Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-09-13
SEES MANY WRECKS
Diver Dick Ferris Relates Inter-
esting Experiences on the
Mississippi.
THE DUBUQUE his HARDEST JOB
Remains of Hundreds of Boats
Lie at Bottom of River,
He Says.

Diver Dick Ferris, OF keokuk, who
won fame by his wonderful work
during the operation of raising the
sunken steamer Dubuque. and who
has been diving for the last 20 years,
has the following to, say regarding
his many interesting experiences:
al started at the business almost 81
years ago and have worked at that
kind of work almost continuously
ever since. with the exception of
W lat time have spen: as steam boat
O captain. 1 have run on steam DO Al,
but the greater part of my time has
been taken up by diving. worked
part of last season on a steam boat
and ran an excursion from Davenport
to this city a year ago the fore pat of
last July. when we sank a barge up
the river on Hog island. After the
season was finished L went south with
ii for while and then started to
work on the government canal near
Keokuk, where L worked all winter.
"Yes. we can work all winter, but
our dress is somewhat different in the
winter, as the water is so cold that
we have to dress warmer. There is
not one in a thousaJ d who wants To
follow this kind of business; that il
the reason why there are so few divers
nowadays. l believe that l am the
only one between St. Louis and St
Paul. There are few men who can
stand this kind of work and who
would do it if they could stand it. A
man must have strong lungs and
a. L. L.
the air is hard to breathe when it is
pumped to you.
Must be Mechanic.
"a man must also be a mechanic
20 be diver, for he must know any
thing that might come up. There is
peculiar sensation comes over a
man when he first goes down, but of
course a man will become accustomed
TO it in time. l am only Al years of
age and my hair is quite gray and is
slipping pretty freely, on account OF
sweating so mu, h.
ITO be a diver a man must start
out and follow a diver as a tender,
about the same as an apprentice in
any other profession. q adually he
learns il so In case of necessity he
be comes competent to do that kind of
work. 1t also takes considerable
money for a mau to get Il start at the
work. as a good Giving suit costs
81, 100. or if it is rented costs s. a
day. A man, if he can stand it and
once becomes accustomed to it. will
live about the same length of time
that any one else will. There is a
trenchman in St. Louis who is nearly
20 years old and has followed diving
continually for So years. The first
j Do ever had on my own hook was n
government job. and the second was
the steamer Inverness, ly ing just be-
low Keokuk. This was ia the year
1890 since then L have had many.
and quite a mum Der of them were i'm
Portant jobs.
The Dubuque Job.
The Dubuque job was the largest
and most important job that L ever
had that was successful. In fact, it
was the most important job that
was ever a success There have been
others that were worse, but they were
not successful. Two of them were
the City OF Cairo and the Belle of
Memphis. Although many men do
not want to do this kind of work ow-
ing to danger. the fact is there are
very few lives lost by diving, as great
care is exercised by the men and
everything is thoroughly tested be-
fore they go do~nF only know Of
two men who lost their lives and that
was along the coast, where they went
down too deep with just a common
divi g outfit. They went down 500
feet, and 135 is as deep as q man Ca"
go without using what is called bell
diving suit. l have worked as feet
under water. This is a hard life on n
man and | do not know how long !
shall work at it, While at work n
man never wants to think of the dan
ger no is in. but must keep his mind
on nothing but what be is doing. For
common diving / wear shoes that
weight 123 pounds each and other
gar b in proportion.
When asked ablut the wrecks in
the Mississippi river. he said: "As
to the number l could not say. but
there are hundreds of them There
are wrecks that have been lying 90
the bottom of the river for yesrs and
years. rome Of them ever since the
fret steamboat waJ on the river.
Treasures In Wrecks.
Regarding the finding of treas
ures in wrecks and in the bottom of
the river" said Mr.. Ferris, Il have
never found any only in cases when
L was sent after it. such as safes aud
such things that have gone down in
the boat, but never found anything
else"
Saloon Notice.