Note I-30 — Chapter I · ITINERARY: ST. LOUIS TO ST. PAUL, AUGUST 9TH-SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1805.

Davenport, Ia., to Le Claire, Ia., 16 m. by water; Rock Island, Ill., to Port Byron, Ill., 17 m.; actual extent of the rapids somewhat less than either of these distances. The chains, in ascending series, are called Lower, Moline, Duck Creek, Winnebago, Campbell's, St. Louis, Crab Island, Sycamore, Smith's, Upper. The principal islands are: Rock, No. 307, 2½ m. long, with the little ones called Papoose (No. 308), Benham's, and Sylvan, alongside; Campbell's, opp. Watertown, Ill.; Spencer's, opp. Hampton, Ill., on the Iowan side; and Fulton's. A number of creeks make in on both sides; among them are Duck, Crow, and Spencer's, on the Iowan side, and the one on the Illinois side which falls in by Watertown, name unknown to me. The rapids were formerly guarded by Fort Armstrong, occupying an eligible site on the extreme lower end of Rock isl. A good account of this post, as it was in 1817, is found in Long's Expedition of that year, printed in 1860 and reprinted in 1890, in Part I of II. of the Minn. Hist. Coll., pp. 67-73. The places on the Illinois side are: Moline, 3½ m. above Rock Island; Watertown, 5 m. above Moline; Hampton, 1 m. above Moline; Rapids City, 4½ m. above Hampton; Port Byron, 1 m. further; land distances less than by river-channel. On the Iowan side, between Davenport and Le Claire, are places called Gilberttown or Gilbert, opp. Moline, and Valley City or Pleasant Valley, opp. Hampton. Pike does not say where he camped at the head of the rapids; but it was no doubt at Le Claire, as the channel ran on the Iowan side.