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.