Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-10-20
VANISHING HOPES.
River Towns Doomed by the Advent of the
Railroads


great Mississippi. and about which
once blossomed the brightest pros
poets. The decay of the river traffic
is shown now on the faces of many of
these towns where once rested prom
Use and hope. There are dozens of
such places. They were built up by
the steamboat traffic in times when
railroads were deemed nothing more
than remote possibilities. They
grew and prospered. They fed the
steamers and the steamers fostered
them. Inland towns had but small
chance beside them, and were looked
upon with contempt as places far in
the backW GODS, hopelessly remote
from the channels OF commerce and
communication, and forever doomed
to small things. There are pathetic
sights in many of these towns now;
Spectacles Of former greatness now
vanished. The railroads hold all the
| trumps.
There Was Port Louisa.
Within the memory of men who
are now active on the river. Port
Louisa, some distance below Musca-
tine, was a great grain shipping
point. Half dozen big warehouses
stood there, and there were dwell
lIngs, and there was Il mill, and pos
sibly another industry or so. The
place had the promise of growth and
increase. Today there is not a stick
or stone there to remind the stranger
that men did active and profitable
| business there not many wears ago.
Till within few years the brick
chimney of the mill stood, near the
river bank. and approaching nearer
to ii every year aS the soft earth cut
and crumbled into the water with
| the floods. At last the very site has
| been absorbed by the Mississippi. md
has gone to build upa bar somewhere
for Maj. Mackenzie's engineers to
work and worry over. Forty miles
or so down the river. 80 years ago,
stood East Burlington. The c.. B.
Il Z. did not cross the river there
| till 1869, and there was a prosperous
town opposite the iowa town of that
name. 1t is now buried under
Sandbar that chokes the channel in
front of Burlington for half its
width; the melancholy remains of
| two or three towheadS and bars above
there in former years, all removed
by the change OF currents resulting
| from the construction of dams across
some OF the chuteS above. Today the
G., h, " Q. road has a few stock pens
| there, siding. a track QUE onto the
| big bar where the steamers used to
run - years ago. and a boarding
| house for the accommodation of the
stockmen who may be compelled to
stay over night. There is no town.
The last sign of store or dwelling has
| been taken away.
Another Vanished Town.
Six miles below there, on the Hi
nol> side. in Shoquoquon chute, in
former years, stood another lot of
warehouses. The farmers of Hem
derson and Hancock counties, used
to haul their grain and other pro-
duce to them and place it there to
await the coming of the boats in the
! spring. 1t used to be race for the
honor of being the first to enter the
chute and tap those warehouses.
The first boat there after the ice went
out was sure of n load to the guards.
and more that she could not carry.
Now there is not fragment of ware
house or n suggestion that there
ever was one there
! Rockingham's Hopes and Fate.
But there are other places which
used to he great shipping points that
are now completely insignificant for
that purpose, the freight in being
limited to the small necessities of
The towns, and the freight out being
not much greater in volume Old
Rockingham, is an example of this
sort. The very oldest of the pioneers
who still linger in this region know
how it used to be with Rockingham
in the days when the railroads had
not entered this country. and when
| the swift mails came by steamer, and
when there was no other practicable
way of getting goods in or produce
out. Andalusia was in those days
large shipping point. keithsburg
and New Boston were likewise well
known lOr the 1relght they furnished
the boats. Much stuff was carried
up the river to them and from them
freighted in wagons to the inland
points that were then dependent
upon them. Oquawka, was stor-
ing point in early days, but it, too,
has faded away before the approach
| of the iron steed. The same is true
of Nauvoo, which promised once to
rival St. Louis.
And so this thing might be spun
, out. Both banks of the Mississippi
are lined with evidences of the truth
of this declaration, that the decay OF
the steaboat business has not vet
kept pace with the decay of the many
places that once enjoyed good pros
poets of future greatness along its
banks.