Boatmen at Ausable Chasm made many trips down the Chasm each day, often 10-20, but returning 1- to 2-ton boats upriver 1 mile from the Boat Landing to Table Rock was a major challenge. At first, they relied on human strength and ingenuity. An 1875 newspaper article said the boats were drawn back by rope fastened at the upper end, with the men in the boat pulling their way up. Boatmen pulled against the current using tie-off points such as iron pins anchored in the rock and holes bored in the Chasm walls, and getting through the 400-foot Rapids this way required several men on each side. As automobile travel increased visitation from 27,000 in 1919 to 95,000 in 1927, hand-pulling became impractical. In 1928, a motorized electric cable boat hauling system was installed along the first 2/3 of the Boat Ride route, from Whirlpool Basin to Table Rock. Steel cable ran continuously through sheaves and wheels attached to poles anchored into the Chasm walls. After unloading passengers at the Boat Landing, each pair of boatmen paddled to the opposite bank, stepped ashore, towed the boat by rope along the riverbank about 1,000 feet to the start point at Whirlpool Basin, re-boarded, paddled into position under the moving cable, and used a long clutch pole to hook into it. The cable pulled the boat upstream to Table Rock while the rear boatman used his paddle as a rudder to keep the boat straight. The system ended after the flood of November 1996, when waters 60 feet high damaged it beyond repair by ripping down cable and breaking poles that held the sheaves and wheels. Without the cable system, the wooden boats were retired, ending the wooden boat era after 124 years. Boat tours continued after 1996 under a new name, with rafts and different guides, and the tradition of experiencing Ausable Chasm by boat continued.