Chapter 9 cont. A PIONEER CABIN My readers may wish to know how the pioneer homes or cabins were built.  They were of logs cut about sixteen feet in length and of almost even size, then hauled to the number of eight or ten, to a side of the space where the building was to stand.  Then the neighbors came to the "house raising," as it was called; four good choppers, with axes, would each take a corner where a log was rolled up, would cut a notch to fit the "saddle" previously cut, then two men would fit the saddle and notch together, continuing this until the walls were high enough; then put the next log in three feet, then another end log, running each in three feet until the ends were topped off; this leaves it ready to cover with clapboards, which are four feet long and made by cutting down a large straight grained tree, sawing in four-foot lengths, then split these logs into "bolts," take the heart out, then with a "frow" and mallet drive them into boards a half inch thick and ten inches wide, laying them on the cross logs above described, breaking joints until a course is laid; over these lay a small log or pole to hold the boars firmly down; continuing this until the roof is completed.  These roofs were fairly good for turning rain, but many a time when sleeping in the loft, as the upper floor was called, we would feel the snow blowing between the boards of the roof.  We boys would cover our heads and sleep soundly, but in the morning our beds would be covered with snow.  The stairs were pins of wood driven into the logs which we ascended through a hole cut in the floor.  Talk of hardships - we did not consider them so; it was real fun for the youngsters. The doors were made of clapboards fastened to a frame with wooded pins.  The hinges were made of wood, the latch and fixtures of wood, a strong buckskin string was fastened to the latch, then passed up through a hole in the door, to open which one pulled the string, which was seldom done; hence the saying "the latch string is always out to you."  Genuine hospitality was the order of the day.  The windows were made by cutting out half of two logs, and putting in small sticks which were covered with oiled paper; this was before glass could be obtained, which was not until as late as 1834 - and about the same time we were able to procure nails, both brought from St. Louis, the nearest shipping point of any importance.  The inside finish of these houses was called "chinking and daubing."  The chinking was done by driving cordwood sticks in the spaces left by the round of the logs; the daubing was made of clay, wet to proper consistency and put on as nearly like plaster now is as the rough surface would permit.  This combination made a house warm in winter and cool in summer.  To beautify we whitewashed inside and outside with a pipe clay, such as Indians used to make their pipes; this added greatly to the neatness and beauty of the building.  The chimney was an opening of about eight feet wide on one side of the log house, walled part way with stone and mud, then topped out with split sticks like laths, only thicker; these were laid up with mud and thoroughly plastered inside with the mud, using the hands, thus preventing the danger of fire inside.  A hearth was laid with stone, if possible, if not, it was filled in with clay well pounded down.  All cooking was done in these "fireplaces."  The floor was made by hewing one side of small straight grained logs six to eight feet long, hewed with a broad ax as smooth as possible, straight with ax and chalk line, then laid down; this made a very solid floor.  No cellars were used.  In the place of these we used "root houses," which were made by digging into the side of a bank, covering with poles, then with coarse slough grass, then dirt on top of that, when it was ready for use.  We had no matches this early, but later were able to buy Lucifer matches.  We started fires with a flint and steel, holding a piece of "punk," a tough kind of rotten wood, or else we rubbed tow (refuse flax) thoroughly with gun power, then primed a flint lock musket and got a flash of powder in the pan, which would ignite the powder and tow, which put to dry hay, would soon be a flame.  At night we carefully arranged the fire to keep until morning, by raking together and covering with ashes.  It was not uncommon to go half a mile to a neighbor's to "borrow fire." After establishing a ferry at Buffalo, Captain Clark laid out a road to Dubuque, seventy-four miles due north from Buffalo; also to Monmouth, forty miles due south.  He had a man, named John Shook, take a claim on the Wapsie, and sent Wallace and Solomon Pence to establish a ferry on the Maquoketa river.  Shook built a little log cabin in the fall of 1834, then came home for supplies, leaving his traps, flour and tobacco in the cabin.  After cold weather set in he took his winter supplies and the writer, an energetic, twelve year old boy, went with him, taking two horses and two dogs with our packs.  We reached what is now Allen's Grove at night; the creek was frozen over so smooth that the barefooted horses could not cross the ice, so we turned them loose to go back home.  I had to arrange for camping while Shook sat down and fell asleep.  I found a large red oak tree that had fallen north and south; with the bark taken from the tree, after raking away the snow I soon made a fire on the west side, so the smoke and heat would blow over the log; and then cut the limbs from the little trees that had leaves on to make our beds.  Next I broiled some meat over the fire and peeled a large onion, then waked Shook to eat supper.  He had but one chew of tobacco (a very much used article in those days), which he took from his mouth, turned his hat upside down and placed the quid upon it while eating.  We spread our blankets and I, having one dog at my feet and one at my side, slept nicely in spite of the cold and snow.  The next morning we started to make the four miles remaining to the cabin.  Shook was anxious for his tabacco.  When we reached there the door was open and his first words were:  "The Indians have been here and I fear my tabacco is gone," and so it was, as well as the flour, traps and all; but the tobacco was the greatest loss to him.  Like any boy, I was glad when he decided that we must go back home; we traped about six miles, and camped for the night, again eating fat broiled meat and frozen onion for supper.  The next day we took the fourteen miles throught the snow, over the open prairie, for eleven miles without a horse, until we struck the river.  Sometimes Shook would sit down and go quickly and soundly to sleep.  I would arouse him, making him believe he had slept a long time.  As we reached a place where we could see the river timber, when not blinded by snow, I began to be frightened, knowing people often perished in snow storms.  Soon we came to a ravine running toward the timber and I proposed to follow it.  Shook consented; it struck other and larger ravines until it became a branch, then a creek, then the river at the upper end of where Montpelier now is situated.  We found there a cabin which John Richie had closed while he went to be married to Frances Pace.  In the cabin he had left an earthen jar of honey, and as we had eaten nothing for twelve hours, and only broiled pork and frozen onion within forty-eight hours, the thought of that honey was very tempting.  I climbed up and opened the clapboard roof, went down inside and with a splinter from the logs took out the honey, which was candied, or hardened, and pushed it through the openings between the logs to Shook, but of course not forgetting myself.  We continued until we had eaten all that was safe for us, or in fact, too much for our own good.  We then turned up the river for our home, five miles distant, and the only house between there and Dubuque.  You may rest assured that my boyish, adventurous spirit was satisfied by that time by that hard, lonely, bitter tramp through unbroken blinding snow.  Shortly afterward father sent Shook alone with an outfit for his winter support.  It proved a very severe, cold winter; ice on the Mississippi being twenty-four inches thick.  One night about four weeks later the door opened and in walked Shook.  All were glad to see him, and father asked if he were not frozen; he answered, "No."  After eating supper and chatting awhile he showed signs of pain in his feet; people were too hardy for small complainings in those days, and like the Indians, would scorn them; but we could see he was suffering.  Upon trying to remove his boots we found them frozen to his feet, so they had to be cut off.  The toes on one foot were as hard as ice; in, it was a very bad case.  All possible was done by poulticing and such simple remedies as we possessed to relieve him, but without success.  I took a sleigh and drove him up to Fort Armstrong to see Dr. Emerson, who was stationed there, but the doctor had gone to St. Louis, so we had to bring Shook back home.  We prepared a room in one of the claim cabins, where he lay on his back on the floor for weeks.  I went out and hunted for the swelling buds of the linwood tree to use for poultices, which brought the left foot out all right, but the flesh of the toes on the right foot dropped off, leaving the bone exposed.  There was no doctor nearer than Galena, Illinois, 107 miles distant (even that was doubtful).  My father had a man working for him, named Smith Mounts, who told Snook he could take off the blackened ends of the toes.  It was arranged for him to do so.  Mount sharpened a carpenter's chisel, and we moved Shook so that the foot would be at the end of a smooth log that formed the fireplace, Shook lying on his back on the floor while we held the foot steady to the timber.  Mounts with his sharp chisel and mallet would adjust the chisel, then hit it a strong blow, when the toe would fly off.  Poor Shook groaned, but put his foot up again, another blow, another toe off; comtinuing until in due time all were removed.  Shook recovered except for a halt in his walk.  This, we believe, was the first surgical operation in Scott county, if not in the state - crude, unscientific, without anesthetics, but effective. The Doctor Emerson, mentioned in the above, was the owner of Dred Scott, a slave whom the doctor brought to Fort Armstrong as a servant, and whom the writer often saw there.  This negro brought about the famous "Dred Scott Decision," in the Supreme court of the United States, by Roger B. Taney, who was chief justice.  Said decision was the starting point of the Civil war, many years later. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L

CAPTAIN GEORGE WINANS 221 cont During this time he he had owned the steamers 'Admiral,'C.W. Cowley,' 'Dan Thayer,' 'Frank,' 'julia,' 'Mars,' 'Neptune,' 'John H. Douglas,' 'May Libby,' 'St.Croix,' 'Pathfinder,' 'Sam Atlee,' 'Satelite l,' 'Satelitell,' 'Saturn,' 'Saturn ll,' 'Silas Wright,' and 'Zalus Davis,' and served as master and pilot on many others including the 'Union,' 'Alvira,' 'Buckeye,' 'Chippewa Falls,' 'J.W.Van Sant l,' 'Pearl,' 'G.H.Wilson,' Lone Star,' 'Mountain Belle,' 'City of Winona,' 'A.J. Whitney,' 'Jas. Means,' and WymanX.' Captain Winans was the first pilot to try to run a raft with a steamboat.In September,1863, he chartered a little side-wheel geared boat of only twenty-nine tons; hitched her into the stern of a lumber raft at Reads Landing and started for Hannibal. He pudently had secured a good bow crew to work the forward end and he also had men to form a full stern crew if the steamboat failed to handle her end. Owing to the lack of a rig or machine to change or control the position of the boat behind the raft they soon got in trouble and before going ten miles, he hadthe boat go back to Read; his crew shipped up the stern oars and they proceede in the usual way to their destination, Hannibal, Missouri. But Captain Winan's idea was correct; it only needed working out. The next year Cyrus Bradley took the same boat, the 'Union,' and successfuly used her behind a raft of logs to Clinton, Iowa, for W.J. Young and Com-pany. W.J. Young authorized Bradley to charter the 'Union' and was well pleased with the result and soon bought larger, better boats to use on his own work. Captain Bradley soon after built the 'Minnie will,' a side-wheel geared boat-used her and later built the stern-wheeler 'Mark Bradley.' In the meantime Captain Winans secured the 'Union' and used her successfully in 1867 and 1868; the little side-wheel 'Lone Star' and the larger 'Buckeye' in 1869. In 1870, when the first real raft-boat built for the business came out, he chartered her for twenty-five dollars per day and made a lot of money with her in 1870 and 1871. This boat was the first 'J.W. Van Sant,' built by J.W. Van Sant and Son at there yard in LeClaire,Iowa. Captain Winans quit the river before i began, probably about 1874, with considerable money for that day. He built a $40,000.00 hotel in Chippewa Falls and lost it by fire, with no insurance. He then went to California and spent some time on its rivers. He came back to the Mississippi about 1880 and got into the game bigger than ever and stayed in to the last; he did a lot of work and cut prices on lumber contracts; ran some very large rafts and took too many chances; this resulted in many bad and expensive losses. When his skill as a pilot and his energy and his honorable 223 methods in business he deserved more profit than he got out of it. We cannot help feeling that more caution mixed in with his operations would have secured better results. Captain Wyinans made his home for many years at teh Merchant hotl in Saint Paul until his death, January 22, 1926.

A Raft Pilot's Log cont. Some of the Men Prominent in the Raftin Industry, 1840-1915 221 CAPTAIN GEORGE WINANS The subject of this sketch was born in 1856, the year I was born, and the next year, he piloted a lumber raft from reads Landing to knapp stout and Company at Dubuque. He ran his last raft of logs from Sait Paul to Prescottin 1916, his entire service covering a stretch of sixty years.

A Raft Pilot's log cont. Some of the Men prominent int the Rafting Industry, 1840-1915 CAPTAIN J.M. TURNER 216 Captain J.M. Turner still living (1928) and in good health mentally and physically, began his river life as a cabin boy on the Galena and Minnesota Pasket Company's side-wheel steamer 'City Bell' with Captain Lodwick in 1853 when he was sixteen old. She was running regularly between Galena and Saint Paul. He remained on her in 1854 and 1855, and by that time knew the river on that run. In 1850 he was cub pilot on the 'Bill Henderson,' then a mail-boat running between Galena and Rock Island on alternate days with the steamer 'Jas. Means,' until July, when he went back on the 'City Bell' and made eight trips on her when she struck a snag and sank, a total loss, in Coon Slough. 219 Soon after he fell in with a Mr. LaFrance who brought lumber down the Chippewa, knew how to handle a floating raft but he needed some one to show him the channel down the Mississippi. He hired young Turner, then twenty years old, agreeing to pay him three dollars per day to show him the way. They made five trips in 1857 and he paid Turner three hundred and seventy-five dollars in November. Jerry sensibly went back to his home town, Dubuque, and attended school four months. There was a very late opening in the spring of 1858. Jerry was at Reads Landing expecting to work again for Mr. LaFrance but he did not appear. Thirty-two steamboats were lying at Reads awaiting the break up of the ice in Lake Pepin. There were twenty-five saloons running in the village and they had lively business while they had the crews of all these boats and their passengers for patrons. As LaFrance failed to show up, young Turner made one or more trips, pulling an oar to get an idea of the river from Keokuk to Saint Louis. Then he piloted floating rafts for O.H. Ingram if Eau Claire, mostly to Saint Louis. Paid off there at the end of the season he changed his paper money for gold, getting $1250.00 in coin. He now took an observation trip south on a fine packet; stopped long enough at Memphis to attend a slave auction which made him a strong abolitionist and turned him back home. His first experience in using a steamboat was for a man named L.H. Ramsey of LaCrosse who had a 220 small,single-engine geared, side-wheel boat called 'Johnny Schmoker.' Well pleased with the experiment he later bought a little boat called the 'W.H. Clark' and used her to run lumber for Porter and Moon, later known as the Northwestern lumber Company. In 1869 this company bought the 'Silas Wright.' Captain Turner then sold the 'W.H. Clark' and went on the 'Silas Wright' as master and pilot for eight seasons on salary. This was from 1869 to 1876 inclusive. In 1877 and 1878he ran Dells Lumber Company's raft to Hannibal on contract. In 1881 and 1882 he was on the 'Golden Gate' running Chipewa Lumber and Boom Company and Standard Lumber Company and others with the 'Clyde' and 'Pauline' from 1883 to 1893-when they disolved partnership. They sold the 'Clyde.' Captain Turner took the 'Pauline' and ran the Empire lumber for four seasons, from 1890 to 1893. He then sold the 'Pauline' quit considerably ahead of a hard game. After resting up he started a button facctory in Lansing that is still running after a siccessful career, with Captain turner's grandson now in charge. Captain Turner was a close manager and a careful, skillful, cautious pilot. He made good average time and delivered his rafts in excellent condition when and where they were wanted. I never passed him broken up or aground or in any other trouble. He went on the river alone-had no relatives on the boats to help him. The pilots were members of the Association and would give him no help or encouragement 221 to get his pilot's license; but he got it without their help, proved his merit by his work and qiot the river with a competency, which he did not lose when he went ashore but increased it by successful enterprose since.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Warren,Beatty Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Yl.2ADE/232.368 Message Board Post: I am interested in the warren family. Wilbur,Alphonso , Deloss, George W,or any of them. I would like names of children,wives,parents, or children's spouses. I am willing to trade. Jack Messer

A Raft Pilot's Log cont. Some of the Men Prominent in the Rafting Industry, 1840-1915 CAPTAIN S.B. HANKS 211 Stephen B. Hanks was born near Hodgensville, Kentucky, October 9, 1821. His father's only sister, Nancy, later married Thomas Lincoln and became the mother of Abraham Lincoln. After the death of his father and when Stephen was twelve years old, the family moved up to White County, Illinois, and the mother marrying again, young stepehn and and a sister, Mary, went toi live with a brother of Mrs.Hanks, named Alfred Slocumb, who moved to Knox County, Illinois, in 1830 and from there to Albany, Illinois, in 1836. He made his home with Alfred Slocumb , doing hard work with little pay, and having laudable ambition backed by a large, strong frame, good health and willingness to work, he left Albany in 1841 for the far northern pineries, where he worked four years cutting and getting out logs and driving them to the sawmill at Saint Croix falls, and helping raftand run the lumber to Saint Louis with Sandy McPhail as pilot. In this way he became a pilot himself. Late in 1843 he ehlped run two rafts of lumber that only got to Albany when winter set in. Part was sold there and the rest stored in Cat Tail Slough. In January he went back to Saint Croix falls, mostly by following the ice covered Mississippi and Saint Croix rivers with a sled and a pair of mules. 212 In June of this year,1844, he made his first trip as pilot of a log raft that floated all the way down from Stillwater, at the head of Lake Saint croix to Saint Louis, a good, long seven hundred miles. In 1845 he helped cut the logs and get them to the first mill in Stillwater owned by John McKusick. He helped raft the ,imber from these logs and ran the raft to Saint Louis where it was sold. He was one of the first to run logs and lumber by contract;so much a string or per thousand feet, fiding the crew and paying all expenses. He continued this work running mostly by contract for ten years when he quitrafting for a time and began piloting steamboats in the Galena and Minnesota Packet Company between Galena and Saint Paul, first on the 'Dr. Franklin ll,' with Captain D.S. Harris. On hisfirst arrival in Saint Paul the only house there was a double log cabin used as a trading post by Louis Robert. He was a delegate from Stillwater that aided in locating the old Capitol building. The same committees also located the old penitentary in Stillwater. Captain Hanks served as pilot on nearly every boat in the Galena and Minnesota Packet Company's line. He was on the 'Galena' when she had a hard race from Lake Pepin to Saint Paul and not only won the race but free wharfage in Saint Paul for that year. He was on the 'Galena' when she burned at Red Wing landing July 1, 1858. He was pilot on the 'Alhambra' and reached Albany a few hours after the tornado had wrecked Comanche, Iowa, and Albany, Illinois, June 4, 1860. Many were killed in the two towns but Captain Hanks found his family and relatives uninjured. In the summer of 1860 Captain Hanks got off the 215 fine fast mail packet 'Key City' and left the company he had been with fourteen years. There had been many changes in the ownership and manage- ment of the boats of the old Galena and Minnesota Packet Company and when Mr. Joseph Reynolds or 'Diamond Jo' as he was best known , offered Hanks ten dollars per day and steady work throughout the season, he accepted the proposition and went on the 'Ida Fulton,' a stern-wheel boat that was a good carrier herself and always towed barges during the wheat season. He was master and pilot of the 'Ida Fulton' most of the time he worked for 'Diamond Jo,' and it was hard work, as the river was generally low in the fall when the grain movement was greatest, which meant that the boat herself and her barges were always loaded to all the water in the rievr and they were pushed for time. Early in 1877 Captain Jenks associated himself with E.W. Durant and R.J. Wheeler and put the 'Bro. Jonathan' into the new concern styled 'Durant Wheeler and Company,' which had a long and successful career. (I think he meant Cap. Hanks) Captain Hanks did not follow the 'Bro. Jonathan' into the new company. He engaged early in 1877 with C.Lamb and Sons of Clinton, Iowa, at $1600.00 per season and went asa captain and pilot of the 'Hartford.' 216 He continued in their service fifteen tears during which time he worked on all their fine boats, but mostly on the 'Artemus Lamb.' Not only did the Captain hold his job but he held the confidence and respect of his employers and the crews of the different boats in the Lamb fleet, and he was held in high esteem by all who knew him. He was a large, well built, strong man, full of energy and enterprise, but mild and gentle in his disposition. Turned out as he was at the age of twelve to make his own way in a rough new country and as he grew older working in the woods in winter and on the river in summer, he acquired no bad habits. In a day when drinking and gambling were common; much of the time working and dealing with men who used liquor, tobacco, and cards, he never cared for either. He did not play the saint or preacher, but he didn't care for those things, that was the end of it. Captain Hanks was generous and kind to all, especially his family and relatives. He retained his mental faculties and pleasant manner until his death in 1917.

Chapter 9 cont. A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY Everywhere near streams forest trees abounded, intermixed with crab-apple and plum trees, vines, berry and hazlenut bushes.  Walnut and hickory trees were numerous, also many large pecan trees which yielded hundreds of bushels of nuts, of which the Indians were very found and which they traded or sold to the whites.  These latter trees grew mostly upon the islands.  The sloughs also produced an abundance of wild rice, which, when gathered by squaws (of course) and properly threshed and cleaned, made a palatable dish for them as well as for the whites.  Without doubt many of the large forest trees could now be found growing from the corn hills described in another place.  The large elms were utilized by the Indians in this way: the squaws in the springtime would cut through the bark to the wood, above and below, strip it off and use for siding and roofing their summer homes, at the town of Sau-ke-nuk. The river abounded in fish; we white people would eat only pike, pickerel, bass, salmon, sunfish or, if hard pushed, the bluecat of six or eight pounds.  In my younger days it was our custom to cross the Mississippi to Rock river, where we easily caught in a short time all the fish we could use. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L

Chapter 9 cont. BUFFALO'S FIRST POSTMASTER The first postmaster of Buffalo was Captain Benjamin W. Clark, in 1836-7.  The office was kept in his residence; mail was carried on a line of hacks which ran from Dubuque to Burlington once a week.  The contractor was Ansel Briggs, afterward the first governor of Iowa.  Postage stamps were not then in use.  The postmaster had to collect on each letter, prices varying.  Less than three hundred miles the postage was twenty-five cents.  No envelopes being in use, there was wrapped around each letter a printed slip containing address and price.  To save postage and paper, it was the custom to write both ways on a page.  Letters were infrequent and precious.  A jubilee occurred when one was received in a family.  Often a letter would remain in the office a long time, waiting for the recipient to raise enough money to pay the postage. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L

A Raft Pilot's Log cont. One Freak and a Pair of Twins 209 With the building of many raft-boats during the period 1870 to 1900, and by so many different owners, it is somewhat strange that so few were failures and I recall only one real freak, that came out in 1872. On her side bulkheads we read: 'Eau Claire Lumber Company's Iron Raft Boat J.G. Chapman' She was neither a side-wheeler, a stern-wheeler nor a propeller. She was about one hundred and ten feet long and twenty feet wide and had 'dowler wheels,' somewhat on the order of a screw propeller, but the wheels were ten feet ten feet in diameter with only one-fourth part submerged. The lowest part of the wheels were not below the bottom of the boat which drew three feet at the stern. The wheels when working ahead revolved toward each other and threw a very strong current against the balancee rudder. The 'J. G. Chapman' was a good strong shover and had good rudder power going ahead, but was almost useless in backing and she was very slow going up river. She was later changed to a regular stern-wheeler with engine fourteen inches by six foot, but having no hog chains, her iron hull broke in two coming up river, and she sank near Iowa island. Her engines were used in the second 'J.G. Chapman' which was a very successful raft-boat. During one season of good water and plenty logs, S.and J.C. Atlee had more work than their steamer 'LeClaire Belle' could do alone, so Mr. Sam Atlee made a few changes 210 om the large center-wheel ferry boat 'Keokuk' and with Captain Asa Woodward in charge as master and pilot she made several trips. When dismantled, her fine engines were put in the new 'Sam Atlee' an excellent towboat. In only one instance were two boats built in duplcate. My old friend Captain Fred A. Bill of Saint Paul tells us about them as he was in the general office on the Diamond Jo Line when Mr. Young of W,J, Young and Company of Clinton, Iowa, and Mr. Fred Weyerhauser of weyerhause and Denkmann of Rock Island, had these two boats built in 1881, using the same specifications for each and when finished they drew cuts to decide the ownership. Mr. Young named his boat 'D. Boardman,' and Mr. Weyerhause named his for his partner, 'F.C.A. Denkmann. Their hulls were one hundred and thirty feet long and twenty-eight feet wide. Their engines were fourteen inches by six foot. They were splendid boats and gave excellent service many years til the log supply was exhausted. Chapter complete

A Raft Pilot's Log cont. The Largest Rafts 203 The largest raft brought down the river during the fifty years from 1865, when they first began using steamer to tow the raft until the steamer 'Ottumwa Belle' ran the last raft 1915, was taken from Stillwater on Lake Saint Croix to Saint Louis by Captain George Winans with the steamer 'Saturn.' This raft was sixteen strings wide and forty-four cribs long, rafted twent-six courses deep. It was two hundred and seventy feet wide by fourteen and fifty feet long and with the top load contained nine million feet of timber. The 'Saturn ll' was a good, strong boat with engines sixteen inches by five foot and Captain Winans had agood bow-boat on the head. This trip was made in 1901. Th largest log raft was brought from Lynxville to Rock Island in 1896 by O.E. McGinley with the steamer 'F.C.A.Denkman,' using the 'H.C. Brockman' as her bowboat. The raft was two hundred and seventy feet wide and fifteen hundred and fifty feet long, containing about two and one- quarter million feet. Some double-decked or double-tierd log rafts were brought from Stillwater in the nieties. When they were careful to place only small log on top, crosswise, they did fairly well in good river, but when they were careless and hauled large logs up on top and loaded unevenly, these rafts soon encountered trouble when they struck shallow water. Double-deckers were never popular with the pilots who had to run them or the crew that had to work on and over them. 204 The Last Raft- The End of the Game The first rafts run from 1838 to 1843 were lumber from the Wisconsin river and from Saint Croix Falls. The last raft brought down the Mississippi was also lumber sawed and rafted at Hudson, Wisconsin, on Lake saint Croix. I was in eight strings, thirty-six cribs long and rafted twenty-eight courses deep. They made a raft one hundred and twenty-eight feet wide and eleven hundred and fifty feet long, which contained three and one-half million feet of lumber and it carried about a million feet of top load consisting of, timbers, lumber and lath. This raft was towed by the steamer 'Ottumwa Belle' with the 'Pathfinder' as a bowboat. The little steamer ' J.M.,' that had been engaged in towing logs from Saint Paul boom to Prescott was hitched in alongside the raft near the bow and taken down river to be sold. Captain W.L. Hunter of Wynona was in charge as master and pilot and made a nice, clean trip from Hudson to S.& J.C. Atlee at Fort Madison in fourteen days with a single crew. Captain Hunter had been on the 'Ottumwa Belle' doing Atlee's running until the logs gave out, but in `1915 was piloting on the 'Morning Star' in the Davenport and Saint Paul trade. Mr.Atlee wanted Captain Hunter to run this last raft and Captain Hunter was pleased to do it; so we arranged that I would stand his watch on the 'Morning Star' while he made the trip that wound up the great industry that had lasted seventy-five years and really made all the good towns on the Upper Mississippi. It started in a small way and demanded skill and hard work to cut the logs and drive them down to the booms where they were held,assorted, rafted and scaled and then floated under man-power control to the mills. 207 There were many disapointments and failures in the early days but study and hard work, guided by experience, soon won the game and got the prize. When Chancey Lamb of Clinton invented the 'nigger' for controlling the position of the towboat behind the raft he did a great thing for the business. He did not patent it. It was built and sold at a very low price. Any one who could was free to add any improvement, but no one ever did so. It completely filled the bill, just what was needed, and it has never been changed. I never could learn who invented the 'three-link iron boom chain' first used in rafting at Beef Slough and later everywhere. It was a great improvement over the old rope booming and much chesper, because the chains were taken off at the mill where the logs were sawed and sent back to the rafting works. Our boats made no charge for carrying back these chains which were often a burden in low water. A few of these chains were lost in break-ups, but ninety-five percent of them were used over and over again - there was no wear out to them. chapter complete

Hi Listers, Would appreciate any help finding a Catherine Carlin who married a Ackley. Catherine was born July 30, 1854 and died March 25, 1928 Davenport. She's buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, but don't think her husband is. Many thanks Jeannette

Chapter 9 cont. BUFFALO FIRST TOWN PLATTED Buffalo was the first town platted in what is now Scott county, and was laid out in May, 1836, by Captain Benjamin W. Clark, Captain E. A. Mix and Dr. Pillsbury, of Buffalo, New York, and named in honor of the latter place.  At the time of laying out it had the widely known Clark ferry which enjoyed the trade of a large extent of territory, being in a direct line with southern Illinois and Dubuque and the lead regions.  Here all the first settlers with teams crossed the river into Black Hawk's Purchase, and on their way to Muscatine, Linn, Cedar and all the western portion of Scott county, Buffalo, being situated in a fine timbered section of country with coal creeping out of almost every creek, a flouring mill in process of erection (by Benjamin Nye), good roads to Moscow and Rochester, also to the groves, namely, Center, Hickory, Allen's Big and Little Walnut, Poston's, Red Oak, Stuart Mason, and all the Cedar river valley, the whole western country was brought tributary to Buffalo, which was having a fine trade with all these western settlers. Davenport was laid out later, also Rockingham, Montevideo, Iowa, Montpelier, Salem, Wyoming, Geneva, and Bloomington, being ten towns in twenty-nine miles, each clamoring for supremacy over the other.  This was then Michigan territory; our first delegates met at Detroit.  The central position of Buffalo gave us advantages over all the other places, and how it override our natural advantages and give supremacy to some on of the rival towns, was the seemingly untiring object of our rivals.  We had the most beautiful locality in the Black Hawk purchase, where the river front was of gravel and stone with a gradual rise for 100 to 300 rods to every gently rising hills; on the second level was most fertile farm land, covered with a heavy growth of timber, white oaks predominating; coal underlying the whole country for many miles; fine springs and creeks with great quantities of limestone and fire clay gives ony a partial description of Buffalo in 1836. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L

Chapter 9 cont. CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS For the first horseshoeing, done early in December, 1833, the writer went a long distance.  He rode one horse and led another.  The first day he made Monmouth, Illinois, forty miles; the next day, reached Macomb, Illinois, forty miles further; the third day, by noon, twenty miles further; in all, 100 miles to Crooked Creek, where lived and worked one Elijah Bristow, a blacksmith.  Bristow himself made all shoes and nails used by him, as all the smiths did at that time.  The calks were of cast steel, the hind calks were made square where they joined the shoe, then drawn to a point.  The smith must have been an unusually efficient workman, or took extra pains with my horses, since every shoe remained firm until the following spring.  On the return trip I procured a wagon and harness and drove back, bringing with me John Bristow, Michael Shelly, William Shelly, Orian Moss and W. H. Gabbert to split rails for my father.  Three of these men took up claims and settled near us, one taking the now H. C. Morehead farm, one the now Theodore Kautz farm and one the upper end of the now Miller farm. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L

Chapter 9 cont. EARLY HISTORY Having raised a crop of sod corn, in 1834, the manufacture of breadstuff became a vital subject.  Wheaten flour was out of the question for daily use.  Some means had to be provided for the making of corn meal, and this is the way we did it.  We sawed off from a log thirty inches in diameter a piece three and one-half feet long, setting it on one end.  With our crude tools we cut and burned out a hollow mortar to hold a peck or more of corn; then with two poles and a prop against a tree (not unlike the old well sweep) we rigged our mill.  The end coming straight down had a hole bored in it, a pin driven through leaving an end on each side long enough for a man to take hold of.  The lower end forming a pestle had a ring around it an iron wedge driven in.  Two men would then take hold and soon pound sufficient meal for the day.  These articles were in use in the year 1834.  Two years later, 1835-6, Messrs. Davis and Haskel built a little mill on Crow creek, and J. H. Sullivan and H. C. Morehead built a steam mill at Rockingham, which did away with the pestle and mortar and supplied not only the residents of the community but furnished breadstuffs to ship away. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L

Chapter 9 cont. WRITTEN BY CAPTAIN W. L. CLARK Benjamin W. Clark was born in Wyth county, Virginia, and came to Black Hawk's Purchase in June, 1833, where he took up claims and bought others two and one-fourth miles in length on the Mississippi river, above and below where the town of Buffalo is now situated.  He built a log cabin at the lower end of W. L. Clark's present property, one near where the Dorman store and postoffice now stands, one at what is now the upper end of town and one on the river bank above where the public highway crosses the Rock Island railroad, on the Dodge farm, all embracing what are now the W. L. Clark, Springmeir, Kautz, Zerker, Erie Dodge, Henry Alford, and the south part of the Harsch, Stickleberger and Dodge farms, or about 2,000 acres.  In the spring of 1833 he planted corn, potatoes and a vegetable garden where Buffalo now stands.  These were the first crops in the county.  His nearest neighbor north, on the river, was at Dubuque, 135 miles.  The nearest one south was at Flint Hills, now Burlington (Shacacon, the Indian name), ninety miles distant, and not a house to the Pacific coast. The spot chosen by him was one of the most beautiful on the great river between St. Louis and St. Paul.  Here were low lying hills, set well back from the river and covered with a fine growth of valuable timber, with building stone and coal cropping out of the sides of many of the creeks, fine sulphur springs of clear, delicious, healthful water, and besides all these natural advantages that of being on a direct line between Monmouth, Illinois, forty miles south, and Dubuque by airline seventy-four miles north to the lead mines.  The river here had beautiful pebble, rocky shores, and here he established Clark's ferry, which, after emigration set in, became the most noted in the Black Hawk Purchase.  It was the only ferry between Burlington and Dubuque; in other words, we were the first.  Here it was the first house was built, the first ferry established, the first plowing done, the first crop planted, the first brickyard, the first blacksmith shop, where the mill-irons for the Green grist mill at Rochester, also the irons for the Whittlesy mill, both in  Cedar county, were made; the first town between Flint Hill and Dubuque, the first barn, thirty by forty feet, now standing, the first coal mine opened, and the first white child born, David H. Clark, April 21, 1834; the second in schools - for Pleasant Valley was the first there.  We were first and foremost in everything else, for we were here first and went to work with a will.  The first girl born here was Harriet Mounts (Fridley) on September 2, 1835. During the winter of 1833-34, Captain Benjamin W. Clark had several men making rails to fence four of his farms on the river. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Yl.2ADE/182.1.1.1 Message Board Post: Lois, I have lots of info on the Brownlies. I have that Ruth Calderwood married Charles Reeder. Ruth was born on 27 Dec 1897 and her mother, Sarah Ritchie Brownlie Calderwood, died about 5 Feb 1898. That must have been tragic. Sarah's mother, Elizabeth Thomson Brownlie, was murdered in 1874 when Sarah was barely 11 years old. Her 4 year old brother, Andrew Brownlie was also murdered. Are you a direct descendant of Ruth? Our family association has located alot of her family and has quite a history.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Yl.2ADE/169.583.586.1 Message Board Post: Thank you for your note. I would be interested in talking with you more about the family history. Please e-mail me at my updated e-mail address at drh@carolina.net and we can exchange phone numbers.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Yl.2ADE/169.583.586 Message Board Post: I am a decendent of J.W. Van Sant. I have a family history written by Grant Van Sant which has some information on the Anderson side. I would be willing to exchange any information I have with you. If you want to give me your phone number I will call you. Looking forward to hearing from you. Regards Bill Alexander

A Raft Pilot's Log cont. The First Boat Built to Tow Rafts 199 Now we come to the first real raft-boat built for and successfully used in the work. It will be more interesting to have the story as told by the man who built and owned her. He was not a raftman then. He was a young man in partnership with his father. J.W.Van Sant in the LeClaire yard, building and repairing river craft. His ideas originated from intelligent Floating Pilots who favored the use of a steamboat in getting rafts down river. Some of these men had had a little experience in using steamboats and young Van Sant caught their ideas and became enthusiastic. I quote from his letter of December 3, 1920 Steamer 'J.W. Van Sant' The first 'J.W. Van Sant' was built at LeClaire, y J.W. Van Sant and Son. The hull was launched in the month of December, 1869. She was ready for business on the opening of navigation in 1870. She was one hundred feet long, twenty feet beam and four feet depth in hull. Engine twelve inches by four foot stroke, built by the famous Niles Works of Cin- cinnati. Her boiler was twent-four feet long, forty-four inches in diameter, with ten and six-tenths inches , lap-welded flues. Then, lap-welded flues were only twenty feet long and it was said that we could not have boilers more than twenty feet in length. Fortunately, we had an old-time steamboat engineer, Henry Whitmore, a man of long experience and a first class mechanic, who contended that the flues could be lengthened by brazing, and this wa sucessfully accomplished. The 'J.W. Van Sant' was the first stern wheel boat of large power 200 built especially for the rafting business. The rafters at that time were small side wheel steamers constructed wiht geared machinery and generally called 'coffee mill' boats. It is safe to say that the 'Van Sant' of 1870 was the pioneer rafter for after she had proved a success, Lamb and Son,W.J. Young and Company, Weyerhauser and Denkmann, B. Hershey, and nearly every lumberman doing business on the Mississippi river constructed boats to tow their logs and lumber. In many cases stern-wheel boats were brought from the Ohio river and used in the rafting business. After the Van Sant demonstrated successfully her value as a rafter the side-wheel boats sonn disappeared. If the 'Van Sant' was success, a large part of it was due toHenry Whitmore before mentioned, who erged powerful engines and plenty of boiler capacity. This boat(barring a few mishaps , which were no fault of the boat but of the inexperience of those who first piloted her) was was a decided success , made money for her owners and really by her money-making qualities laid the foundation for the Van Sant and LeClaire Navigation companies, two companies that owned and operated more than thirty steamboats during the forty years of rafting, or until the pine forests in Minnesota and Wisconsinwere denuded of their timber. Her builders were by no means wealthy, so the machinery was purchased on time, wages and material could not be paid for while the work was progressing. "Nothing risked, nothing won," is an old proverb. The boat was a success; she not only paid all her bills but gave her owners a handsome profit. The first raft run by this boat was fopr Weyerhauser and Denkmann. Mr. Weyerhause was a passenger. After passing through the Rock Island bridge safely, he was more or less anxious about the landing of the raftat his mill-boom. He suggested the employment of the ferry boat to assist, but the 'Van Sant' had no trouble whatever in making the landing safely. Mr. Weyerhauser saw that the boat was a success and was one of the very first mill-men to build a steamboat for towing his own logs. The 'Van Sant' was not only all that has been mentioned but she was unlike any other boat. The Rock Island bridge (the old one) was very dangerous to both boats and tows so that this steamer was constructed so she could lower her chimneys and pilot house and follow her tow under the bridge practically insuring safety. She only had one deck above main deck and consequently was more 201 easily manage d as she could pass under the bridges and could run in any wind that the raft could weather. Twenty years after this boat was built, it is safe to state that there were fully one hundred stern-wheel boats engaged in the rafting business. The 'Van Sant' was under charter to Capt. Winans during the entire seasons of 1870 and 1871 and early in 1872 we sold to the Eau Claire Lumber Company who kept her busy for several years and then used her engines on the new 'Peter Kirns' built to replace her. The above description was received direct from Ex-governoer S.R. Van Sant on December 3, 1920. His letter of even date is in my file. chapter complete.

Davenport Times Davenport, Scott, Iowa Friday, March 10, 1900 THE TIMES 20TH CENTURY DIRECTORY Errors in Names and Locations and Any Changes From the Way the Names Appear in The Times, Including Removals, Must be Reported to the Office or the Directory Manager in The Times Building Within 48 Hours From This Evening, as These Names Will go in Book Form Then. DaPron, Charles W, wife Minnie, steam ftr Dave Steam Heating Co r 1516 Leonard Darcy, Patrick J, grocer 210 Iowa r same Darling, Cyrus T, wife Lillie mngr The Democrat r 1244 e Front Darling, Russell T, salesman U N Roberts Co rms 915 Perry Darling, Walter B, wife Lou, bkpr The Fair r 5 Lorenzen blk Darling, Wm A wife Maria E sec Linde & Darling Shoe Co 1334 w 2d r Rock Island, Ill. Dau, Charles, wife Mary, cigmnfr, 1231 w 6th r same Dau, Edward O, wife Frieda, marblectr Schricker-Rodler Co r 928 w 6th Dau, Frank r 2115 w 5th Dau, Henry W wife Caroline stonectr r 1016 w 5th Dau, John F, wife Margaret r 2115 w 5th Dau, John W, cigmkr N Kuhnen Co r 630 Vine Dau, Louis, cigmkr N Kuhnen Co r 1231 w 6th Dau, Margaret wid Detlef r 630 Vine Dau, Otto lab r 2115 w 5th Dau, Miss Sadie, dom 216 e 6th Dauber, Carl, harnessmkr Arsenal rms 111 e 3d Daugherty, (See also Doherty and Dougherty) Daugherty, Miss Myrtle L r D 414 e 6th Daum, Delia wid Phillip hairdresser 1113 Main r same Daum, Miss Ellen r 924 Ripley Daum, Ernestine wid George r 924 Ripley Daum, Miss Estelle r 113 Main Daum, Philip H r 113 Main Davenport Abstract Co A E Carroll pres EJ Carroll sec 4 Whitaker bldg Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences Mrs. M L D Putnam pres A A Miller sec 704 Brady Davenport Art Society Library Dr C T Lindley librarian 12 Dittoe bldg Davenport Bag & Paper Co CD Martin pres G W Noth sec 119 Brady Davenport Boiler Wks D Grupe propr 317 e 2d Davenport Business College J C Duncan prin 112-116 e 2d Davenport Business Men's Association John Hoyt pres J F Lardner vice-pres M J Eagal sec C A Mast treas. 48 Masonic Temple Davenport Canning & Mnfg Co Anthony Burdick pres H H Andresen vice-pres F G Clausen sec and treas. 1722-174? Rockingham rd Davenport, Miss Catherine r Washington av sw cor Clay Davenport Cigar Box Co T F Krabenhoeft pres Gus Krabbenhoeft sec and treas 527 w 2d Davenport Cooking School Mrs. A M Leonard prin 403 Brady Davenport Co-Operative Bank M L Mars pres Charles Pasche treas 37 Masonic Temple Davenport Cremation Society J H Harrison pres Wm Haase sec office 216 w 3d Davenport Cycle Works A G and W B Franc?? 108 w 4th Davenport Daily Leader The, The Leader Publishing Co pubs 113 e 3d Davenport, Ebenezer C r Washington av cor Clay Davenport Elevator Co Josiah Dow pres J F Dow sec and mngr 426 Harrison Davenport Fair & Exposition Grounds, Locust sw cor Border Davenport Foundry & Machine Co W P Bettendorf pres L P Best sec 1634 w 4th Davenport Fruit Co (Chris Stampul Stephen Kogionis) 332 and 506 Brady Davenport Furniture & Carpet Co H L Heube??er pres A Henigbaum sec 326 ? Davenport Gas & Electric Co G H ? pres J W Walsh sec LeClaire ne cor 3d Davenport Granite Co Ezra Burkholder propr 205 Brady Davenport, Henry C, wife Kate printer r 320 e 10th Davenport House Henry Lorenzen propr 118 w Front Davenport Ice Co (John Hentzelmann Nicholas Albrecht) 1102 w Front Davenport Improvement Co Fred Heinz pres T A Murphy sec and treas 49 Whitaker bldg Davenport Institute Dr Paul Radenhausen prin 223 Western av Davenport Iron Works Chris Schneider propr 332 w 3d Davenport, Isaac L, wife Emily J r 166 Bridge av Davenport, James H, wife Sevilla clk r 303 e 14th Davenport Ladder Co B S Baldwin propr 410 Bridge av Davenport Leaf Tobacco Co C E Meier mngr 332 Harrison Davenport, Lewis clk The Why r 303 e 14th Davenport Library Assn Sophia C Billon librarian, Brady s w cor 6th Davenport Loan Building & Savings Assn Henry Egbert pres M D Snyder sec S D Bawden treas 20 Masonic Temple Davenport, McCoy, salesman Wyckoff S & B r 303 e 14th Davenport Malt & Grain Co Henry Klindt pres Henry Bremer sec 502 DeSoto Davenport Malting Co O C Koehler pres George Mengel vice-pres George Klindt sec and treas 1223 w 2d Davenport, Miss Mamie J r 922 Myrtle Davenport Mnfg Co A F Boese pres J Benedict sec sheet metal specialties 214 w 4th Davenport, Miss Margaret E r 922 Myrtle Davenport, Margaret J wid H C r 922 Myrtle Davenport Meat Co Max Heyer mngr 416 Brady Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm