THE GREAT RIVER THEN AND NOW 85 



the engine-room well painted, with bright tools, shiny 

 copper oil-cans, brass bell-pulls, and pictures, all as 

 neat as a lady's parlor. 



McDonald Brothers, of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, had a 

 large fleet of raft-boats, but they made no effort to make 

 them attractive for passengers, and seldom carried any. 

 W. A. Suiter, their office manager and manager of their 

 boat store, told me, in later years, that while he had 

 handled all the business of the McDonald fleet for 

 twenty-seven years, he had not ridden five miles on one 

 of their boats. 



When we had young people with us for a trip, they 

 often wanted to go with me, in the large skiff, when we 

 pulled ahead to get mail and supplies while the boat 

 was backing some bend or double-tripping a bridge, or 

 simply towing down river. In the latter case, we had a 

 long pull on the oars to catch her. 



One time, two fine young ladies from Muscatine, 

 Iowa, were with us two full weeks while we made two 

 short trips from Beef Slough to Lansing, Iowa, and 

 then on to Muscatine. Being out so long from our base 

 of supplies, I had to make many trips ashore to replen- 

 ish our stores, and if in daytime or evening, the girls 

 always wanted to go along. They always bought candy, 

 nuts, or cigars for the two linesmen, so they made no 

 complaint about the extra load to row. 



One day, though, the girls didn't care to go, nor the 

 next time either, and of course I did not urge them, 

 much as I enjoyed their company. It was my first sea- 

 son on the "Silver Wave," and as one of the girls was 

 the daughter of one of the part owners of the boat and 

 the Lumber Company, I didn't want to be fresh. 



I wondered, however, why those girls quit the shore 

 trips, and was pleased when on our last two days out, 



