The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1904-12-01
CRUISE OF THE
"SALLY MCCONNELL. "
tBy VAN BURKN VASDYkK.l

OOhnel FARMER from lllnOls OOuRnl
a tract of 100 acres of prairie LAND
near the town of Butler in Bate:
county, Missouri. On this land ht
and his faithful wife by dint O
patient industry and close economy
acquired a good living and raised
and educated a family of two sons
sndiour daughters; when the Worlds
Fair began Dan resolved to visit it,
but wanted to,take his good. family
also, that he dotted on so much, when
be estimated il he went by rail and
stayed very long the cost would be
too heavy.
As the Marias des Cygnes river ran
near by and he had plenty OF cotton
wood lumber at the saw mill, he con-
ceived the plan Of building boat of
sufficient capacity to take him and
his whole family, and supplies to last
them as long as they wanted to stay
and descend tie rivers to st. Louis.
This they could do with comfort
and travel at their leisure and enjoy
the pleasure OF hunting and fishing
at this most deligirA>' season of the
year.
lie himself being a good mechanic,
with the assistance OF his two sons
and another man, set to work and
In two weeks time completed n good
aud substantial boat, 30 feet long
and II feet wide. After it was launch
ed they fitted it up with cabin and
windows and the handy comforts OF
aparlor.
The next thing to be done was to
give the boat a name, and for this
purpose q family council was held
aud many names suggested Atlast
Dan decided it should be named for
one OF the girls and which one they
must descide among themselves;
they decided to cast lots to decide
the problem. They prepared four
tickets, one of them red color and
put them in a box and mixed them
up and the one that drew the red
ticket should receive the honor. The
choice fell on Sally, the youngest, so
Dan got his brush and paint mug
and painted in large red letters on
each side OF the boat "The Sally Me-
Connell, Bound for the Worlds
Fair"
They then made all needful ar
rangements for leaving home for an
indefinite time, took on board all the
household goods they might need,
including the cook stove, organ,
winchester and shot gun and good
supply OF apples, potatoes and other
good things, and on the 10th day of
September united the Sally Mcconnell
and began the journey down the
river.
"The first ten miles the water was
deep enough but when we got to
Papinsville the boat grounded on
the gravel bed Of the river and we
had to employ farmer and a team
ofmules to pull us over. After passing |
the mouth OF the little Usage the |
river loses the name OF Marias des
Cygnes and takes the name CT 0 ,age. |
At Colen's Ferry we struck another
shoal and had to employ q mule
team to pull US over; we also struck
shoal at Taberville in St. Clair |
county. And when we arrived at
the mouth OF the Sac river we en- |
countered q terrible storm of wind
and rain that blowed our chicken |
coops off the upper deck into the
surging water Of the river. After the
storm abated, by the aid Of our skiff,
we recovered all the chickens but |
three and shortly after there came a
welcome rise In the river that lifted
our boat above the shoals and we
had pleasant sailing from that time
on.
We landed and stayed one day at
Osceola, Warsaw, Linn creek and
Tuscumbia at the last named place
we had q social talk with an old
citizen and from him got much use
ful information about the topogra-
ply and people Of this part Of the
state Of Missouri. He informed us
the exact centre OF the state OF Mis-. |
souri, was at q little hamlet called
Pleasant Mount, about miles north
OF Tuscumbia.
The next most noted place was the
Pacific Rail Road bridge near the