Captain W. W. Withenbury's 1838–1842 "Red River Reminiscences"

37. At the Raft

272  Red River Reminiscences 37  At the Raft • The Relief arrived at the head of the raft, where there was a company of troops for Fort Towson who had been brought from New Orleans to the foot of the raft by the Houma. The troops had gone around the raft by the portage road and were waiting for negotiations to be completed by the clerk of the Houma and Captain Crooks of the Hunter for transport to Fort Towson. The Houma had returned to New Orleans, and the clerk was aboard the Harrisburg at the foot of the raft. Ross and Withenbury took the portage road to meet with the clerk in an effort to take the transport contract away from Crooks.  I n my effort to follow the fugitive merchant from Arkansas to the “Louisiana line,” I occupied so much space in my last chapter that I made but one leap from Dooley’s Ferry to the Raft, without so much as to pause to take note of a single person or point of interest in the whole distance of more than a hundred and fifty miles. And now I will say that from this omission it must not be inferred that the river and country thus passed over hurriedly, was without the usual amount of interest ; but the fact of our being on the “top of a big rise” and nothing to do but to run direct to our destination, must suffice as a reason for my silence. My anxiety to close my last chapter caused me to neglect also to mention the fact that we found the “Hunter” laying at the Raft The Reminiscences  273 on our arrival there. Poor old Captain Crooks and his crew had been denied all the excitement and hard steamboating which the crew of the Relief had passed through during the last five weeks, because the Hunter was of too heavy a draft of water to undertake the trip at the time we started out; and so they had been laying idle until the day before we arrived at the Raft, when the rise which overtook us at White Oak Shoals so unexpectedly had just begun to show itself, and the old man, not looking for us so soon, was taking his leisure at bargaining with the clerk of the steamer Houma for the transportation of a company of troops to Fort Towson. The Houma, Captain Joe Claiborne, had brought these troops and a considerable amount of army supplies from New Orleans to the foot of the Raft, and finding it impossible to effect a passage through, as had been expected when they left New Orleans, the troops were encamped on the bank in charge of one Lieutenant Rogers, a young West Pointer,1 of whom I shall speak more particularly hereafter. The supplies were all in the warehouse awaiting a boat to take them up. Everything belonging to the military party was ready at a moment’s notice to be put on board, as all had been hauled over the portage from the foot to the head of the Raft; and, as I said before, Captain Crooks was very leisurely driving at a bargain with the clerk of the Houma, who had been left in charge of the transportation, and was to accompany the party to Fort Towson, the Houma having already departed for New Orleans. As soon as the Relief was well made fast to the shore on the night of her arrival, Captain Ross and myself went out to reconnoiter among the teamsters at the “Dead Fall;” and although it was near midnight, we found George Alban and several of his subordinates awake and ready to welcome us. George soon made known to us the condition of things, and said to us if we could only scare- 274  Red River Reminiscences up the clerk of the Houma before daylight, we could steal a march on old Ben Crooks and pick up a right good trip; for, said he, “the old man has been flattering himself that he has ‘a dead sure thing,’ (not looking for you here,) and he has insisted on a greater price than the clerk is willing or authorized to give; and now I would like the best in the world to see the d____d old fool beat at his own game. But I don’t know where in the h_ll you’ll find...