The+Rock+Island+Rapids

Original Author: Rich Hendricks Revision Author:  The history of travel up and down the Mississippi River is one that is long and interesting. However, one the most interesting is that the travel was greatly affected by the Rock Island Rapids, which stretched from Davenport, IA to LeClaire, IA. Taming the rapids was key to opening the river for the ease of travel we enjoy today.  Navigation on the River most likely started with the Indians, with the Indians from the village of Cahokia (just east of present day St. Louis). They traded goods and sent settlers as far north as Wisconsin. Than in 1673, French explores, Marquette and Joliet “discovered” the river and found Indian villages dotted its banks. The two explorers were followed in the 18th century by traders, trappers, hunters, explorers, soldiers, and miners. These came and went by flatboat, keelboat, and raft, carrying military supplies, furs, and lead form the mines at Dubuque and Galena. Navigation continued to grow with Independence in 1776, the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and the invention of the stream boat in 1811. However, it was the Rock Island Rapids that stalled river nationalization north of St. Louis (1).  The Rock Island Rapids were typical, with fingers, or chains, of rocks stretching out from each shore. The navigation channel, through these chains, was often narrow; twisting from one shore to the other. Strong currents made travel hazardous for boats coming through the rapids, even during high water. It was so hazardous that many river-men believed, in 1820, that the Rock Island Rapids, along with the Des Molines Rapids, would forever prohibit commercial stream navigation north of Keokuk, Iowa (1). Due to these obstacles on the Mississippi, no steamboat ventured north of St. Louis until 1819, when the Corps of Engineer vessel the “Western Engineer” came upriver as far as the rapids at Keokuk before turning back. Then in 1823, a small steamboat, the “Virginia,” loaded with tourists, Indians, and military supplies, bound for Fort Snelling, Minnesota made the first trip beyond Keokuk (2).  Due to these obstacles, a rather unique occupation developed that of the “Rapids Pilot”. A Rapids Pilot was a steamboat captain that specialized in piloting steamboats through the rapids. If a steamboat was going down river, the captain would stop in LeClaire and hire a pilot to guide the boat through the rapids to Davenport. Then the rapids pilot would get off and wait for a boat that needed a guide back up river to LeClaire (8).  Improvements to the Upper Mississippi did not start until the General Survey Act of 1824 and no actual work was done until 1829. In February and March of 1829 Lieutenant Napoleon Buford surveyed the rapids, and recommended that the Rapids be widened, straightening the natural channel at the chains. Nothing came of Buford’s survey and report. In 1836 Henry Shreve made an unofficial visit to the rapids at the request of the Corps of Engineers to chart a channel through the rapids and plan which edges to cut off to improve the channel. Then in 1837, the Corps of Engineers sent Robert E. Lee (later the confederate General) to improve the St. Louis waterfront. He would work on both the Des Molines and Rock Island rapids. During the summer of 1837, Lee surveyed and drew plans for both. In his report, Lee recommended deepening and straightening the main channel, widening it where necessary, and cutting off projecting points of rock. He estimated the project would cost $154,658 (2-3). No further work was done on the Rock Island Rapids until 1852 when Congress passed the Western Rivers Improvement Act. This authorized $100,000 for improvements on the Rapids. Contract work on the Rock Island Rapids began in August of 1854, where a channel of 100 feet wide and 4 feet deep was cut at Campbell's Chains (3-4).  Serious, sustained work, on the Rapids did not begin until 1866, as the Civil War demonstrated both a military and economic need for good river transportation. Congress authorized the establishment of a permanent Corps of Engineer office in Keokuk (which would later move to the Rock Island Arsenal). More surveys were done to come up with the best possible way to make the rapids safer.  It was later recommended that the existing channel be enlarged to 200 feet wide by 4 feet deep and the project was estimated at just over $800,000 (5). Work would begin at the Duck Creek Chain in the fall of 1867 using excavation by coffer dam, chisel dredging, and submarine blasting (6,8). By 1886 the work was completed: a channel with a minimum width of 200 feet and a minimum depth of 4 feet had been cut. However it was at a much higher cost than expected. The project, which took twenty years, ended up costing $1,166,608. Another river improvement was the removal of the Rock Island Bridge and the construction of the Government Bridge. This was placed at the western tip of Arsenal Island. The new bridge was safer for river traffic and opened in 1872 (8). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The next Rapids improvement came in 1902, when Congress authorized a survey for a lock in Moline, IL, because the 4 foot depth was becoming obsolete. With the passing of the River and Harbor Bill of 1905, $100,000 was appropriated, with the stipulation that the total costs not exceed $286,000. The Moline Lock Project originally called for dredging a channel 250 feet wide, with a 4 foot depth, from Moline to the head of the Rock Island arsenal dike. A similar channel, from Moline to the main channel, by means of a lock at the foot of Benham’s Island was also dredged. This project provided access to Moline and improved 3 miles of the 14 mile Rock Island Rapids (8). Work was completed on the Lock and opened for traffic in 1907; however the Moline Lock had the misfortune to be completed as a long decline in river traffic began (11). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Due to the declining river traffic, congress passed another act on March 2, 1907 authorizing a 6 foot channel from St. Louis to St. Paul. This was needed because the newer boats, mainly barges, needed more depth. The 6 foot channel involved more than just excavating deeper, it would require dredging 2,000 new wing dams, and two new locks, with a total estimated cost of $20,000,000. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The first of the projected locks was part of a private power dam built at Keokuk between 1910 and 1913 by the Keokuk and Hamilton Weather Power Company. The second project was the LeClaire Canal and Lock. Congress authorized the Project on March 5, 1914 and it decided that the canal would be placed on the Iowa side as to not interrupt the channel on the Illinois side during construction. Construction began in 1921 and the LeClaire Lock and Canal opened to traffic in November of 1922 costing $2,040,632 (12). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The final improvement to the Rock Island Rapids was the construction of Lock and Dam 15, which would give the Mississippi River a 9 foot channel. The reason for 9 feet was due to the Federal Government encouragement of the design and building of modern boats, barges and terminals. They found that modern vessels would operate more economically in a deeper channel. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The 1927 River and Harbor Bill authorized a survey of the Mississippi between St. Louis and Minneapolis for a possible 9 foot channel. Three years later, the act of July 3, 1930 authorized the project and appropriated $7,500,000 to begin work. Like similar improvements, the system of 26 locks and dams that created the 9 foot channel was constructed by beginning at locations which provided most serious obstacles to navigation. The first lock and dam in the project was number 15, just upstream from the Government Bridge at the Western tip of the Rock Island Arsenal. Construction started in 1931 at the foot of the Rock Island Rapids and would submerge these rapids a minimum of nine feet all the way to the LeClaire Lock (12). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">A roller gate system was selected as the type of dam to be built in this area. The roller gate design was selected because it permitted the migration of fish, stabilized water levels in the pools above the dams, aerated the water passing under the rollers, and allowed relatively free passage of silt and sewage. It also allowed as much space as possible between piers in the dam to allow the passage of ice and debris (13). Construction began on the two parallel locks, at Dam 15, on April 23, 1931. Less than a year later, the main lock was built (14). The roller dam construction started on February 8, 1932 with the construction of 11 roller gates. The roller dam was completed in May 9, 1934 (14-15). Lock and Dam 15 was opened to traffic in the spring of 1934. The lock was operational by March 15. The total cost of Lock and Dam 15, by its completion in 1934, was about $7,480,000 (15). The entire 9 foot channel project of 26 Locks and Dams was completed in June of 1939, with Lock and Dam 14, adjacent to the LeClaire Lock (15). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The improvements mentioned in this paper have made the Mississippi our nation's major commercial artery for goods traveling both North and South. Without these, we would be far more dependent upon foreign oil and many family farms, as well as industrial commodities, would have no affordable outlet. Also we would not be able to enjoy the ease of recreational travel without these improvements. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Work Cited ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Tweet, Ronald: A History of Navigation Improvement on the Rock Island Rapids. Print. April 1980. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Return to The Rivers <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Return to Home <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Rock Island Rapids **