The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-08-05
Low WATER in
EARLY 4O'S
a Veteran Pilot, Capt. Edward Cal
Iahan, Of the Upper MIssis-
sippI River Gives Inter.
esting Facts.
KEoKUK IS MENTIONED
He Speaks of Very Low Stage at
Local Landinss-Trlps to St.
Paul Made in Three Sep
arate Boats.
KEoKUK IS MENTIONED

In these days of extreme low water
stages it Is timely as we'll as inter-
esting to note the fact that there are
men still alive who recall other low
water periods.
Capt. Edward Catalan, one of the
oldest living upper Mississippi river
pilots, in communication to an up
river paper, refers to very low water
in the summer of 1916 and 1S47, and
also in 1852. His communication is
as follows:
i see by the papers, the low water
has gone below the record of 1864,
The lowest water that was ever
known on the upper Mississippi river,
up to that time, was in the year 1876
and 1S47. At that time | was pilot on
the old steamer Bon Accord. have
heard pilots say that was the lowest
water they ever saw. There was less
than 80 inches between Montrose and
Davenport. At Keokuk the only place
to land was at Browns warehouse
where the Keokuk bridge is now.
Il know we had to lay three stage
planks to get out to get the freight
over the lower rapids. We would load
the flats from to inches, then
tow them up with horses. At Mont
rose We would load the flats IL to IA
inches on the upper rapids. bring
barges over drawing 81 inches, then
get aground and stick for several days
There was quite number of places
where wading was common sight.
Then the next low water was in
1852. | was on the steamer Golden
Eva with Capt. Hiram Bersie; then
there was a scant three feet below
Keokuk. You will kindly publish this
SO our younger generation will know
what low water is. Any information
l can give will gladly do so.
Yours truly,
capt. EDWARD CATALAN
Forest Theory Exploded.
j. H. Spencer of Dubuque, the local
forecaster, has issued the following
interesting statement in relation to
the river:
In a recent number of the Times
Journal I gave some historical data
on the unprecedented low water OF
1864. Further research shows that
during the previous year lin 1869
the river was also extremely low and
caused rivermen no end of trouble In
spite of the fact that many of the
packets of that period drew less water
than those of today. AS early in the
summer as June Is, 1868, the heavy
draught boats were unable to make
the trip to st. Paul, but were obliged
to connect with lighter draught boats
at Winona. BY July /, 1863, it was
stated in the newspapers that to make
trip to st. Paul person had to per
form the journey on three different
boats. The one leaving Dubuque went
only as far as Alma At that point
the Milwaukee was unable to get be
low the bar, and ran to Prescott
where another connection was made
with lighter draught boats, thus
reaching st. Paul. st. Paul, it was
said, would soon be at the head of q
long slough, reaching from Dubuque
up.
On July 16, 1868, it was stated: Wi
mona is the head of navigation for the
packets. Up at ST. Paul they don't
take the trouble to cross over the
bridge, but drive through the river
which is only ten inches deep.
Unquestionably the channel today is
in very much better condition than II
was in 1863 or 1854 due to the i'm
provements of the United States en-
gineers for many years past. The
fact, then, that navigation did no.
cease in 1863 and 1864, in spite of ex
ceptionally law water, must be attrib
uted very largely to the light d.augh
boats of the early days.
1t is also an interesting and signif
icant fact as shown by the historical
data available, that periods of low
and high water on the upper Missis
sippi river were as frequent in the
early days as now. 1t would seem
therefore, that the conclusion is in
evitable that the cutting down of for
ests at the head waters of the rive
has had little or no effect upon tn.
stage of water
First Serious Clash.