Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-08-01
THE SMALL STREAMS.
How the Tributaries Were Navigated in
Days Agone.

Days AgOne.
Yes" said the old steamboat
man to the Keokuk Democrat re-
porter, sit is true that long years
ago before the railroads reached the
Mississippi valley, such rivers as the
Culver, Des Moines. Iowa. Cedar,
Rock river, Maquoketa, Wisconsin,
Root river, Black River, Chippewa
and st. Peters, NOW called Minneso
ta). were navigated by steamboats,.
some OF them only during the spring
freshets, but some. such as the Chip
pewa and Minnesota, were used the
season through by light draught
boats, and sometimes it happened
that the water remained high enough
the whole season in the Des NJ zines,
and Iowa and Cedar.
Il think it was the season of 1858
that the steamer Clara Hine. owned
and operated by the late Ad. Hine,
one of our old and respected citizens,
Henry Patton, captain; Robert Mar
tin, clerk, and Capt. Robert Farris,
now of Pennington, pilot, made reg
| ular trips between here and Des
Moines the whole season. The same
year Cedar Rapids company,
among whom were, as president, the
late Judge George Green and his
brother, afterward a prominent rail
road man, DR.. Ely, II. &. Angle,
John Graves, Mr.. Bever and others.
built and operated the steamer Cedar
| Rapids between St. Louis and Cedar
Rapids. on the Cedar river. The
| Cedar Rapids was a stern-wheel boat,
and in appearance was very much
| like the Patience. so familiar in these
waters. except she was longer, say
40 feet long. She was in charge of
Capt. Andrews, of Pittsburgh; AL
bert Wempner. pilot. and John
Graves. clerk, and made big pile of
money for her owners in the three
| trips she made between St Louis
and Cedar Rapids that year.
Tributary Streams.
| just now / cannot tell YOU, but
there are quite number of interest
ing incidents in connection with this
season on the Cedar Rapids. | will
try and think up the names of the
boats that ran from here and AleNan-
dria up the Des Moines river in the
long ago. The Culver river emp
ties into the Mississippi about five
| miles below Cap aos Girls" and is
crossed by the X. line at Old Monroe.
This river used to be navigated by
our old and much beloved fellow cit
izen- Capt. W. H. Moore, the retired
| timer. on the steamer Wave, and |
wish he would tell us something
about his experience on the Culver.
| The Rock river empties into the
| Mississippi three miles below Rock
| Island There was a dam across it at
| Camden, six miles above its mouth,
which furnished power for several
mills. The larger boats used to 90
to these mills and carry their flour
away, and several small boats were
employed on the river above the dam.
The mouth of the Maquoketa river is
about forty miles below Dubuque.
| Apoui VIC Ncil 1000 VI 1COU Il pdIl y
built Il neat little stern wheel boat
called the 'Maquoketa City for the
purpose of navigating this river, and
it made several trips, but the river
| proved too treacherous and the en-
terprise was abandoned. The next
above is the Wisconsin. Its mouth
is three miles below Prairie du CHEN.
1t was used quite extensively during
| the sos. At the portage its head
waters and the Fox rivers are. very
close together. and are connected by
a canal, through which several lake
boats were brought and operated on
the Mississippi river, among which
were the Lumbermen. now owned by
| Capt. j. c. Daniels, of this place.
| the Arizona, Aunt Betsy and several
others. In 1850. the steamer Her
aid, Wash Morrow. of Hannibal.
master. a good big side-wheeI boat,
made several trips to Iowa City, but
| of this and the other little rivers
will have to tell you some other
time
River Riplets
The river is Sfi II ia limo