TOPOGRAPHY. 115 



are the most beautiful on the River from the mouth to this 

 point; and on the west side, the whole Hne, for a distance of 

 nearly forty miles, from Bloomington to Spencer's Creek, 

 would make one continuous city site. Davenport, in Scott 

 county, about thirty miles above Bloomington, is on a most 

 beautiful inclined plane, almost of a mathematical exactness, 

 of a very slight incUnation, only sufficient to be perceived by 

 the eye, and to shed the waters. It is sufficiently sandy to 

 become dry immediately after a rain. This plane extends back 

 about half a mile, from the river to the bluff. The banks 

 on both sides are high and dry ; and immediately fronting 

 Davenport is the town of Rock Island on the Illinois side. 

 The river is little more than half a mile wide. Immediately 

 above the two towns is the island of Rock Island, having a 

 rock foundation : a very unusual character, the islands gene- 

 rally, in this river, being alluvial. The scenery at this point 

 is very beautiful— said to excel, in this particular, any spot 



below Lake Pepin. 



Some individuals have taken advantage of the division of 



the river into two streams, at this point, to appropriate the 



narrow portion passing between the Island and the Illinois shore 



to milling purposes. By running a dam across at the head 



of the island— which, by reason of the very little depth of 



the water, and a rock bottom, they were able to do at a very 



trifling expense— they have availed of this immense body of 



w^ater, being about one-third of the whole volume of the river, 



and with a head of five feet. Beside this, there are several 



other points upon these rapids, where equal advantage may 



be made of the river in this way. And at a time not remote, 



this will become a principal grain market for the country 



around, and a place of great industrial activity. Rockingham 



is a small village four miles below Davenport, opposite the 



mouth of the Rock River. At the purchase of the territory 



