressional Globe, p. 666.
1846. The steamer Nimrod, when at Horse Shoe cut-off, encountered a snag at night. The snag shivered, the fragment passing upward, and tearing away a considerable portion of the boiler deck. Both chimmes were knocked down. The hull of the Nimrod is one of the staunchest on the river, and was not injured in the least.—St. Louis Reveille, March 24.
1846. The navigator’s arm grew strong as he guided his rude craft past the “snag” or “sawyer,” or kept off the no less dreaded “bar.”—‘The Cincinnati Miscellany,’ ii. 332.
1847. You must steer clear of me in your speechifications, or mayhap you’ll strike a snag!—Sol. Smith, ‘Adventures,’ p. 144.
1851, 1857. See SAWYER.
1867. The sharp stems, often entirely under water, form snags, the special horror of Missouri navigation.—A. D. Richardson, ‘Beyond the Mississippi,’ p. 20.
1875. See SLIVER.
*** See also Appendix XXI.
