The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-06-16
|s|LAS RA|GHT
WAS WAS A CUSsER
] He Ran the steamer Countess on the
River Years Ago and Was
Typical Western
Pilot
TALE OF EARLY DAYS
Halshs Did No Lesnns At the Land
inss Be Kept his Boat Az
ways on the
Hustle.
TALE OF EARLY DAYS
IBy capt. e. q. Tbomas. ]

One of the pioneers in the steam
boat busintss on the upper mississippi
was Captain S.las Haight. of Keokuk.
4 think ne was running steamboats,
along there In the 40's was In bust
ness during the SOS and did not quit
the river until sometime In the eos
or 7a's, cannot give the exact dates
Captain Hafght was lame in one leg.
but hustler. and made some money.
He also took an interest In matters in
his home town, and could and dad
write some interesting letters for the
keokuk papers On the boat, Captain
Eaight vas all right as long as every
thing went right. but when things went
wrong he would cut loose. He had the
steamboat profanity reduced to a
science; all of us could swear, but all
conceded that Captain Haight was the
ranking man on that end OF the river
And when ne took one of these spells.
he was no respector OF persons. All
of the crew, from pilot to deck sweep.
Who happened to be near him, would
receive some of his packages. He had
no use for a slow boat. and owned. or
commanded some fast ones during his
time on the river He was there be-
fore the days of the lock up safety
valve, at time when there was no
limit to the steam. It was said of
him that he would make fast boat
out Of slow one, by ordering the
engineers to load the safety valves
with iron weights. That if he was
chasing another steamer. he would
pass her by increasing the steam pres
sure in his boilers. An engineer who
was in his employ fer several years.
told me of one of these races between
Keokuk and Davenport. The two
boats were preparing to leave Keokuk.
Captain Haight came into the engine
room and said. Now, George, want
to lead that boat into all of the towns
above here, and want you to distinct
! ~ understand that what | want today
lis steam, steam, and plenty of IT."
| Now, it so happened that this engineer
was known as hot engineer some
what reckless with his steam, and in
the habit of reducing the water in the
boilers. and increasing the steam pres
sure. So George concluded to give
Captain Haight the steam. By using
/ ali sorts of fuel and loading the safety
valves with monkey wrenches and old
Iron he soon had the boilers and
steam drums swelled up to the limit.
captain Haight passed his rival near
Fort Madison, and in approaching Bur
llington, he was about two miles in the
lead AS the old man stood on the
roof looking at the Burlington bluffs,
he discovered that his steamer was
going some. He flew downstairs as
fast as his game leg would permit
He there found roaring fire under
the boilers, the safety valves loaded
, with iron, and the steam guage jump,
ing above the 200 mark He then
| yelled at the engineer For Gods
/ sake cool her down, or we will all be
: in hi before we reach Burlington
, She Is the hottest steamboat I have
ever seen" Now this engineer was
: lover Of high pressure and speed
, and on this occasion he was pleased
to see the old man frightened George
had served his apprenticeship under
one Engineer Campbell. This mar
! through big steam and low water, hae
! exploded two sets of boilers, and wen
] to his death in the second accident a
some point on the Missouri river.
His Wife Marooned.
j Captain Haight did no loafng at tn.
: landings. He would hustle his boat il
4