IAGenWeb - Scott County
MISSISSIPPI RIVER FOLK BACKGROUND
HENRY TWIEZEL Sketch of Capt. S. R. Van Sant
From cabin boy to GovernorA long, honorable and successful career as a boat owner and operator on the Upper Mississippi.
(Capt. Van Sant speaking)
Another time I saw him perspire was at Davenport. We had been dropping out trying to store up work enough to keep us busy during the slack season. We had several rafts laid up and had brought one down. Men were as scarce as hen's teeth and we hadn't had more than five at one time for several weeks. Henry Tweizel was mating and he and I were the only ones who knew how to pull a skiff, and that crew were about the limit for greenness all around. Working all day lining up, putting on butting blocks and check-works and then picking up a wood flat to unloaded while running back at night had put us all to the back, there was one stretch of sixty hours that we had no sleep at all and Tweisel and I made up our minds to get off and rest up awhile after we had delivered at Muscatine.
Source: Saturday Evening Post, Burlington, Ia., 02 Sep 1916.