Page 33 - DesMoinesRiver

around the sand-bars which usurp its old channels, that it ever floated
such a craft as a Mississippi steamboat. [Annals of Iowa 1900:393]

The Civil War marked the beginning of the end for steamboating
on the Des Moines River. Up to the beginning of the war 30 steam-
boats traveled the river as far as Des Moines and those that accom-
plished it made significant profits (Iowa Pathways). When the war
began, boats that could carry freight and passengers were in high
demand elsewhere for the lucrative work of transporting troops and
goods for the war effort. By 1862 steamboat traffic on Des Moines
River had virtually ceased (Hussey 1900:376–380). At the end of
the war railroad networks were spreading across the country. The
railroad proved to be a faster and more reliable means of transpor-
tation. Trains could reach beyond the limits of the river and could
operate year round unaffected by the vagaries of rainfall.

The only remains of the Des Moines River Improvement Project

with good structural integrity are the surviving remnants of the

Locks at Bonaparte, Lock #5, and at Keosauqua, Lock #7. Little but Surviving remnant of Lock and Dam #5 at Bonaparte, from Muessig 1977.

rubble remains of the two completed dams or the lock at Bentons- to tie boats. Apparently in a long-ago effort to stabilize the structure, stone
port. A dam was begun at Iowaville, but floods washed it out before from the walls was removed to build a third wall across the lower end of
it could be completed and the effort was never renewed (Muessig 1977:5). the lock. The lock is now silted in, and has a number of large trees growing
After the project was terminated, most of the limestone that had been within it (Muessig 1977:2).
used for construction was hauled away by local residents to be used in

other projects (Muessig 1977:2). The Keosauqua lock was begun about 1851 and completed in 1856, after

The surviving locks at Bonaparte and Keosauqua were nominated to- some major difficulties. The contractor was Bonney and Whittelsey of Ke-
gether to the NRHP in 1977 (Muessig 1977). The lock at Bonaparte can be osauqua (Muessig 1977:3). All that currently remains is one wall that was
seen in a city park on the southwest corner of town. It was built by local along the landward side. It is complete from the lower end to the recess
contractors Meeks and Sons between 1849 and 1852. The lock is made that held the upper gate. The remnant is 160 feet long, and 5 feet wide at
of large blocks of locally quarried limestone set on a limestone bedrock the top, made of large blocks of locally-obtained limestone set on pilings.
foundation. Ninety feet of the outside wall and 120 feet of the inside wall Many bolts and brackets, which held wood-slab “bumpers” are still visible.
are still extant. Both walls are 3½ to 5½ feet thick. The lock gates were In its original form, this lock chamber was 110 feet long, 44 feet wide, and
originally in two pieces, upper and lower, which opened upstream and 8 to 12 feet deep. A dam was originally built in conjunction with the lock.
relied upon water pressure to keep them watertight when closed. Recesses Unfortunately, an ice jam in 1857 destroyed it. It was rebuilt in 1872 only
for the lower gates are still visible, as are a number of iron rings once used to be destroyed again by the flood of 1903 and never rebuilt (Anderson

The University of Iowa Off ice of the State Archaeologist 33