Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-01-11
admitting visitors without a pass.

admitting visitors without pass.
To give an idea of the massive charao-
ter of the 10 main buildings | will give a
list of the material used in one and they
are all alike, viz: 80, 115, 800 lbs. of rock,
10000 lbs. of copper, 362, 500 lbs of slate
1,13l, 800 lbs of lumber, 2,199,64G lbs.
iron, 3,132, 800 lbs. of brick and 100000
lbs of plaster.
The island is one of the most bea utifu
in the Mississippi, containing nearly
1000 acres and was a favOrte abode and
hunting ground of the Indians. The shops
occupy the highest part, II to % ft. above
high water.
The title to the land was acquired by
w. H. Harrison, in treaty made by him
with the Sac and Fox tribes in 1904. 1t
was not occupied by whites and had no.
history prior to the war of 1912. In 1915
the Sth U. S. Infantry were sent from St,
Louis to establish fort which they did
the next year, calling it Fort Armstrong,
in honor of the Secretary of War. The
site of the fort is now marked by two
cannons mounted behind the old enbank.
ment and Fort Armstrong Ave. crosses
| the site,
The arsenal gun yards contain thou
sands OF guns many of which are inter-
esting trophies of the various wars. The
largest and finest of those that | noticed
were Mexican guns captured at Vera
Cruz in 1S47.
There is no history of Importance be-
fore the Black Hawk war in 1891, in 1S36
all was quiet along the border and the
fort was evacuated. In 1910 an ordinance
was established, but in 1915 the stores
were removed to the arsenal at st. Louis
and nothing more of military interest oc-
CURED until 1862 when Congress passed
an act establishing Rock Island arsenal
From 1868 to the close of the war some
$1,000 Confederate soldiers were confined
here and in national cemetery here are
buried 400 Union soldiers.
The Government has constructed a
water power of 1000 horse power capao.
ity which runs the shop at present. One
day | went out five or six miles to view
another of Uncle Sans big works, the
Hennepin canal. The Rock river has
dam 900 ft. long and #. high which con-
the water and backs it up so that per-
haps II or 10 miles of the river are used
as canal, and from where it leaves the
river to the place where it enters the
Father of waters" is about five miles.
There are locks 10 ft. long, and 80 #.
wide with comfortable cottage at each,
the standard is it, of water in the canal
and 50 IT. wide, but in places it is much
| wider, where they found it convenient to
dig the dirt that they needed in other
places, from two to six feet of the bot
tom is dug through lime rock contain
ing many shells, one of which | brought
away and used for drinking cup.
The water was first turned in Thanks
giving day. Another place of greal
beauty and interest to tourists and viSi-
tors is Black Hawks watch tower only
four or five miles from the heart of Rock
Island. 1t is on the highest bluff on the
Rock River and was named in honor of
that famous chief, who had this for his
principal home and outlook for the en-
emy, it being near his birthplace. In
1855, on the death of his father, he was
called, at the age of 10, to be chief of his
tribe, the Sac and Foxes. He never sane
toned the treaty of 1904 and in 1884 he,
sought to to regain control of his favor
ite hunting ground. Electric cars con-
meet this resort with Rock Island and
Davenport and they have built substan-
tial Accommodations for picnic parties. A
toboggan slide from the bluff into Rock
river was novelty to me.
will close the record of rambles with
one of the Indian legend: IN 1927 q
young Sioux chief, who was lost in
snow storm, wandered into the camp of
the Sacs and while there fell in love with
a beautiful maiden, and when he left for
his own country he promised to return
the next summer for his. bride. At the ap-
pointed time he came and one day when
the lovers were out on ramble they
sought shelter under projecting cliff,
during thunder storm. While there the
lightning split off portion of the rock
and the lovers were buried there in the
ruin locked in each others arms. Now
The visitor is directed, for drink to In
dian Lovers spring. Yonrs truly.
G. E. BRECKENRIDGE.