Plate 31 (click image for larger view)
Harbor at Dubuque,
Iowa, with hull of Windom
from
the Dubuque Mississippi River Museum Presentation Album ·
(Not listed in
the Rock Island District Master Set Album)
Bosse stood on Kelly's Bluff to gain a broad perspective of Dubuque and its ice harbor, an anchorage designed to protect boats from winter ice flows. The Dubuque Wagon Bridge and the Chicago, St. Paul, and Kansas City Railroad Bridge connecting Dubuque with East Dubuque, Illinois, are seen in the background. The city of Dubuque was named after Julien Dubuque, a French Canadian fur trader who settled in the area in 1788. This distinguished entrepreneur originally came to the region to engage in trade with the Mesquakie Indians, who occupied lands then located in Spanish Territory. He befriended the Indians, but his attention quickly turned to mining the plentiful lead deposits on their lands.
In 1788, after amicable negotiations, the Mesquakie granted Dubuque control of the lead mine area. He acquired a license from Spain and named the region south of present-day Dubuque "the Mines of Spain." For the next twenty years, Dubuque worked as both a miner and trader on the land presented to him. In 1819 Dubuque died after a brief illness. His namesake city developed into an important port for the lead trade. As lead mining died out, Dubuque became a manufacturing city focusing on lumber, wood products, and shipbuilding.1
In 1844 Congress appropriated $7,500 for deepening the harbor at Dubuque "to accommodate steamers of the largest class."2 A portion of this appropriation was used to design and construct a ladder dredge, called the Devasseur. This dredge was designed by United States Agent Joshua Barney in 1844 at Louisville, Kentucky, under the direction of Major Long. Although the Dubuque harbor was improved with some degree of success, Barney recommended that continued dredging would produce more favorable results.3
In January 1854 Barney began construction of a new dredge using plans similar to those for the Devasseur.4 Christened Dredge Boat #1, but renamed George W. Jones after the first Territorial Senator of Iowa, the dredge arrived at Dubuque on May 21, 1853, and was immediately put to work.5 Dredging was halted in late May of 1854, when river levels fell dramatically, since the George W. Jones had a deep draft and could not operate in shallow water. Like the Devasseur and other early ladder dredges, the George W. Jones was difficult to maneuver and unstable, and the results were temporary. The George W. Jones was reassigned to the Illinois River, but enroute was badly damaged at the Rock Island and Des Moines rapids.6 It may have been damaged beyond repair, since on November 27, 1855, the Dubuque Daily Express and Herald reported: "U.S. Dredge Boat George W. Jones sold at auction at Alton on Tuesday for $2,940. Boat and machinery originally cost between $18,000 and $20,000."7
Dubuque's ice harbor appears just below the hull of the Windom in this photo:
In 1880, Congress appropriated $40,000 for an ice harbor at Dubuque, where boats could winter safe from the effects of the open river. Work began in 1882 and was completed in 1885. This harbor was used not only by commercial vessels, but also as a winter quarters for a large portion of the District fleet.8
During its first winter of use in 1883 and 1884, the harbor protected ten steamboats, two wharfboats, two dredges, thirty-three barges and flats, and 1,000,000 feet of lumber, valued at $292,400.9 The city also became known as a boat building center:
As a result of the innovative immigrant William H. Hopkins, Dubuque soon became the epicenter for iron hull steamboat building long before the iron hull caught on in steamboat building circles on the Ohio River.10
The Iowa Iron Works built the steel hull of the Windom, as identified in the title of Bosse's image, one of many turned out in Dubuque under contract with the government. The Windom was a revenue cutter named for Senator William Windom of Minnesota. Following completion of the hull, it was towed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, then along the East Coast to Baltimore, Maryland. There the Windom was completed and placed into commission on June 30, 1896, to patrol coastal waters under the authority of the U.S. Treasury.