Chapter 34 Cont. When I came here Rock Island wasn't much of a town. The Chicago & Rock Island road ran in just as it does now, only it continued on till it reached the passenger station, at the foot of Twentieth street, instead of turning off at the slough bridge as it does now. The roundhouse was about where the power plant of the Tri-City Railway Company is. I got out and looked around when the train stopped in Rock Island that day of my first visit. All about the depot and particularly across the street, nothing was to be seen but low grinmills. I thought if that was the character of the country I had come to I wished I was back home. Davenport was reached without change of cars, the Chicago & Rock Island cars being taken by another engine, after they came in from Chicago, and switched across the old slough bridge - somewhere near the location of the present viaduct - across the island and the Mississippi bridge, and to the M. & M. The old M. & M. passenger station stood just about where the present C. R. I. & P. freight house is on Fifth street. The first passenger station of the road was the old homestead of Antoine LeClaire, which stool on that very ground. The present line of the Rock Island road out of Davenport to the west is the third that has been followed. The first one left Fifth street at a point a couple of blocks east of the present southwest junction, passed to the north of St. Mary's church, passed close to the old F. H. Griggs' house down there, and wound its way up the hill on a three per cent grade, by a double reversed curve that crossed the present line a couple of times. The next one, somewhat gentler in gradient, was mainly different in coming into the city on the south side of St. Mary's church. I can show you some of the old grade there yet, and not long ago some of the old ties could be found still in place. That was an awful hill; it was all that an engine could do to climb it with three or four cars. The Samson was an unusually powerful engine for those days and four loads was all she could take up; and then she didn't always make it. But engines were different in those days, and so was steam pressure - except upon occasions. One of the occasions arrived on the day in 1869 that I pulled an excursion train carrying a lot of railroad men and their folks out to Mr. Kimball's Cherry Bluff picnic grounds, near West Liberty. I had the old Davenport, and a big load for her. Twombley came to me before we started and said, "Charley, get up that hill if it's in her!" He also told me not to let anybody ride with me on the engine, knowing that some of the boys would insist on keeping me company in the cab. Just before we pulled out an old acquaintance climbed on with me. I told him to get off, and he refused. "Twombley told me not to let anybody ride on the engine," I said, "you'll have to get off." "I'm going to ride right here with you." he answered. "All right," I said, "but if you ever tell anything that you see on this engine today I'll hit you with the coal pick." 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/