OCR Text |
Show ( the tho ) cotton grown on Red 191 River was ( shipped shippqd ) out by Steamboats or flat boats . 4 J . ( W IV ) . Threlkill ( R . 1572 ) , 60 years old , address Grant , Okla . , lived nearly all his life near Red River ( 'in in ) Oklahoma and Indian Territory . He testified , that his recollection goes back to '71 or '72 , when ( he be ) was eleven year old . The river was not then being navigated , only one or two boats came up the , river . He saw one about 1874 ; it was a steamboat and ( he lie ) saw it as it was coming back , about 8 or 10 miles above the mouth of the ( Kiamichi Kianlichi ) . The river was then on a little rise . One boat sank at Slate Shoals . He ( knew know ) of no other boats except ( gaso- gaso ) line boats that were used in the timber business ] , they were used to bring supplies up the river for a period of fifteen years or so . Ash , cotton , and some walnut were floated down the river , which could not be moved in low water , but when the water was high enough , the rafters would turn it loose . The ( tim- tim ) ber was put into rafts and fastened together ; this logging continued for ten or fifteen years until the timber was all cut out . The first raft was taken to Fulton Arkansas . The timber was taken from above , the mouth of the Boggy , which is 30 or 35 miles above the mouth of the Kiamichi ; the rafting ( con- con ) tinued throughout all the year at any time a little rise would take it down . The last rafting he saw occurred about 12 years ago . Not all the ( com- com ) mercial timber in this county was rafted down the river ; some mills were set up there , though the |