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In the early years, the channel was only 3-6 feet deep.
Once the
roller dams were invented and once the 1930's revived river traffic
with diesel engines, major work was done on the river channel. It's now 9' deep.
"Sidewinder" paddlewheel boat
of the 19th century. You can almost see Sam Clemens
"marking the twains" between the
sandbars.
Clinton had the largest sawmills in the world in the 1880's. Looking SW from the Railroad
Bridge.
The River
was important to Clinton and many boats moored here.
Lumber mills provided great
jobs in the 1870's.
Twelve-hour days for a
dollar!
 "What made Clinton
Famous" in
the 1880's . Log rafts made millions for lots of people and provided
jobs for many more. The original mill is at the left and stands where
the riverfront tennis court and swimming pool are
today.
Here is how they hooked
boats up when pushing them to an island.
 Another
of the early industries in the area was
the manufacture of buttons made from shells. Shells were replaced by
plastic as the raw
material. You can still find shells such as these in the river - with the
buttons removed!
 The Mississippi has been home to thousands of riverboats
from 1840 to the present. Many were
huge, like the W.W., The Capitol, The
Majestic....all wonderful excursion boats!
Early bridges across the
Mississippi were precarious.
 The 1928
a pool was built
to slow down the number of
drowning by river swimmers. Even so, it had
dangerous
slides and high boards. (Note
the wool swimsuits!) Hub Wright, Carroll Johnson,
Reynold Jurgensen and others tended the public at the "new"
pool.
We now have a newer, safer pool.
 
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