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THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
CAPT. STEPHEN B. HANKS,
DETAILS OF WORK IN A WINTER LOGGING CAMP
August 6, 1921
I was now a contractor for running lumber and logs from St.
Croix to St. Louis, Sandy McPhail had a contract for running
from Marine Mills and we two were the only contractors for a
number of years probably eight or ten. As I now remember the
rates were $100 per 1000 ft. for lumber 25c per 1000 for lath
and shingles and –per 1000 feet for logs.
I soon had the Prescott raft ready to go and we made the trip
successfully, delivering the raft to Robert Holmes at St.
Louis. I continued to deliver lumber to them for six or seven
years.
On returning to Stillwater I went to work in the mill while
lumber for another raft was being cut and rafted. There was a
lot of dimension stuff in this next raft and it was essential
that it be delivered that season and it was delivered although
we got a late start.
On the return from this tip I stopped at Albany and bought two
large powerful horses one from Adam Huffman and one from
Charles Slocumb, two men week known to all the older people in
and about Albany. One was a clear grey and the other was a
dapple grey. Had a harness made for them by a man named
Sankston. I started up the river with the horses on the
Senator one of the Smith Harris boats. We went into Galena
and took on a lot of miscellaneous freight including a large
quantity of supplies for the military post at Fort Snelling
that had been bought by the purchasing agent Mr. Franklin
Steel. There were a number of men from Albany going with me,
among them my brother William, John and Dave Wray and
Dave Sharp. I do not recall the names of the ten or
twelve others.
We left Galena about the 7th or 8th of
November and there was snow on the ground and the weather
continued cold and got colder as we went north. On arrival at
where is now Fountain City, we laid up on account of ice.
Soon after starting out in the morning a deer was seen
swimming the river; the boat headed for him and he was shot
from the pilot house by the pilot, Peter Hall, just as
he was climbing up on the loose ice on the bank.
We found ice two inches thick soon after entering Lake Pepin.
The freight on the barge we had in tow was transferred to the
boat, as the barge was not strong enough o stand bucking the
ice, and we went at it. We did not go far, however, until it
was seen that we could not get through so we made for the west
shore and landed at a little place known as Florence, about
opposite Maiden Rock, on November 12th. Here the
freight was put on shore, nicely piled up and covered with
tarpaulins loaned by the captain of the boat, in fact a hose
was built over the freight, and two men left to guard it.
Then my team was hitched to a sled and with other teams, one
of horses and several of oxen and a wagon, with blankets,
bedding and supplies we started through the snow, without any
road, to make our destination. The going was very rough and
slow and I think we camped out one night before we reached Red
Wing; any way we spent one night with the Indian agent there.
It was known that there was a barge at Point Douglass, as the
foot of Lake St. Croix and as the river was free from ice
above Hastings, we decided to send some men up to get the
barge. These were chosen by drawing cuts and I remember
dreading being selected as one to go and fortunately was not.
We borrowed a skiff and the men started early in the morning
and got back late the same night. The next morning early,
teams, sleighs, wagons and all else we had were loaded on the
barge and every man with a pole we drove that barge at good
speed and to Point Douglas that same day before night. We
spent the night at the hotel and the next day made the trip to
Stillwater, thirty miles through the snow, a hard day’s
jaunt.
I
had made no definite plans for the winter and had taken the
team up with the expectation of selling it at a profit. John
McKusick bought it at a very satisfactory price. The men had
gone up with the expecting to get work and were glad to go
with me as they were new at the business and I knew the ropes.
McKusick now wanted me to go into the woods and run a camp for
him taking the men who came with me as a crew. We began
preparations at once, built two long sleds made on yokes, had
chains made and put together the necessary outfit and supplies
and set out as soon as we were ready. McKusick went doing
with us as the timber to be cut and the site for the camp, had
not been selected. After leaving sunrise McKusick and I left
the party to go on foot, to another camp being run by
Jonathan McKusick, a brother with instructions to the men
to stay together and with the teams. It was snowing most of
the day but we made the camp about nine o’clock at night after
a hard tramp of nearly sixty miles and I was wearied to
exhaustion. We presumed the men would do as told, but some of
them thought they were as good travelers as we were so set out
to follow us. Not long after our arrival Dave Sharf
fell into the camp completely worn out. Two others, Len
Cady and John Wray did not reach camp that night
but spent the night in a log shanty they found without bed or
blankets. It was two or three days before the teams arrived.
Next morning after our arrival at camp McKusick and I set out
to locate a camp site and find timber for cutting. After a
couple of days cruising we decided to cut a tract on Mud Creek
although it made us a longer haul than we liked, Mud Creek not
being large enough for a driving stream, as we had to haul to
Snake river.
We got busy at once constructing camp. The snow had to be
cleaned off the ground, logs cut and fitted, moss for caulking
secured from the swamp, old hay found for covering, boughs cut
for beds and a hundred other things to be done so that we got
a very late start at cutting; in fact the first log was but on
Christmas day.
We had a total of fifteen men, including cook and teamsters,
in camp. Supplies were brought to us and we had no hindrances
during the winter, although the snow was very deep toward
spring. Our haul averaged about one half mile to Snake river
and when we broke camp about the first of March, 1846, we had
a good strong million feet of logs to our credit.
I was detailed for the drive this year but went at once to the
mill where I assisted in fitting up the booms, piers, etc. We
got a fresh fall of snow and the dazzling effect after a
winter of subdued light in the woods was too much for my eyes
and I became snow blind and was helpless and laid up for a
time. A sister of John McKusick’s wife, at the boarding
house, proved a friend in need and gave me all the care and
attention that my own sister could have given and proved a
kind and sympathetic nurse.
The mill had been in operation al winter sawing the logs that
had been picked up around the banks of the lake and cleaning
up generally. The output had to be rafted on the ice, so when
the ice went out it was not long before a raft was ready to
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