USA > Iowa > Lee County > Story of Lee County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 23
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In the meantime public sentiment with regard to voting subsidies to railroads had undergone a change, and a petition signed by over one-fourth of the legal voters of the county was filed with the county judge, asking for another election to vote on the question of rescinding
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the order for the stock subscription. An election was ordered for the first Monday in April, 1855, but was postponed for a time at the request of the petitioners. The vote on the question of rescinding the issue of stock was 1,553 to 1,521, the proposition to rescind being carried by a bare majority of thirty-two votes.
While this question was pending, the Keokuk, Mount Pleasant & Muscatine Railroad Company had been organized in 1854 to build a road from Keokuk to Muscatine. The citizens of Keokuk voted a bond issue of $100,000 to aid in the construction of this road, and the merchants and shippers of St. Louis raised $52,500 by private subscription, as the road would be of great benefit to their interests by reducing the cost of lighterage around the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi.
The people realized the building of railroads would aid mate- rially in the development of the country, and there was an evident desire on the part of many to encourage their construction. On August 3, 1856, a petition, signed by a large number of Lee County's most prominent citizens, came before Samuel Boyles, then judge of the County Court, asking for a special election to vote on the question of voting aid to the roads. Judge Boyles therefore ordered an elec- tion for Wednesday, September 10, 1856, at which the following questions were to be submitted to the electors :
"I. Shall the county subscribe $150,000 to the capital stock of the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company?
"2. Shall the county subscribe $150,000 to the capital stock of the Keokuk, Mount Pleasant & Muscatine Railroad Company?
"3. Shall the county subscribe $150,000 to the capital stock of the Fort Madison, West Point, Keosauqua & Bloomfield Railroad Company?"
It was also ordered by the court that each proposition should be voted on separately; that no stock was to be subscribed unless each and all propositions received a majority in favor of such subscrip- tions; that the roads should give bonds that the proceeds resulting from the sale of county bonds should be expended within the limits of the county, and that all stock subscribed for under the previous election should be surrendered. The three propositions were carried by majorities of 1,600, 1,652 and 1,602, respectively, and on Jan- uary 1, 1857, the county issued its negotiable bonds in the sum of $450,000, with interest at 8 per cent, payable semi-annually, for the benefit of the railroad companies.
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THE KEOKUK, DES MOINES & MINNESOTA
The survey of this road was made in 1854, under the direction of Col. J. K. Hornish. In the spring of 1855 the company was reorgan- ized as the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company, with Hugh T. Reid, president; C. F. Conn, secretary, and W. C. Graham, treasurer. The City of Des Moines and Polk County gave $100,000 to assist in bringing the road to the capital. A contract for the construction of the road was let to Smith, Leighton & Company in 1855 and grading was commenced. Track laying began in the summer of 1856, and on October 7, 1856, the first train was run from Keokuk to Buena Vista, a distance of about three miles. On June 10, 1857, the first train was run from Keokuk to Farmington. The road was completed to Eddyville in that year, when work ceased until after the Civil war.
On July 10, 1866, J. M. Dixon, editor of the Des Moines Daily Register, announced the fact that the road had finally crossed the Polk County line in the following expressive if not elegant rhyme:
"Sammum Hillum! Something's broke! The cars have got inside of Polk!"
On August 22, 1865, a proclamation was issued that the first train on the Des Moines Valley Railroad would arrive at Des Moines on the 29th. Thus, after eleven years of trial and tribulation, the capital of the state was placed in communication by rail with the Mississippi River at Keokuk. On the first through train there were about one hundred and fifty people from Keokuk, who went to Des Moines to attend the celebration. James Tibbetts, of Keokuk, was on the loco- motive as engineman, and R. Patch, also of Keokuk, was the con- ductor. This road is now a part of the great Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway System.
KEOKUK, MOUNT PLEASANT & MUSCATINE
This was one of the three roads that were aided by stock sub- scriptions on the part of Lee County. In 1855 the stockholders voted to place the construction of the road under the control of Col. J. K. Hornish, an experienced engineer. During the spring and summer of 1856 work was pushed with vigor and the road was finished from Keokuk to Montrose before the winter could interfere with its construction.
While this part of the road was under construction, the people of Fort Madison, through the cooperation of the Fort Madison, West
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Point, Keosauqua & Bloomfield Railroad Company, began the build- ing of a road from that city to a point a little south of what is now the station of Viele, and in 1857 the Keokuk, Mount Pleasant & Muscatine was extended northward from Montrose to Viele, thus establishing railroad communication between Keokuk and Fort Madison. The road then took the name of the Keokuk & St. Paul. The northern terminus of the road was at Fort Madison until 1869, when the line was extended to Burlington.
BURLINGTON & SOUTHWESTERN
About 1868 or 1869 a company was organized at Burlington to build a road westward from Viele to Farmington, Van Buren County. Work was commenced at Viele in the summer of 1870 and the road was completed to Farmington in the spring of 1871. From Viele its trains ran to Burlington over the tracks of the Keokuk & St. Paul Railroad. This road was at first known as the Burlington & South- western and later as the Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City. Subse- quently it was extended to Carrollton, Missouri, and is now the Burlington, Laclede & Carrollton division of the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy System.
THE NARROW-GAUGE
On July 17, 1871, a company was organized at Fort Madison for the purpose of building a narrow-gauge railroad from Fort Madison via West Point, Birmingham, Fairfield and Oskaloosa to Council Bluffs. This road was known as the Fort Madison & Northwestern Narrow-Gauge Railway. Cars began running between Fort Madi- son and West Point early in 1879. The road was then sold to a construction company, which completed it to Collett, forty-five miles from Fort Madison. About 1888 the road again changed hands, the new company taking the name of the Chicago, Fort Madison & Des Moines Railroad Company. The new owners changed the road to a standard gauge and completed it to Ottumwa. It is now the Fort Madison & Ottumwa branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy System, which also operates a line from Keokuk to Mount Pleasant, passing through the central part of Lee County.
ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE
Shortly after the close of the Civil war a line of railroad was built from Topeka westward through Kansas, closely following the
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line of the old Santa Fe Trail. A little later the road was extended eastward to Atchison, Kansas, which city was then a great outfitting point for westward emigration, and a branch was built from Topeka to Kansas City. The road then became known as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. It was not many years until the company announced its intention to extend its line from Kansas City to Chi- cago. When this fact became generally known, several cities on the Mississippi River offered inducements to secure the road. In this contest Fort Madison possessed some decided advantages. In the first place, it was nearly on the "air line" between the two terminal cities, and in addition to this a company of men at Fort Madison held a charter to build a bridge across the Mississippi at that point, which charter they offered to turn over to the railroad.
Work was commenced on the eastern extension in 1886 and on December 7, 1887, the first train crossed the Mississippi River on the new bridge at Fort Madison. Fort Madison was made a division point on the road and the company maintains large shops and yards at that point.
TOLEDO, PEORIA & WESTERN
In 1853 a company called the Logansport, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad Company was organized to build a line of railroad from Hamilton to Carthage, Illinois, which was completed in 1856. Three years later the line was extended southward to Clayton, Illinois. When the railroad and wagon bridge was built across the Mississippi at Keokuk in 1868, that city was made the western terminus of the road, thus giving Keokuk an eastern outlet. Since that time Keokuk has been made the terminal city of a division of the Wabash System, which connects with the main line at Bluffs, Illinois.
Of the $450,000 voted by the people of Lee County in aid of railroads in 1856, one-third was expended by the Keokuk, Mount Pleasant & Muscatine Company in building the road from Keokuk to Montrose; one-third by the Fort Madison, West Point, Keosauqua & Bloomfield Company in building the road from Fort Madison to Viele; and the remaining one-third was used by the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company in the construction of its line from Keokuk to Bentonsport.
According to the county auditor's report for the year 1913, Lee County then had 159.64 miles of railroad, the estimated actual value of which was $6,420,420, but which was assessed for taxation at $1,605, 105.
Vol. I-16
1
CHAPTER XV THE KEOKUK DAM
EARLY VIEWS CONCERNING THE DES MOINES RAPIDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI -ROBERT E. LEE'S REPORT-COMPANIES ORGANIZED TO DEVELOP WATER POWER-JOSEPH SMITH'S FRANCHISE-GATES' WING DAM -OLD GOVERNMENT CANAL-KEOKUK AND HAMILTON WATER POWER COMPANY-HUGH L. COOPER-HOW THE DAM WAS BUILT- FORMAL DEDICATION-LAKE COOPER-HISTORIC OBJECTS SUB- MERGED.
One of the greatest engineering feats of modern times was the con- struction of a great dam across the Mississippi River at the foot of the Des Moines Rapids, in front of the City of Keokuk. Soon after the first white men settled in Southeastern Iowa, the subject of utiliz- ing the rapids for the development of water power began to be dis- cussed. While Lieut. Robert E. Lee was stationed at old Fort Des Moines he made a report to the war department, in which he sug- gested the possibility of turning the immense energy of the rapids to some account for the advancement of civilization, and at the same time improving the navigation of the Mississippi. No action was taken by the Government at the time, but in the light of subsequent developments it reads almost like a prophecy.
People who understood nothing of the practical side of engineer- ing could not recognize that such a thing was possible as the harness- ing of the rapids and the development of water power for the use of man. The few who did understand realized that the undertaking was hardly practicable then, because the population of the Mississippi Valley was too sparse to justify the vast expenditure of labor and capital to carry it out. Nevertheless, these few were not willing to abandon the idea altogether and in 1836, while lowa was still a part of Wisconsin Territory, a company of local men and New York financiers was organized to consider the feasibility of developing a water power from the rapids.
The first actual effort to utilize the force of the rapids for indus- trial purposes was made in 1842, when a man named Gates con-
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structed a wing dam and erected a grist mill on Waggoner's Point, on the Illinois side of the river, a short distance above the eastern terminus of the present dam. A great ice jam carried away Mr. Gates' wing dam, but with a persistence worthy of emulation he con- structed another and continued to operate his mill with power fur- nished by the Mississippi. Both his dams were very small and utilized but a very small portion of the power that could have been, and has been since generated.
In 1843 Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet of Nauvoo, Illinois, had the council of that municipality pass an ordinance giving him a franchise to build a dam from the Nauvoo shore to an island in the river to generate power. But before his project could be carried out Smith met his death while a prisoner in Carthage jail and the Mor- mons left for Utah.
Five years after Smith's franchise was granted the people of Keokuk became interested in the subject and some of the leading citizens of that city organized a company to develop the power. Although the efforts of that company resulted in nothing toward the actual building of a dam, the public became inoculated with the germ and from that time there have always been a few optimistic individuals ready to predict that some time, in some way, the power of the rapids would be brought under control and rendered available for industrial purposes. Another company was organized in 1865 and kept up the hammering process, trying to interest capitalists, never for a moment doubting that some day their dream would become a reality.
In 1868 the United States Government began the construction of a canal along the Iowa shore through the rapids, for the purpose of improving the navigation of the river. It was completed and opened for boats in 1877. In this canal there were three locks-the upper one at Galland, the middle lock, near Sandusky, and the lower lock, at the foot of the rapids. The cost of the canal was $4,500,000 and about three millions more were expended on the dry dock and appur- tenances.
Although the Government work was not intended to develop the water power of the rapids, it served as a stimulus to interested parties to take some definite action toward that end. Consequently, in 1871, while the Government canal was under construction, two Keokuk men employed an engineer to make a survey for a dam at their own personal expense. Their idea was to construct a large wing dam, but the proposition did not meet with the approval of the engineer, who advised them that such an undertaking would be likely to prove
Photo by Anschutz
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF POWER HOUSE AND GOVERNMENT LOCK, KEOKUK
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BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE DAM AT KEOKUK
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unprofitable. The press took up the subject at that time, however, and awakened general interest in the subject.
In 1893 came the first suggestion that electricity might be used to transmit the power generated by water wheels, but the electric motor was then in an embryonic state, and until the motor was brought to a higher state of perfection its use was not to be considered. Thus matters stood until July, 1899, when C. P. Birge called a meeting of some twenty-five citizens of Keokuk and Hamilton, Illinois-just across the river from Keokuk-to make one more effort to bring about the construction of a dam. This meeting was really the begin- ning of the Mississippi River Power Company. In April, 1900, the Keokuk & Hamilton Power Company was incorporated under the laws of Illinois with A. E. Johnstone, president; William Logan and C. P. Dadant, vice president ; R. R. Wallace, secretary and treasurer ; Wells M. Irwin and D. J. Ayers, of Keokuk, and S. R. Parker, of Hamilton, directors.
This company obtained a charter from the Federal Government in February, 1901, for the construction of a wing dam on the Illinois side, and Lyman E. Cooley, a hydraulic engineer of Chicago, was employed to make the survey and specifications. Mr. Cooley pro- nounced a wing dam impracticable and the company was forced to abandon its original intention.
In April, 1904, Congressman B. F. Marsh introduced a bill to grant the Keokuk & Hamilton Water Power Company the right to build a dam across the Mississippi River at the foot of the rapids. The bill passed both houses of Congress at the next session and was approved by the President on February 9, 1905. In April, 1905, the stock and franchise of the company was assigned to and vested in a committee consisting of John H. Irwin, A. E. Johnstone, William Logan and C. P. Dadant, with full power to make contracts and transact all other business pertaining to the dam project. Concerning this company and its committee, one of the Keokuk papers said :
"It must not be forgotten for a moment that this corporation was a quasi-public, quasi-governmental corporation, outside of, and yet a part of the political organization of the State of Iowa, as is the public school system for instance. Its stationery should have borne the subtitle, 'The Public, Incorporated.' While it had a trifle of $2,500 of paid up capital, it handled many times that amount of money as a public trust, a considerable amount coming to its treasurer from the municipal treasuries of Keokuk and Hamilton. There was never in the history of the world anything like that water power
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promoting corporation. It was frankly organized for promotion pur- poses, as the representative of the citizenship hereabouts.
"It operated practically by unanimous consent. Its officers were men of the two cities possessing the full confidence of the masses of the people. It did things to the municipalities that have never been paralleled and that are among the highest triumphs of a domi- nant democracy. It said it needed money at one time to pay for sur- veys and other legitimate promotion work-and the city councils of Keokuk and Hamilton promptly voted it an appropriation of public money. Of course this was widely extra-legal ; far from any conceal- ment, the greatest publicity was given to the intended action before it was taken; every citizen suspected of opposition was asked person- ally, and by newspaper notice everybody else was practically invited to stop the action, if they chose, by a very simple injunctive process. Not a man could be found in the two towns who had any objection. Every citizen considered it his own movement, this water power development movement. It was a movement of the entire mass acting as a unit."
The Keokuk & Hamilton Water Power Company, through its committee, prepared a circular pamphlet or prospectus giving some data concerning the Mississippi River at the rapids and a statement of their aims and needs, chief of which was the capital to build a dam and a competent engineer to take charge of the undertaking. One of these pamphlets fell into the hands of Hugh L. Cooper, an engineer who had already made a world-wide reputation by his achievements in Jamaica, Brazil, at Niagara Falls and McCall's Ferry, Pennsylvania. Mr. Cooper came to Keokuk, looked over the field, and started out in quest of the necessary capital. He exhausted his private means, and when it looked as though failure was inevitable Stone & Webster, of Boston, came to the rescue with a proposition to finance the undertaking. Of the capital stock, 35 per cent of it was raised or subscribed in the United States and the remaining 65 per cent came from foreign countries, England, France, Germany, Bel- gium and Canada being the principal contributors toward the con- summation of a project that had been hoped for for more than half a century.
On September 15, 1905, the committee in charge of the affairs of the Keokuk & Hamilton Water Power Company entered into a con- tract with Mr. Cooper, by which the stock and franchise of the com- pany were turned over to his syndicate, on the condition that the dam and power plant were to be completed by February 10, 1915.
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A survey of the site of the proposed dam and its environments disclosed the fact that many acres of the low lying lands above the dam would be overflowed by its construction. As rapidly as possible the representatives of the company visited the owners of these lands for the purpose of purchasing overflow rights, and in some instances the lands were bought outright. Altogether, about thirteen hundred land owners were dealt with in this way, and it is worthy of comment that every one surrendered his land or the right to overflow it without law suits or other vexatious delays, something unusual where a great corporation desires private property for some gigantic enterprise. Fourteen miles of the tracks of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, that formerly ran close to the old river bank, were raised above the new water level, and this also was accomplished without litigation. At Montrose it was necessary to remove a cemetery and the company had to buy a portion of that town, as well as considerable property at Sandusky and Galland. At Fort Madison it was dis- covered that the back-water from the dam would affect the sewer system and considerable work was done to overcome this difficulty. Yet all these obstacles were overcome without serious delays, because everybody believed in the dam and everybody wanted to see it built.
In addition to the acquisition of lands or overflow rights and the changes in the towns above mentioned, the war department imposed several conditions to which the plans must conform. Every detail of the construction work had to be submitted to the secretary of war and receive his indorsement, really through the chief of engineers of the army. The building of the dam made the old Government canal an obsolete institution. The company was there- fore required to build a lock and dry dock and provide means for their perpetual operation. Upon the completion of the lock and dry dock, they were to become the property of the United States without cost to the Government. Major Keller, who was in charge for the Government, afterward stated that the company not only complied with all the conditions imposed by the war department, but also did a number of things not included in the conditions, the cost of which he estimated at $200,000.
As soon as all these preliminary arrangements could be com- pleted, work was commenced on the dam itself. To describe all the details of that work, such as the building of the huge cofferdam to keep out the water, the excavating into the bed rock for an anchorage for the concrete work, the conflicts with storms and floods to protect the dam during the process of construction, would require a volume.
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And while it might prove interesting to the reader, it is not con- sidered necessary to give such an account here.
The length of the dam, including the abutments at each end, is 4,649 feet, or nearly nine-tenths of a mile. At the base it is forty- two feet in thickness and at the top, twenty-nine feet. It is composed of 119 arched spans, so molded together that it is virtually one solid piece of concrete, which extends downward about five feet into the bedrock, to which it is securely anchored. Each of the 119 arches is provided with a gate of steel truss framework faced with a sheet of the same metal. These gates can be raised or lowered and thus keep the water above the dam at a fixed and uniform level. In times of very high water they are all left open; in stages of unusually low water all can be kept closed. By this system a constant stage of water is maintained above the dam and the pressure against the whole structure regulated.
The power house is 1,718 feet long, 132 feet 10 inches wide, and 177 feet 6 inches high, measuring from the lowest point in the tail race to the roof. The foundation begins in the bedrock, about twenty-five feet below the natural bottom of the river, for the pur- pose of gaining more fall. The substructure is one solid mass of con- crete, cast in forms so as to form the necessary passages and chambers through which passes the water that moves the great turbines. Rein- forced concrete was used in building the walls of the superstructure, or power house proper, in which are the generators, etc.
Between the power house and the Iowa shore is the lock, which is I10 feet wide, 400 feet long, with a lift of 40 feet. The walls of this lock are 52 feet high and vary in thickness from 8 to 33 feet. Directly north of the lock and next to the Iowa shore is the dry dock, 150 by 463 feet.
On the last day of May, 1913, the last concrete in the dam was placed in position. As soon as it set the water above was gradually raised and flowed through the spillways for the first time on June 3, 1913. Nine days later the lock was put into commission by the pas- sage at one time of two of the largest steamboats on the Upper Mississippi. On July 1, 1913, electric current was delivered to St. Louis. The great power plant was in operation and the dream of years had become a reality. A formal celebration of the great achievement was held at Keokuk on August 25, 26, 27 and 28, 1913, the second day of the proceedings being the day when the great dam was dedicated to the use of mankind. Governor Clarke, of Iowa, and Governor Dunne, of Illinois, were prominent participants in the exercises, and thousands of visitors came to visit and inspect the work.
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