USA > Iowa > Scott County > Davenport > History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa, Volume I > Part 39
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THE HENNEPIN CANAL.
The part which a good system of inland waterways would play in the de- velopment of this section was clearly understood by the early settlers. When Davenport was but a hamlet the progressive citizens were alive to the necessity of deepening the channel on the rapids. River improvement conventions were held which were attended by delegates from Burlington, Muscatine, Dubuque and Davenport to the number of 150. Such a convention was held in Davenport in 1846, but the rocks were undisturbed by the flow of eloquence for, as Hiram Price expressed it, "They had been there since the morning stars sang together, and they did not propose to be disturbed by long speeches or resolutions upon paper."
JOHN WILSON'S FERRY, SHOWING THE OLD FORT ACROSS THE RIVER
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In early days the canal as a means of transportation was held in high esteem and even after the advent of the railroads in this section those interested in freight rates well understood the benefit an east and west canal would be. January 19, 1864, a Chicago and Mississippi canal meeting was held at LeClaire hall and a committee appointed to secure an appropriation from the Iowa legis- lature for a survey. The expenses of the committee, $350 were pledged. In March the efforts of the committee at Des Moines were aided by the strike of en- gineers on all Chicago roads which cut off Iowa from the world. The Iowa legislature appropriated $1,000, the first money devoted to this waterway by anybody having power to vote funds.
From January 19, 1864, to November 15, 1907, the date when the first boat passed through the completed Hennepin canal, was a strenuous forty-three years for the friends of the measure. Meetings were held in Davenport almost with- out number. The hat was passed for expenses over and over again. Editorials were written by the mile and delegates attended uncounted conventions. Con- gress was bombarded with petitions and interviewed by delegations. In Sep- tember, 1874, the preliminary survey was completed. The following January the measure had favorable action in congress. Congressman J. H. Murphy was so insistent for the construction of the canal that he was nicknamed "Hennepin" Murphy. In July, 1882, the National senate passed an appropriation of $100,000. In July, 1890, the river and harbor bill carried $500,000 for Hennepin. In 1891 the Milan route was approved. In November, 1894, the first section of the canal was completed and water admitted thereto. In April, 1895, the locks of the canal opened to receive the first boat. In the fall of the year the first coal was received in Davenport from the Hennepin canal.
The building of the canal from Hennepin to Milan presented many engineer- ing problems but none to compare with those attending the construction of the feeder ditch from Sterling south to Sheffield. The canal is nearly 105 miles long, the main line measuring seventy-five miles, and the Sterling feeder, twenty- nine and three-tenths miles. The canal is eighty feet wide at the surface, fifty-two feet wide at the bottom and is seven feet deep. The construction of the locks and canal walls near Milan was the first instance in the United States where cement construction was substituted for cut stone in work of this sort. The successful use of concrete here caused its general adoption by the govern- ment, the railroads and large contractors everywhere.
The total excavation on the canal was 8,080,512 cubic yards, the fill in em- bankments, 5,551,378, making a total of 13,631,890 cubic yards of earthwork. Timber and lumber were used to the amount of 8,250,444 feet. The cement con- struction in the canal has a total of 236,348 cubic yards. The Hennepin is spanned by seventy highway and farm bridges, eight railway bridges and two pontoons, has nine acqueducts, thirty-three locks, fifty-two culverts, eight dams and nine sluiceways.
The total cost of the canal was $7,224,408.77. Those who enjoy figures have computed that the concrete used in this canal, the first one to be constructed by the United States, would lay a sidewalk from Davenport to Boston.
While the completion of the canal has not been followed by the increase in shipments anticipated by those who worked for its construction for the forty
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years when work was necessary to keep the project moving, it is confidently expected that in the near future the canal will justify the expense of construc- tion and become an important link in a system of interior water ways that will handle shipments greatly in excess of the capacity of the railroads to move.
HISTORY OF A NOTED PICTURE.
In the spring of 1845 John Casper Wilde, a gentleman of considerable reputa- tion as a landscape and portrait painter, made his first appearance in Davenport. On his arrival here he was totally dependent upon his talent, which was of a very high order. In 1846 he painted a fancy sketch which was the nearest ap- proach to an artistical smile of which Mr. Wilde was ever known to be guilty. He had neither humor of his own nor appreciation of humor in others. He looked tragedy, thought tragedy and his conversation, outside of business and art, was never much more cheerful than tragedy. This little oil sketch, a fac- simile of which appears in this work, represented three notable characters of the village, each of whom at that time was personally known to almost every man, woman or child in the place. They were collected at the well remembered ferry house and near the equally well remembered old bell post. The bell there sus- pended was then furiously jingled, and often with disagreeable pertinacity, by those who wished to call the old ferryman, John Wilson, from the opposite shore. The ringer was generally considered under personal obligation to stand at the post some time in company with his horse and vehicle, if he had any to cross over, so that the ferryman might, with proper deliberation, determine whether the skiff or horse-power boat were required by the nature of the cargo. The large person of Antoine LeClaire sits in a buggy, to which is attached the not- able old white horse that used to drag his master about the place. Close by stands Gilbert Mckown, whose store was on Front street, a few steps distant, and whose burly figure and good-humored face when on any street seemed a part and parcel of the town and directly identified with its corporate existence. The third figure is Sam Fisher, as he was familiarly called by every acquaintance. He then lived in the house later owned and occupied by George L. Davenport at the corner of Brady and Third streets. Sam Fisher was the best fisher in the town, a good story-teller and had a most marvelous memory of past times and incidents, facts and dates, which, united with some peculiar eccentricities of char- acter, exclusively and honestly his, has since made him a conspicuous character. One of his smaller eccentricities is shown in the picture. He is standing with his trousers turned up to the top of one boot and down to the sole of the other, doing a favorite gesture, and evidently doing the talking, of course.
ENTRANCE TO FEJERVARY PARK
CHAPTER XV.
LIFE ON THE FRONTIER.
THE REMINISCENCES OF THE PIONEER, JUDGE JOHN W. SPENCER-LIFE AMONG THE SACS AND FOXES-WHEN FRIENDSHIP CHANGED TO DISTRUST AND ENMITY -NEIGHBOR BLACK HAWK-INDIAN AGRICULTURE AND HUNTING TRIPS- THE WARS OF 1831-33-STILLMAN'S DEFEAT AND THE FLAG OF TRUCE-THE MERCILESS SIOUX-A NEIGHBOR WHO DREW THE LONG BOW.
The following article was published in book form by Judge Spencer in 1872, not for general distribution, but for the members of his family and members of the Old Settlers' association. It was, however, first presented at an Old Settlers' meeting in Rock Island county and subsequently appeared in the Union.
Judge Spencer's long residence in Rock Island and extended acquaintance in Davenport and Scott county made him a familiar figure here and his experi- ences as a pioneer of this section, although his residence was across the river, will assuredly be of interest to readers of this history and for that reason "The Reminiscences of Pioneer Life in the Mississippi Valley" is here reproduced in toto.
Judge John W. Spencer came to Rock Island, Illinois, in 1826, and died there February 20, 1878. He was the first judge of the Rock Island county court and performed the first marriage ceremony in that county. In connection with others he built the first dam at Moline in 1841, and in 1852, at the death of his father-in-law, Captain Wilson, succeeded to a controlling interest in the Rock Island and Davenport ferry from which his estate still derives a considerable revenue.
* *
I was born in Vergennes, Addison county, Vermont, on the 25th of July, 1801, and after spending the early years of my life there started, on the 4th of September, 1820, for Illinois, driving a two-horse team for a gentleman by the name of Brush. Having an uncle in St. Louis county, Missouri, I went there, crossing the Mississippi river on the 25th of October, at St. Louis. This place had about 5,000 inhabitants at that time. My uncle and many more of the early settlers were about leaving where they had settled, on account of Missouri
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becoming a slave state. He and several of his neighbors had, early in the fall of this year, visited the Illinois river country and made some selections for farms, about thirty miles from the mouth of the river, at a settlement now called Bluff- dale. In order to hold the lands they had selected they were obliged to make some improvement on them which, having done, they returned to Missouri.
About the Ist of December, in company with my cousin, who was five or six years my senior, with his wife and two children, we started for the Illinois river where my uncle and his party had made their claims the fall before. On arriving there we found on one of the claims a log cabin, about fourteen feet square, about half built; it lacked a roof, a floor and a door, which we soon added. Our horses we fed, and for lack of a stable turned loose at night. In hunting for them one morning I found them about two miles from home, and as we turned on our way homeward I discovered a large bear on the bluff, headed for the river. When he got on the prairie bottom I rode after him; the country being very smooth I found I could drive him, so concluded to try and drive him home. Our cabin, at that time, was without a door, and for a substitute they had hung up a blanket. The day being very windy, they had set a chest upon the blanket to keep it in place. This chest was a very considerable part of the furniture of the cabin, being used as a work table, a dining table, and a place for putting away our most valuable things. My cousin's wife was busy getting our breakfast and had rolled out a short-cake upon the chest; he was at work outside the cabin, making a rude bedstead. On approaching the house I hal- looed as loud as I could. The cabin stood in the timber and my cousin did not discover the bear until he was within fifty yards of him. He ran in for his gun as soon as possible, and, by stepping on the chest at the door and putting his gun over the blanket, he gave the bear a mortal wound the first fire. He then reloaded his gun and, going nearer him, fired a second shot, killing him. But this is not all; when his wife looked for her short-cake, she found that he had put his foot in it.
My neighbors in Green county, some of whom accompanied Major Campbell, when he started from St. Louis, in the war of 1812, for the relief of the garri- son of Prairie du Chien, gave me the particulars of this trip, which I do not think are familiar to our old settlers generally. We all know that there is an island near here named Campbell's island, but few know why it bears this name. In 1812 Major Campbell, with three keel boats, well manned, and loaded with provisions for the relief of the garrison of Prairie du Chien, left St. Louis and came along without being disturbed by Indians until, at last, they reached Rock island. They described the country here as being beautiful, finer than any- thing they had seen and they landed on a prairie, at the foot of Rock island, on the Illinois shore. The Indians came to the boats and seemed friendly, trading some with them. The next morning, while sailing on the right side of Camp- bell's island, the major concluded to land for breakfast, against the wishes of his command. He landed his boat and tied to the shore, the other two boats an- choring out in the stream.
As soon as the major's boat was made fast the Indians, who were concealed, commenced firing on them. These boats were so constructed that while the men were inside they were comparatively safe, but to cut their cable so as to leave
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the shore, somebody must expose themselves. They sent out one after another to accomplish this purpose until two or three had been shot down. Finding it so hazardous to extricate themselves in this way they changed their plan and by swinging the stern of the shore boat out and that of the nearest boat at anchor in, they managed to get from the boat which was made fast to the shore into the other boats, some being killed, others wounded. Among the wounded was Major Campbell, severely in the shoulder. They now abandoned the boat at the shore and the Indians, after plundering it, burned it. I have heard some of our first settlers say that in low water the wreck of this boat could be seen. Major Campbell was now forced to give up the trip and returned to St. Louis with the remaining boats. By the failure of this expedition the garrison at Prairie du Chien was forced, for lack of provisions, to capitulate to the English, and the island near where these brave men were killed and others wounded was called Campbell's island. The Indians call a steamboat a fire-boat. At a dance of the Indians, on Rock Island, I heard Black Hawk, in making a little speech, allude to this boat ; he said when this boat was burned it made a real "fire-boat." While living in this part of the state Alton was our postoffice, being forty miles from our settlement.
About the year 1826 there was great excitement in regard to the lead mines of the upper Mississippi. In 1827 I thought I would try my luck one season at the mines. I passed Rock Island on my way up the river, about the last of March, returning late in the summer. This practice of going up the river in the spring and coming down in the fall was so generally observed by the first settlers of Illinois that they were called "Suckers." In the fall of 1828 I removed to Mor- gan county, about twelve miles from Jacksonville, on the Beardstown road. Mr. Rinnah Wells, in passing from the mines to the southern part of the state, stopped with me over night. In the course of the evening he told me that the Indians had left their old village at Rock island. Having seen the country along the Rock Island rapids, in passing to and from the mines, and being much pleased with it, in less than a week, accompanied by Loudon Case, Sr., I was on my way to ascertain if the Indians had left. When about ten miles from Rock river we met a Mr. Prince, who had brought a load of corn from his farm near Peoria, to feed Judge Pence's team, who was just then moving to the old Indian village at Rock river. Princeville, on the Peoria railroad, bears his name. We reached Rock river on the 9th of December. The river seemed alive with ducks. I do not think I have ever seen as many at one time since. Getting on the track of Judge Pence's wagons we crossed to the Big island. Here we found Judge Pence looking for a place to ford, which we found about sundown, be- tween the upper bridge and milldam on the main stream. Here we found several wigwams and took shelter in a large one for the night. Early in the morning Judge Pence started out and returned about breakfast time, saying he would not unload his wagon here, as he had found a better wigwam which proved to be Black Hawk's. These wigwams are very much the shape of a New England barn, sixteen or eighteen feet wide, and from twenty to fifty or sixty feet long. The largest were calculated for from two to four families. They were built by setting posts in the ground and siding with bark from elm trees. This bark, cut about seven feet long, varied in width from two to four feet, according to
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the size of the tree taken from. They had rafters and on these were laid small poles, upon the poles was placed the bark making a roof that turned rain very well. These wigwams made a very comfortable summer house. Their wigwams for fall and winter use were very different, being of flags woven into matting, which could be rolled up and enough to cover a wigwam carried on one horse. They made a frame of small poles, one end sharpened and stuck in the ground, the other bent over so as to form a circle of ten or twelve feet. They then placed the matting around and over the poles, leaving a small opening in the top for the smoke. A little fire in the center would keep the wigwam warm. The Indians say "the white man makes a great fire, and stands a great way off, the Indian makes a little fire and gets very near it." On our arrival here we found no Indians, it being the season of the year when they were absent on their winter's hunt. The settlers, as well as the officers of the garrison, thought they would not return. We found here two white families, near where the Farnham house stood, one of them Captain Clark, father of Captain Louis Clark, of Buffalo, Scott county, Iowa, the other a discharged soldier by the name of Haney ; Judge Pence at Rock river; and at the rapids, where Rapids City now stands, were John and Thomas Kinney, George Harlan, Conrad Leak and Archibald Allen. This constituted all the white settlement of the main land. North about seventy miles, on the Plumb river, was a family by the name of Davidson ; two miles be- low New Boston was a family by the name of Dennison, and on the lower rapids was old Jim White. At this time they only had an occasional mail here, which was got by sending two soldiers on foot to Galena. Soon after I came, having business at Galena, and the officers of the garrison being anxious to hear who had been elected president, in November, it being now the 20th of December, it was arranged that I should carry the mail to Galena, and bring one in return, for which I was to receive $5.00.
This trip had to be made on foot, as I had sent my team home. So they fitted me out with a knapsack and taking a pair of skates I started on my trip, stop- ping the first night at the head of the rapids. From this point to Mr. Davidson's, the first house, was about fifty miles, and the days being the shortest of the year, it required some energy to reach this house, which would make a good stopping place for the night. In the course of the day I met a large party of Winnebagoes, who were moving and were traveling across my track. I was not then much acquainted with the Indians, and hardly knew what would be the best course to pursue, but concluded it was best to pass right along among them, as though I was not at all disturbed. They gathered around me and all I could understand was that they wanted bread. I was skating along, at that time, on a large pond and the Indian boys followed after me, very much pleased with this, to them, novel way of going. Before reaching Plum river it was dark and as the house I wanted to reach was a mile on the other side, the river must be crossed. I tried the ice and found that it would not bear me, and concluded to camp for the night. It being a prairie and no wood near, I remembered to have seen some driftwood about a half mile back, and returned there to camp for the night.
Now came the feat of making a fire in a dark night. I put my hat on the ground, with the top up, putting some cotton on the hat and sprinkling some
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powder on the cotton; then took my knife and flint and tried to make fire. Not succeeding very well, I poured a little more powder on the cotton; it being very dark and cold, and feeling a little uncertain about my success in making a fire, and knowing the great importance of having a fire in camping in winter, I re- peated the operation two or three times. At last, getting very anxious, I got my face down very near the hat and with my knife and flint succeeded in ignit- ing the powder. I thought at first my eyes were nearly put out, but it being very necessary to save my fire, I succeeded in doing so.
In the morning I followed up the river until I found a place so narrow that I made a crossing. This took me so far out of my way that I did not stop at Mr. Davidson's at all going up. I reached Galena safely, exchanged the mails, trans- acted my other business and about noon, on Christmas day, started on my re- turn. Traveling about twenty miles I came to a wood chopper's camp and stayed all night. The next morning I breakfasted at Mr. Davidson's at Plum river. This was a very excellent family, but I found only Mrs. Davidson at home. After breakfast I asked her how much I owed her-she replied "a quarter." I gave her a half dollar but she could not change it and refused to keep the whole of it. Meeting with her husband in 1832 I told him I was in- debted to him. He said he did not know it. When I related the circumstances he remarked, "You are a pretty honest fellow."
Leaving Plum river I camped two miles or more this side of the Meredosia. All night I could hear the wolves walking about me, and could hear the Indian dogs barking, as there were Indians on an island in the river. The next day I reached the fort at Rock island, delivered the mail, and bringing the news of the election of General Jackson.
In coming into the village when I first came here I noticed a number of poles standing, from twenty to thirty feet high. Some of these poles had branches or limbs left on them, on which were hung small gourds. I have seen, when the Indians returned from their winter hunt, a dead dog tied up to one of these poles, by winding a rope several times around the pole and dog, the head being up. I always supposed this to be a religious ceremony. Every time they succeeded in battle and none of their number was killed, a new pole was erected and upon the pole was hung some of the trophies of the victory, and around it the successful warriors and women danced. But if in the battle they lost any of their number, even if they had killed a great number of the enemy, there was no dancing or any demonstrations of joy.
The first season I lived here, about forty of our Indians swam the Missouri river in the night, broke into an encampment of 100 of the Sioux lodges and killed fifteen of them with their knives, losing two of their own number. On account of their loss there was no dancing or any rejoicing, but when they came home they blackened their faces and mourned the loss of their two braves. The same season three of our Indians, on a scout on the Missouri, discovered an Omaha Indian on the prairie. They told me they got into a low, bushy tree and bleated like a deer, bringing the man near, when they shot and killed him. This Indian had a gun and bridle with him; these, with his scalp, they brought home with them.
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Now was explained to me the use of these poles. A new one was erected and the gun and bridle hung on the pole. They began to dance around it-that is, the three men who killed the Indian and several of the squaws. At these dances none of the men except those who actually participated in the battle danced ; but the young men, gaily painted, stood looking on. One of the squaws carried the scalp on a stick, about four feet above her head. For music they had a drum made by taking out the head of a powder keg and stretching a raw hide over it. Some one of the old men, with one drum-stick, such as is used on a bass-drum, beat with a slow, measured stroke, while several old men, sitting on the ground, accom- panied the drum by singing. This music, in a still night, could be heard three or four miles. The dancers kept up the entertainment for two or three days, until entire exhaustion ensued. At intervals during the rejoicing the music and dancing would stop and a man would step forward-usually an old man- with a tomahawk or some other instrument of war in his hand, and make a little speech, telling of some war exploit, the Indians all responding with a general shout. Then the music and dancing were again resumed. I witnessed this performance several times while the Indians were here.
After coming in the fall of 1828, and making my selection for a farm, I moved from Morgan county, arriving here on the first day of March, 1829. As there was no house to be had the next best chance was a wigwam. We found one on the bluff, near where Henry Case now lives, which we thought we could use until we could build a cabin. This same spring there came Louden Case, Sr., and his three sons-Jonah, Louden and Charles-and settled at the old Case place. Rinnah Wells and his four sons, and Joshua Vandruff and sons settled at Rock river. In January, before, Joel Wells settled near Hampton, and in the spring Joel Wells, Sr., and Levi and Huntington Wells settled at Moline ; Joseph Danforth, a son-in-law of Rinnah Wells, a mile above Moline; and Michael C. Bartlett, son-in-law of Joel Wells, Sr., about where the quilt fac- tory now stands. About the last of May came Mr. Goble and his son Benjamin, settling above Joseph Danforth. William T. Brashar settled on the farm bear- ing his name.
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