The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-10-05
Miss Gladys Arne and Emma Rapha 81
Who Went Through keokuk Lock
Alone andsin Open Boat
Tell Story.
FRIGHTENED AT FIRST
The Roar Of Dam and Flicker Of Tn.
familiar Lights and Heavy Black
Shadows Were Terry
flying.

The story Of the 800 trip ta,sG-
oy Gladys Arne and Emma Raphael
OF Rock Island and Davenport, In 2
irowboat down the Mississippi river
has been published in the Sunday mag
azine section of the ST. Louis Pogt
Dispatch. The story is written by
Miss Arne who tells in an interesting
way about the experiences at Keokuk
and the Keokuk lock.
Inc young women stopped in Keo-
kuk for half day on their way south
and told OF their experiences in going
through the lock. They were the
first women to lock through" the
Keokuk barriers alone in small boat.
Here is the story by Miss Arne as
1T involves Keokuk:
1T was at the government lock at
Keokuk that Emmy Jane won her
final plaudits and more courtIy
name. From far up the river at sun
set time, we had seen the looming
structure Of the power plant, glinting
white under slanting golden rays
Further down, at dusk, we had seen
the lights of the dam, a cleaning
necklace strung across the water. And
still nearer, in moonless night, we
had seen what seemed to be countless
bikes and countless sea walls and
countless lowering structures, their
outlines indistinct.
Here we stopped, pulling our boat
up to a stony shore, and in the dark,
confused by distances, bewildered by
1nexplicable shapes and noises, con-
fronted by two great red lights, glar-
ing ahead, whose mystery we could
not fathom, we sat and wondered
Should we stay, or should we go on
the question whose answer is the
solution to all difficulties.
Naturally, we knew, by theory, the
construction of the lock, and we had
been told numerous times that they
were dangerous for small craft. One
man said that his launch tossed and
whirled about in the lock as If it had
been bubble, that the water rushed
in and carried out all his belongings,
and that he barely escaped with his
boat and his life.
we knew, too, that there was a
dan, and we had been warned to
cling as for our lives to the right
shore, lest we get caught in the cur
rent and carried through the spillway.
We had heard that we might have to
wait for hours to go through the lock.
passing in with one of the great steam
ers, which would swamp the feeble
Emmy Jane. Yes, we knew all about
The lock-from heresay.
I'VE rowed down into the confusion
Of lights, the intermittent roar as of
falling water, the mass Of looming
lark things. And we found that the
ed lights, after all, merely marked
he ends of two harmless sea walls,
md that the rumble issued from the
power house. Through the passage
We rowed, and there we saw our big
sister craft, safe as- sieep:ng-the
ieokuk, the lighthouse tender Dande-
ion and the Maryland, their decks in
darkness. On we rowed, to the little
urret on the wall, through whose win
low we could see the figure of man.
Hey. Hey, there! we shouted.
1.-THE man came out OF his little
coop. We thought we heard him
gasp at sight of US. 1--WE want to go
through the lock, mister" we shout
d I'D at him. "Can WEI"
His name was Harrington. The
est of him was of the same nation |
tlity as his name. And the soul of {,
harrington was stirred For we /
we're the first girls who had ever, in |
is experience as lockmaster, appear |!
d at the lock in their own small F,
oat, with the request that they might /
o through-at least at night onto
Midnight.
"Shure, yez can go through" said
his face beaming. /
so Harrington helped US up into
is little office, where we rested bit
nd told him all about it. After that
e introduced us to the machinery of
ne lock, radiating pride, half in the I
of this tremendous piece
T engineering. over which he Is mas
n. half in what he seemed to believe /,
as the courage of his midnight visi-
,rs. Stancher vessels than ours, he
I'D us, had tarried above the lock
II morning. loatb to venture.
TT was when we asked whether VIC
light have a man to go with us in q
le lock that Harrington demonstrated
e had caught the true spirit of our
iyenture. Il
81 want yez to go through alone he |
lid. 'eYe've done 1t all by yersilves ]
, far. Well watch yez. There is /
, danger
Then we registered our boat, The
suntless Emmy Jane" Lockmaster 7
arlington swung the great lever I
hich opens the lock. and when the ;
virl and rush had Quilted, we rowed ;,
exactly at the witching hour !,
one" >