OCR Text |
Show AViscelloni) : The Iist Lunilier Rafl. When the IMtiiliniM Bel'.'' brnug'et down ti e ri' i-r, i, lew fcl - :io, ti," i:ist liiinl.er raft of anv -i ' thai i- - oc ted to he toned ilrmn tl.e lather ol Water-,, ti,.. p.elle had Bhoard a- a go.'-t "f honor ti,e man ..., "'" ; U-u.r". had brought aeries the ( im import I ,e l liiire liipids tio- lir.t r:itt of loL-s tloit was c.er flouted dov.n the stream. Ti," rafter had sent a boat a-hore at Allauv lo take aboard Captimi t-'1'"' Ik Hank-, now '.'t vears of age, the pioneer ol nil the .Mi--i--ippi ruer nili-u.en, s:,m the Keokuk I ou-t it lit ioii I loin,, rat. ' 'l aptaiu Sieve, ' ' us he n km. -a n along tl"' vluile ei,etl, of till- river. Ull- the son of Thomas Haul.-, a lirothiT oi Ndiiev lliinks l.ineoin. ami M, there). ire. ;i lll-s't .'1,1,-lli of til" ll.il t v red pr.-ideiil. I'oni Mar-hall of Keit h-dmr:;. who knows the river about as well a- he knows gnu-, and -hell'" and elav bird ranee-, loll-, till, store ill tin: trap, gnu and rod do .;i ri iii.-nt of the I hleago S inv Pmhii iner: It was in I t'l that I .iptaiii Sin lirst went into the pineries. Ho had been there four years when there came a (letn.'i'id for logs, from SI. Bonis. Cap-lain Cap-lain Steve undertook lo deliver them, lie got a i-iij'r nut on ihe St. Croix, where tiici'c was no currcnl, by throwing an anchor out ahead and then drawing the t'iil't. to the anchor by means of a capstan cap-stan worked by hand. After Ihe raft, was in the current of the Mississippi it was managed by means of lout; oars I al the bow am! stern. There were no bridges to dodge, and the trip to St. Bonis was made siifelv and repented many times in at'tei years. About Isi'.li the steamboat wits lirst used for pushing rill'ls. and later the luwbont, across the head ol' Ihe raft, removed the. remaining I ililficulties of steering. Captain Hanks understands that since he Moated that lirst raft there have 1 u l.",7SI!,(i7(l,(HI(.l feet of lumber rafted down the big river. ''He saw the beginning and he has just --con the end of rafting uu the Mississippi. It' is a long period of adventure ad-venture and interesting experience for a single life to span.' Louisville ( 'ourier-.loiirnnT. |