A Peek At Davenport And Stevenson In 1837

Colonel George Davenport

(Here’s a fun look at Davenport and Stevenson (Rock Island) in 1837. Stevenson had 35 buildings, and Davenport had 15. The army had abandoned Fort Armstrong on Rock Island the previous year. It had seven houses. The article was published in The Miner’s Express (Dubuque, Upper Wisconsin Territory). July 15, 1837.)

The Editor of the Peoria Register, in giving an account of a journey which he and others made from the Upper Mississippi down to this place, thus speaks of the country on Rock River in the vicinity of Rock Island:

 

The country around Rock Island is indescribably beautiful, and is not excelled, if equaled, by any spot in the United States. To the beautiful in nature will soon be added all the attractions of art. The germ of two cities, within hail of each other, is expanding, and in a few years, they will rival in magnitude any upon the Upper Mississippi. They are Stevenson and Davenport, and to them will probably in time be added a third on Rock Island.

 

Stevenson was laid off in August 1835 by the county court (Rock Island) as the seat of justice. Five houses were erected that year. It now contains 35, of which 6 are stores and 2 are taverns. At the sale in ’35, choice river-lots brought 220 dollars, and those near the public or court-house square 150; at a sale in September ’36, the same river lots brought 500, and the court-house lots 350.—Now, (Dec. ’36) Choice river lots are held at 2000, 1500 having been offered and refused. Fifty houses, it is supposed, will go up next summer.

Davenport, on the Wisconsin side, was laid off in June 1836, and now contains 15 houses, 3 of which are stores, and a large tavern. River lots at the first sale, in June, brought from 100 dollars to 325; back lots from 100 to 200. The site is a perfectly level plain one mile wide, bounded by a strip of timber 3 miles wide. Beyond this is a prairie 8 miles wide; then an immense body of timber. The interior country is represented as splendid, and is said to be rapidly filling up with emigrants. Rock Island is 2 miles long and 1 1-2 miles wide. At its southern termination, and in view of Davenport and Stevenson, is Fort Armstrong. Here are 7 houses, occupied by 3 families, one store, and one grocery. It is the residence of Gen. Street, Indian Agent, and George Davenport, Esq., the latter of whom, with Mr. Antoine Laclaire, whose splendid farm is opposite Rock Island, in Wisconsin, is the owner of the town below, which bears his name, a very brief description of which is given above. The fort was evacuated in September last; the garrison having been ordered to St. Peters.

 

At a quarter after 7, having stowed away a “first-rate” breakfast, (every thing a little beyond the comparative degree is in this country called “first-rate,”) we recommenced our journey, intending to cross at the “upper ferry,” two miles above where we failed yesterday. The route was an Indian trail upon and along the course of the bluffs. The wagoner said he should follow it also, and leaving three of the party and the boy with him, the others with an advance on foot. We reached the heights as the sun was rising. The scene was truly splendid. Our thoughts turned upon Black Hawk’s war, and the reflection occurred spontaneously to all that if Indians are affected by the sublime and beautiful in nature, here was another reason for their clinging to these grounds with so much tenacity. The mounds around were also the tombs of their ancestry. Upon their tops were vaults, filled with bones of the dead, which relics, it is said, the survivors regard with the most superstitious reverence. Woe be to the sacrilegious plunderer, if detected. The threatening, however, was disregarded by our party, several of whom unceremoniously rifled these sanctuaries of such bones as seemed most agreeable to their fancy.

Antoine Le Claire

It will not be thought surprising that Black Hawk should have felt disinclined to give up the fine lands held by his tribe on Rock River, when the reader is told that they are now worth, at this spot fifty dollars an acre. The Indians had brought them, according to their mode of farming, to the highest improvement, and in 1829, Mr. Wells (our landlord) counted 300 wigwams in sight of his present residence. Not one is now standing.”