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THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
CAPT. STEPHEN B. HANKS,
HAS A BUSY SEASON IN ANTICIPATION OF MATRIMONY
Oct 1, 1921
It might not be amiss, and I trust it
will not be considered egotistical, to say something of my
habits while on the river. During my rafting experience my
companions were almost all addicted to drink and many
generally had liquor with them most of the time. Whenever
opportunity was given they would make for the saloons and
dives where drinking and card playing and worse were the chief
amusements. These things seemed t fill their minds and were
largely the topics of their general conversation. Now, I
never touched liquor and cared nothing for card playing so I
had very few social intimates during my rafting career as the
character of most of those with whom I was throw was not such
as invited many close friendships. When I commenced
steamboating I was brought in contact with many people with
whom it was an advantage to be acquainted and tended to better
impulses and the formation of a better character which I knew
was to my advantage and reacted favorably on my mind and
undoubtedly on my body as well. As an evidence of this I will
cite the fact that now I am in my eighty-sixth year and in
such health as warrants the expectation that I may reach the
good old age of ninety, while very few of the men with whom I
was associated in those rafting days are alive today and many
of them were much younger than myself.
In the fall of this year, 1855, I was
transferred from the Glena to the nominee and on our first up
trip had orders to transfer to the Alhambra when we should
meet, which happened a short distance below Dubuque. The
Alhambra was a light draft stern wheeler and in those days
stern wheel boats were something of a rarity on the upper part
of the river and many of our pilots were not accustomed to
handling them. I had learned steamboat piloting on stern
wheel boats so was perfectly at home on either type of boat.
The Alhambra had been recently acquired and the pilots
assigned o her could not handle her, hence the transfer of my
partner, then George Nichols, and myself. George was
very much displeased at the transfer but shortly after was
consoled b the fact that the Nominee sank and I said to him
that had we remained on her we would be out of a job the rest
of the season. This was allright for an argument but there is
a possibility that had we remained on her the sinking might
not have occurred; not meaning to say that she would have been
better handled or saved by superior skill, or foresight, but
the circumstances would have been different in any one of many
ways and a very little thing often causes or prevents
casualty. We closed the season on the Alhambra without any
further incident of importance.
I began the season of 1858 on the
Galena with about the same crew as the previous year.
The flood tide of western immigration
was on in earnest and the favorable season was made the most
of by the settlers of previous years and the early arrivals of
the current year in breaking, starting gardens and those who
were far enough along were making their first crops, but not
many had yet reached that point. We had generally a good
stage of water all season and there were few incidents out of
the ordinary, one of which I recall.
One Saturday morning we had on board
Capt. Orren Smith, president of the company, and some friends
who were very anxious to reach Prairie du Chien in time to
catch a train for the east, which would be the last one until
the following Monday. We were late in leaving Lynxville and
soon ran into a dense fog. Under all the rules of piloting we
should have tied up at once but there was a good stage of
water and I kept going as fast as I dared, Running was almost
by instinct but I made all the crossings fairly well and when
close enough to the bank to distinguish it form the water
would stop, straighten up and go ahead, repeating this at each
crossing and frequently sounding our whistle as a warning to
other boats, should there be any in the vicinity, as well as t
let the railroad people know we were coming. Below Yellow
river the fog thinned a little and when within a couple of
miles of our landing we could see quite clearly. As soon as
the people discovered the train waiting for us they gave me
three rousing cheers as an appreciation of my efforts to avoid
their remaining over Sunday in Prairie du Chien.
Among the improvements at galena this
year was the erection of the De Soto house, first class for
the times. It was necessary to get more room in the harbor in
which to turn our larger boats which was done by cutting away
the bank on one side so that one of the be run while she was
being warped around. At Dubuque William Ryan, who had been in
business wit his brother James in Galena established a large
packing plant. A levee was established at the mouth of the
slough, the lower part of which was dredged out and made a
winter harbor for boats. Our boat store was moved from Galena
to Dubuque and enlarged to meet the requirements of the
growing business. New boats were contracted for and
everything pointed to a continuance of our now very prosperous
business.
The previous season some parties at
Dubuque had placed the Fannie Harris in the run between that
city and St. Paul and this year they added some more boats
under the name of the Dubuque & Minnesota Packet company
running in all some five boats and our line had some nine
boats in the service.
Our last trip from St. Paul was
commenced after ice began to form and we were loaded down with
people. Many of them were old settlers returning to their old
homes. These with the baggage and freight practically
overwhelmed us. One article of freight was cranberries, of
the wild variety but large and fine and were gathered largely
with rakes, as described in my logging days.
At the close of the season I took the
Galena to Le Claire and put her on the ways. There were some
other boats of the line there for repairs. On my return to
Albany I began preparations for my marriage to Miss Emily
Bennett which had been arranged for some time previously. The
wedding took place at the home of her parents in Kingsbury
where they lived on a farm on Dec. 16, 1856. I had my wedding
suit made in galena during the fall.
I now made my home with my brother
David where he lived on a farm some three miles south of
Albany, where he had gone after his marriage. It was expected
that he would attend the wedding but he went to St. Louis with
a raft late in the season and did not return in time, so I
took his wife and babe and sister Sophia (afterward the wife
of Dr. R. L.Hill of Dubuque) in a sleigh and we started for
Kingsbury. The snow was deep and there was not much road and
at one place we stuck in a drift and broke the harness. I
remember that Sophia cried, but I don’t know what for, but the
delay was not long as I soon had the harness toggled up and we
finished our journey on time.
Note:-anent the characteristics of the
early day raftsman the following from an article on old river
life which appeared in the Winona Republican-Herald of Feb. 6,
1909 may be of interest:-
“They were great, big, broad chested,
square shouldered, men; rugged and full of spirit. They
usually wore a big, white, broad brimmed felt hat, set well
back; a cotton shirt, seldom, if ever, closed at the neck,
cheap cotton trousers the legs of which were trust into the
tops of high boots, which they were never seen without.
“ As a rule these men were a happy
go-lucky set; hard workers, but easily angered when under the
influence of liquor and a temperate man was a scarcity in
their ranks. When aroused they would fight at the drop of a
hankerchief, often committing crimes for which they were never
apprehended.”
“Still there were many good men engaged
in this work who are still alive and look upon those days as
the making of their lives.”
The quotations above were mad by Capt. Robert N. Cassidy, of
Winona and applied more particularly to the old “floating
days” when the current of the river was the only power that
took the rafts to market. The captain was there at that time
and is competent to speak. F. A. B. |
