Show RAFTING ON THE WISCONSIN Skill Required in Construction ot River Floats to Run Bars and Rapids At the mills they made up the big rafts according to a certain system A crib was made of boards say 1C fee long and was built In layers cob house fashion until It wall perhaps r I couplo of feet deep all fastened by lone I hardwood pegs Seven of these crib made a piece and three pieces sld Ijy side lashed together by lines fastened fas-tened to tho boats made what wa called a Wisconsin river raft Thai was about as large as a raft could land hand l h-and run safely the various dams nn bars anti rapids says Outing After they got to the mouth of the Wlsconslt the men would shift these pieces and bunch up n number of Wisconsin rivet rafts Into ono vast slowmoving snake of sawn timbers a thing of terror tc all the steamboats on the river until at last It found Its destination perhaps per-haps tying up at some bayou far down L uL u lownru at LOUIS unce sucn a raft piled up on the middle pier of the Dubuque Du-buque bridge and ran up the abutment to the bridge floor frightening half tc death some 100 gaping folk who had come out to see the wild men gc through But that was merely an Incl dent It was merely nn incident if at night the men asleep and forgetful ol the green lights which ought to show that they wore running awoke under e volley of profanity and saw looming before them tho bow of some river steamer whoso captain and pilot objurgated ob-jurgated them by all the saints of the river to have n better caro for the observance ob-servance of the law |