ELECTRIC POWER PROM THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER CLARK. 201 



bers. After public hearings and an investigation, the commission 

 reported favorably on the project, 



AUTHORIZATION. 



In view of this favorable attitude and report, on April 21, 1904, 

 a bill was introduced in Congress to secure the right to build a 

 dam completely across the Mississippi at the foot of the Des Moines 

 Rapids. This bill was favored by the legislature of the State of 

 Illinois, which, on January IT, 1905, by joint resolution, memorial- 

 ized Congress, urging its passage. The State Legislature of Iowa 

 also indorsed the enterprise. On January 27, 1905, the bill passed 

 the Lower House; on February 2, 1905, it passed the Senate; on 

 February 9, 1905, it received the approval of President Roosevelt 

 and became a law. 



This law was public act No. 65, entitled "An act granting to the 

 Keokuk and Hamilton Water Power Co. rights to construct and main- 

 tain for the improvement of navigation and development of water 

 power a dam across the Mississippi River." It provides: 



That the assent of Congress is hereby given to the Keokuk and Hamilton 

 Water Power Company, a corporation created and organized under the laws 

 of the State of Illinois, its successors, and assigns, to erect, construct, operate, 

 and maintain a dam, with its crest at an elevation of from thirty to thirty-five 

 feet above standard low water, across the Mississippi River at or near the foot 

 of the Des Moines Rapids, from Keokuk, Iowa, to Hamilton, Illinois, and to 

 construct, operate, and maintain power stations on or in connection with said 

 dam, with suitable accessories for the development of water power, and the 

 generation, use, and transmission therefrom of electric energy and power to be 

 derived from the Des Moines Rapids on the Mississippi River. 



The United States Government had constructed in 1877, and was 

 maintaining along the Iowa shore as an aid to navigation a dry dock, 

 canal, and a series of three locks, the structure extending in all 11£ 

 miles from Keokuk to a point below Fort Madison, but above the 

 swiftest part of the rapids. The dock, canal, and locks had for 

 years made feasible the only practicable river intercourse between 

 points above and below the barrier. 



In order to continue this means of communication, and in order 

 that the Government might receive a return for the perpetual fran- 

 chise granted the company, there follows in the bill this proviso : 



That in lieu of the three locks and the dry dock, with their appurtenances, 

 now owned and operated by the United States, at the Des Moines Rapids 

 Canal, the said Keokuk and Hamilton Water Power Company shall build, coin- 

 cidentally with the construction of the said dam and appurtenances, at locations 

 approved by the Secretary of War, a lock and dry dock with their appurtenances ; 

 the said lock shall be of such a kind and size, and shall h^ve such appur- 

 tenances and equipment as shall conveniently and safely accommodate the 



