River Transportation Era 1840 to 1909

    Logs tied together into rafts came down the Wisconsin River from the "Pineries". By the 1860's steam mills cut the logs into lumber and rafts of lumber came down the river past Prairie du Sac. In 1872, 150 lumber rafts would go past each day. The local lumber yards would buy a whole raft load for $140.

    In 1844 a river boat, "The Otter" sank in Prairie du Sac. The captain promised to stop here often if the people here could build a new boat for him. They did. Then he vanished. That same year the "Maid of Iowa" came by. She was 150' long, 30' wide, drew 16" of water, with 14" cylinders and a 4' stroke to drive the paddle wheel. She sank at Prairie du Chien.

    Agostin Haraszthy purchased "The Rock River" in 1842 and it plied the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers for about four years.

    Sanoma Wright built the "The Wisconsin Pioneer", later known as "The Sauk City Enterprise", in the 1850's. This was in conjunction with the steam mill he purchased from his brother John, located in the 300 block of Water Street.

      H. C. Keysar built his 50,000 bushel grain elevator in 1869 for $10,000. His steam powered paddle wheel river boat "The Ellen Hardy" hauled 100,000 bushels per year to Portage. When the railroad came to town he sold "The Ellen Hardy" and shipped by rail.

    The Ellen Hardy is shown in the F. S. Eberhart photo at the right tied up near the Prairie du Sac Railroad Depot, about three blocks down stream from the grain elevator. The buildings across the river are the settlement of Clifton. The building that stands above all the others is Peter Kehl's winery. This is the vineyard and winery founded by Count Agostin Haraszthy.

    In 1909, the great run of the steam boats "The Grand" and "The Rapids" from Green Bay to New Orleans occurred. This marked the end of the era for the dam was going to end the steam boat trade if the railroad hadn't ended it already.

    The photo above and the one to the right were taken by F. S. Eberhart on May 18, 1909 at 5:30 am. The photo above is the Grand tied up at H. C. Keysar's grain elevator. The photo at the right is the Rapids tied up behind the Grand. Both negatives were identified and signed "F. S. E." The note states: "Steamer Grand (or Rapids) at Prairie du Sac, Wis. on its trip from Menomonee, Mich. to Little Rock, Arkansas."