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location. People popularly referred to the town Along with its steamboat dock, the town also bringing the wounded to hospitals. The Phoenix
as “Benton’s Port” and the name Bentonsport boasted a grist mill (which was later converted Hotel [also called the Mason House Inn] in Ben-
was officially assigned to the post office estab- to a woolen mill), hotel, blacksmith shop, bank, tonsport sometimes served as a temporary hos-
lished there in 1852 (Sheets 2007:34). This town dry goods store, and the Bentonsport Academy. pital as the wounded waited for boats or trains
was one of the sites selected for construction of Later, a paper mill was also built which operated that could carry them on to hospitals in larger
a lock and dam as part of the Des Moines River until it burned in 1905. The village was home to towns. The owner of the hotel, Mr. Mason, is
Improvement Project. Lock and Dam #6 was a number of famous personages including the also reported to have operated a station of the
built across the river here, raising and lowering Honorable George W. McCrary, Secretary of Underground Railroad from the barn behind the
boats twelve and a half feet. The lock and dam War under President Rutherford B. Hayes; U.S. hotel (Sheets 2007:36).
and boat dock served the town’s economy well. Senator from Illinois, William E. Mason; William
Steamboats regularly visited bringing goods and A. Clark, U.S. Senator from Montana; journalist After the Civil War the railroad moved away
passengers until the dam collapsed in the early Martha Burton; Gideon Bailey, U.S. Marshall and from Bentonsport and manufacturing soon
1870s. The town built a new dam of wood and state senator, and writer Albert Bigelow Paine. followed. Many of the buildings associated
stone, but that was also destroyed by river ice with these early enterprises are still standing,
two years later (Sheets 2007:35). By this time When the members of the Church of Jesus and though they may be in need of repair, are
the heyday of steamboats was over and the dam Christ of Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo, Illinois considered good examples of architecture of the
was never rebuilt. in 1846 a number of them stayed in Bentonsport period (Claudle 1971:2). Taken as a whole, the
for a while working and saving their money until entire village was nominated to the NRHP as
they could afford to gather supplies and join the one of the few remaining unchanged riverfront
villages (Claudle 1971).
migration to Salt Lake
City (Sheets 2007:33). BONAPARTE – 1837
The town boasts a
number of buildings Bonaparte was founded as Meek’s Mills in 1837.
constructed by Mor- It was renamed in 1841 to complement the
mon emigrants. One proposed town of Napoleon which was to be
of these buildings is established across the river (Sheets 2007:21).
the Mason House Inn, Napoleon never developed but Bonaparte
which retains its original rapidly became a center of industry and culture.
19th century furnishings The town was situated at a spot along the river
(National Park Service where William Meek built a lock and dam across
2005:13). the river. The dam created a nine foot drop in
river level, and Meek installed a waterwheel
Remnant of Lock and Dam #5, Bonaparte, Iowa, from Muessig 1977. During the Civil War, at this point to power his grist, wool, and saw
steamboats docked at mills. By 1866 Parker and Hanback had estab-
Bentonsport carrying lished their pottery, and the riverfront became
soldiers to war and
42 A River of Unrivaled Advantages—Life Along the Lower Des Moines River
