Missouri

Before the arrival of steam power, navigation was grueling and limited by the river’s natural state.

• Indigenous Roots: For centuries, various nations, including the Osage and Missouria, used dugout canoes for trade and travel.

• The Keelboat Era: In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, keelboats—heavy, pointed-bow vessels—were the primary means of moving freight upstream. Moving against the current required “poling” or “cordelling” (pulling the boat with ropes from the shore), a process that could take months to reach northern Missouri from St. Louis.

The Golden Age of Steamboats (1817–1870s)

The arrival of the steamboat Zebulon Pike in St. Louis in 1817 revolutionized Missouri’s economy.

• St. Louis as a Hub: The city became the “Gateway to the West,” serving as a transshipment point where goods from the deeper Lower Mississippi were moved to shallower-draft boats capable of navigating the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

• Geographic Challenges: Navigation north of St. Louis was hindered by the Des Moines Rapids (near Alexandria, Missouri). During low water, boats often had to be unloaded, their cargo hauled overland, and reloaded above the rapids.

  Economic Impact: Steamboats carried Missouri agricultural products, furs, and lead from mines to global markets, while bringing back manufactured goods and immigrants.

The Decline and the “9-Foot Channel”

By the late 1800s, the expansion of railroads offered faster, year-round transport, causing a sharp decline in river packets. However, the federal government stepped in during the early 20th century to revitalize water transport as a low-cost alternative for bulk goods.

• The 6-Foot Channel: Initial efforts in the early 1900s focused on using wing dams and dredging to maintain a 6-foot depth.

• The 1930s Lock and Dam System: During the Great Depression, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began the 9-Foot Channel Project. This transformed the Upper Mississippi into a series of “pools” rather than a free-flowing river.

• Missouri’s Locks: Major installations, such as Lock and Dam 24 at Clarksville and Lock and Dam 25 at Winfield, were completed in the late 1930s, allowing massive barge tows to navigate the river reliably.

Modern Commercial Usage

Today, the Upper Mississippi along Missouri’s eastern border is a high-tech transport corridor.

• Barge Traffic: Modern tows can move the equivalent of hundreds of railcars or thousands of trucks in a single shipment.

• Commodities: The primary goods moved today include grain, fertilizer, coal, and salt.

• Environmental Balance: Navigation today must be balanced with habitat restoration, as the lock and dam system significantly altered the river’s natural ecosystem and siltation patterns.

  The Des Moines Rapids Canal is one of those fascinating pieces of 19th-century engineering where history, state borders, and river navigation all collide. While the canal was physically located on the Iowa side of the Mississippi, its story is inseparable from Missouri’s history—particularly the “Honey War” border dispute.

  The Canal and the Rapids

  The Des Moines Rapids were a 12-mile stretch of the Mississippi (from Keokuk to Montrose, IA) where the river dropped about 22 feet over a bed of limestone. In low water, the depth could drop to just 2.4 feet, making it a “hard stop” for steamboats. Before the canal, cargo had to be offloaded at the foot of the rapids (often at Alexandria, Missouri) and hauled overland by wagon.

  • Construction: Although Robert E. Lee conducted early blasting in 1837, the canal wasn’t officially completed until 1877.

  • Engineering: It was 12 miles long and featured three locks: the Lower Lock (Keokuk), Middle Lock (Sandusky), and Guard Lock (Galland).

  • Dimensions: The locks were roughly 350 by 80 feet, designed to handle the large packets and “raft boats” of the era.

  The Missouri Connection: The “Honey War”

  The canal’s location was at the heart of the Honey War (1839), a bloodless border conflict between Missouri and the Iowa Territory. The Missouri Constitution defined the state’s northern border as a line passing through the “rapids of the river Des Moines.”

  • The Dispute: Missouri claimed this meant rapids inside the Des Moines River (near Keosauqua, IA), which would have moved the border about 9 miles north. Iowa argued it referred to the Des Moines Rapids in the Mississippi River.

  • The Conflict: Tax collectors and militias were called out, and according to legend, Missouri officials cut down three “honey trees” to collect taxes in the disputed zone.

  • The Resolution: In 1849, the U.S. Supreme Court (Missouri v. Iowa) ruled in favor of the Iowa/Sullivan line, placing the border at the foot of the rapids near the mouth of the Des Moines River.

  Transition to Lock and Dam 19

  By the early 1900s, the canal was too small for modern barge traffic. In 1913, it was superseded—and largely submerged—by the construction of the Keokuk Dam (Lock and Dam 19). At the time, this was the largest low-head hydroelectric plant in the world.

  For Missouri border towns like Alexandria, the dam changed everything. It created “Lake Keokuk,” permanently deep-water navigation, but also altered the local river ecology and the commercial importance of the old overland portage sites.