The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-02-19
With Conversion of the Quincy Into an
Excursion Boat, Big Packets
Disappear from Upper,
River.
SOME OF THEIR HISTORY
Gabfest Artiste of River Landings
Reminiscs About Old Days and
Old Boats OF Glorious
Times.

The conversion of the Quincy into
an excursion. boat brings out crop
OF "reminiscences from the gabfest
artists of the river fronts.
With the passing of the Quincy,
the last Of the big packets engaged
in the passenger traffic on the up
per Mississippi is gone the way OF
many Of her sisters before.
In the early days the boats had no
whistles and did all the signalling
on the river and announced their
landing by ringing the big bell. 1t
was the steamer Glockaus that car
ried the first steam whistle, and
when this was sounded on the upper
river it created sensation. People
at every landing rushed to the levee
to hear the whistle blow and stood
in awe at the new device.
1t was the Effie Alton, an indie
pendent boat that was charged with
burning the old Rock Island bridge,
the first to be erected across the
Mississippi. This bridge stood a
short distance up stream from the
present government island to the
lower shore and was built Of wood.
That First Bridge Burned
The bridge was completed in 1857
and it was the next spring that the
steamer collided with the draw pier.
A stove was overturned, the boat
caught fire and the span OF the
bridge was burned.
Steamboat men had been fighting
the construction of the bridge as an
obstruction to navigation, and 1t was
charged that the collision was
planned and was part of the fight
against the bridge.
The Prairie State and the Ken
lucky were burned to the waters
edge while tied up a short distance
| below the present site of the Rock
/ Island Plow company in the early
fifties. The fire occurred one Sun
| day morning and was witnessed by
| the entire population.
| During the fifties, river men com
! bined and packet companies were
formed, each company operating
1 line of boats on regular schedule
when that schedule could be carried
out.
The packet companies operating
on the upper river were the North
ern Packet company, the Minnesota
Packet company and the old White
Collar line.
Competition Was Keen Then.
! The Northern Packet company op
!. Grated the largest. number of boats
/ Among them were the Canada, Penn
| bina, W. l.. Owing, Muscatine, North
| ern, Denmark, Minnesota Belle
| Hawkeye State, Sucker State and
! the Gem City. All of the steamers
were side wheeler craft, as that was
the only style of boats that coulc
I be handled in the swift current.
! Among the boats operated by the
Minnesota Packet company were the
,Itasca, Key City, Grey Eagle ane
| War Eagle.
The White Collar line was the
nearest competitor of the Northern
Packet company. Among its boats
were the Moses Mcclellan, City
Belle, Favorite, Phil Sheridan ane
the st. Paul
Competition between these TIVE
! companies was keen, not only fol
| trade. but as to the time the boats
! could make, and the big race between
the Hawkeye State and the Phi
! Sheridan, in which the Hawkey'
State won, was the talk OF the uDpe,
river, Just as the famous race be
| tween the Robert Lee and tn,