HERITAGE VIGNETTES by Marilyn A. Bekker

WEATHER

Muscatine claims the oldest and most extensive weather records in the State of Iowa. For 21 years, from 1838-1860, these records were kept by T.S. Parvin and included barometric and temperature reading, the time and the day. A record of rainfall of 10.7 inches was recorded in one day, August 10, 1851. Parvin became secretary to the governor and when he left the City he passed the record keeping to Rev. John Ufford, pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church, who kept them until he left to fight in the Civil War. He, in turn, gave them to Josiah P. Walton, who kept the records until his death in 1889. His wife then took over and continued the weather records until her death, August 27, 1907.

*****

On Saturday night, August 10, 1851, a flooding of Papoose creek destroyed life and property. A Mrs. Lafferty and three of her children were drowned while attempting to escape from their home between Sixth and Seventy Streets. A house and three bridges were destroyed and much property damaged by the flood waters which inundated the area. The bridges on Cedar, Third and Second Streets were swept away and two giant sycamore trees of a least 100’s growth were uprooted and carried away. The damage done to Public Works alone was estimated at $10,000.

*****

In 1883, a heavy late winter rainstorm raised Mad Creek so high that the water tore away the Second Street wagon bridge and the railroad bridge on the western branch. Over a half-million feet of lumber, belonging to the Muscatine Lumber Company, was swept out of the yard and carried in huge, unbroken piles under Front Street bridge. The ice stopped the lumber and it was piled out upon it several hundred feet from shore. A large gang of men and teams were set to work to bring it ashore and all that could be rescued was landed before the ice broke up.

*****

There seemed to be no end of wolves seen within the city during the winter of 1863-64. Either the species had multiplied or the severity of the winter had driven them to desperate searches for food. On the morning of February 19, General J.G. Gordon found one in his front yard. Two local nimrods were summoned and arrived armed with double barrel fowling pieces. They advance, drew a bead, pulled both barrels of both pieces. The wolf was next seen trotting over the bluff. Apparently not frightened by the experience, it returned the following day and was seen to go under a porch on Linn Street, evidently determined to become civilized. However, the report is that is was “severely killed” by Mr. Bartholemew in the afternoon “while reposing in his fancied security”.

*****

Passengers on the Wilton “Plug” were marooned over six hours in a huge snow drift about one-half mile north of Summit on March 16, 1923. After being dug out by a section crew from Wilton, the train continued on to Wilton and then returned to Muscatine, covering the 26 mile rip in about 11-1/2 hours. Most of the passengers who had left Muscatine at 6:45 a.m. had eaten no breakfast, planning on that meal at Wilton. They soon felt hunger pangs. They found a shipment of bread, bananas and sweet potatoes on board and a boy from a near-by farm added hard boiled eggs and bacon to save the day. Two of the passengers left the train and walked the 2-1/2 miles to Wilton through deep snow, taking a little more than two hours.

*****

Jewell, the Rainmaker, arrived at a railroad siding in Fruitland on August 5, 1893. When early rising farmers first opened their eyes, Professor J.B. Jewelll was already at work in his specially built railroad caboose in his effort to produce the desperately needed rain fall. The Caboose was partitioned in half the front part providing living quarters, the rear was his laboratory. Atop the rear of the car was a large water tank topped by a funnel-like device and protruding from it were copper pipes through which Jewell released gases of a secret nature. When rain had not occurred within 48 hours, he determined it was because he had never worked at such low altitude before and announced it would take five days. On the fifth day, despite a forecast of fair weather in Muscatine, it did rain. Of course, some non-believers did find another area forecast that indicated the possibility of rain that day.

*****

At 1 o’clock on the morning of December 4, 1895, the floating ice of the Mississippi River ceased moving at Muscatine. The river was closed to traffic until March. The first person to venture out on the newly frozen surface in 1895 was C.E. Richard, the butcher. He staked off a small patch with the expectation of putting up ice for summer use as soon as it attained the necessary thickness to cut. In the winter of 1900, it was reported that 7,000 tons of ice were put up in huge ice houses and the supply proved too small. Artificial ice machines were coming into use in the big cities by 1900 and soon did away with the need for river ice.

*****

The struggle to hold the levee was lost at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, 1920. The levee gave way in three places at a point about twelve miles south of the City. Muscatine Island was inundated by a lake 15 miles long and two miles wide. The battle began to save South End. 200 men worked at sandbagging to stop the flow of backwater with the effort being concentrated at the Rock Island railroad bridge west of Fruitland. A break in the Illinois levee relieved the pressure, but the entire Drury district was then under water. After several days, the river level began to lower and tension eased, only to discover a break in the barrier about a mile south of the City, forcing some south-side residents to flee. Loss to flood damage ran into millions of dollars.

*****