MEN PROMINENT IN THE RAFTING INDUSTRY 243 



Street, Chicago, formerly City Attorney of Galena, 

 Illinois, and also County Judge of Jo Davies County, 

 Illinois. 



If there ever was a man who really loved his work it 

 was Captain Paul Kerz. I never knew any one else 

 who worked so many hours and slept so few, and no one 

 ever heard him complain of want of sleep or over-work. 



He was thoroughly loyal to his employers, to his 

 family and his church, and he had the complete confi- 

 dence of all who knew him. 



Captain Kerz demonstrated the truth of the old 

 saying, "He succeeds best who is most wedded to his 

 task." 



CAPTAIN JOHN MCCAFFREY 



No story of the rafting business can be told without 

 including John McCaffrey's part in it. 



At an early age he went on the river with his brother- 

 in-law, George Tromley, who was considerably older 

 than himself and already a floating pilot with estab- 

 lished reputation who was running logs and lumber on 

 contract. 



Young Jack, as he was called, acted as clerk and 

 pulled an oar in bad places. He learned the river in a 

 short time and soon got into the game on his own ac- 

 count. 



I don't know how he learned to handle a steamboat 

 but he was running the "Clyde," towing lumber in 1870. 



In 1871 he bought one-half interest in the steamer 

 "James Means" of V^an Sant and Son and he made a 

 very handsome profit with her and the "LeClaire Belle" 

 in the next five years. He then sold out and quit the 

 river for four years. He had received an injury by a 

 fall on a raft which gave him a lot of trouble, but by 



