THE NOTED RAFT-BOAT "SILVER WAVE" 103 



The iron where it had broken was five inches wide and 

 three-quarters thick and it was a clean job to weld it 

 with our little outfit. 



It was awfully hot, close in under the bluffs that 

 afternoon, but before the supper bell rang we had her 

 stern back up to place and the chain with that weld 

 held her until she was dismantled many years later. 



We had no trouble with our passengers and they 

 made better time with us than if they had taken a regu- 

 lar packet that made frequent stops and handled con- 

 siderable freight, and the five hundred dollars passage 

 money they paid added just that much to the net profit 

 of the trip. 



Nearly all our work was running log rafts from Beef 

 Slough, Wisconsin, to the Musser Lumber Company of 

 Muscatine, Iowa, that owned a half interest in the 

 "Silver Wave." 



About this time The Musser Lumber Company and 

 Captain Van Sant incorporated the "Van Sant and 

 Musser Transportation Company" that continued to 

 the end of the rafting business. 



I remained with the "Silver Wave" three full sea- 

 sons; two of them with Captain George Rutherford 

 and one ( 1 88 1 ) with Captain Lome Short who gave me 

 great encouragement and opportunity to practice on 

 the river and before the season was over he would let 

 me "take her" anywhere night or day and fortunately I 

 kept her out of trouble and made life easier for him. 



We had very high water in the fall of 1881 and some 

 landings were hard to make. On one trip we had a raft 

 for the Clinton Lumber Company. At Dubuque I got 

 orders from them to bring the raft "to our mill." Cap- 

 tain Short knowing the landing to be swift in high 

 water had everybody up, skiffs and check lines ready 



