USA > Iowa > Clinton County > The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its. > Part 81
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In 1864-65, the development of soft-coal mines near the river, led to that fuel displacing wood, to the great advantage of steamboat men. For about ten years, 1863 to 1873, steamboat business was very profitable, and for a number of years after building the bridge at Clinton, the city was a great transfer point, being virtually the funnel through which flowed river and rail freight converging for re-shipment. But the multiplication of north and south Towa railways, and the construction of numerous bridges, has greatly dimin- ished that traffic. The river has been of great service to both Clinton and Lyons, as well as the back country, in providing cheap fuel, wood and coal being brought by barges at minimum cost. Discriminating railway tariffs, obliging shippers to send grain through to Chicago, have prevented the devel- opment of the warehouse and elevator business that was fondly hoped for in the early days before the practical omnipotence of railroads was demonstrated.
RAILROADS VS. RIVERS.
The records kept by bridges across the Mississippi, of the steamboats and barges passing up and down through them, show that the tonnage of the river's through traffic is materially diminishing each successive year, and gradually seeking the railroads. If the same decline continues for the next decade that has existed for the past one. the remuneration for river transportation compan- ies will produce small profits for those engaged in the business. The navigable season is growing shorter year by year. The brief space of time between the
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
opening and closing of navigation on the Upper Mississippi, at a season of the year when but a small portion of the cereals of the Northwest are seeking a market, seriously impairs its usefulness for carrying purposes. Before the advent of the immense net-work of railroads that now invade every productive portion of the Western States and Territories, it was customary to haul the products from great distances in the interior to the river towns, store them and await the opening of navigation ; but the railroads have revolutionized this custom, and the products that formerly sought the river towns for re-shipment, now pass through on the great trunk lines leading to Chicago. The uncertain stages of water in the river destroy the confidence in shipping, and persons desiring to ship ordinary classes of products prefer the rail lines that run almost parallel with it from St. Paul to St. Louis, at even greater rates than could be secured by the water route. The volume of water in the river is gradually growing less, and various causes are assigned for it. We do not know that any scientific investigation has ever been had as to the real cause, but innumerable theories are set forth. Among them we present the following as having come to our knowledge : The settlement of the country and breaking-up of the land adjacent to the great river and its tributaries, causing the heavy rain-falls, that formerly augmented these streams, to soak into the ground, is assigned by some as the cause. By others, it is claimed that the fall of snow is diminishing in the upper country, and the cutting of such immense quantities of the pine forests causes the actual snow-fall to melt very rapidly in the spring, and pass away with such rapidity as to make the volume of water reaching the Mississippi of such brief benefit, and to recede so quickly, as to make its results less apparent than in former years. These and many other various reasons are put forth for the low water, but all concede the great points, viz. : that the volume of water in the river is gradually diminishing ; that navigation is becoming more difficult and expensive, and that the business seeking the river is, year after year, falling off, while the railroad tonnage is rapidly increasing. As to the benefit to the navi- gation of the river by the improvement of the Rock Island and Keokuk Rapids, there are conflicting opinions, and the question admits of many views, from diverse standpoints. Looking at it practically, and in the light of the last ten years' experience, it can hardly be claimed that the benefit from this improve- ment has been commensurate with the expenditure upon it.
Nature has decreed that the river will ever stand as a monitor and regulator of rates of transhipment from the interior States to the seaboard, and as an invincible champion of the millions of people on its banks against any future extortions by all-rail routes, and viewed from this light, the improvements have been, and will continue to be, of great value. The reasons for the great decline in the river business are obvious. First, the change in the mode and manner of doing produce business requires it to be done in the shortest possible time; and the railroads, crossing the river at all important points, penetrate the country where the bulk of grain is raised, gather it up in car-loads, and when once in the train, consume no more time in reaching the market at Chicago, than it would by stopping for re-shipment at the river crossing ; and while Chicago is a market at all times of the year, having unequaled facilities to handle it expeditiously, there is no town on the Mississippi River possessing . these advantages. They can only take what is required for home consumption.
All towns and cities on the upper river may be compared to mere way-stations on the rail and water routes, Chicago, the great entrepot of the West, being a tranship- ping point for all Western products, and a market that can be relied on, quickly reached, and making rapid returns to the provincial grain-dealer, enabling hime
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
to do a heavy business on a small capital. No such facilities are offered by any other point on the river route. Returns are naturally so slow, and a market 80 uncertain by river lines, consequently making a heavy capital necessary. that they are being practically abandoned, and almost the entire product of the West is seeking the all-rail routes to the seaboard. Notwithstanding the facts and observations herein set forth, we must not lose sight of the item of the enormous lumber business done on the Mississippi River, which amounts alone, in 1879, to 1,350,000,000 feet, making this grand stream of incalculable value as a means for the transportation and distribution of this business; and in point of value, its greatest benefits to the people at the present time are in this direction.
The following table gives the number of boats passing Clinton Bridge in both directions. The figures are suggestive :
YEAR.
BOATS.
BARGES.
YEAR.
BOATE.
1865
1,049
514
1872
.1,614
1866
865
697
1873
.2,035
393
1867.
726
391
1874.
.2,405
641
1868
1,252
321
1875
.2,461
736
1869
1,058
540
1876
.2,986
991
1870.
1,508
439
1877
.2,763
617
1871
1,334
540
1878
1,950
913
The large increase from 1867 to 1878 indicates not so much the growth of river through traffic, as the development of the "tow" method of bringing down rafts, and the number of trips made by the raft steamers.
The following table of the first and last boats each year to pass the Clinton Bridge, affords a record of the virtual opening and closing of navigation :
YEAR.
FIRST BOAT.
LAST BOAT.
1865
Benton.
March 20 Flora
.Dec.
I
1866
Means
March 31 Lyons City
.Dec.
9
1867
Savanna
April
7 Imperial
.Nov.
1868
Iowa City
March 19|Lone Star.
Dec.
7
1869
I. C. Gault
March 30 I. C. Gault.
Nov.
30
1870
I. C. Gault
. March 29 Lyons City
.Dec.
16
1871
Lyons City
March 9 Minnie Wells
Nov.
22
1872
Clyde
March 31 C. Lamb
.Nov.
20
1873
Tidal Wave.
March 27 Lyons City
.Nov.
19
1874
Emma
. March 18'Lafe Lamb
Nov.
19
1875
D. A. McDonald.
April
5 Savanna
Nov.
1876
Augusta.
Jan.
2 Lyons City
.Nov.
28
1877
Lyons City
Feb.
28 Emma
Dec.
20
1878
D. A. McDonald
Feb.
25 Park Painter
Dec.
1879
Niota Belle.
March 14
During nearly all of the winter of 1877-78, steamers could have run above this point without being impeded by ice.
The first company organized by a consolidation of various independent owners, was the Galena, Dubuque & Minnesota Packet Company. The Itasca, War Eagle, Alhambra, Galena and Northern Light, are well remem- bered as old favorites.
In 1858, the Northern Line was organized and for many years ran power- ful packets between St. Louis and St. Paul. The Pembina, Minnesota, and, and their consorts, for several years offered safe and convenient transit to points above and below.
In 1867, the "White Collar Line," so named from a white band about the smoke-stacks, extended their trips southward to St. Louis.
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In 1873 another consolidation resulted in the establishment of the Keokuk Northern Line, which has, notwithstanding severe losses by fire and ice in Alton slough and at the St. Louis levee, as well as from low water delays, bravely maintained river travel and greatly increased the comfort of travelers, especially by abolishing the bars on the boats. Commodore W. F. Davidson con- trols the line, which is represented at Clinton by F. A. Seavey, who occupies the Bucher warehouse. The present fleet numbers from nine to twelve steamers, both side and stern wheel, ranging in carrying capacity from five hundred to one thousand tons. With an increasing summer pleasure travel stimulated by the opening of new Northern resorts and epidemics in the South, passenger traffic bids fair to develop to an extent that will make the river men as sanguine and prosperous as ever. The use of the river for cheap excursions has afforded wholesome recreation to thousands of persons in Clinton County dur- ing the past twenty years. To many they are the only available opportunity for an "outing.'
In 1867, the "Diamond Jo" Line was established, plying between Fulton and St. Paul, and affording a competing route northward for Clinton and Lyons. In 1877, the line was extended southward to Burlington, and during the present year to St. Louis. The line comprises seven large boats, Joseph Reynolds, of Winona, its owner and manager, believing that stern-wheelers are more profitable than side-wheel boats, especially in consideration of frequent seasons of low water and the fact that the debris from saw-mills in Minnesota, is perceptibly increasing the number and height of the bars in the upper river. Col. I. G. Magill is the Clinton manager of the line's business, occupying two warehouses, one constructed during the past year upon a massive artificial levee of stone. G. W. Brayton & Son are the Lyons agents for both lines.
THE ENVOY.
In the palmy old days of steamboating, before railway competition began to be felt, and while river communication was considered to be the main factor in building future trading entrepots, the boats did not (as since) run in regular lines, but each was a rival of all others. Many were the ludicrous incidents of such a " cut-throat," Ishmaelitish competition. The business was almost as uncertain as placer mining. Sometimes a boat cleared an almost fabulous percentage of her value, and sometimes her roaring furnaces and big pay-roll ate up the receipts and surplus as well. As debts held against the boat, Captains were sometimes put to singular shifts to avoid being tied up by officers of the law on collecting bent.
Probably one of the most reckless of those captains who used to exercise their ingenuity in running the blockade was N. C. Roe, who, during 1855-56, ran the steamer Envoy, a trim, swift boat, which he purchased of the Nugents, of Lyons, when she did not owe a dollar on the river, and succeeded in running her in debt to the amount of about $50,000, thereby, of course, making her too expensive a luxury for any one to undertake to run. Frequently did R. pre- sage the tactics of the railroad kings of New York during the great Erie imbroglio, by-in order to have reliable, legal advice at hand when suddenly wanted-navigating the river with a shrewd lawyer retained on board to secure the boat's release if levied upon by legal minions. Roe had notbing of the river swagger about his style. " He was the mildest-mannered man that ever scuttled a ship," by loading her with claims.
The adventures and escapades of the Envoy, while under the command of. this aquatic " Ancient Pistol "-in that he believed "Base is the slave that
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
pays "-should be chronicled by a pen no less vivacious than Mark Twain's, in " Old Times on the Mississippi," and they would afford material for a burlesque as absurdly funny, in regard to steamboating, as is " Pinafore " on the Royal Navy. Once, the Envoy lay at the Lyons levee to take on a Masonic excur- sion to Dubuque. The boat was crowded, but, when just about to cast off, a legal officer remorselessly tied her up, affixing a strong hawser to a stout post on the levee. But, acting on legal advice, Capt. Estabrook, who was then run- ning as mate, emulating " Old Hickory " at New Orleans, took the responsi- bility ; gradually paying out cable, he let the boat drift down stream till close on the ferry-boat, and at the same time swung her head out into the stream ; then the engines were started under a full head of steam, the wheel swiftly revolved and the craft dashed off toward the channel, the deck hands simul- taneously paying out cable as rapidly as possible. By the time it stretched and tightened, the boat was well out in the stream, and under tremendous head- way. As the rope drew taut an effort was made to make it more secure on shore just as a sudden jerk brought up the steamer, so suddenly that she eureened as if about to capsize. The passengers rushed to the other side, and R., for once, cursed the men and the levee loudly and compendiously, as the irresistible momentum of the boat, drawing on the rigid rope, tore the post from the ground with such force that it gyrated into the river, and was hauled on board as a trophy. After several lurches, as the crowd on deck rushed from one side of the boat to the other, she finally straightened up for Dubuque, where new trials awaited the "gallant captain." Officers of that city, with liens on the boat, boarded her, and, thinking to make sure work of the slippery skipper, removed the piston-heads from the engine. But they grievously under- estimated the resources of the irrepressible company of the Envoy. Upon finding that so doing would be strictly " legal," the Captain had his carpenters construct temporary piston-heads of stout oak, the engineers, as the hour for departure approached, quietly got up steam, and, when all were ready, the lines were quickly cast off, the bells jingled, and before the eyes of the astonished Dubuque officials, the crippled craft, as if by magic, floated out into the broad stream, majestically rounded to, and, with bands playing and whistles screaming in derisive triumph, aided by the powerful current, vanished toward Lyons and Clinton, where the excursionists were safely landed. That trip will always be memorable to many old residents of the three " cluster cities " who participated.
But, at Lyons, the Captain was cited to appear before Justice , to answer for resisting an officer. But as it was proved that he had stood pas- sively on the hurricane deck, and Estabrook, in his frank, bluff way, and with resounding expletives, shouldered the entire responsibility, stating that "it was time to start, and he didn't know of any reason for delaying," and as E. S. Hart was the counsel for the defense it is needless to say that no cause of action was found.
The goings and comings of the Envoy were often as mysterious and uncer- tain as those of the legendary "Flying Dutchman." Indeed she was on the river the counterpart of the sailor's terror upon the ocean, only she was the terror of wood-yards and other depots of boat supplies. Sometimes she would land at a dozen wood-yards before she succeeded in finding one where the pro- prietors were away. Then all hands would pile up the Envoy's hold and guards till she looked like a floating wood-pile, and, leaving a card acknowledging receipt of blank cords of wood, the bristling craft would clatter away. Sometimes she would put off up stream in the evening in gallant style, blazing with lights, and, presently, with glims doused and exhausts hushed, would glide like a phantom
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
down the channel on the opposite side, and, perhaps, next be heard of on the Ohio or Red River,
THE DUBUQUE MELEE.
Difficulties between insubordinate "roosters" and bullying mates and between the officers collecting fares and ruffianly deck passengers were inevit- able. But owing to " nerve" and moral force, the authority of the boat offi- cers was always maintained till the bloody riot on the Northern Line steamer Dubuque, on July 29, 1869, memorable as the most murderous melee that ever occurred on the river in time of peace. The boat was bound for St. Paul. At Quincy and Davenport, several hundred rough, turbulent deck passengers swarmed on board, reckless with natural pugnacity and drink. Many had liberal supplies of liquor with them. There was a full complement of cabin passengers, including ladies, but, as the raftsmen and harvesters remained below, quiet prevailed till the boat was nearing Hampton, when the clerk went below to collect fare, leaving a negro deck-hand to guard the stairway. A fight took place between the sentinel and a rough who was whipped by the African. That trivial fracas proved to be but the prelude to a tragedy. Inflamed by alcohol, the mob of deck passengers espoused their comrade's quarrel, and demanded that Capt. Rhodes put his colored crew ashore. His scornful refusal of the mutineers' demand was the signal for a scene of riot and massacre. In a few minutes, the steamer's decks presented a spectacle more like those of a vessel boarded by Algerine or Malay pirates than of a peaceful craft in American inland water. The steamboat men, except the pilots, being without available weapons, and the mob armed with knives, clubs and lumps of coal, the conflict was too unequal. After a brief resistance, the crew was overpowered, and the steamer, from hold to hurricane deck, pervaded by a howling, blaspheming, bloodthirsty crowd of rioters, who surged through the cabins and swarmned over the decks in pursuit of the hated negroes, who were shot, stabbed, trampled, clubbed, thrown or chased overboard and then pelted with missiles till not one was visible on board, those who had not been dispatched being hidden in the hold or ladies' staterooms, or protected by the armed and resolute pilots in the wheel-house. The officers were powerless to protect the crew and were fully employed in protecting passengers from insult and injury from whisky-crazed desperadoes. Capt. Rhodes' family were on board and his apprehensions for their safety may have paralyzed him as an official.
At Hampton, Col. S. G. Magill, who happened to be there, and Capt. Rhodes, telegraphed to Clinton and Rock Island. Accordingly, on the boat arriving at Clinton it was met by a detachment of police from Rock Island, in addition to the Clinton Marshal with a large posse, backed by several hundred well-armed citizens. With the exception of several of the ringleaders, who had escaped at Camanche, one of whom was afterward secured by officer Tompkins, of Clin- ton, the mob was arrested and the leading spirits put in irons. Six of the dead were identified by name, but the total number of killed was, probably, never accurately ascertained. Nothing of the kind has since happened on the boats, and the license that returning raftsmen and harvesters had previously sometimes usurped has been rigorously prevented.
The first Lyons warehouse was built by "Old Dad" Fisher, about 1840. It was built of stone, and owing to some controversy with the city as to loca- tion, its construction was authorized by special act of the Legislature.
The first Clinton forwarders were Messrs. Lamb & Low. Guiton & Peabody, J. C. Bucher and the Flournoys, were also prominently identified with the river trade, as has been Col. Magill, in both Clinton and Lyons for many years.
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
It is claimed by experienced river men that the annual June rise comes, on the average, earlier, thereby abridging the season for satisfactory navigation. However, there appears to be a seven years cycle of high and low water. which, it is claimed, coincides with magnetic and sun-spot variations.
1 EARLY STATISTICS.
In 1850, the population of Clinton County was 1,822. In 1854, the cen- sus showed that it had been swollen to 7,200, an increase of 4,376, or 1,094 a year. The increase was mainly during the last two years of the interval, owing to the expectation of a railroad soon traversing the county, stimulating local immigration. The total number of males were 3,795; of females, 3,390. The voters numbered 1,320, the aliens 706. Of able-bodied men liable for militia duty, 840 were enrolled. These figures are suggestive as to the subse- quent development of the community. There was no such disparity between the number of men and women as there was too frequently in comparatively new commonwealths. It is evident that the majority of settlers were substan- tial men, who had brought their families with them and intended to stay. The rapid progress that Clinton County has made in culture and refinement, should be justly attributed to the character no less than the number of the matrons and maids, whose beneficial influence was so promptly and strongly manifested as a social factor. That the aliens numbered about 10 per cent of the popula- tion, was of itself a sufficient reason why the sentiment of Know-Nothingism never obtruded into Clinton County politics or neighborhoods. By association with those of other nationalities who located near them, prejudices were oblit- erated, and within her borders Saxon, Teuton, Celt and Norseman have ever dwelt in fraternity.
The population of the several townships was as follows: Lyons, 1,148; Camanche, 1,275 ; De Witt. 981; Elk River, 722; Center, 516; Waterford, 348; Liberty, 321; Bloomfield, 776; Olive, 289; Sharon, 270; Orange, 140; Deep Creek, 211; Spring Rock, 203. The respective villages numbered : Camanche, 569; Lyons, 513, having doubled in eight months, and De Witt. 243. There were in the county 15 colored persons, all at Camanche.
SANITARY.
The sanitary condition of all the cities and towns in Clinton County has been, since their foundation, remarkably good. Hitherto, no epidemic has been able to obtain a foothold within the county's borders; neither those likely to be imported, such as small-pox, cholera or yellow fever, or those usually ger- minated on the spot where they break out, such as typhus or typhoid fevers or ague. This favorable health record is due to several causes. The intensely cold winters generally prevent disease germs or morbific conditions from so accumulating as to threaten the public health. The drainage of the county is 80 good that, except in a few isolated districts, the first settlers have not had to combat that sallow enemy of the pioneers to such an extent as in States further east and south-the "shakes." But it is probable that the greatest causes of the satisfactory exhibit of the vital statistics of Clinton County are the prosperity and intelligence of the people. Their prosperity had provided them with abundant supplies of excellent food, which has been shown by the best authori- ties to be one of the most potent conservators of vitality. Their intelligence prevented their falling, even when the country was new, into the shiftless habits so characteristic of the latitudes but little further south, and also quickened their individual wants and social aspirations.' All this had a most beneficial
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
effect, nothing being more clearly proven than that mental activity conduces to health. Open spaces and ample room, thereby preventing the worst cause of filth and disease in cities-overcrowding-energetic health officers, and the introduction of water-works, have had their beneficial effects upon the health reports of the largest towns. Though twice since the county has been devel- oped, cholera in a malignant form has appeared on the Upper Mississippi; it has, though located directly in the natural course of the scourge, not been able to secure more than casual victims who had directly or indirectly communicated with infected steamboats. In 1854, several persons who had been landed from steamboats while sick, died of cholera at Lyons, causing considerable indigna- tion and excitement, but no panic.
In 1866, in Clinton, occurred an outbreak of cholera that did create a panic, and would have been serious had it not been for the generally favorable hygienic condition of the locality, though the houses where the pest unmasked its terrors were in a condition almost as bad as some quarters of London at the time of the great plague. The disease broke out on the north side of the east- ern end of Fourth avenue, causing a dozen deaths before vigorous measures stayed its progress. In 1873, though the same malady terribly ravaged the lower portion of Davenport, it obtained no foothold in Clinton County.
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