Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1883-06-05
For the Democrat
TEN DAYS ON A RAFT-BOAT.

Though our title may sound strange t
many Eastern ears, We beg no one to fan
CIV for moment that a raft-boat is som
floating monstrosity, half raft, half-some
thing else. The raft-boat of the Missis
sippi Is simply steamer; how 1t come
by the other name will soon appear. TIL
lumber business of the "Father OF Wa
ters," like the river itself, is gigantic hun
dreds of steam. mills, and acres of fragrant
lumber piles towering sky-ward, lie along
the banks. The logs which feed these
myriad mills are cut In the far-away for
ests of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin
and are floated down the various tributa'
ries toward the Mississippi. Ere they en-
ter the latter they must be made into i'm
mense RATS, in which form they finish
their journey. These RATS were formerly
foated down with the current, being
steered by great oars affixed TO each enc.
This was a very slow and laborious proc
ess. which of late years has been almost
entirely superseded by the use of steam
boats, which guide them much more rap
idly TO their destination. Thirty years
ago, the mere suggestion that a steam
boat could be made TO propel a raft safely
| through the intricate ways OF islands and
sand-bars upon the river, would have been
sufficient TO brand man as a lunatic
now, no day passes while the upper Mis-
sissipi is open to navigation, when great
RATS of logs may not be seen gliding down
| th- river, backed by steamers, which thus
have gained the name OF raits-boats. The
first rait-boats were small. aud destitute
OF proper accommodations but these have
gradually been supplanted by larger and
better boats, until the ne plus ultra of
comfort and convenience seems now at
tanned.
By the kindness OF those in authority it
became our privilege TO enjoy, for ten ever
memorable September days, the hospital
ity of one OF the fastest, daintiest, and
every way finest, of these boats the Lady
Grace. This steamer is one OF four owned
by large lumber firm OF Clinton, Iowa (;
she was built in 1881, Is one hundred and
thirty-five feet long by twenty eight wide,
and has accommodations for twenty -four
cabin passengers. Like all the river boats
she Is fat bottomed, and like most of the
raft-boats, is a stern-wheeler. Her cabin
is as dainty and as coy as can be. Painted
in white, with touches of pale pink and
gold Brussels carpet ofquiet design, raw
silk draperies, rattan furniture of hand
some pattern, long mirror supported by
marble slab, walnut tables, and cheerful
coal fire on cool mornings and evenings
such is the ladies' cabin, which, with only
two ladies on board, seems almost like
private property Under the hurricane
roof of the aft recess hangs hammock,
where we swing through lazy hours,
dreamily watching the beautiful islands,
or the glorious sunset lights that battle
the bright trees in new brightness, and
tint the waters till they seem of molten
gold.
Despite the attractions OF cabin or deck,
our favorite resort is the plot-house; the
highest point OF observation, and open on
all sides to sight seeing. Equipped with
camp-chairs from our state-rooms, We
daily mount the stairs TO the hurricane
deck, and thence 10 the pilot house, where
books or fancy work as preteXt, We sit for
hours and gaze at the water with its vary
ing lights and shades, the islands, whose
soft naples with their gay liveries seem
the adyance-gaard of approaching autumn,
and the bluffs which grow higher day by
day as we push northward.
We had fancied we might describe some
OF these grand and lovely views, which are
painted in unfading colors upon memory's
canvas; but our hands are powerless to
| lft the veil and make them real TO one who
has never beheld them. Many Of the
bluffs when seen from distance present
an almost unbroken level of horizon TO the
eye, and are fertile table-lands, stretching
for long distance into the States: 1t was
singular to see corn and wheat fields,
houses and hay-stacks, perched hundreds
Of feet up in the air.
Under the shadow of some high cliff a
little village often nestles by the waters
edge; and with its houses clinging TO the
hillside, and its general struggling appear
ance, it is hard to believe that one Of the
little Swiss hamlets, with whose pictures
we are all so familiar, has not suddenly
dropped down before US. This Illusion is
heightened oftentimes by the fact that the
inhabitants are of foreign birth, and with
hearts not fully weaned from the land of
their nativity, have built the New World
homes with lingering touch of Old World
style.
We recall as an example, the little Ital-
ian town of Genoa, Wisconsin, backed by
bluffs five hundred feet high. Its only no.
tel, which might have been the first house
ever built in town, and which certainly
looks as though it had long since ceased
to expect travellers, is log house upon
| the shore, long and low, and bearing across
its front weather-beaten sign, /" Travel
ers' Home"
| The sun rises so late in the little towns
below the eastern BLUFFS, and sets so early
for those under the western ones, that we
fancy their days, which are brief at best,
must in winter be the epitome of short
ness. So many of these little villages are
before US as we write: some one distin-
tinguishing feature fixing them in our
memory - there is Minneiska, Mimi,
j whose waather.yane once seen can never