290 A RAFT PILOT'S LOG 



Total lumber from the Chippewa (esti- 

 mated), 1830-1901 i4,ocx),ooo,ooo feet 



Grand Total from the Chippewa, 1830- 



1905 25,365,875,930 feet 



From Black river through Onalaska boom, 



1855-1897 4,920,811,340 feet 



Estimate for logs before and after recording 250,000,000 feet 



Total logs from Black river 5,170,000,000 feet 



Total logs and lumber from Wisconsin river 2,285,000,000 feet 



RECAPITULATION 



From the Saint Croix river and lake 12,444,281,720 feet 



From the Mississippi above the Falls 1,709,062,520 feet 



From the Chippewa river 25,365,875,930 feet 



From the Black river 5,170,000,000 feet 



From the Wisconsin river 2,285,000,000 feet 



Grand total rafted down river 46,974,220,170 feet 



Value at $15.00 per thousand feet $704,613,300.00 



One cannot contemplate this vast amount of building 

 material so admirably suited for houses, barns, and 

 fences, in the prairie states, without recognizing the 

 wisdom of the Great Creator in providing the extensive 

 forests at the headwaters of the Mississippi and its 

 northern tributaries on whose waters it could be floated 

 down at so little expense. 



The logs were brought down the Chippewa loose for 

 seventy-five cents per thousand feet and the usual price 

 for towing them in rafts from Beef Slough or West 

 Newton to Davenport or Rock Island was one dollar 

 and ten cents per thousand feet, or about one dollar per 

 ton on the lumber cut from them for the entire trip 

 from the woods in northern Wisconsin to the mill or 

 yard in the tri-cities. Cheap transportation on a great 

 commodity that was so essential in development of Illi- 

 nois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, and lasted 



