'River rats' ride rapids to market

Rafts similar to this were familiar sights on the Chippewa River during the lumbering era. They were the only means of bringing lumber to market. Steamboats were used later to guide them. Railroads were used by some in the 1875-1880s period, but lumbermen went back to rafting when rail prices soared.

     The river carried great logs of the pineries to the mills.
     During many years, the river was also the only means to get the finished product to market.
     The task of moving sawed boards down the Black, Chippewa and St. Croix rivers was left to another special breed of men known in river towns as "river rats."
     They usually were wet from running rapids and maneuvering around the ever treacherous sandbars.
     River rats learned every crook, rapids and turn in the streams. On the Black River, for instance, they knew of Paddy's Rest, Big Hole, The Angels, Ox Bow and Big Eddy, as well as Mormon's Riffles.
     The rapids at the Falls on the Chippewa was one of the worst problems for lumber raftsmen. Fortunately, most lumber in the latter years was sawed below the falls.

Able to sense river dangers

     These men lived on the river and could sense its dangers by the color which warned of rocks, snags and sunken logs.
     Acts of heroism as well as too-frequent tragedies were common in those rafting days, one old timer wrote of the period.
      Already by 1850 scores of rafts of lumber were taken down rivers to markets in Iowa and Missouri and the lumber was used in expansion in the west. Some lumber rafted out of the Chippewa Valley ended up as far south as New Orleans. Much of it was sold at St. Louis and Hannibal.

Increase in size down river

Shifting sand and varying currents were among hazards faced by "river rats," men who rafted lumber down the river. Rafts ofven became lodged against sandbars and crewmen freed them. Later, stamboats were used to pull rafts off the bars.

     Rafting actually started below the mills where crews were hired to bring lumber down the river. During lumbering years rafts increased in size. A group of Chippewa River rafts were lashed together on the Mississippi and enough lumber was aboard to build a village of 125 houses, a total of some two million feet. Some rafts also carried shingles and lath on top of the lumber.
     Rafting started at the mills where "cribs" were built, and was a special phase of the business.
     Cribs were generally 16 x 32 feet. Workers bored holes two inches in diameter in the middle and ends of three heavy planks and placed the planks parallel on the rafting table.

Grub pins hold base

     Oak or hickory gub pins, three feet long and cut to flare out at the base, were inserted into the holes perpendicularly and served as uprights. Three other planks with corresponding holes were laid crossways and fitted down over the grub-pin uprights.
     On this foundation millmen piled 10 to 24 courses, or layers, of one-inch lumber in alternate directions. The number of courses depended on depth of the water.
     These cribs were then loaded with lumber and linked together for the trip down river. Because of high costs of rafting and because the Mississippi River would carry much larger rafts, several rafts of cribs from the Chippewa, Black and St. Croix were fastened together.
     One of the biggest rafting centers was at Read's Landing on the Minnesota side of the river across from the mouth of the Chippewa.
     A 14-crib raft was about the largest that could be handled in channels of the Chippewa River.
     Six or more cribs formed a complete raft called a "rapid piece." They were put together to be separated at difficult places or when one ran ashore.
     When local efforts failed in the late 1860s to bring a railroad into the Eau Claire area, larger rafts were used in high water. Some were 64 feet wide and 220 feet long and when carrying a course of 16 broads, contained nearly 230,000 board feet of lumber.
     Controlling the raft was tough work and stopping it was also difficult. When it came time to halt at night, one of the crew jumped off with a cable and made hitch with a large tree or post. To avoid a sudden jerk which could break the cribs apart, men on the raft would let a little rope out at a time by twisting it around a pole on the raft.
     The only shelter was a tent and shanty where meals were cooked by one of the hands. If there were complaints, the complainer ended up as the new cook.
     One story related that the cook had accidently spilled the salt in the stew and when one river rat tasted it he said, "That's the saltiest soup I ever tasted." After thinking about it a minute, he added "but it sure tastes good."
     One of the problems was getting back up stream. In the early days raft crewmen had to walk back. Later, with the building of a road from Pepin to Durand and one on to Eau Claire, men traveled back in stagecoaches, paying $3 for a one way ride. They rode steamboats back in later years.
     In early days, almost half of the price of lumber went to rafting expenses. In later years the cost of rafting dropped from $2.25 per thousand feet to about $1.50 per thousand at the time of the Civil War.
     Wages paid to the crew fell during later years. In 1850 some were paid about $1.50 a day when demand for labor climbed around the time of the Civil War, wages increased to $3 and $4 a day. However, by 1870 rafting wages fell below $2 a day.
     Pilots of rafts often contracted to haul so much lumber and were responsible for the cargo. They received from $5 to $15 a day.

Steamboats arrive on scene

     Later, steamboats were used to help guide rafts downstream and were often used to pull rafts off sandbars.
     Life of the raftsmen may be best summed in a letter written by one in 1859 when he said, "We had a delay of about two hours at one rapids, but we got out safe. We passed three rafts broken up that started the day before we did - two log rafts and one lumber raft. We had had some awful pulling to keep clear of them. My arms are so lame that I can hardly raise them to my head. I have pulled an oar most of the time since we left."

- Arnie Hoffman

Extracted from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Special Publication, Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond', published 1976
Used with permission.