The Des Moines Rapids between
Nauvoo, Illinois and
Keokuk, Iowa
Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...
-
Hamilton, Illinois
Hamilton is a city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,951 at the 2010 census, a decline from 3,029 in 2000. The city is located directly across the Mississippi River from Keokuk, Iowa. Hamilton is the largest city in ...
is one of two major
rapids on the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
that limited
Steamboat traffic on the river through the early 19th century.
The rapids just above the confluence of the
Des Moines River
The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...
were to contribute to the
Honey War in the 1830s between
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
and
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
over the
Sullivan Line
The Sullivan Line originally marked in 1816 forms three quarters of the border between Missouri and Iowa and an extension of it forms the remainder. The line was initially created to establish the limits of Native Americans in the United States ...
that separates the two states.
Various attempts to make the river navigable started in 1837 when a channel was blasted through the rapids by
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers team led by
Robert E. Lee. A canal around the rapids was built in 1877. It is now obliterated by
Lock and Dam No. 19.
The other major rapids barring traffic on the Mississippi is the
Rock Island Rapids.
The Mississippi in its natural state widens from to in width at Nauvoo as it drops over over shallow
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
rocks to the confluence with Des Moines.
According to records its mean depth through the rapids was and "much less" in many places.
Beginning in 1804 United States government-sponsored
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
s for
Native Americans as part of the Native American
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...
system began being built at the rapids. Forts were associated with the trading posts including
Fort Johnson
Fort Johnson was a U.S. Army post built on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River in modern-day Warsaw, Illinois, during the War of 1812. The fort was established in September 1814 by Major Zachary Taylor, future 12th President of the United Sta ...
,
Fort Madison. The forts were burned during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
. After the war Fort
dwardswas established and commanded by
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...
.
In 1816 U.S. Government surveyor John C. Sullivan surveyed a line stretching north from the confluence of the
Kansas River
The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...
with the
Missouri River in
Kansas City, Missouri and then back east to the
Des Moines River
The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...
. The distance matched the rapids but when Missouri entered the Union in 1820 its constitution instead referred to the Sullivan line as "the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the River Des Moines."
Missouri did not attempt to clarify the mistake even when the
Iowa (tribe), Sauk and
Fox (tribe)
The Meskwaki (sometimes spelled Mesquaki), also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, th ...
ceded all land "in Missouri" along the line from the Mississippi to the
Indian Territory Line (Sullivan's line going north from the Kansas) in 1824. This created the
Half-Breed Tract.
When interest in the rapids increased in the late 1830s as work began on making the rapids navigable, along with Iowa's beginning the process of entering as a state, Missouri took an interest in asserting control of the west side of the rapids. However, thwarted by its constitution which clearly stated the Des Moines River was the border, it instead asserted that there were no rapids where the Sullivan line crossed the Des Moines and conducted a new survey which said the rapids of the Des Moines were about north, near
Keosauqua, Iowa
Keosauqua ( ) is a city in Van Buren County, Iowa, United States. The population was 936 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Van Buren County.
History
Keosauqua was laid out in 1839. The word Keosauqua derives from the Me ...
, and attempted to collect taxes in the area. This prompted the bloodless
Honey War, with Iowa resisting the effort.
The Supreme Court was to ultimately decide in ''
State of Missouri v. State of Iowa'', 48 U.S. 660 (1849), that Iowa's southern boundary was the foot of the rapids at modern day Keokuk (although accepting the Sullivan Line for the rest of the border from about {{convert, 20, mi, km west).
References
Exploration and Settlement - Beautifulnavoo.comProceedings of the River Improvement Convention, Held in St. Louis February 12 & 13, 1867 - Union Merchants Exchange of St. Louis - 1867
Landforms of Hancock County, Illinois
Bodies of water of Illinois
Bodies of water of Iowa
Landforms of Lee County, Iowa
Mississippi River
Rapids of the United States