Saga of the Des Moines River Greenbelt

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The Des Moines River

The Des Moines is a river of superlatives. It is the longest river in Iowa. It has the widest basin and drains the largest watershed in Iowa. It has more tributaries and larger ones than any other stream - . . It is the only river which completely crosses the state. It has the worst floods, does more damage to crops and homes, and carries more silt than any other river in Iowa. More grain and livestock are produced in the Des Moines River Valley than in any other Iowa river valley The same is true of coal, gypsum, and clay produced." (Petersen: 1941, 77).

The Des Moines River rises in the glacial moraines of southern Minnesota, flows through Fort Dodge, Des Moines, and Ottumwa, and empties into the Mississippi River at Keokuk, a total distance of 535 miles.

The Des Moines River was the magnet in central Iowa that drew early settlers to seek their homes along its banks. The river banks provided wild fruit—cherries, crab apples, and plums— and fish and game.

The settlers found that they could much more easily work the soft alluvial soils of the bottomlands than the tangled sod of the prairies. They, like the Indians before them, planted their corn here. They also found much-needed timber as well as drinking water for their families and for the livestock. Water for washing their clothing and for bathing came from the river The river was the settlers’ chief highway. They carried their surplus butter, eggs, and meat to market in small keel boats; they transported their tobacco and coffee and cloth and matches back home in these same boats.

From 1850-1865, large steamboats traveled the river up to Fort Des Moines and at times even as far as Fort Dodge. However, steamboating depended on a high level of water and thus was seasonal. In 1865, Congress declared the river unnavigable though smaller boats continued to carry grains and supplies for a time.

Almost all the early towns, related as they were to river transport, were established along the river Des Moines at the confluence of the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers, and Fort

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Dodge at the confluence of Lizard Creek and the Des Moines River became the largest cities. Many, many small market towns were founded along the river like beads on a string, often only two or three miles apart.

Grist mills and saw mills were built along the river to take advantage of the power generated by falling water The numerous little mills were a wonderful boon to the early settler who previously had to endure the hardships of traveling to and from the mill at Bonaparte.

The river cut through the underlying Pennsylvanian rocks to expose great veins of coal- From a small start of digging coal from the banks by hand for fuel for the steamboats or for home use, coal became commercially important in towns all up and down the river and was responsible for an affluent era in Iowa’s economy.

Before refrigerators were developed, the river was a source of ice. Huge blocks of ice were cut out of the river in winter and stored in sawdust in large sheds, ready for household distribution during the summer months.

The river was also a troublesome barrier. Crossing the river was a major undertaking and dangerous, too. Those low places where it was possible to ford the river became important settlements, as for example, Ford, a once busy little village across from Runnells. People favored the tributaries as places to live because they were easy to cross and to bridge. The Des Moines River itself was not bridged for many years.

Ferries were established in a number of places along the river. They transported families and horses and wagons across the river for a fee, which was determined by law. Durham’s Ferry, in Marion County, and the ferry at Des Moines were especially busy, transporting hundreds of settlers bound for points westward.

The river had its fearful side, too. An excerpt from an unpublished family history (Leuty of Red Rock) describes the hazards of crossing the river:

They (Mrs. Leuty’s parents) settled on the north bank of the Des Moines River When the high waters of 1851 came, with three children in a boat, and a cow tied on behind, they crossed the river at Red Rock to the south side. In crossing the cow broke loose and started to swim back to the shore, and that was the last we ever saw of her It would be difficult for the people of today to realize what such a loss meant to this young pioneer family. (Walker: 1972, 120).

In times of high water, the Des Moines could indeed be a demon. It swept away whole towns (Dudley) and mills (Elk Rapids) and an electric power plant (Fraser) and bridges (Red Rock) to name but a few. It straightened its course by cutting through meanders and left towns whose existence had depended on the river some distance back from the water.

Until the river was harnessed in 1969 with the building of the fled Rock dam, many farms and towns suffered periodic heavy losses those years when the river flooded its banks (see Figure 2).

The river’s original functions are today much diminished. It is now a source of city water, a sewage disposal site, a probable electric power generation site (Red Rock), and a vacationland.

The Boone River

The Boone River is a lovely, swift-flowing, 91-mile long river which rises in Hancock County, continues into Hamilton County (where it becomes a part of the Greenbelt) through, Webster City and southeast until just over the border into Webster County, it joins the Des Moines River (this point is called Boone Forks).

In Hamilton County, the river falls an average of 3.73 feet per mile but in some places as much as 8 feet per mile. The rapids furnished the water power for many famous early mills, among them Tunnel Mill and Bells Mill.

Presently, the Boone is known for its wild scenery, some of the most beautiful in the Greenbelt, and it is said to be the best canoeing river in Iowa.

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