The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-04-14
TO THE MISSISSIPPI
On the Occasion Of the Dedication of the Power Develop
ment at the Lower Rapids of the Mississippi at Keo-
kuk, Iowa, and Hamilton, Illinois, July, 1918.


uk, Iowa. and Hamilton, Illinois, July, 1918.
OF the Northern lakes and woods
Wherein thy primal springs are found,
Thy flow whis'prng
Thou restless, throbbing
Artery of the West
Soft and low is the drean-like tale
Whispered Of the lakes,
The shadows Of the lofty pines
And yet these whisp'rings
Are but fore-runners
OF tremendous voice
That swells along thy valley course.
For ages long that voice has called
To rivers flowing from the Eastern crests
And from the highlands Of the West
And they have heard and come
To make thee what thou art
And ages long thy wondrous floods
Didst roll unheeded and unhndered,
Washing the shores of wellngh
Boundless empire undeveloped.
Wild savage men stood awed
Before thy presence, and dimly guessed
Thy coming the place OF tiny departure.
But the eternal drift OF years
Brought changes, and OF other sort
Found place upon thy borders.
Thy shores at last lined
With cities grown as If by magic
From the treasured wealth
Which thou hadst stored, abundant
Vast plains OF wilderness were conquered
And made to yield
Had the world known increase.
Bridges at last we're thrown
In venturous hazard
Across the rush OF waters,
And tho thou ragedst oft
In rolling, swelling depths unmeasured,
Largess OF commerce kept It's way.
And was this all the part
That thou couldst play?
To whisper Of the lakes and woods
And of the empires yet to be?
To bear vast burdens uncomplainingo
Or there In all thy strength
To do the work the world must have?
Shouldst thou forever roll
From woods to sea, thy power embarrassed?
It not decreed for have
A of power unlimited
Within thy fow If bands might stay thee.
And SO there time
When Of trained experience the way
To make of thee most wondrous servitor.
They came and-greater than Titan task
From the depths of everlasting hills
They tore the seamless rock;
Broke 1t In blast and crush,
Melted and moulded it, and
Behold barrier in thy way
Greater than the Seven Wonders
OF the ancient world, If made in one.
And at last, oh mighty waters,
Another day has dawned for thee;
Another epoch great as when
Thy great Creator broke the hills
And made thy channel here,
And thou hast played upon
These Lower Rapids
Here hast thou sported with all
" no stood opposed to thee
Hast hurled dark, swelling rush Of waters;
Hast gathered in thine
Vast fields of all thy weapons
The grinding, crushing ice
The floating sunken trees
The shifting sands,-and swept away
Each daring thing that ventured
To test thy strength.
But now, proud river
Thou canst more shrink
Until the shadows the light
No more in the days long gone,
Might herds Of deer and bison
March surely on from shore to shore;
For where thou didst free
Now high, low-spread far and wide
The deep of fair Lake Brge
And thou art held and stayed until
To gain thy brthrght freedom,
Thou yieldest to the will of
And takst the way thourt hidden
Thou goest rushing and foaming,
But in the press the hand of genius
Hath touched thee, and from thee
Hath gone forth submissive power;
Submissive, for at the bidding
Of Man. its Master,
1t turns to day the darkest night:
Makes fervent heat where pulseess cold
Was else supreme;
Turns wheels to grind and weave
And naughty Power at last is humble Slave.
1912. X. H. 10
Hamilt
ward movement in musical Borqne told the Seals me