This album of cyanotype prints documents the early construction of the Mississippi and Illinois River Canal, also known as the Hennepin Canal. Each image comes with explanatory captions on the back side. The images document the first months of construction on the Mississippi and Illinois River Canal, commonly known as the Hennepin Canal. The construction pictured is near the Mississippi and Rock rivers while working on Lock 36 and Lock 37.
The prints cover much of the construction involved in building canals in the 19th century, and include portrayals of excavation and dredge work, extension and widening of rivers work on Carr Island (in the western portion of the Rock River), use of dynamite in lock building, pile driving, construction on concrete abutments, and other equipment and processes involved. Also included are images of the camps of workers and engineers.
Each image is captioned with a date and description of the image, often including names of identifiable workers and engineers.
Most of the images show actual construction, including the extension and widening of rivers, massive excavation and dredge work, work around Carr Island in the far western portion of the Rock River, the construction of embankments, and the use of dynamite to begin the lock building process. Other photographs show piling and pile driving, the camps of the workers, and completed cuts. The captions each note the month in which photographs are taken, and often name in the engineer in charge of the work and contractor.
Cyanotype print. Description on reverse:
I. & M. Canal.
Excavating and driving piles at Lock #37, outlet lock into the Miss. River.
A. J. Whitney – Contractor
F.S.H. – Engr. in charge
Taken Feb. 1893
Page 3 Carpenter-Moore Family Riverboat Scrapbook A -- City of Monroe was part of the Anchor Line and served cities between St. Louis and New Orleans from 1887 to 1905. This page is part of a scrapbook that contains hundreds of photographs of riverboats operating on the Mississippi River from the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries.
Page 1 Carpenter-Moore Family Riverboat Scrapbook A -- City of St. Louis was part of the Anchor Line and served cities between St. Louis and New Orleans from 1883 to 1903. This page is part of a scrapbook that contains hundreds of photographs of riverboats operating on the Mississippi River from the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries.
Photograph of the steamboat R.C. Gunter. The R.C. Gunter was a sternwheel packet built at Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1886 for the Chattanooga and Decatur Packet Company. R.C. Gunter was the owner and master. By 1896 the boat had been sold to the St. Louis, Harden and Hempsville Packet Company, and then sold again to the Eagle Packet Company a year later in 1901. The latter company ran the boat one final year until it sank in 1902 on the Illinois River. This is a unique view of the steamer we've not found elsewhere. Several passengers can be seen posing on the railing of the boiler deck. Photograph ca. 1900.