Canal cargo boats were generally similar in overall size, though their framing techniques varied with different craftsmen and construction practices at boatyards along the canals. A typical cargo boat was about 100 feet long and about 14½ feet wide, only a few inches narrower than the locks, with six feet between the flat hull and the deck. People walked along the side of the boat on the race plank. The stable for the mules was at the front end, or bow, mostly underneath the deck, with a small plank for the mules to walk into the stable. Hatches covering the hay house and the cargo extended the entire length of the boat. At the stern, or aft end, the cabin was entered from the race plank by stepping down into the living quarters, and the bow lantern, or night hawker, was mounted on the head. Joseph Shaw, Samuel Shopbell, Lewis Smith, William Corson, Phillip Shay, Samuel Menges, and George McCarty captained canal boats that passed by this spot. Fleming Walton, John Waldron, Augustus Wilson, Daniel Feister, John Fowler, and John Lebo made their living as boatmen in the 1850s and 1860s. Cargo boats were identified by numbers or names, and Muncy-owned boats included the Captain Shopbell, the Col. Jacob Bieber, the Captain Philip Shay, the American Eagle, and Stars and Stripes.