i6o A RAFT PILOT'S LOG 



towboats from the Ohio and Lower Mississippi towing 

 ice to Saint Louis. Smith and Coleman had the cream 

 of the work. 



The old tree must feel very lonely these quiet nights 

 when it recalls some of those busy nights in the seventies 

 or eighties when two or three rafters, a big ice towboat 

 like the "E. M. Norton," "Beaver" or "Jack Frost," 

 and a big freighter with three barges of grain were all 

 coaling and getting on provisions, ice and other sup- 

 plies at the LeClaire Landing within a block of the 

 green tree that saw them all come and all go. 



It has a quiet but steady companion for company 

 now; since Captain J. D. Barnes of LeClaire placed a 

 cut stone marker on the Public Landing close to the 

 tree in memory of an old playmate who was born only 

 two miles away. Captain Joe Barnes is a veteran of the 

 Civil war. He and David Carr of Davenport are the 

 only survivors of the crew that made the first and only 

 rafting trip made by the little steamer "LeClaire" of 

 LeClaire, Iowa, in 1866. 



Captain Barnes was very proud of his old playmate 

 who gained distinction as a hunter, scout and showman; 

 well known and highly honored on both sides of the 

 Atlantic. 



The stone bears this inscription : 



DEDICATED TO 



COLONEL WILLIAM F. CODY 

 "Buffalo Bill" 



By His Friend and 



Boyhood Playmate 



Joe Barnes 



Erected 1924 



