The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-06-09
George Fitch in Keokuk
Humorst Gives His Experiences and Impressions in Let
ter in Peoria Herald Transcript.

KEOkUK, Iowa, June When
the stranger within Keokuk's gates
LAYS him down to sleep he slides off
TO dreamland in the conventional
manner and is about half way to Aus
tralia when he is awakened by 4
prodigious bang. 1t is a bang of such
terrifying proportions that there is
just one thing to do-get up and view
the ruins. Almost every night some
stranger does this. Some who are
not very curious wait to dress before
leaving their hotels. Others of impet-
uous natures leave in their pajamas.
but the result is always the same
Down on the corner they meet Dor
ed and yawning policeman who firm
ly declines to be interested in little
thing like a bang of several million
horsepower 'Aw go on back to bed
he says, its only the DAM
This policeman is the only man In
Keokuk who says only the dam"
The rest OF the Keokukians say THE
DAM" And when they mention It
they do it reverently and with an al
of expectation and GREATNESS hope
that is most impressive. For the dam
is going to do for Keokuk what the
rapids and the steamboats, once did
1t is going to put it on the map IN
taller letters than are used for Bur
lington aand Quincy. It is solely on
account of these high hopes that Keo.
kuk people have not gone down to the
dam site in body and ladled out JUS.
tice to the engineers who insist OH
firing curfew composed of carload
of nitro-glycerine promptly at mid
night each evening.
There is no use OF changing the
subject in Keokuk. Whatever you
change it to you are going to talk
dam in the end as you did in the be-
ginning. 1t is all they talk about over
here Politics, baseball, the price of
living, the hot weather, and the Ba-
CONAN theory and other popular sub
jects of the day don't go here. You
admire the scenery from Keokuk' s
beautiful park and your guide directs
you joyfully to the big bare spot in
the Mississippi river where the pow
er house is being constructed. You
ask If Keokuk has another street car
and the citizen you ask will promptly
tell you that when the dam is finished
one hundred new cars will be bought
You gaze with breathless admiration
on the tunnels through the trees
which Keokuk calls streets and you
are gently reminded that when the
dam is completed all these streets
will be lined with fine new brick
stores. You look out over the rollins
fields behind the city and wonde,
whether any finer job was ever done
by nature. While you are wondering
your elbow is gently logged and yor
are informed that within five year,
after the dam is completed yon tree
embroidered horizon will be filled
jam, plumb full of flat buildings
garages, moving picture shows ant
electric signs. Everybody talks
thinks and dreams and prays dam
/ Without exception Keokuk is thu
dammedest town ever saw.
/ The rest of the world has had t
] struggle along with altogether tor
/ little information about Keokuk's biz
/ dam. 1t is hard to realize that owe
/ here the biggest structure of the kim
1 in the world is being constructed ant
that within two or three years 1t will
be completed and the Mississippi riv
er will be impounded like an unrulA
/ pup. between the bluffs of Iowa an,
i Illinois. The Father of Waters, WHIT
has been loafing about in a lazy an
unambitious fashion for several mil
lion years, Is going to be harnessec
up by this dam and set to work turn
ing the factory wheels of the Missis
sippi valley. It's big job they hav'
staked out for him. too. Two hundre'
and fifty thousand horsepower 4
what he is expected to produce day
4 and nights and Sundays, and Keoku'
declares that when he has gottei
well into the job Keokuk declare
that when he has gotten well int
the job Keokuk is going to be the big
gest city in the Mississippi Valley.
There are no ifs" and "perhapses
} about this statement, either. 1--WE ar
going to have half a million poop.
. here" they say. The power compan
| I,a nI,u do,1frtpo baoop,