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THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
CAPT. STEPHEN B. HANKS,
RAFTING ON THE UPPER RIVER
IN 1848-49
24
We took advantage of every possible
hour of daylight and when we landed at Marion City, below
Quincy, one night there was a good deal of ice in the river
and in the morning the raft had a covering of six or eight
inches of snow and a cold wind was blowing from the
northwest. Soon the ice showed signs of gorging and we gave
it up, stripped the raft and stored the outfit in a warehouse
near by and prepared to make our way to St. Louis. We hailed
the first boat that came along, the Iowa I think, but she
declined to stop, which was fortunate for us for she sank at
Cap au Gris on the way down. The Wyoming answered our hail
and we went on board only to get aground a couple of miles
below. I soon concluded it was useless to stay with her so we
were put on shore and we proceeded on foot to Hannibal where I
took a stage for St. Louis and the men began the journey of
some one hundred and fifty miles on foot. I did not gain much
on them as they reached St. Louis soon after I got there and
were paid off. I remained in the city a short time to rest up
and get a little recreation. I do not remember the date now
but it must have been early in December as we had left with
the raft on Oct. 20th. It was unusually cold for
the time of year and the river was frozen over and thickly
covered along the shore with little skating parks and skaters
were out in great numbers, making a very interesting sight at
night with the lights and swiftly moving crowds. But the ice
was not strong enough for teaming and as a consequence there
was a fuel famine as most of the fuel for the city was coal
from Illinois. To meet the demand there came into the city
from the adjacent country nondescript vehicles mainly little
carts, with a jag of wood, generally cut stove length. While
there a fire occurred, not far from the hotel where I was
staying, one morning just about daylight, and a great number
of people were hurried out, many in their night clothes and
some with less. One amusing feature, if one could be amused
in what was near tragedy to many, was a most surprising cloud
of feathers that flew thru the streets with the wind and when
they came to a side or cross street would whirl around the
corners and fly again until they covered that entire section
of the city and it seemed as though all the feather beds in
the homes had been ripped and the contents poured into the
wind and the heated air carried them high and scattered them
far and wide.
When I was ready to return north, not
liking the long stage trip, at the suggestion of Mr. Holmes,
to whom our lumber was consigned, I went to a livery stable he
recommended and bought a saddle horse for seventy five dollars
and then added to my equipment a saddle, bridle, pair of
saddle bags and such other things as would be needed on a long
cold ride. I started out on the west side of the river and as
there was nothing urgent in the trip took my time. This was
in slavery time and I was much interested in this to me,
peculiar habits of the natives where they depended on the
blacks to do all the work. The places where I would put up at
night were generally good houses and I would receive the best
of attention and service. Rooms with fire places and high
feather beds were given me and darkies were at hand to
anticipate my every want.
Reached the raft at Marion city in a
few days and found the river frozen over but the ice not very
thick. Had left the raft in charge of my clerk, Clem
Nevitt, when we laid it up. As he wanted to go home I
placed it in charge of the owner of the warehouse where we had
stored the rafting kit and then we two started to cross on the
ice to the Illinois shore, leading the horse we were uncertain
how we might find the ice,, but we got over with out trouble
and started out for the north, bearing slightly out of the
east. We rode and walked alternately and reached Quincy the
first night and Carthage the second night. Nevitt concluded
he would go over into Fulton county and visit a
brother-in-law, so we parted, he going east to Lewiston and I
continuing my way north passing to the west of Galesburg then
direct to a little east of Moline, where I crossed Rock river
on the ice, and then went up the back of the Mississippi to
Albany.
I was exceedingly glad to see Albany
once more and I remained there until in February 1849 making
my home with my sister, Mrs. Colvert. The horse I rode from
St. Louis I traded for eleven acres of land in the outskirts
of Albany which remained in my possession for two or three
years and was then used as a part payment on one team of
horses and one yoke of oxen purchased from Melvine and Hopper
the horse then netting me one hundred and fifty dollars. This
land is now part of the estate of Mahlon Winans and the
residence stands upon it and it is the best land in the
village.
I had to be in Stillwater in March to
defend the suit, before mentioned, brought by the Boom company
so in due time I went to Galena by stage and there took the
Burbank and Blakely express stage and made the rest of the
journey mostly in sleighs. We won our suit and a nominal sum
as damages but not enough to reimburse us for the loss we
suffered at the hands of the Boom company on account of our
not being able to complete our sale. I finally sold my
interest in the logs to John McKusick for two thousand
dollars.
Early this spring I took the government
Steamer Governor Brigg from Cattail slough to Alton for the
sum of fifty dollars and my expenses. We stopped at Rock
Island over Sunday and the ice was piled so high on the shore
that we had to dig through it to get on the levee. That day I
visited the Cave on the lower end of the island of Rock Island
and left my Autograph with a brush and paint. We landed at
Burlington to take on the boat’s furniture and stopped for the
night at Keokuk. About four o’clock the next morning we were
roused from our beds by a great commotion and careening of the
boat. The bank had slid into the river and on to the guard of
the boat, many tons of earth falling on us and nearly
capsizing the boat. We worked with great energy for a few
minutes with shovels and anything we could get hold of to get
ourselves out of danger and then started on our way. We
reached Alton at sunset that evening and it was the fastest
run of that distance, one hundred and eighty miles, I ever
made.
I cannot give details of that season’s
work. On my contract with McKusick I took two lumber rafts to
St. Louis and had them hauled out and two log rafts in one
fleet, my brother David Hanks, piloting one of them.
They were long logs and sold for a high price and I made a
large amount of money on that contract. I made during the
season several short trips to Clayton, Dubuque, Savanna, Lyons
and Burlington for other people. I spent that winter in
Albany boarding with Mrs. Newitt and took it easy taking part
in the various amusements of the lively little village.
On the opening of navigation in 1850 I
went to Stillwater and during the season made my regular trips
on the McKusick contract.
My brother, William Hanks, who
ha been clerking of me, concluded to marry. I put him in a
house I had built in Stillwater, and further more I bought a
small stock of goods and started him in a general merchandise
business. We did well from the start and made a good deal of
money, considering the amount invested, which did not exceed
two thousand dollars.
In June I arranged to go pilot on the
Anthony Wayne, a steamer carrying an excursion party from St.
Louis to St. Paul. We had a leisurely passage stopping at
various places of interest.
After a short stay at St. Paul we went
as close up the Falls of St. Anthony as we could get,-right up
to Goat Island, and that was the first time a boat ever went
over the rapids below the falls. Here we spent the night and
had a big dance on the boat; the excursionists thus
entertaining their friends and visitors, after which we
returned to St. Paul. |
