MEN PROMINENT IX THE RAFTING INDUSTRY 249 



"Kentuck," and under his direction young Hawthorne 

 soon learned the river from Stillwater and Saint Paul 

 to Saint Louis. 



In i860 he followed the Gold Rush to Pikes Peak 

 but failing to strike a pay streak, he came back in 1861 

 and began piloting rafts himself. He was a keen ob- 

 server, watching the river closely and learned the drafts 

 of water at dififerent stages and became what was called 

 an "easy floater.'' He was easy on the crew and was a 

 favorite pilot because he gave the men no unnecessary 

 pulling. 



Going back up river with his crew on the regular 

 packets, he rode much of the time in the pilot houses, 

 became well acquainted with the pilots and learned 

 how to steer and handle a steamboat and secured a first 

 class pilot's license in 1872. He has had many reissues, 

 the last in May, 1927. 



He bought the side-wheeler "Viola" of Durant and 

 Hanford soon after getting his license and he continued 

 running rafts with towboats either for himself or others 

 as long as the business lasted. Since rafting days he has 

 had various employments mostly on government boats 

 in improvement work. 



He has lived in LeClaire since 1856 except the one 

 year in Colorado and he holds a certificate from the 

 Grand Lodge of Iowa given to Masons in good stand- 

 ing who have paid dues for fifty years. 



Captain Hawthorne has never used glasses to read 

 nor has he ever had a razor on his face. 



He was eighty-eight last November but is still active 

 and healthy. His eyes still have the old merry twinkle 

 and he enjoys a joke or a good story as well as if he was 

 sitting on a bunch of shingles on the corner of a floating 

 raft. 



