Page 31 - DesMoinesRiver

IMPROVEMENTS TO NAVIGATION
The success of the Ione came to the attention of
Congress. On November 8, 1846 they passed
the Des Moines River Lands Grant which deeded
large blocks of public land along the river to the long and expensive inquiry produced few results,
soon-to-be State of Iowa. The Grant allowed
the federal government to provide Iowa Terri-
tory with public land “for the purpose of aiding
said territory to improve the navigation of the
Des Moines River from its mouth to the Rac-
coon Fork [at present day Des Moines].” The
state was to find a company to take control of
271,000 acres of land along the river in return
for the company building a series of 28 dams
and 9 locks to ensure that the 204 mile stretch
of the river would be navigable. An engineer-
ing survey determined the precise placement
of each dam to ensure the proper pool depth
upriver at the location of the next dam. The plan
also called for the construction of three canal
sections with the hope of shortening the route.
Despite the initial optimism, the project only
completed the first seven sets of dams and
locks reaching upriver from the Mississippi as far into September or even, October (Hussey
as Keosauqua. Dams eight and nine remained
incomplete and construction on the remaining
locks and dams never began. The project was
hindered by confusion and burdened by poor
management, corruption, and malfeasance.
Work began in 1849 on several of the locks and
on a ten-mile canal at the mouth of the river,
each under a separate contract. In 1851 the state
legislature decided that the work could best be
carried on by a single contractor. They selected
Bangs Brothers of New York who were to
complete the project in four years. The company
quickly became mired in controversy. Accusa-
tions were made that the company’s owners
were skimming funds for their personal use. A
and the contract was eventually terminated
along with the entire river improvement project
(Muessig 1977:3). The land grant was obtained
by the Keokuk and Des Moines River Railroad
Company, and in 1869 they used the land to
begin construction of a railroad along the banks
of the river (Anderson 2004:16).
A TROUBLESOME RIVER – STRUGGLES WITH
NAVIGATION
Despite the efforts at improvement, steamboat
navigation of the Des Moines proved a prob-
lem. The travel season was dependent on the
inconstant weather and its length was variable
and unpredictable. It usually began in April after to climb over the dam at Bonaparte. The stern
the ice had gone out of the river and ended
whenever the water became too low, sometimes
as early as July. In good years it could extend
1900:361,363). Whenever navigable water pre-
vailed, the villages along the lower Des Moines
became centers of great activity with frequent
arrivals and departures of steamboats. When
the river levels were low, however, the boats ran
into difficulties. Often steamboats ran aground
and keel boats had to be called into service to
help free them. At other times, goods had to be
unloaded and transported overland or put into
storage until the river became passable again
(Hussey 1900:333,341; Annals of Iowa 4(5):393–
394). Sometimes men had to be hired to “warp”
the steamboat upstream by pulling on ropes
stretched from the capstans to trees, stumps,
and snags both in and out of the river (Hussey
1900:359). In the low precipitation year of 1854,
the captain of the Julia Dean ordered his tallest
deckhand overboard in areas of low water. The
man would wade in front of the boat seeking out
the deepest water and the pilot would “steer for
him.” The season is said to have closed in July of
this year (Hussey 1900:260).
Too much water also caused problems. When
the river was flooding out of its banks, pilots
could lose track of the channel and get lost, run-
ning aground on hidden snags and getting caught
between trees. Even the locks and dams be-
came hazards (Hussey 1900:340–342). Hussey
(1900:340) recalls an account from the flood
year of 1851 when a stern wheeler attempted
came out of the water as the boat climbed and
the paddle wheel was unable to gain purchase.
After several failed attempts to get over the dam
the cargo was unloaded and stored at Bonaparte
while the captain returned to St. Louis to find
another boat so he could try again weeks later.
In another case, it was reported that a steam-
boat captain “ripped the gates off of the lock
at Farmington to ‘open the way for free naviga-
tion’” (Hussey 1900:340).
Steamboat travelers also incurred a certain
amount of risk. The boats were alarmingly
prone to accidents caused by boiler explosions,
The University of Iowa Off ice of the State Archaeologist 31