HERITAGE VIGNETTES by Marilyn A. Bekker

ALONG THE RIVER

Before the construction of the Muscatine High Bridge, ferries provided the means of crossing the river. Probably the first ferry boat at Muscatine was the Polly Keith, a flat boat built in 1839 for Charles Warfield. The craft was in operation one year, 1842, when it was condemned and dismantled. For several years after, Phillips operated a flat boat with oars. It was followed by a flat boat operated by horsepower run by Brooks and Reece. Soon steam propelled ferries were crossing the river, the last of which was the Ida May.
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A tragic steamboat accident occurred on the river about seven miles below Bloomington on August 18, 1837. The steamer, Dubuque, suffered a boiler explosion killing 22 persons. Seventeen of the victims were brought into Muscatine and buried in the City’s cemetery, then located at Seventh and Orange Street. William Gordon performed the duties of undertaker for which he was paid $136 for the 17 coffins furnished by him and her services. The remains of the dead were moved to Greenwood Cemetery when the school house was built on that site at a later date.

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The firm of J. Bennett and Company made the first shipment to St. Louis from the port of Bloomington on the 15th of October of 1842. It consisted of 130 bushels of wheat shipped on the Maid of Iowa, at 8 cents per bushel.. Shipments of produce followed in 1844 and 1845 on the steamers Ohio, New Haven, Lynx, Mermaid, Amarauth, War Eagle, Falcon, Sarah Ann and Jasper. Muscatine began its quest to become an important port city on the Mississippi early in its history.

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March 31, 1864, the “new” Northern Line Steamer, Muscatine, arrived at the levee. She had been delayed 72 hours at the lower rapids by high water. Her arrival was announced by peals from the cannon and answered by a piece on board the boat. Hundreds were on hand to welcome her. On behalf of Muscatine merchants, Henry O’Connor presented her with a beautiful set of flags. She was a magnificent side-wheeler built in wheeling, West Virginia, in 1863. She had staterooms to accommodate 100 passengers and cots for 40 more. At that time she was the best of the Northern Line Company’s packets.

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On November 11, 1892, the end of the river season was approaching. The Silver Crescent was due that evening bound for Burlington and would continue operation until driven out by the weather. The raft boats, Daisy, R.J. Wheeler, Henrietta and B. Hershey had gone into winter quarters at Stillwater, Minnesota. Stillwater East Side Lumber Company had shut down for the season with a record of nearly 20,000,000 feet of lumber sawed. The Hershey Mill had closed, but planned to re-open and run as long as the weather permitted.

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The lack of sufficient levee space at Muscatine caused many problems during the summer of 1901. On one day, there were five steamboats, the steamboat warehouse and the large boathouse where boats stored for rental purposes. The crafts were tied in a space little more than a block long. Muscatine needed two or three times as much space for the daily traffic. Boats unable to unload were compelled to tie up sometimes for several days at a cost of $10 to $20 per day. On August 1 the owner of one boat, not able to unload, asked a boat already tied up to move over. He needed only eight more feet of landing space. The fellow refused and the visiting riverman called for the mayor and the city marshall. Later, the situation became more serious and the W.S. Marshall was telegraphed and was expected to take a hand in settling the argument. There was always something doing along the Muscatine levee.

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Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Nyenhuis, enroute to St. Louis, were passengers on the steamer, Quincy, on June 13, 1913, and thereby became the first Muscatine residents to pass through the new government locks on the Mississippi River at Keokuk. The first boat through the locks was the G.W. Hill, which was followed by the Sidney, both moving upstream. The two boats entered the lock at the same time with the G.W. Hill being allowed to pass first. The power dam had been ready for several days and the locks were formally opened at 9:00 a.m., June 12, 1913. Navigation at that point had been closed since November, 1912.

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In the words of Ellis Parker Butler, “Pigs is Pigs” but for a while on April 5, 1920, one tried to be a fish. The Mississippi River was very high in the spring of 1920. Lee Greenway, who kept 80 head of hogs and other livestock on Geneva Island, hired a barge from Conrad Koehler and built a fence around it. The barge was pushed upstream by Ben Batchelor’s launch about 7:00 p.m. that evening and the men drove the hogs onto the barge, all except the last one, a 500 pound registered boar which jumped into the river. After an unsuccessful search, they returned to the city without it. Early the following morning it was seen swimming downstream and astonished onlookers saw it walk ashore near Bristol’s Fish Market where it was captured.

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Excursion time arrived on May 13, 1920, when the G.W. Hill formally opened the season with a moonlight ride on the Mississippi. The Realto Jazz orchestra supplied the music for dancing. Although the weather was cool, a fairly large number of Muscatine people were aboard. On the following day, the big steamer, St. Paul, made its first and only local appearance of the season. The Metropolitan Jaz-E-Saz band provided the music for the dancers that evening. As the summer progressed, steamboat excursions were events to anticipate. The boats were regularly improved, adding decks for roof gardens, as did the G.W. Hill in 1920, and providing special dance floors.

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