Is located at the foot of the Lower Rapids, 139 miles from Rock Island,
and bears the name of the distinguished chief of the Sacs and Foxes.
At our first visit there, in 1832, there was a long row of one-story
buildings fronting on the river, that were used by Col. Farnham, agent
of the American Fur Company, as a store and warehouse--this being the
principal depot for trade with the Sacs and Foxes, who were then the
sole proprietors of the country and its principal inhabitants, with the
exception of a few individuals who had got permission to put up shanties
for occupation during the low-water season, while they were engaged in
lighting steamers passing up and down the river, but unable to cross the
rapids while loaded.
At that day the old chief, Keokuk, boasted of having the handsomest site
for a big village that could be found on the river, and since that day
it has grown to be a large and elegant city, with wide streets, fine
public buildings, nice churches, school-houses, elegant residences,
extensive business houses, wholesale and retail stores, manufactories,
and a flourishing Medical University with elegant buildings, which has
been in successful operation for more than twenty years. The United
States District Court for Southern Iowa is also located here. The city
is well provided with good hotels. The Patterson House, an immense
building, five stories high, being chief, which has always ranked as
first-class-with a number of hotels of smaller dimensions, but well
kept--affording ample accommodation for the thousands of travelers
that frequently congregate at this place. The various professions are
represented by men of fine ability--some of them of wide reputation.
They have two daily papers, _The Gale City,_ and _The Constitution_,
which are ably conducted.
A fine canal, running the entire length of the Rapids, from Montrose to
Keokuk, has been built by the United States, through which steamboats
can now pass at any stage of water--but designed more particularly
for low water--so that there is no longer any detention to lighten
steamboats over the Rapids.