mississippi-river

Alton, Illinois and Saint Louis, Missouri (June 20, 2025)

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Alton’s location at the confluence of three navigable rivers (the Illinois, the Mississippi, and the Missouri) pretty much guaranteed its eventually becoming a river trading town. The railroad and grain silos of the 19th and 20th centuries established it as an influential commercial center for a large agricultural area. The city rises steeply from the waterfront affording residents of the old Victorian Queen Ann style homes sweeping views of the Mississippi. Several stone churches and an impressive city hall are testament to a prosperous period in the city’s history.

It has a few other claims to fame as well.
1) Alton, in the then free state of Illinois, is just across the river from Missouri, a former slave state. It became a stop on the Underground Railroad popular with abolitionist, pro-slavery activists, and slave catchers. 
2) It was the site of the last Abraham Lincoln/Stephen Douglas debate for the 1858 senate race.
3) Speaking of Abe, his only duel was here.
4) Alton native Robert Wadlow, listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the world’s tallest man (8 feet 11.1 inches) is buried here.
5) Jazz musician Miles Davis was born here.
6) It was one of three finalists for the location of the Air Force Academy.  

We had the afternoon to check things out and spent it visiting the site where the members of Lewis and Clark’s expedition spent the winter of 1803 before beginning their grand adventure by heading up the Missouri River in the spring of 1804. There is a small fortification built to the design of the original, a washer woman’s shack, a settler’s cabin, and a small museum with a replica of the keelboat used to head West. This state historic site is well worth a visit. We stopped at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi before heading back to our riverboat for a tour of the wheelhouse where all the steering and navigating take place.

After a fabulous crab-stuffed lobster dinner we headed downstream to our port of disembarkation, Saint Louis. It took all of three hours to go the 22 miles. We enjoyed a final lecture by our resident lecturer and professional musician JoAnn Funk. She spoke about the people past and present who live on the river: families affectionately known at river rats who spent their entire lives on motorless shanty boats; kayakers and canoers who still paddle the 2,340 miles from the headwaters of the Mississippi to New Orleans; the 30,000 tow boat employees working on western rivers; and Loopers, those hearty folks who complete the 6,000 mile continuous waterway that circumnavigates the eastern U.S.

Tomorrow Cyd and Rick will head to their respective homes, and Dan and I will stay on for one night with our pal of 50 years, Pat. We all agreed that the 611-mile trip through 24 locks and five states was thoroughly enjoyable and worth our time and money.

Davenport, Iowa (June 18, 2025)

~ scheleandtell ~ 2 Comments

We had to hit the ground running in order to take a peek at this fine city known for being the home of chiropractic care in the U.S. (1895), the largest roller dam in the world, and the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi. Since we were docked a quick four hours only, there was no time to sample their famous cut-in-strips-with-scissors pizza or to stop at United Service Motors, the antique shop owned by American Pickers’ Robbie Wolfe.

My sidekicks chose to visit the John Deere Pavilion where they had the opportunity to climb in and out of huge pieces of farm equipment, some worth in excess of $1,000,000! This would surely not have been allowed had management known how shiftless my pals are known to be.

I decided to visit the Mississippi Spoon Museum. That’s right, there is such a thing! The inheritance of her great grandmother’s spoon collection inspired the owner of the museum to add to the collection. 38,162 spoons later and you have a Guinness World Record holder. We were shown spoons designed to be used, others designed for display, others to honor those living and dead, and others that were used to promote newspaper subscriptions and tourist destinations. They come from all over the world and highlight the artistry and historical relevance depicted in the spoons. Of particular fascination to me were the plique-a-jour spoons which look like stained glass, the ones with petite pointe at the end of the handle, and the Egypt collection. This last collection has three spoons with mummy coffins at the end of the handle. Each coffin houses a removable mini-mummy. Two others have little reed baskets at the end of the handle with a removable baby (Moses?) inside.

We all could have stayed longer at our chosen activity, but not wanting to be left behind, we returned to the boat and headed south right on time. Lunch, cookie time (3:00 pm), a lecture on freshwater mussels and the pearl button industry, cocktails, dinner, and the evening’s entertainment (Music of the Mississippi) flushed out another lovely day.

… Sidebars …

The river runs east and west here … for 14 miles.

Rock Island Arsenal and John Deere are the largest employers here.

Palmer College of Chiropractic remains one of the most prestigious chiropractic schools globally.

The first steamboat was put in the river in 1811.
4,000 steamboats were on the river at the height of that era.

The first railway bridge across the river lasted all of two weeks thanks to a steamboat running into it. Accident? Intentional? Foul play? Practical joke?
Trains being seen as steamboats’ main competition, it was assumed it was not an accident.
The railroads needed legal counsel to press for their rights.
Abraham Lincoln was hired to represent them.

At the height of the pearl button era (pre-plastic), half of the world’s buttons
came from the Mississippi and its tributaries!
It was the most profitable inland fisheries business in the country at one time.