USA > Iowa > Scott County > Davenport > History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa, Volume I > Part 28
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Copies of the above memorial were freely distributed among the members of congress and laid on the desk of every senator and representative. An act of congress providing for the arsenal and armory and making an appropriation of $100,000 was passed July 11, 1861. In May of the following year a com- mission composed of Major F. D. Callander, Major C. P. Kingsbury and Cap- tain F. J. Treadwell was sent by the ordnance department to locate the proposed arsenal building on Rock island. Sites also for magazines on the island were recommended by the commission. The report was adopted and Major Kings-
ROW OF SHOPS, ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL
POWER PLANT, ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
bury was ordered to take charge of the work of construction. He arrived in August, 1863, and on the 3d of September broke ground for the government building at the lower end of the island.
From an article prepared by Captain L. M. Haverstick and published in the Chicago Inter Ocean at the time the following is quoted, with a few changes looking to brevity:
"An arsenal merely for the storage and repair of arms was not what the ordnance department contemplated, nor what the country needed at Rock is- land. Therefore in August, 1865, General T. J. Rodman was assigned to the com- mand of the island with instructions to prepare plans for an armory and arsenal combined, where small arms and other munitions of war could be manufactured as well as repaired and stored. The great scientific knowledge and long experi- ence of General Rodman peculiarly fitted him for this work and the result was an elaborate plan, equal to the wants and interests of the country."
GENERAL RODMAN'S PLANS.
General Rodman's plans were submitted to congress during the session of 1865 and approved. An appropriation was made to begin work on the new buildings ; and from that time forward steady progress has been made until now Rock Island arsenal is the foremost in the United States. A portion of the island had been sold under a special act of congress. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company had located their tracks across the island and built upon its banks the abutments for their bridges. When the government decided to utilize the island for a permanent and extensive manufacturing depot, it was found necessary to buy out the interests of the private parties and of the rail- road company. A commission consisting of General J. M. Schofield, Selden M. Church and James Barnes was appointed to appraise the lands on the island owned by individuals.
An act of congress, approved June 27, 1866, appropriated the money neces- sary to buy out their claims, authorized the relocation of the railroad bridge and provided for compensating the railroad company for changing its route across the island. The same act made an appropriation to begin work on the development of the water power. Under this and subsequent acts the govern- ment united with the railroad company in the erection of the iron bridge, which served the general purposes until the construction of the present magnificent bridge, sharing in the expense and securing a free wagon way in addition to the railroad tracks.
On July 11, 1862, congress passed the act authorizing the establishment of the arsenal and providing the first funds for beginning the necessary buildings. Major C. P. Kingsbury, a well known and competent officer of the ordnance department, was assigned as the first commandant and under his direction, a year later, a storehouse was erected at the lower or extreme western end of the arsenal, which, with its tower and clock, has since been a landmark and an object of interest, not merely to the inhabitants of the three cities, but also to all trav- elers on the main line of the Rock Island road.
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
In 1865 General Thomas J. Rodman was assigned to the command and was followed in 1871 by General D. W. Flagler, who remained commandant until 1886. General Rodman died at his quarters at the arsenal on the 7th of June, 1871. By his death not only the army and the ordnance department lost one of the most valuable officers in the service, but the work of constructing the arsenal received a serious blow. The plans for the work were his and all that he planned to do was not and could not be communicated to others. His ex- traordinary ability, wide influence and the complete confidence reposed in him by the war department, the government and all whose assistance was needed for the work, gave him a certainty of success in carrying out the plans for the great work, that no one else could have had. At the request of the chief of ordnance he was buried at the arsenal, on a lot of ground set apart for that purpose near the National cemetery at the east end of the island. To these two officers is mainly due the general plan of the arsenal as it exists today, with nearly all its principal buildings ; their conception of the disposition and arrangement of the ten great shops, with the various subsidiary buildings, was an immense ad- vance over the stereotyped plan of all arsenal construction of preceding years, and in subsequent developments in response to great demands upon the arsenal's resources, has proved most admirably adapted for the purpose for which designed.
THE PLANS DEVELOPED BY GEN. FLAGLER.
These plans as first prepared by Rodman, developed by Flagler, and fol- lowed with only slight modifications by their successors, have resulted in the erection, principally of Joliet stone, of a magnificent equipment of shops, store- houses, barracks, quarters and numerous subsidiary buildings. The shops com- prise ten stone buildings sixty feet wide, built around three sides of a rectangular central court, with fronts 210 feet and wings 300 feet long; eight of the shops are of four stories, the other two of only one, but providing in all over thirty acres of floor space. Seven of these buildings are now occupied by machinery, the other three by the raw material for manufacture and by finished stores. There are also two large storehouses and numerous other small buildings for boilers for the heating plant and for lumber, coal, oil, etc., for officer's quarters, sol- diers' barracks and for the many other necessities of a large government manu- facturing establishment. One of these storehouses replaced an earlier structure destroyed by fire with its contents and was only completed in the spring of 1905. It is most recently erected of all the main buildings of the arsenal.
For many years the commandant's quarters and three others of stone have provided accommodations for the assistant officers, but within the last few years two attractive buildings of more modern design, one frame and the other of yel- low brick, have been erected at the eastern end of Terrace road, forming a most attractive addition to the residential district of the arsenal, and during the present year the old buildings, relics of the Civil war, used for many years as a hospital and as stables, have been replaced by attractive and convenient modern structures.
In May, 1886, Colonel T. G. Baylor, ordnance department, succeeded Gen- eral Flagler as commandant. He was followed three years later by Colonel J.
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M. Whittemore and he, in 1892, by General A. R. Buffington, who continued in command for five years. Under these officers the main buildings were car- ried to completion, manufactures prosecuted at a moderate scale and under the latter the present magnificent bridge from the arsenal to Davenport erected.
In March, 1897, Captain Stanhope E. Blunt, ordnance department, was appointed commandant and through successive promotions to major, lieutenant- colonel and colonel, the latter grade being given in June, 1906, through more than ten years continued in command. Colonel Blunt's administration was marked by great expansion in the arsenal's facilities for manufacturing war material; over $1,200,000 worth of modern machinery being installed in the shops and the power transmission system changed from the antiquated wire rope transmission of the water power to a modern hydro-electric plant of ample capacity for the arsenal's needs.
GREAT FABRICATION IS POSSIBLE.
The island, containing nearly 1,000 acres, is irregular in shape, about two and one-half miles long and three-fourths of a mile across at its widest part. The main channel of the Mississippi river passes between the island and the Iowa shore, a much narrower branch separating it from the Illinois bank. Across this smaller stream, a short distance above the shops, a masonry dam has been constructed producing, in consequence of the reach of rapids opposite and above the island, a water power of ample capacity, having a head of from seven and one-half to eleven feet, according to the stage of the river, and on the dam, operated by twenty turbines, have been installed three alternating current gen- erators of 1,650 kilowat total capacity, with the accompanying exciters, switch- board, etc., required for their operation. The building housing this installation, with generators, shafting and all other incidental machinery, has been com- pleted not only in a substantial but in a highly ornamental manner, rendering the power house not only one of the most interesting objects for visitors to the arsenal but also from its appearance one of the most attractive. At present nearly 3,000 horse-power is thus provided, which can be increased, if it should ever prove necessary, by utilizing penstocks on the dam now occupied, and in- stalling the corresponding additional electrical machinery. None of the navy yards or other arsenals possess this combination of ample water power and electrical transmission and the development of the power plant to its present really magnificent condition, permitting the greatest economy, with also the greatest facility and convenience of operation, is one of the principal distin- guishing features of the Rock Island arsenal.
Several years ago congress made a preliminary appropriation for the neces- sary machinery for manufacture of small arms at the arsenal, following it at the next session with a sufficient sum to permit the installation of a plant that should turn out about 250 rifles per day. The complete establishment of the plant required a material increase in the power provided and also its transmis- sion to the new armory ; it also included the completion of three of the large shops with elevators, a steam heating plant, lavatory conveniences, work benches for employes, rooms for foremen and inspectors, and the introduction of the many
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minor but essential appliances requisite for economical and efficient operation, including even tunnels connecting the basement floors of the different shops, which afford passage for the heating pipes, fuel oil pipes, electric power and lighting wires and for small trolley cars for transportation between buildings of the various components of the rifles in the different stages of their manufacture. In this small-arms plant and in the shops of the southern row over 2,400 machines of a great variety are disposed, with the shafting for their operation and the necessary benches, and the other numerous appliances requisite for their occu- pancy by workmen. Operation of the shops upon the scale now required for the manufacture of gun carriages, equipments, small arms, etc., employs at present about 2,000 men, at a monthly charge for wages of from $125,000 to $130,000. If compared with its operation thirteen years ago it will be observed that four times as many men are now employed as at the earlier date and that the monthly wages are about five times greater.
VARIOUS ITEMS MADE AT THE ARSENAL.
The arsenal upon the scale now operated provides the soldiers' ordnance equipment for an army of 60,000 men and is besides constantly adding to the reserve supply. By merely taking on additional employes it could, without delay, increase its output to meet the demands of an army of 500,000 men, and by adding additional machinery, for which necessary space and power has been provided and its disposition arranged for, and also the employes for its opera- tion, this output could be still further immensely increased.
Besides the saddle in all its parts, beginning with the lumber used in the saddletree, the bridle, saddlebags, rifle scabbard, halter, horse-brush, cartridge box, saber belt and many other articles included under the general designation of infantry, cavalry and horse equipment, are also made. The haversack, can- teen, cup, meat can, knife, fork and spoon, of duck and other material, which constitute the soldiers' more personal equipment, and of metal the bits, spurs, picket pin, etc., which he also uses, are included in the manufactures. Many sets of artillery harness are annually made and also the numerous parts and general supplies pertaining thereto. Also pack outfits for mountain artillery by means of which guns, their carriages, and ammunition are carried on mule back.
The arsenal has recently completed some six-inch barbette carriages for seacoast forts and for four years past has been regularly engaged in the manu- facture of a large number of the new three-inch field gun carriages, model of 1902, with the accompanying limbers, caissons, battery wagons and their tools, implements, etc. This is of itself a most important work, requiring the services of a number of the best mechanics and would alone be deemed elsewhere a sufficient task for many an establishment, though at Rock island it comprises as stated only a portion of the manufacturing work.
In order that the field artillery carriages manufactured at the arsenal may be tested before issue to develop any unknown defects if they should exist, all such material is proof fired at grounds specially laid out for that purpose at the upper or eastern end of the island. This includes a large timber and sand
MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL
SUN DIAL AND SALUTING BATTERY. ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL
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butt into which the projectiles are shot and which is of such dimensions that they cannot emerge therefrom. The many additional instruments for determin- ing the velocity of the projectile, velocity of recoil of parts of the carriage, or pressure of the powder charge in the bore, and other features necessary to give the constructing officer of ordnance the information which he needs in design- ing other material, or in verifying the correctness of the design undergoing proof, are also installed in special structures erected at the proving ground for their reception. With these buildings is included an observation tower permitting by its use a river range for firing up the river of approximately 6,500 yards and enabling these carriages to be tested and proof fired under an elevation.
The arsenal also makes the wooden targets of different designs and all the paper targets, steel silhouette frames and pasters used in target practice, as well as the insignia indicating the soldiers' classification in marksmanship and the various insignia on saddle cloths, rosettes on bridles and similar ornamental jewel- ers' work.
THE ARMORY MAKES MANY RIFLES.
In its armory shops the daily output for several years past has been from 100 to 125 finished magazine rifles per day, an industry in itself of greater magnitude than that of the army's other small arms factory until within very recent years. Besides its manufactures the arsenal is also the distributing point to all parts of the middle west for the product of other arsenals and of the private establishments from which the government purchases. The total cost of the arsenal from its establishment to July 1, 1907, including the erection of the permanent buildings, the acquisition, development and later improvement of the water power, the large bridge across the Mississippi and the small ones to the Illinois shore, and the purchase and installation of the machinery in the shops, under the different commandants, is as follows :
Major C. P. Kingsbury, 1863-65, $231,384.72 ; General T. J. Rodman, 1865-71; $2,302,626.30 ; General D. W. Flagler, 1871-86, $4,982,481.45; Colonel T. G. Baylor, 1886-89, $663,450; Colonel J. M. Whittemore, 1889-92, $377,318.48; General A. R. Buffington, 1892-97, $477,375.50; Colonel S. E. Blunt, 1897-07, $2,510,198.88; Colonel F. E. Hobbs to January 1, 1910,-$381,899.68; total $12,232,735.01.
During the first twenty-five years, or up to the conclusion of General Flag- ler's administration, construction of buildings, bridges, roads, etc., and the earlier steps in development of water power formed the principal work, the very limited amount of machinery which had been installed being operated to only a moder- ate extent and the disbursements, including wages, being mainly in connection with building construction. In the second period, continuing until about the time of the Spanish war, construction, except for the rebuilding of the bridge from the arsenal to Davenport, nearly ceased, while the manufacturing oper- ations of the arsenal continued at a slightly increasing but still very moderate extent. The third period embraces the great increase in amount and variety of manufacture, including that of small arms and accompanying expansion of plant, with some incidental building operations, commencing in the latter part of
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1897, during the first year of the administration of Colonel Blunt, slightly be- fore the earlier days of the Spanish war, and continuing to the present date.
Senator Allison, to whose faith and interest in the arsenal must be largely ascribed the generous appropriations granted during many years past for its construction and development, is quoted as saying that Rock Island arsenal, during the few months of the late Spanish war, more than returned in advan- tage to the country the great cost of its construction ; and unquestionably in a war of any magnitude and duration this cost would again be repaid many fold.
GENERAL CROZIER APPRECIATES THE ARSENAL.
In December, 1905, the Democrat interviewed General Crozier, and speak- ing of the Rock Island arsenal he had this, among other pertinent things, to say : "There is one thing I can say without reserve, that is that there is not on the face of the globe another such government establishment as this. I have seen and been through the Sir Joseph Whitworth shops, the great works of Creusot, in France, and nearly all the great government and great private es- tablishments of Europe where arms and munitions are made for the armies of that continent and there is not the like of this among them all. And outside of Europe of course, there is nothing worth considering. Stand at the flagstaff on the main avenue of Rock Island arsenal or at the crossing of Main avenue and Eastern avenue and look along Main avenue. Take in those two long rows of shops facing each other. Note the symmetry of their arrangement and the beauty of their location, their surroundings and the room in all directions for their expansion at need. Take into account the vast water power which makes the factory independent of everything in the matter of power, and then take into account the geographical location of the place with a buffer of hundreds of miles and millions of resolute people on every side of it to stand between it and all invaders and consider how centrally it is placed so that it may with ease reach every part of the country-there is not, sir, the equal in all these things of Rock Island arsenal on earth, I care not where you go to look for it. These other establishments are great and they do great work, but they have grown piecemeal by accretion and addition as room was needed, and with no definite plan. Rock Island arsenal has been developed along the lines of a plan laid down on the virgin soil of this unrivalled island and it is absolutely without a parallel and one might say without a fault."
A NEW VIADUCT IS BUILT.
Commencing in the spring of 1907 the superstructure of the old truss bridge, over Sylvan water, connecting the island with the Illinois shore, was removed for the preparation of the new viaduct concrete bridge. The old four stone piers, with two abutments, were used in the new substructure, and owing to the girder style of construction of the new bridge four new concrete piers were built. The new viaduct bridge was designed by Ralph Modjeski, the noted architectural engineer, and built under the supervision of the war department, the contractors being Bayne and Hewett of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its con-
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struction represents an expenditure by the government of $125,000, with $1,600 additional for widening the causeway between the bridge and Fort Armstrong avenue, and bridge sidewalks. The Tri-City Railway Company, assumed the cost of the brick cemented driveway, trolley poles, and new tracks, amounting to $10,000, making a total cost of $136,600. The new bridge was opened for street car and passenger traffic December 2, 1907, opened for general traffic December 18, 1907, and was accepted by the government January 17, 1908. The width of the structure is twenty feet between curbs, with two sidewalks, each six feet. The incline approach from the city of Rock Island side consists of the original stone wall 124 feet long; the new concrete wall, joining same, extending to railroad tract abutment, is 170 feet long. The bridge proper con- sists of eleven spans, making a length of 801 1-10 feet, and a total length with approach approximately 1,096 feet. The solidity of the entire structure is evident in every detail. The present commandant of the island is Colonel F. E. Hobbs.
After the close of the Black Hawk war there is no record of further hos- tilities in this vicinity. A garrison was maintained at Fort Armstrong until the 4th of May, 1836, when the fort was evacuated and the troops were sent to Fort Snelling. Lieutenant-Colonel Davenport of the First United States in- fantry was in command of the fort at the time it was evacuated and he left Lieutenant John Beach, United States infantry, in charge of a few men to take care of property. But the fort was never regarrisoned and in the follow- ing November Lieutenant Beach was ordered away and the property that had been left was removed. General Street, Indian agent, then had charge of the is- land until 1838, when Colonel George Davenport was appointed Indian agent and remained in charge until 1840. In 1840 some of the buildings at Fort Armstrong were repaired and an ordnance depot was established at the fort by the United States Ordnance department. Captain W. R. Shoemaker, ordnance store keeper, was placed in charge of the depot and also had charge of the is- land until 1845. The depot was then broken up and the stores were removed to. the St. Louis arsenal. From 1845 until the act for establishing the Rock Island arsenal was passed, in 1862, the island was in charge of a civil agent or custodian employed by the war department, and never passed out of the control of that department. Thomas L. Drum, of Rock Island city, was custodian from 1845 until 1853; J. P. Danforth, of Rock Island, from 1854 until 1857; and H. Y. Slaymaker from 1857 until 1863.
The history of this period, from 1845 until 1863, while the island was in charge of a civil agent, is full of persistent and protracted efforts on the part of squat- ters, manufacturers, railroads, water power companies and others to procure by preemption, lease, purchase or cession a title to land on the island. These efforts are interesting in themselves but are particularly so in connection with the present use of the island, because they show the high estimate placed upon it and its water power by all acquainted with it, and also because they frequently show in correspondence, reports and debates in congress that the island must, under no circumstances, be allowed to pass out of the control of the general government and that it would eventually become the site of a great armory or arsenal of the Mississippi valley.
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JEFFERSON DAVIS WRITES OF THIS LOCATION.
About the year 1835, by direction of congress, two examinations of vari- ous places for a western armory were made. In September, 1840, the chief of ordnance, Colonel Talcott, directed the commanding officer of the St. Louis ar- senal to examine the Rock island with a view to its use for ordnance purposes and report. In September, 1841, congress passed an act for a thorough exam- ination of the whole western country for the purpose of selecting a suitable site on the western waters for the establishment of a national armory. Jefferson Davis, who became president of the so-called Southern Confederacy, while sec- retary of war wrote in 1854 to the United States senate committee on public lands as follows: "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th, asking the views of this department as to the expediency of locating a military reservation at Fort Armstrong, at Rock island, Illinois, as contem- plated by senate bill No. 195. The water power available at that place, and the communication by water and by railroads, projected or in course of con- struction, concur with other circumstances in rendering Rock island one of the most advantageous sites in the whole western country for an armory or arsenal of construction for the manufacture of wagons, clothing and other military sup- plies. There may be more land on Rock island than will be needed for the pro- posed establishment, but if this be so the department cannot decide at present what part of it will be required. Any act that may pass to authorize the sale of it should, I think, leave to the department full power to retain whatever of the reservation may be found useful and proper for the contemplated works, for which it is hoped that congress will, at some future date, make the necessary ap- propriation. The Mississippi river is one of the great highways of the United States. Its use is essential to the public service in peace and in war and appro- priations from the treasury have been made and are now in the course of ex- penditure for the removal of natural obstacles from its channel ; therefore, although not directly connected with the question of sale, it may not be improper to in- vite your attention to the effects which would follow the construction of a bridge across the river at Rock island, as implied in the grant of the right of way."
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