IOWA HISTORY PROJECT

Capt. Smoker

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST
OF EVENTS IN
MUSCATINE COUNTY
FROM
1834 TO 1909

The steamer Dubuque, {commanded by} Captain Smoker, exploded about seven miles below Bloomington, August 18th, {August 22d,} by which twenty-two lives were lost, all deck passengers. The Dubuque was towed to Bloomington by the steamer Adventure, and seventeen of the dead were buried in one grave in the old cemetery, at the very spot where the school house {Jefferson schoolhouse} in the Third Ward now stands

Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Historical Section, 1879, pages 501-555

FIRST FRAME BUILDING

A terrible accident occurred on the river about seven miles below Bloomington, August 18, 1837. The steamer "Dubuque" exploded its boiler, killing twenty-two persons. Capt. Smoker was in command of the ill-fated craft. Seventeen of the victims were brought to the town and interred where School- house No. 1 now stands. William Gordon performed the sad duties of undertaker on that occasion. The records of the Commissioners' Court show that he was allowed $136, for his services and for the seventeen coffins furnished by him. The remains of the dead were removed when the schoolhouse was erected, and re-interred in the cemetery.

On the 18th day of August, 1837, the steamer Dubuque, Capt. Smoker, exploded about seven miles below Bloomington, by which twenty-two lives, all deck passengers, were lost. The Dubuque was towed to Bloomington by the steamer Adventure, and seventeen of the dead were buried in one grave in the old cemetery, at the very spot, where the schoolhouse in District No. 1 now stands.

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