Floating House Author:Scott Russell Sanders In 1815, the McClure family travels down the Ohio River in a flatboat loaded with their wagon, farm tools, and household goods, as well as their horse, cow, pig, and mule. Young Mary and Jonathan watch for sandbars and dangers up ahead while their parents steer. — The children listen for the roar of rapids, a sign they are nearing their destinati... more »on, the frontier village of Jeffersonville, Indiana. When the McClures reach that place, with the help of other settlers, they take their flatboat apart and use the wood to build their new home.« less