The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-07-07
OPERATED
GR|sT Mill
Cost Less Than Thousand Dollars
But Old the Work Required,
and Was : Boon to the
People.
CONTRACT FOR BUILDING
Comparison Of the standards Of Hy.
drauIIc Engineering 70 Years
Ago and Now Shown In
Old Document.

! Seventy years ago the first power
dam was built in the Mississippi riy-
er, opposite Keokuk, at what is now
known as Wagner's Point, five years
before Iowa became state, and after
engineering methods which seem
child's play In the light OF the great.
est dam in the world being built here
now by the best engineering skill to
be found among men.
That first power dam cost less than
$1,000, but built by contract, and the
Hamilton Press has discovered the
original contract containing all the
plans and specifications, a fac smile
of which is printed on this page by
courtesy of the Hamilton newspaper.
The contract is in fine cIerkly hand
which is readable easily; the plans
occupy only few inches Of paper. in
sharp contrast with the thousands of
square yards of blue-prints being used
by the modern builders Of the big
dam of 1911. The drawing and ac-
comanying specifications are very
clear, and any stonemason can re.
produce that first power dam OF 1871
today.
The wing dam contracted for and
built was fourteen feet wide at the
base about seven feet high, and con-
stricted to Withstand Ice even more
than to obstruct the now Of water.
How It Worked.
Starting from the mill to be built
near the Illinois shore. the dam ran
obliquely up the river for a quarter
OF mile or more. The upper end
was three hundred feet out from the
shore.
As the river came flowing down, the
water which entered the 300.foot
mouth OF the funnel was contracted
to a width Of a few feet at the lower
end of the dam. Since the same vol
ume of water which spread out over
three hundred feet above poured
through narrow outlet, it of necessity
had greater depth at the lower end
OF the works. This increased depth
or greater height, as you please
was utilized to turn water wheel
which operated the machinery of the
mill.
There Is no date extant as to the
horsepower developed by this arrange
ment of dam running nearly parallel
with the Illinois shore and only four
teen feet wide at the base. But the |
power was sufficient for the mill which |
supplied the country around with ia
cilities for grinding grain. The mill was
operated for years before 1t was aban-
doned on account Of the march of |
progress. 1t was commonly called
Wagner's mill.
Those Live Wires.
While the size Of their project ex-
cites smiles now, yet the men who
built that dam deserve the admiration
OF us all quite as much as do Judge
Logan and Hugh L. Cooper. They
We're as enterprising as us moderns,
and they were engaged in project as
difficult as building the greatest dam
In the world is now.
One can easily imagine the congress
OF the corner grocery gravely deciding
that the wing dam planned by Gates
and Highly would not turn a wheel,
would stop river navigation, would
go out with the first June rise, and
was piece OF foolishness generally
exactly like the senators in the cigar
stores here talked seventy years later.
The men who put up the money and
energy into that wing dam OF 1s41,
We're the real live wires of their day.
The Men and the Project
The projectors and successful build
ers Of the first dam were BENJAMIN
B. Gates and David Highly. The chief
engineer and contractor was Edward
Worth. Always around to witness pa
pers when anything was done was
Joseph Mantanye. though just what
part he had In the thing does not ap-
pear of record. He may have been the
lawyers clerk, or the financial mag
nate OF that day.
While the original contract was ex-
ecuted September LISA, Worth took
Joseph Deaves in as an equal partner
On January 1, 1912, and the two did
The construction work together.