ghly upon
securing such fine meat, but after going to the lower deck and finding
some of his fine young stock missing, hunted up the Captain and said,
"Captain, if it is all the same to you, I would prefer to dispense with
meat for the rest of the trip for I will need that young stock when I
reach my claim."

There was always great strife to be the first boat to arrive at St. Paul
and many risks were taken by steamers to get through Lake Pepin before
the ice had really left the lake. Many steamers were crushed by the ice
in so doing. One advantage to the first boat was free wharfage the
balance of the season in every town and city along the river.

Two steamers hardly ever came in sight of each other without a race. We
owned and operated a good many boats. We had a fast one named the
"McDonald." I remember on one occasion my partner, Mr. Musser, a well
known lumberman of Muscatine, and wife were making a trip with us. We
had a very spirited race with another swift boat; after a long, hard
chase we passed her, but we had to trim boat and carry big steam to do
it. After it was over, Mr. Musser said to me, "If I were you, I would
not race any more. It is expensive, dangerous and hard on the boat." I
agreed that he was right and that we would not do so again. We had not
been in our berths long before another boat was overtaken and a race was
on. Mr. Musser arose, forgot his advice of a few hours previous, and
said, "Pass that boat and I will pay for the extra fuel." The boat was
passed, but no bill was presented for the extra fuel.

REBECCA PRESCOTT SHERMAN CHAPTER

Minneapolis

MISS RITA KELLEY

MISS BEATRICE LONGFELLOW

Mrs. Delilah Maxwell--1855.

We were married in Illinois, April 12, 1855 and in three days we
started. We went one hundred miles by team to the Mississippi river, put
our wagon and mules on a steamer, and came up. Every business place on
the west side of the river in Minneapolis was a rough boarding house and
a little ten-by-twelve grocery store. We camped there, cooked our
breakfast, and came on out to Maxwell's bay at Minnetonka. The bay was
named for my husband and his two brothers who came up the year before
and took claims.

It was the roughest trip you ever saw. The road was an Indian trail with
enough trees cut out on either side to let a wagon through and the
stumps were sticking up a foot or two high and first you were up and
then you were down over those stumps. It was the tra