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THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
CAPT. STEPHEN B. HANKS,
THRILLING EXPERIENCE IN LAKE PEPIN
Oct 8, 1921
My wife’s father, Lyman Bennett, was
one of the earliest settlers in Whiteside county, coming from
Western new York to Rock River about 1835, although born and
raised in New England.
After our marriage we lived with my
brother and spent a quiet winter; the most I did was to hunt a
little. One shot I remember yet. One Sunday morning I saw a
bunch of quail in a fence corner where the leaves made a snug
shelter. I did not make a practice of using a gun on the
Sabbath day but the temptation was too strong so I fired into
the nest with fine shot and got either sixteen or nineteen, am
not sure which, and only one got away.
Late in the winter my wife and I moved
to the home of W. G. Newitt, our nearest neighbor a half or
three quarters of a mile east of us, as my wife’s father had
arranged to come over and work my brother David’s place and
wanted the room in David’s house. I might say here that they
lived there until the moved into Albany about 1868
After getting my wife settled for the
summer I was called to Galena early in March to make
arrangements for the season, going from Fulton to Dixon,
thence Illinois Central. On reaching scales Mound found they
were just getting the deep cut cleared of snow which was
between twenty and thirty feet deep. It was before the day of
snow plows and the snow had to be all moved by men with
shovels, a long and tiresome work requiring the handling of
the snow a number of times.
I remained a week or so at Galena
consulting with the officers as to the crews and planning the
season’s work. As usual I was treated with great
consideration by the men comprising the official board of the
company and I never worked with or for a better set of men.
They gave me the first work in the spring and the last in the
fall, and on my part they never had occasion to complain of
failure of any trust they placed in me as their interests were
always my own.
Returning from Galena to my home I
soon went to Le Claire to look after getting the three boats
there put into the water which was soon accomplished and then
I set out to take them to galena. I had an engine crew, a
mate and three or four men and towed two of the boats. This
was easily done by unshipping the buckets on each wheel that
would be in the water.
We were obliged to double trip thru the
railroad bridge at Clinton which gave us some trouble, but
nothing serious. When about Savanna the wind came up and blew
us ashore where we remained from the night until late the next
day. The boats being all perfectly light they would not
handle well in a wind as the wheels did not get deep enough
into the water to give us sufficient power. We tied up for
the night at Sand Prairie and here we had a furious snowstorm
that lasted all night and in the morning we had six or eight
inches of snow. After the storm was over we went on reaching
Fevre river that day and Galena- in all three days from Le
Claire.
The boats were all made ready for
service as soon as possible and the Galena to which I was
assigned left Galena on April 1, 1857, that being the date on
which the boats commenced to carry the U. S. Mail.
Our Captain this year was Wm. H.
Laughton; my partner was Tom Drennen; the clerk was
named Cockran and Jim Hunt the first engineer.
On our first trip we went to Read’s
Landing where we found the ice still solid in Lake Pepin.
Returning to Galena we made a second trip to Read’s and found
the ice still unbroken. Our order for this trip was to go to
St. Paul so we tied up at Read’s and temporarily made the boat
a warehouse and a hotel as all the freight and passengers from
the other boats of the line that arrived and returned were
turned over to us to take to destination when we should be
able to get through the lake. Everyday we went up into the
lake to see what he chances to get through were. Toward the
last of April the ice had melted from both shores so much that
we felt warranted ink making the attempt to go through. There
was a wind off the Wisconsin shore so we started up that side,
the ice being driven to the Minnesota shore. When we got just
above Bogus Bay the wind changed and began sending he ice
towards us. Well knowing what it would do if it caught us at
the shore, we pointed the bow of the boat straight into the
lake, breaking the ice until we were far enough out to insure
our safety and the dropped the anchor and rested in safety
until the next morning. Meanwhile a number of other boats
followed us, some of them being of our own line, and they were
not all as fortunate as we. The Areola was caught a little
above Pepin and shoved ashore and crushed to pieces. The
Falls City was caught on the Minnesota shore and shoved out on
the rocks much as had been the Senator some years before. She
was finally pulled into the water by another boat. Another
boat was caught out in the lake between two fields of ice and
her hull sliced from under her, the people on board saving
themselves by jumping on the ice. In the morning we were able
to continue our trip and got thru the lake without further
trouble. In the meantime the War Eagle, a faster boat than
the Galena, had come up and gone by us, but she had one wheel
somewhat damaged which slightly crippled her.
With the ice out of the lake there was
one grand rush by all the boats for St. Paul, each wanting the
honor of being the first boat in. This was not an empty honor
for in those days each boat paid for the privilege of the use
of the levee each trip in a charge known as wharfage. This
was a general charge by all cities and St. Paul gave free
wharfage for the season to the first boat to arrive from
below. This was a stimulus to each boat to get through the
lake, the river above the lake always being free from ice
before the ice was gone in the lake, and into St. Paul first.
As stated the War Eagle was ahead of
us, but we were trailing close behind and behind us were a
number of boats, all doing their best to catch up. I was
satisfied we could get past the War Eagle and laid plans
accordingly. Our Captain suggested we run her into the woods
and crowd, but I refused as she belonged to our line and that
was not a fair way to win a race. Then it was proposed to get
alongside and lash the two boats together, but this did not
suit me and I told the Captain that I would get by in my own
way in due time and asked him to prevent the boats being
lashed together when we got alongside. |
