Mississippi River Steamboat Stories

                 jBy HARRY G. DYER


     The Raising of the "Bart E. Linehan


WHILE steaming up the Missis-
    sippi river after delivering a
raft of logs to the Gem City Lumber
Co., Quincy, Ill., about October 1,
1897, the Bart E. Linehan, one of
the McDonald Brothers' line of raft
boats, sank after striking a snag
above Buena Vista, Iowa. The wa-
ter where the Linehan settled was
about eight feet deep.
  Captain William Dobler was on
watch at the wheel at the time the
craft struck a snag, which proved to
be a soft maple log about two feet
in diameter firmly planted in the
bottom of the river. The snag struck
the boat just board of the boilers,
tearing a hole in the hull about 15
feet long and three or four feet
wide.
          Settles Quickly
  It took the boat about two min-
utes to settle on the bottom of the
river.
  The deck crew had its sleeping
quarters on the lower or main deck,
and immediately after the boat
struck the snag there was a race
for the after stairs leading to the
boiler deck.
  Ed Lubey, one of the firemen, an
old man and a cripple, was in the
lead, and was followed by eight
raftsmen, the second engineer, the
fireman, and the "nigger" runner,
all of whom were trying to get up
the stairway which was about 30
inches wide.
  After the craft had settled down,
the water was from two to three
feet on the main deck and about
three inches below the grate bars
in the furnace.
   McDonald Brothers at La Crosse,
owners of the boat, were imme-
diately notified, and a diver was
sent from   St. Louis. Two large
barges, each about the same length
as the sunken boat, were procured
from   the Diamond Joe company,
Dubuque, Iowa.


  On the arrival of the diver the
work of raising the Linehan be-
gan. The first phase of the task was
for the diver to enter the hull, and
the boat just above the   boilers,
six hours. The snag was about sev-
en feet long, and   was removed
from the hull when the boat was
pulled out on the dock at Dubuque.
  While the diver was at work in
the hull the steamboat crew and an
extra gang sent down from La
Crosse were engaged in putting
large chains under the boat from
one barge to the other. Seven of
these chains were placed.
  By means of large levers which
were square timbers twelve feet
long and a foot square, the chains
were pulled up, gradually raising
the sunken boat.
          Meet Obstacles
  Amid ships it was found impossi-
ble to get the chains to run "square
across" under the boat because of
the many small snags on river bot-
tom. This made it useless to go fur-
ther with the chains as the boat
would have broken in two.
  After working three or four days
it was decided to bulkhead the hole
and pump the boat out. The diver
went into the hull and built a dou-
ble bulkhead of dry lumber around
the hole, breaking joints with the
boards. When this was finished a
strip of heavy canvas was run
around the Linehan, the top edge of
the canvas coming above the sur-
face of the water. It was then
tacked to the sides of the boat.
   Steam was raised in the boilers
on the Linehan, and the "Ethel
Howard," a small boat from    La
Crosse, was brought along side. All
the siphons were started, and two
men with a wash tub were at each
deck room door bailing out water.
The Linehan came up until the
crown of the main deck was three
inches out of water. Then, owing to


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