WHAT BECAME OF THE RAFT-BOATS 179 



knew him well and admired him greatly. He was a 

 handsome, strong man, but he overworked and seldom 

 took any relaxation and his first illness took him ofif 

 when we thought of him as just in his prime. 



I had her beautiful cabin extended aft and made 

 some other changes including a little "texas" for her 

 crew and put her in the Davenport and Burlington 

 trade. She became very popular and successful. At the 

 end of her eighth season we sold her to the Kentucky 

 and Indiana Bridge and Terminal Company at Louis- 

 ville, Kentucky. They repaired and changed her to an 

 excursion boat -named her ''Hiawatha" - and lost her 

 by fire two years later. 



The "Sam Atlee" was sold to a Mr. Robert Cothell 

 of New Orleans, who changed her name to "Control." 



The "Musser" was hauled out on the Wabasha ways, 

 her cabin, machinery and boilers blocked up and the 

 hull removed and a new and larger hull nearly com- 

 pleted when I bought and completed what became the 

 packet "Keokuk" that ran between Burlington, Keokuk 

 and Quincy from 1908 to 1923 inclusive, when new 

 paved roads and a surplus of trucks and busses com- 

 pelled us to give up what had been a profitable trade 

 for over 60 years. 



The "J. W. Van Sant," "Cyclone," and "Isaac Sta- 

 ples," were all burned in the great fire in the Wabasha 

 yard in December, 1907. They were up on the ways, 

 their hulls dry, and they made a very hot fire. 



The second "Saturn" was sold and went south, first to 

 the Missouri and then to the Lower Mississippi. 



The "Henrietta" was sold to a party in Paducah, 

 Kentucky, and towed ties out of Tennessee river. 



The "R. J. Wheeler" went south and was towing 

 staves and lumber out of Black river, Louisiana. She 



