A-Rafting on the Mississip (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Book Series)

During the nineteenth century, pine logs were lashed together to form easily floatable rafts that traveled from Minnesota and Wisconsin down the Mississippi River to build the farms and towns of the virtually treeless lower Midwest. These huge log rafts were steered down the river by steamboat pilots whose skill and intimate knowledge of the river's many hazards were legendary. Charles Edward Russell, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, chronicles the history and river lore of seventy years of lumber rafting. "Russell deals with those decades during which the lumber business and the rafting of lumber grew and reached enormous proportions. But his story covers also the splendid phase of the river steamboat. Russell writes with a lively pen, and he has made a colorful and entertaining account." New York Times Book Review "Not a dull page in the book. Russell writes frontier history as it should be written." New York Herald Tribune Charles Edward Russell (1860-1941) grew up on the shores of the Mississippi River during the days of lumber rafting. Best known as a journalist during the muckraking era for his expos?s on the beef and tobacco trusts, Russell was also a cofounder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Series CONTENTS......Page 10 CHAPTER I: THE BAD MEN FROM BLACK RIVER......Page 16 CHAPTER II: HERE COMES THE STEAMBOAT......Page 34 CHAPTER III: THE PINE-TREE ELDORADO......Page 55 CHAPTER IV: THE LUMBERJACK......Page 77 CHAPTER V: CAPTAIN HANKS COMES IN......Page 92 CHAPTER VI: SO LOG WAS KING......Page 116 CHAPTER VII: DAYS OF THE GREAT MIGRATION......Page 132 CHAPTER VIII: THROUGH FIRE, FOG, AND CYCLONE......Page 152 CHAPTER IX: THE SLUSH COOK FINDS A PICTURE......Page 173 CHAPTER X: GOOD BUSINESS ON THE LAMARTINE......Page 190 CHAPTER XI: AFTER TOM DOUGHTY WENT SMASH......Page 204 CHAPTER XII: RAFTSMAN JIM AT HIS WORST......Page 219 CHAPTER XIII: OTHER PHASES OF RAFTSMAN JIM......Page 236 CHAPTER XIV: CAPTAIN PLUCK TAKES CHARGE......Page 251 CHAPTER XV: THE PILOT AND HIS WAYS......Page 272 CHAPTER XVI: WHEN THE JULIA HIT THE BRIDGE......Page 303 CHAPTER XVII: THE STEERING-WHEEL GUILD......Page 316 CHAPTER XVIII: THE MINNIETTA IN A STORM......Page 332 CHAPTER XIX: MR. HILL, MEET CAPTAIN PLUCK......Page 354 CHAPTER XX: THE END FROM THE BEGINNING......Page 369 A. UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER DISTANCES......Page 386 B. A RAFTSMAN'S ORATORY......Page 388 C. THE RIVER BARD......Page 390 C......Page 392 D......Page 393 H......Page 394 L......Page 396 M......Page 397 P......Page 398 R......Page 399 T......Page 400 W......Page 401 Y......Page 402 During the nineteenth century, pine logs were lashed together to form easily floatable rafts that traveled from Minnesota and Wisconsin down the Mississippi River to build the farms and towns of the virtually treeless lower Midwest. These huge log rafts were steered down the river by steamboat pilots whose skill and intimate knowledge of the river's many hazards were legendary. Charles Edward Russell, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, chronicles the history and river lore of seventy years of lumber rafting.

Charles Edward Russell (1860-1941) grew up on the shores of the Mississippi River during the days of lumber rafting. Best known as a journalist during the muckraking era for his exposés on the beef and tobacco trusts, Russell was also a cofounder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

"During the nineteenth century, pine logs were lashed together to form floating rafts that traveled from Minnesota and Wisconsin down the Mississippi River to build the farms and towns of the virtually treeless lower Midwest. These huge log rafts were steered down the river by steamboat pilots whose skill and intimate knowledge of the river's many hazards were legendary. Charles Edward Russell, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, chronicles the history and river lore of seventy years of lumber rafting."--Jacket