The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-01-14
The Rapid Rise With Which keokuis
and Vicinity Have Come into
Prominence Lately 10
Startling.
SPRING BRINGS ACTIVITY
There VIII be Extensive Building
Here ard the Monled Men Of
the World win Vie in
Property Purchasing.

The keen eye OF the great metropol-
itan business world is focused on
Keokuk for the first time since the
city became a corporation and since
its existence Within The past sew
eral days. or since the announcement
on last Saturday, that Hugh L. Coop
er and his engineering force would
begin work Immediately on the vast
project, speculation has been rife and
the business nlen of the country
whose attention has been called forci
bly, 10 the location of Keokuk and
Hamilton and surrounding cities to pc
benfited by the power dam, which ex-
pansive body will stretch from shore
to shore within less than three years
time. are alert to the true meaning
OF the building of the dam, which is
TO furnish power to cities within a
radius of over 200 miles. and the pow
er houses which are to be located
here will be the seat OF all this vast
amount of electrical energy that will
be Transmitted 10 those contracting for
its use.
1t has been said that with the open
ing of the river in the spring, the
more active work on building the
abutments on the Illinois shore would
commence and the solid wall of con-
crete would begin to stretch out over
the mile of water ON the rapids with
the advent of warm spring and sum-
in CT
from now, the engineers in charge of
the construction of the dam, state
that great advance in the work will
have been made, the number of men
employed in the formation Of the
stretch Of concrete which Is to form
the dam proper, will have been in
creased many times.
With the coming Of these laborers,
both skilled and common, will also
come the problems of caring for them.
At the present time the many houses
OF both Keokuk and Hamilton are
well filed and with spring. will see
the building of many more, more than
has ever been seen in both cities since
their first settlements were made.
Prospective building sites are under
surveillance, both as possible locations
I for residences and the commencing OF
business places that will be started.
! Since the FIRST work that has been
commenced on the actual dam con
/ struction, the unconvinced resident
has said, there will be no boom, nc
hustle. no life, just because it has
been announced that Engineer Coop
er will build the dam. True, there
will be no excited panicky rush into
the midst of impossible underta kings
but with the first warm weather Of
spring time, there will be such re
volution in the building and remodel
ing of already constructed property
as has never been witnessed before
here or elsewhere in this locality
And the wise man is the one who is
preparing himself for that same thing
Former Residents Write.
There will be return of former
residents OF Keokuk who sought other
cities of the country in which to make
their livelihood. Each day citizens re
celye letters from former Keokukians
asking about conditions and stating
many of them that they will make
Keokuk their residence again. A lady
who formerly made this city her hons
and has extensive land holdings here
in reading an account in the ST Louis
papers which was somewhat of a
fabrication, stating that million dol
lars worth of property had changed
y hands in one day, Immediately wrote
to her business manager here and adj
yised him to hold UP for sale her pro
perty and incidentally to get the best
market price. Conditions may be
somewhat overdrawn but there is
bound to be great activity everywhere
and the city is preparing itself foI
it at this early date before the work
on the water power dam has had a
fair start.