MEN PROMINENT IN THE RAFTING INDUSTRY aig 



until July, when he went back on the "City Bell" and 

 made eight trips on her when she struck a snag and 

 sank, a total loss, in Coon Slough. 



Soon after he fell in with a Mr. LaFrance who 

 brought lumber down the Chippewa, knew how to 

 handle a floating raft but needed some one to show him 

 the channel down the Mississippi. He hired young 

 Turner, then twent>' years old, agreeing to pay him 

 three dollars per day to show him the way. They made 

 five trips in 1857 and he paid Turner three hundred and 

 sevent>'-five dollars in November. Jerry sensibly went 

 back to his home town, Dubuque, and attended school 

 four months. 



There was a very late opening in the spring of 1858. 



Jerry was at Reads Landing expecting to work again 

 for Mr. LaFrance but he did not appear. 



Thirty-two steamboats were lying at Reads awaiting 

 the break up of the ice in Lake Pepin. There were 

 twent>^-five saloons running in the village and they had 

 lively business while they had the crews of all these 

 boats and their passengers for patrons. 



As LaFrance failed to show up, young Turner made 

 one or more trips, pulling an oar to get an idea of the 

 river from Keokuk to Saint Louis. Then he piloted 

 floating lumber rafts for O. H. Ingram of Eau Claire, 

 mostly to Saint Louis. 



Paid ofif there at the end of the season he changed his 

 paper money for gold, getting $1250.00 in coin. 



He now took an observation trip south on a fine pack- 

 et; stopped long enough at Memphis to attend a slave 

 auction which made him a strong abolitionist and 

 turned him back home. 



His first experience in using a steamboat was for a 

 man named L. H. Rumsey of LaCrosse who had a 



