TO A RAFT PILOT'S LOG 



would step off while she was double tripping the 

 bridge, and have everything ready at the river side to 

 load in the skiff when she came down with the second 

 piece. We always pulled ahead at Lansing, as it was 

 our best fish and vegetable supply, and a handy place to 

 get ice and mail. 



Gaunitz brothers ran the boat store at Lansing, Iowa, 

 many years, and had a nice boat trade. Their books 

 show that they once had twenty-four steamboats at their 

 pier during the twenty-four hour day. At another time 

 they put up and delivered seven hundred and twenty 

 dollars' worth of goods to boats in one night. 



In nearly every town along the river you would see 

 the sign "Boat Store" on one or more stores on Front 

 street. This usually meant only a grocery store that 

 catered to the steamboat trade during the day and eve- 

 ning. Some few gave a night service too. 



However, there were only a few real boat stores, such 

 as Ward and Brady, at Saint Louis; Hansen and Line- 

 han, and Diamond Jo stores, at Dubuque, Iowa; Mc- 

 Donald Brothers and P. S. Davidson's at LaCrosse, 

 Wisconsin, where they kept groceries, rope in all sizes, 

 blocks and pulleys, shovels, picks, hand-pikes, axes, 

 peavies, augers, and all rafting supplies and tools. They 

 had a sail-loft, where tarpaulins and canvas covers of 

 all kinds were made. I always loved the smell of oakum 

 and rope that came from up-stairs. 



During good water stages, we made round trips be- 

 tween Stillwater and Fort Madison in ten or eleven 

 days. When the river got low and we had to double- 

 trip from Read's Landing, at the foot of Lake Pepin to 

 the foot of Coon Slough, it took us fourteen to sixteen 

 days. 



In ordinary stages of water, our boats could follow 



