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MINNIE WILL (WILLS)
There has been more or less
discussion in river circles for many years of the question:
“Who ran the first raft through with a steamboat to push it;
and when was it done?”
The first part of the part of the question was
settled long ago; but the last part and the name of the boat
that pushed (towed, the river men say, of course), still is
an open question.
It is a kind of double barreled proposition.
If the name of the boat is settled, that will settle
the date; if the date is definitely settled, that in turn
will settle the name of the boat, the honor lying between
boats, with only a year time between them, and as the later
boat was built from the earlier boat it again narrows the
question down to one of the exact date of the transaction.
One questions the fact Captain Cyrus G. Bradley, of
Osceola, Wis., thought out and carried the idea into effect.
He owned the two boats that are claimed for the
honor—the Active and the Minnie Will.
The Active was a little side wheel
single engine boat of 52.0 tons, built at Brownsville, Pa.,
in 1852.
Captain Bradley brought her to the St. Croix about the year
1863 or 1864.
Her name does not appear in the very comprehensive list of
rafters compiled by Captain Ed. W. Durant and published in
the Minnesota Historical Collectors for 1905, but she was
there, and dismantled at Osceola and her machinery placed in
the Minnie Will in 1865.
In an interview printed in the
Stillwater Gazette in August 1913 Pilot John Goff said that
while it is conceded that Captain Cyrus G. Bradley was the
first pilot to tow through, he did it in 1864 with the
steamer Active, and added:
The rest of the old fashioned pilots were quite
positive Cy, was a dreamer—that he was attempting the
impossible; but a few years later more than a hundred large
and costly steamboats were engaged in that trade.
Captain Goff gives the date as 1864.
If he is correct as to that date it must have been
the active as the Minnie Will was not built until 1865 and
then built from the salvage of the Active, dismantled for
the purpose.
The Minnie Will was a side-wheel,
single engine boat of 51.75 tons, practically a duplicate of
the Active.
Captain Bradley used her for several seasons and then sold
her to the government for improvement work.
She was snagged and sunk at Edwards River near New
Boston, Ill. in 1878.
Captain Ed. W. Durant, in his History
of Steamboating on the St. Croix, says:
“A new order of things began in the history in the
history of lumbering in the ‘60’s when Captain Cyrus G.
Bradley undertook and made a successful trip by towing a
raft with the steamboat “Minnie Wills” to Clinton,
Iowa.—This system of taking logs and lumber to market
increased rapidly, and within four years the logs heretofore
rafted were put up, as the saying is, in brails, not using
the former method of poles, plugs, lock downs and oars.
Logs were placed in booms 600 feet or longer, and 125
feet in width, held together with cross lines.
The gain to the log men was the lessening of expense
in putting the logs in order for the run to market, and to
the mill men the savings in lumber by not having the augur
holes in the logs.
Since the first venture of the Minnie Wills, with the
new method of running logs and lumber, more than a hundred
and fifty steamboats have been engaged in taking the lumber
product of the St. Croix, upper Mississippi, Chippewa and
Black Rivers to the various distributing points along the
Mississippi River.”
The first raft of logs towed by the
Minnie Will was for W. J. Young & Co. of Clinton, Iowa.
All other authorities that I have
seen, with two exceptions, agree with Captain Durant as to
the Minnie Will—John Goff, as quoted above, and J. W. Darrah,
who says that it was Captain Bradley with the steamer Union,
in1864. I think
Captain Darrah is in error, as the Union was never owned by
Captain Bradley, and I do not think he ever commanded her;
but of this I am not certain.
Captain Darrah says that Hiram Baise was master of
the Minnie Will in 1865, Hugh O’Neal 1867, Abe Gilpatrick
1868, and William M. Smith in 1868.
THE OLD
BOATS—Additional Information from Men Who Knew,
The Saturday Evening Post
of Burlington, Iowa,
December 15, 1917, page 3. |
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THE OLD BOATS—Additional Information
from Men Who Know,
The Saturday Evening Post of
Burlington, Iowa,
December 22, 1917
Meeting of the
Pioneer Rivermen’s Association.
ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec 22.—Editor Post:
A paper contributed by Captain George
Winans, who was unable to be present, regarding the towing
the first raft by boat was read by the secretary…This paper
showed that the first attempt to run with a boat was made by
George Winans with the Union on September 12, 1863.
Owing to an accident which stripped her core wheel
very early in the trip the scheme was not a success; the
boat was abandoned and the raft floated to destination in
the good old way.
The paper stated that Captain Cyrus Bradley in
September, 1864, with the same Union successfully made the
trip from Read’s Landing to Clinton with a log raft which
hailed from Stillwater, thus establishing the record of the
first boat to make a trip with a raft on the Mississippi
proper, Captain Winans stated, further, that while these
incidents had been in his mind all these years that it was
only recently that he came across data that fixed dates from
which he could make a statement that could be absolutely
backed by competent evidence.
The members coincided with the position taken by
Captain Winans and voted an appreciation of the paper and
considered the matter settled, pending further and more
conclusive evidence.
Yours Truly,
FRED A. BILL
Steamer Active Towed
Her First Raft to Clinton in 1865.
ST. PAUL, Dec. 20.—Capt. Geo. B.
Merrick: In the
paper I submitted the other day I stated that the steamer
Active, commanded by Capt. Cy. Bradley, towed her first raft
to Clinton, Iowa, in the fall of 1864.
I find on digging further into my old
books that it was 1865 instead of 1864.
I also find indications that the Minnie Will was
built in 1866 instead of 1865, although I am not absolutely
certain of this.
If that
is the case the second boat to tow a raft after the
Union, was the Tiger,
built at Minneapolis, and run by J. Chapman.
I think I can establish that.
GEO. WINANS
Note—Since the receipt of this last
communication I have visited the State Historical Library
and consulted every printed report that carried the name of
Minnie Will; although her name and tonnage appear several
times, date of building is not given, that column having
been added as late as the ‘80’s, long after the Minnie Will
was wrecked—in 1877.
The dates I have are from old river men, and are not
official, nor are they from printed records.
This note of Captain Winans, which he is able to
verify by his diary, agrees with the date given by the late
Jn. Goff, who said the Minnie Will did not come out until
1866. Next.
G. B. M.
The Old Boats, Additional Information
from Men Who Know,
The Saturday Evening Post,
Burlington, Iowa,
November 24, 1917, page 2.
ADDENDA
_______
Captain Cyrus G. Bradley—A
Correction.
MADISON, WIS. Nov. 23. –Under the heading “Minnie Will,” in
issue of November 19 of the Post, in discussing the
question: “Who
ran the first raft through by boat?”
I tried to say emphatically, that “No one questions
the fact that Capt. Cyrus G. Bradley, of Osceolo,
Wisconsin,” was the man ‘By a perversity of fate the printer
left out the word “No”, thus completely reversing what I
intended to say
I think I am safe in saying that No One questions Capt.
Bradley’s right and title to that honor.
I hope that everyone who keeps a file of the Post
articles will add the word “No” in the clause quoted, and
thus set right what is now all wrong.
As I retain a carbon copy of everything I write, and
as the word “No appears in my copy, I am safe in charging
the error to the printer—and likewise to the proofreader who
missed connection also.
GEO. B. MERRICK.
Waterways Journal please copy.
It Was The Active—Sam Says
So.
ST. Paul, Nov. 21.—Captain G. B Merrick, Madison,
Wisconsin. Dear
Captain G. B. Merrick:
I believe I can help settle the question as to the
name of the first boat to run a raft down the Mississippi
River. Most all
authorities agree that the first raft so run was to W. J.
Young, Clinton, Iowa.
This being true I remember distinctly discussing this
very question with Mr. Young and he told me he received the
first raft by boat and the name of the steamer was the
“Active,” and that Cyrus G. Bradley was the pilot and
contracted to run the raft from Stillwater.
I had the same information from Capt. Bradley who
chartered the steamer “Jas. Means,” from us in 1871.
I am satisfied that the “Active” was the pioneer
rafter, and I think that all agree that Captain Bradley was
the master pilot.
Captain Bradley may well be termed the Dean, the very
first in rafting by a steam-boat.
He also built the first side-wheel steamer the
“Minnie Will” for raft and towing.
There were several boats of this character, such as
the “Union,” “Tiger” or “Tigress,”” L. W. Bardon,” “L. W.
Crane” and others similarly constructed.
They were geared and usually called Coffee Mill
Boats. Others
were built later, same style, the “Clyde” (original) later
made into a stern wheel boat.
“Buckeye,”“Pete Wilson” and still others.
At this time, soon after returning from the war, I
was engaged with my father in the building and repairing of
steam boats at LeClaire, Iowa.
We repaired many of these boats and as LeClaire was
the head of the rapids I came in contact with many pilots
running these small boats as well as floating pilots, and
after much consideration we concluded to build a stern wheel
rafter which we proceeded to do in 1869.
We named her the “J. W. Van Sant” after the senior
member of our firm.
She was the first stern wheel rafter ever built
purposely for the business with large power. (Having 12 inch
cylinder 4 foot stroke.)
Many said this was too much power; it proved the
contrary for she was a decided success and other boats
followed rapidly with equal power and many with greater.
I was early in the business and followed the towing
of logs and lumber to its decline, but there never was a
more successful rafter than our steam-boat line that
operated on the river for more than forty years.
It is true that a stern-wheel boat, “Little LeClaire,”
built by Captain G. Trombly and Thomas Doughty, was built
before the original “J. W. Van Sant,” but she did not have
power enough.
(Having 8 inch cylinder 22 inch stroke), and went into other
line of work.
My long experience on the river bought to me more or
less information along a line of business in which
practically a life time I have been engaged.
I want to go on record as stating that the first raft
boat was the “Active” and her pilot was Captain C. G.
Bradley.
It was soon demonstrated that the stern-wheel boat
was the best tow-boat for rafting and as a matter of fact,
the best ever constructed for that purpose or towing of any
kind on the Mississippi or its tributaries.
Yours Truly,
S. R. VAN SANT.
*
*
*
ST. PAUL, Minn. Nov. 19.—Capt. Geo. B. Merrick, Dear
Friend: Have
read your account of the Minnie Will, in the Post of the 10th.
The correct name of the boat is Minnie Wills.
As to the boat that pushed the first raft.
That question came up in one of the early meetings of
the Pioneer Riverman’s Association and was pretty well
thrashed over.
There is no question as the man being Capt. Cyrus Bradley
and in all probability the year was 1864.
At the time mentioned Captain Robert Cassidy, Joseph
Buisson and Oscar F. Knapp downed the opposition with their
statements that the boat was the Union.
Add to this the evidence of John Darrah and it is
going to take some testimony to convince us, the members of
the jury that it was any other boat.
It is quite possible that Captain E. E. Heerman can
throw some light and we would be glad to hear from him.
In regard to the Active, we do not recall having seen
anything as to her previously, in any of your articles.
Did she get away at the proper place?
I have just phoned Capt. E. T. Root, one of the
veteran raftsmen who settled in Stillwater in 1857, and his
judgment is in favor of the Union, although he says it is a
mooted question.
As to Bradley owning the Active, he is in doubt.
Says that Bradley owned a little side wheel boat
before he built the Minnie Will but is not sure as to her
name.
Yours Truly,
FRED A BILL.
I am glad to get the above from Captain Bill.
As he says, it is going to take some pretty stiff
swearing to down four such good men as Robt. Cassidy, Joseph
Buisson, Oscar T. Knapp and John Darrah.
This is a perennial question bobbing up whenever the
history of towing through comes up in a gathering of
rivermen. To
the general reader it may appear somewhat trivial: but to
the old raftsmen it is a matter of great interest.
Boats, in their estimation and thought, occupy about
the same place as men—they have the same personality and
individuality as persons, and to cheat them of their
rightful honors would be as bad as cheating Capt. Cyrus
Bradley of the honor of inventing a new system of rafting.
It is a matter of great interest, therefore, to
decide which of the three boats, the Active, the Minnie Will
or the Union did actually push the first raft from
Stillwater to Clinton.
As to the Active, Captain Bill is correct when he
says that he cannot recall seeing anything of her history
under the A’s.
I dug up her history only a few months ago, after taking up
the question of Capt. Bradley and his original idea; but he
did not own the Active, and from her he built the Minnie
Will as stated under the head.
There is no question as to that fact.
Now we will hope to hear from Captain Heerman on this
question. He
knew all about the Union, as he owned her.
G. B. M.
______________
THE OLD BOATS—Additional Information
from Men Who Know,
The Saturday Evening Post of
Burlington, Iowa,
December 15, 1917, page 3.
“TOWING THROUGH”
AGAIN. Captain
George Winans Digs Up His Diary—Another Tally for the Union.
St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 10.—Capt.
George B. Merrick:
In 1863 the writer was in the employ of Pound,
Halbert & Co. of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, who were large
manufacturers of rafted lumber that found a market at
various points on the Mississippi River.
In August of that year the Chippewa River became so
low that lumber rafts drawing but 12 inches could not
navigate, and three such rafts were tied up near Rumsey
Landing. With
no prospect of better water the writer was directed to take
men and supplies to the stranded rafts and re raft them,
making them but eight courses (10 inches) deep.
This was done, the result being four
rafts but of the three, each drawing but 10 inches.
In the shape they were run successfully to Read’s
Landing at the mouth of the Chippewa.
Coupling the four rafts with two owned by Carson &
Rand, made a tow of 108 cribs ready to start on the 10th
day of September.
Supplies were placed on board, a crew engaged and an
early start on the 11th was planned.
We did not start simply because we did not have a
crew. The men
has discovered that there wasn’t any extra men in town and
when I went to the Landing to investigate, I was informed
that it would take $4.00 per day to secure their valuable
company on the trip.
As the regular wages had been by 75 cents per day up
to that time we did not negotiate.
During the winter of 1863-1863 Jos. W. Harding and
Sett Scott had built a small, geared, side wheel boat at
Durand, Wisconsin, proposing to operate her on the Chippewa
River.
The boat was named the Union and
owing to a mistake in design drew 18 inches of water; as
there was but 14 inches of water in the channel of the
Chippewa, by July 1st the Union could not
navigate.
Here owners took her to Read’s landing and did such
odd jobs as they could find on the Mississippi.
She was idle on the day my speculative crew struck.
As the subject of running rafts with a boat had been
discussed for two or three years, whenever a bunch of pilots
got together, it occurred to me that the present would be a
good time to try it.
Finding that I could not get 5 men to go, I boarded
the Union and soon made a bargain with Seth Scott for the
services of himself and boat for $7.00 per day.
We got to the raft with the boat with five men a
little afternoon and by evening had a temporary arrangement
made by which we could handle the boat behind the raft.
Owing to the low water there was no probability of
another raft starting for another month and the gentlemen on
strike got so uneasy that they sent word that evening that
they would go for $1.00 per day.
Not feeling quite sure of the boat proposition, I
agreed, and before the next day’s close I was very glad that
I had done so.
Early on the morning of the 12th of
September, 1863, the first raft to be towed by boat, below
Lake Pepin, left, the shore opposite Read’s Landing, in tow
of the steamer Union of 28.59 100 tons burthen—George Winans
pilot, Seth Scott , engineer and Louie Webber, cook.
Everything started out fine.
I had a double crew on the bow and the boat did much
more than I had expected but I soon discovered that our
apparatus for handling the boat was not sufficient and it
broke down before we were out of sight of Wabasha.
Shipping up the stern oars and sending part of the
crew back, the stern, we floated until we make repairs.
At Tepeotee, however, it was wrecked again and before
the crew could get back, the stern swung down and the boat
went aground.
Her wheels were too large and struck the bottom and before
the engine could be stopped, the pinion stripped more than
half the wood teeth out of her core wheel.
We had no extra teeth aboard and Winona was the
nearest point at which we could get them.
This meant a delay of at least three days, the season
getting late, and two strings of lumber to be delivered at
Hannibal Missouri.
We got the boat off the sand, lashed her along side,
and went back to the old, inglorious method of floating.
The Union was left at Winona and Seth Scott remained
and made repairs and then run back to Read’s Landing, while
the raft continued on in the same old way.
Items in my expense account show the experiment cost
the Lumber Co. &86.00.
It also confirmed my long entertained belief in the
ultimate success of the raft towing steam boat.
The water was so low that the raft had to be divided
into six pieces to get over the Rock Island rapids and four
days time was consumed.
Before reaching the Des Moines rapids more than half
the raft had been sold, but it required, largely because of
bad weather, six days to pass these rapids.
Landing below Keokuk we cut out lumber to go to
Warsaw and in doing this one got away and grounded on a sand
bar near Alexandria.
Running between Warsaw and Keokuk, was the Eagle, a
small side wheel packet built and owned by the Leyhe Bros.
of Warsaw. I
engaged the Eagle to pull off and tow the grounded crib of
lumber to Warsaw and also to tow the balance of the raft to
Hannibal the same evening and the second raft had been towed
by a steam boat.
My expense account showed it cost the Lumber Company
$50.00 for the boat and crew, consisting of 1 master, 1
engineer, and 1 fireman.
Geo. Winans was the pilot, and was receiving
$1,200.00 for the season.
During the season of 1864 the water in the
Mississippi River was still lower and the low water mark
established at Cairo that year is still the zero mark for
all the Upper Mississippi River gages.
The steamer Union was still owned by Harding & Scott
and still looking for work, as the Chippewa was again too
low for her to navigate.
Arriving at Read’s Landing on September 4th,
I was met by Mr. Scott who said he was engaged to tow a raft
for Cy Bradley and wanted to get two oar stems of our lumber
as Bradley had sent word to him that he wanted them to rig
up winches with which to handle the boat.
He said the tow was then in sight below Lake City,
and he was to meet them in time to get the boat harnessed in
by the time the tow got through.
We went over to the lumber, opposite Read’s Landing,
and I sold him two oars for 50 cents, as my old expense book
shows. I could
see the tow, in charge of, I think, the Minnesota, but of
that I am not sure.
I started up the Chippewa before the Union got out of
the Lake, but returning two days late I was told she passed
all right.
I started a floating raft a day or two later and met
the Union at Clayton on her way back, and later understood
she delivered her raft at Clinton without mishap in two days
less time than was usually required for the floating trip.
That was the first raft that went through to its
destination, towed by a steamboat; but it was not towed by
that boat from Stillwater.
The Union would have required four days to tow though
both lakes.
The Union had been sold before Bradley got back from
his first trip and came into the management of the writer,
who made two trips with her in 1864, and used her
continuously until the close of the season of 1867, when she
was cut down by ice and later sold to Captain E. E. Heerman.
After the trip with the Union, Bradley made a trip
with the side-wheel steamer Active and in 1865 brought out
the Minnie Will, named after a niece of his.
From 1865 the pace never faltered and boats
multiplied. Any
intimation that Bradley was considered a dreamer because he
advocated the towing of rafts by steamboat is not based on
the facts. It
was a common subject of discussion and every one believed in
it. Why
shouldn’t they?
For years rafts had been towed through the lakes
successfully and the principle was the same.
The writer has a model of the boat whittled out in
1862, showing what his idea of the coming boat was, and very
glad that he is that he did not have the money necessary to
build it, as it would have been a lamentable failure.
Mr. T. B. Wilson, of Knapp, Stout and Co. was an
enthusiastic believer in the idea as early as 1862, and
Judge Cady, the same year, offered to furnish the other half
the money to build one if John Newcomb and the writer would
furnish the other half.
If I have not called any of the old timers Captain it
is because at the time of which I write there were no
Captains, of record.
There were, however, a lot of hard headed, hard
working men who every day of their lives displayed a skill
that was never equaled by a like number of men in any walk
of life.
Yours Truly,
GEO. WINANS
THE OLD BOATS—Additional Information
from Men Who Knew,
The Saturday Evening Post of
Burlington, Iowa,
January 12, 1918, page 7.
Dairy Discloses
Different Doings.
Jack Chapman Tows Through Before Minnie Will is
Built.
ST. PAUL, MINN. Dec 27.—Captain Geo. B. Merrick,
Madison, Wis., Dear Sir:--Looking up my old records and
expense accounts I find that I made a trip up the St. Croix,
to Marine, to look at some logs that were for sale.
While at Osceola I saw the new steamer G. B. Knapp,
and which was nearly completed.
I also saw another boat then under construction that
I was told was being built by Cy Bradley for a raft boat.
My
expense account shows that I paid thirty cents for a dinner
at Osceola on June 2nd, 1866.
As my previous visit had been in 1859, it follows
that I saw the partially constructed Minnie Will in 1866.
I did not at that, or any other times, ever see the
steamer Active, but based my belief that she existed, and
that the Minnie Will came out in 1865, on the statement of
yourself and Capt. Van Sant.
Here is another queer: The steamer Tiger passed Reads
Landing with a log raft on the 20th of July 1865,
more than a year before the Minnie Will came out.
The Tiger was not pushing the raft but was lashed
across the stern and used in the same manner as oars.
Two days later she was placed behind the raft and
towed it to its destination.
Jack Chapman was in command of the Tiger.
Yours Truly,
GEO. WINANS.
Steamboats and Steamboatmen of the
Upper Mississippi by George B. Merrick,
The Saturday Evening Post,
Burlington, Iowa,
January 18. 1919, page 5.
CHAPTER CCXLIV.
____________
UNION.
Small side wheel geared boat of 28.56 tons, build at
Durand, Wis. 1863 by Joseph W. Harding and Seth Scott.
She was a very light draft boat intended for service
on the Chippewa River, where she ran for a number of seasons
between Reeds Landing and Eau Claire in freight and
passenger service.
Just now she is in the lead for the honor of being
the first boat to tow a raft thru to destination an honor
long generally accredited to Capt. Cyrus Bradley’s Minnie
Will, or the Active which was the predecessor of the Minnie
Will.
In a letter printed in the Post December 15th,
1917, Captain Geo. Winans of St. Paul submits proof from
records in his possession which seems to settle the disputed
question beyond all doubt.
It also establishes the fact that Capt. Geo. Winans
himself was the first pilot to attempt to put in practice
the theory advanced by Capt. Cyrus Bradley; but owing to the
accident described, he did not succeed in running his raft
thru to destination, although he did give it a good try.
His failure gave Capt. Bradley an opportunity to
successfully demonstrate the practicability of his theory.
The article in question reads in part
During the winter of 1862-63 J. F. Harding and Seth
Scott had built a small, geared side wheeled boat Durand,
Wis., proposing to operate her on the Chippewa River.
The boat was named Union and owing to a mistake in
design drew 18 inches of eater.
As there was but 14 inches of water in the channel of
the Chippewa, by July 1st. the Union could not
navigate.
Her owners took her to Reed’s Landing and did such
odd jobs as they could find on the Mississippi.
She was idle on the day my speculative crew struck.
As the subject of running rafts with a boat had been
discussed for two or three years, whenever a bunch of pilots
got together, it occurred to me that the present a good time
to try it.
Finding that I could get 5 men to go I boarded the Union and
soon made a bargain with Seth Scott for the services of
himself and boat for $7.00 per day.
We got to the raft with the boat and five men a
little after noon and by evening had a temporary arrangement
made by which we could handle the raft.
Owing to the low water there was no probability of
another raft starting for a month and the gentlemen on
strike got so uneasy that they sent word that evening that
they would go for $1.00 per day.
Not feeling quite sure of the boat proposition, I
agreed, and was very glad that I had done so.
Early on the morning of the 12th of
September, 1863, the first raft to be towed by a boat, below
Lake Pepin, left the shore opposing Reed’s Landing in tow of
the steamer Union of 28.59 tons burthen—Geo. Winans, pilot,
Seth Scott, engineer and Louie Webber cook.
Everything started out fine, I had a double crew on
the bow and the boat did much more than I had expected but I
soon discovered that our apparatus for handling the boat was
not sufficient and it broke down before we were out of sight
of Wabash.
Shipping up the stern oars and sending part of the crew back
we floated until we made repairs.
At Tepeotee, however, it was wrecked again and before
the crew could get back, the stern swung down and the boat
went aground.
Her wheels were too large and struck the bottom and before
the engine could be stopped, the pinion stripped more than
half the wood teeth out of her core wheel.
We had no extra teeth aboard and Winona was the
nearest point at which we could get them.
This meant a delay of at least three days, the season
getting late, and two strings of lumber to be delivered at
Hannibal, Missouri.
We got the boat off the sand, lashed her along side,
and went back to the old, inglorious method of floating.
The Union was left at Winona and Seth Scott remained
and made repairs and then run back to Read’s Landing, while
the raft continued on in the same old way.
Items in my expense account show the experiment cost
the Lumber co. $86.00.
It also confirmed my long entertained belief in the
ultimate success of the raft towing steam boat.
The water was so low that the raft had to be divided
into six pieces to get over the Rock Island rapids and four
days time was consumed.
Before reaching the Des Moines rapids more than half
the raft had been sold, but it required, largely because of
bad weather, six days to pass those rapids.
Landing below Keokuk we cut out lumber to go to
Warsaw and in doing so one crib got loose and grounded on a
sand bar near Alexandria.
Running between Warsaw and Keokuk was the Eagle, a
small side wheel packet built and owned by Leyhe Bros. of
Warsaw, I engaged the Eagle to pull off and tow the grounded
crib of lumber to Warsaw and also to tow the balance of the
raft to Hannibal, Missouri, its destination.
Starting on the morning of the 8th of
November the raft was landed at Hannibal the same evening
and the second raft had been towed by a steam boat.
My expense account showed it cost the Lumber Company
$50.00 for the boat and crew, consisting of 1 master, 1
engineer, and 1 fireman.
Winans was the pilot, and was receiving $1,200.00 for
that season.
During the season of 1864 the water in the
Mississippi River was still lower and the low water mark
established at Cairo that year is still the zero mark for
all the Upper Mississippi River gages.
The steamer Union was still owned by Harding & Scott
and still looking for work, as the Chippewa was gain too low
for her to navigate.
Arriving at Read’s Landing on September 4th,
I was met by Mr. Scott who said he was engaged to tow a raft
for Cy Bradley and wanted to get two oar stems off our
lumber as Bradley had sent word to him that he wanted them
to rig up winches with which to handle her.
He said that the tow was then in sight below Lake
City, and he was to meet them in time to get the boat
harnessed in by the time he got the tow through.
We went over to the lumber opposite Read’s Landing
and I sold him two oars for 50 cents, as my old expense book
shows, I could
see the tow in charge of I think, the Minnesota but of that
I am not sure.
I started up the Chippewa before the Union got out of the
lake, but returning two days later I was told she passed all
right.
I started a floating raft a day or two later and met
the Union at Clayton on her way back and later understood
she delivered her raft at Clinton without mishap in two days
less time than was usually required for a floating trip.
That was the first raft that went thru to its
destination, towed by a steamboat; but it was not towed by
that boat from Stillwater.
The Union would have required four days to tow thru
both lakes. The
Union had been sold before Bradley for back from his first
trip and came into the management of the writer, who made
two trips with her in 1864, and used her continuously until
the close of the season in 1867 when she was cut down by ice
and later sold to Captain E. E. Heerman.
After the trip with the Union, Bradley made a trip
with the side wheel steamer Active and in 1865 brought out
the Minnie Will, named after a niece of his.
From 1865 the pace never faltered and boats
multiplied. Any
intimation that Bradley was considered dreamer because he
advocated the towing of rafts by steamboat is not based on
facts. It was a
common subject of discussion and every one believed in it.
Why shouldn’t they?
For years rafts had been towed thru the lakes
successfully and the principle was the same.
The writer has the model of the boat, whittled out in
1862, showing what his idea
of the coming boat was and very glad he is that he
did not have the money necessary to build it, as it would
have been a lamentable failure.
Mr. T. B. Wilson, of Knapp, Stout & Company was an
enthusiastic believer in the idea was early as 1862, and
Judge Cady, the same year, offered to furnish half the money
to build one if J. Newcomb and the writer would furnish the
other half.
If I have not called any of the old timers Captain it
is because at the time of which I write there were no
Captains, of record.
There were, however, lots of hard working men who
every day of their lives displayed skill that was never
equaled by a like number of men in any walk of life.
Yours Truly,
GEO. WINANS
When I came to the Union in writing these sketches I
called upon Captain Geo. Winans and Capt. E. E. Heerman to
give me all they knew of this famous little boat, with the
history of which both were so intimately associated.
In response they put their heads together and decided
that they would comply with my request so far as to leave
nothing more to be said on the subject.
I am therefore using their stories without additions
or corrections, the two letters following containing about
all that could be said on the subject.
I am therefore using their stories without additions
or corrections, the two letters following containing about
all that could be said about the Union, Captain Winan’s
letter duplicates much as printed in his letter of December
1917, but it loses none of its interest thereby.
It will be observed that his letter is addressed to
Captain Heerman, but permission is given to use it in this
connection. It
is as follows:
ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec 27, 1918, Captain E. E. Heerman,
Devils Lake, N. Dakota.
Dear Sir:
I have yours of the 13th and am glad to
know that you are well and still sailing.
There are not very many of us left.
Here is what I know I know of the Union.
She was a side-wheel, geared, boat, built at Durand,
Wisconsin, in 1863 by J. W. Harding and Seth Scott, and had
her first inspection April 5th of that year.
She was of 28.56 tons burthen and had a locomotive
type boiler 8 ½ feet long 36 inches diameter with an engine
7 inch diameter and 14 inch stroke, geared 4 to 1.
During the low water of 1863 I chartered her to tow a
raft from Read’s Landing to Hannibal, Mo.
We got aground at Teepeota and the wheels striking
the sand, her engine stripped more than half the cogs out of
the core wheel.
I shipped up oars lashed the Union alongside the raft
floated her to Winona and I left her with her owners who
repaired her and took her back to Reads.
This was the first raft to be shoved by a boat.
Later Capt. Cy Bradley towed a raft with her from
Reads Landing to Clinton, Iowa, the raft having been brought
from Stillwater by another boat.
In 1865 the Union was sold to Pound, Halbert Co. of
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and was chartered by the writer
to tow lumber from Reads Landing to down river points.
She was so employed during the latter part of 1865
and thru the entire seasons of 1866-67 and 1868.
During that time she handled 160 million feet of
lumber successfully.
In the fall she was taken to Chippewa Falls for the
winter and in the spring of 1869 was cut down by the ice.
The wreck was sold to you and I suggest that you now
take up the story and let us get one record correct and
complete. You
can use all or part of this letter, if you choose in your
communication to Capt. Merrick.
I can establish its correctness.
Wishing you the compliments of the season.
Yours Truly,
GEO.
WINANS
Captain E. E. Heerman, of Devils Lake, North Dakota,
tells about his ownership of the Union, in the following
letter just received:
In 1862 I happened to furnish something towards
building this boat.
She was built at Durand, Wisconsin, by Captain S.
Scott and Capt. J. W. Harding, who were largely interested
in getting out stove bolts.
At this time there was plenty of good timber for this
purpose nearby.
Her length was about 100.0 feet, in breadth beam 12,0
feet, I think, and less than 3 feet depth of hold.
She was a side wheel, geared boat, similar to the
steamer Monitor.
Her boiler was manufactured in Chicago, by P. W.
Gates & Co., before 1857, and sold to W. H. Gates, of Alma,
for a sawmill, where it was used for a year or two.
After the great financial crash of 1858 the mill quit
business. Both
Scott & Harding told they had bought this boiler for their
boat but it was not used in the boat as it had been in the
mill. The
balance wheel and pulley had been removed and a pinion and
core wheel installed instead.
The boiler was about 8 feet long and less than three
feet in diameter.
The firebox was built with copper flues very close
together. The
pillow blocks were bolted on the boiler, and so was the
engine. The
shaft on the boiler pillow blocks held the pinion and this
was about 8 by 10.
This pinion meshed into the cog wheel, which was
about 3 or 4 feet in diameter, and I think geared 4 to 1,
giving great power for the size of the boiler.
Scott & Harding used her on the Chippewa for a time.
Scott finally sold his interest to Harding.
Several years latter Scott was agent for my boats at
Durand, and I think died there after I left the river.
Captain Harding continued to operate her, finally
selling her I suppose to the Eau Claire Lumber Company, as
Mr. Kemp of that firm told me that the Union was their boat.
About this time the lumbering firm E. Pound & Co., of
Chippewa Falls, was complaining that their freight charges
were too high, and that the boats should deliver their
freight to the Falls and there were some trips made with the
steamer Chippewa to demonstrate that it was safe.
This part of the river, being situated above the
mills, and the river being full of floating logs made it a
dangerous business.
I understood that A. E. Pound & Co. finally bought
the Union, whether for rafting or for use on the Chippewa I
never knew.
Capt. Winans may have owned her.
He had charge of her as I know up to the time was cut
down by ice at Chippewa Falls.
I think he is entitled to the honor of having handled
the first raft by boat on the great river.
The first I saw of her after she was sunk was in the
spring of 1863.
Later on, after considerable dickering I bought her as she
lay, paying for the hull $75, and for the boiler $1,000.
I wish to add that by law the boiler could not be
used on the same bottom that it had been on before, hence my
reason for buying the hull of the Union.
I rebuilt her, bringing her out in the latter part of
August, 1869, and used her as a passenger and freight boat
and in towing lumber up to the year 1880.
I then dismantled her at Read’s Landing, taking the
boiler on board the Missouri River steamer Minnie H. to Fort
Benton, Montana, bringing it back to Bismarck, N. D., where
I sold it to the
coal mines.
Captain Geo. Winans had charge of the Union during
the balance of the season of 1869, I think, from August,
when she came out until close of navigation; but it may have
been his brother Aaron Winans.
Other captains who served for a time on the Union
were John and Henry Walker, Wm. Dubler, Wm. Woodard, Noisy
Bill Smith, Alex Gordon, Michael Magill, Ed Minder, Sol.
Cosby, L. C. Mlin, Wm. Dustin and others I do not call to
mind. Among the
engineers were E. Peck, Joe Myers, Louie Dusher, Orval
Smith, all of the Fullers who were engineers at that time,
C. C. Dunn, Pat Gregan, Alex Stokes and Oliver Stokes.
The first bell in use on the steamer Union is now in
use to call the audiences to the auditorium at the Devils
Lake Chautauqua, North Dakota.
I cannot bid farewell to her without relating the
story of a bloody fight that took place in 1870 between the
crews of the Union and the Minnie Will.
It took place at my boatyard in Lacrosse, located
between Colemans and Fall Mills.
I was to meet the Union there, and happened to be on
time. I had
been in the warehouse getting out material for repair, and
had just stepped on board the Union.
Another boat had landed alongside and hitched on to
the Union. The
cook on the Union was a colored man named Andy.
He came to me and said that the cook on the other
boat had taken his buck saw, and would not return it.
I told him to let it go and I would get him another
saw. I went on
with my business; but almost immediately Andy returned and
said that he had his saw.
At the same instant the crew of the other boat came
rushing on to the forecastle of the Union, apparently in a
great rage, and the knock down commenced without any parley.
Clubs, wrenches, and anything else that could be
reached were in use.
At one time, in the fiercest part of the fracas the
only two of my crew that I saw standing were the engineer at
his engine, and Andy, the cook near him with his saw in his
hand. The other
boat backed out while I was engaged in getting on shore some
of those who had been knocked overboard.
I immediately sent for doctors Arthur and Chamberlin.
Dr. Arthur arrived first and at once pressed me into
service to assist in dressing the wounds of the injured.
The first three were dressed and mended up as they
lay in the sand on the shore.
After getting thru with the medical attendance, I
found that the Union was seven men short all of whom we
found in the wheelhouses, all more or less injured.
They said that some had been knocked overboard, while
others had jumped overboard to save their lives.
Some of them had cuts in their heads four to 11
inches long showing that Andy had not been able to
distinguish friend from foe in the fight in which he took an
active part.
Two raft crews gathered on one small boat was putting them
In pretty thick.
In early days many of the floating crews were pretty
rough, and there was plenty of material along shore to make
them worse but in time the steam vessels that finally
monopolized the rafting business on the great river were
civilizers and a great blessing to humanity.
The bad element could not get jobs on the towboats.
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