Chapter 34 cont. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FIRST TRAIN THROUGH DAVENPORT On December 20, 1855, the line of the Mississippi & Missouri was laid through Iowa City, a distance of fifty-five miles, and only twelve years afterward did the road reach Council Bluffs, 314 miles distant, thus traversing the state. With the meeting of the Chicago & Rock Island and the Mississippi & Missouri roads at the wooden bridge came the protest of the river interests, followed by the destruction of the draw span of the bridge by the wreck and fire of the Effie Afton, May 6, 1856, and the consequent contentions in the courts in which the immortal Abraham Lincoln, then a Springfield lawyer, pleaded so prominently in the interests of the railroad people. This rivalry of river and bridge or the steamboat and railroad interests, the accident of the Effie Afton and incidents relating to Lincoln, is a story already told in this work. Of the first engine, "Antoine LeClaire" and its appearance in Davenport, the Gazette at the time had the following to say: "The builders say it is the best locomotive in the country. It is a fitting compliment to our liberal fellow citizen, Antoine LeClaire, Esq. He was the first man to settle upon this dies of our noble river; the first man in Iowa who came forward and subscribed $25,000 in stock in the Mississippi & Missouri enterprise. About twenty-five of our fellow citizens were on the locomotive and tender as it passed through town. At the different street crossings, they were received with cheers and with smiles and with waving of handkerchiefs from fair ladies. After passing entirely through town as far as the deep cut in the bluff, further progress was arrested by a tree hanging over the track, and it returned to the depot in safety. The company dispersed to their homes. Probably in future years, when the city shall have become what it is destined to be, they will tell their children's children with pride that they were of the small number who was on the first locomotive which crossed the Mississippi river." To round out this chapter and add very much to its interesting features the following reminiscent articles by men who were there are given below: Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/