244 A RAFT PILOT'S LOG 



surgery, good treatment and rest he got well enough to 

 do some more profitable work on the river and he 

 owned a big interest in several raft-boats including the 

 "Last Chance," "Pilot," "Ten Broeck," "Jo Long," 

 "Robert Dodds," "Helene Shulenberg" and "Charlotte 

 Boeckeler." 



About 1895, Captain McCaffrey bought the Dia- 

 mond Jo Line steamer "Mary Morton" more to encour- 

 age his sons and give them a chance than to carry out 

 any ambition of his own. 



He also bought a coal mine over on Rock river and 

 the little steamer "Duke" and barges to bring coal out 

 through the Hennepin canal to Davenport. 



Captain McCaffrey had two fine properties at Tenth 

 and Brady Streets in Davenport. He lived in one and 

 converted the other into an apartment building, which 

 was always in demand. 



He was located pleasantly and taking life easy. He 

 was a popular member of the Piute Club and had a 

 bunch of cronies, lawyers and doctors, whose society he 

 enjoyed. We thought he was anchored here to stay 

 when all at once he sold out, bought a lot of good rich 

 land cheap on account of the boll weevil scare, lying on 

 the west side of the Mississippi across from Vicksburg, 

 and started late in life to improve and develop this land 

 into good cotton plantations. 



The captain would have made a great success of this 

 venture, but his health gave out and his busy life came 

 to a sudden ending at the Kellogg Sanitarium at Battle 

 Creek, Michigan. I tried to get a photo of the captain 

 taken with the full beard and mustache, as I knew him 

 first, but could not find one. 



