Eddyville, and on to Louisa County.



Why would I bother checking out Eddyville, Iowa?  

 It turns out Glee didn't get it quite right.  Her mother was raised in Eddyville, and the family often went to Muscatine.

 That must been one heck of a ride in the 20's and 30's.



Eddyville certainly is one of the older towns, established in 1840.

 I think  it has Virginia City, NV beat by a couple decades.



Not much left to downtown.  Even the real estate office is up for sale.



This is about the nicest building there.



A few more buildings.  Not many appeared in use.  I noticed a sign on the way in for a restaurant  and was
a bit hungry.  That was closed too.



A closeup of the sign on the tallest brick building.  It says 'Grant Cowley, 1890.'



At the end of the street was a wild flower garden.  I had a look.



A representation of the vegetation in the 1840's



Buried under the flowers I found a  placard.  I never heard of a Chief Hard Fish, so  I googled it:

From various  sites: Where Eddyville is, formerly was a trading post under the management of J. P. Eddy.  This post was called "Hardfisher,"  because it was in the village of Chief Hard Fish. Wish-e-co-ma-que (Hard Fish) 264 Jabish P. Eddy opened a fur trading post in the village of Chief Hard Fish located on the Des Moines River. Eventually, the trading post grew into a town. You have read the story of two of the greatest chiefs that lived in Iowa.  There were many others who were famous that lived, at least for a time, in Iowa.  Pashepaho, "the stabber," was a much older chief than either Black Hawk or Keokuk.  He had more power than  either of them and was a famous fighter.  He signed the treaties of the 1824 and 1832 by which the Sac lands were sold to the Government.  He died at an old age in Kansas. Wishecomaque, "Hard Fish," became the chief of Black Hawk's village after a great chief's downfall.  His village was in Wapello County, Where Eddyville now is. Hard Fish - Shawnee-Mingo born about 1740-died after 1778 - raiding Ohio-New River valleys 1758, Pontiac War, Bushy Run, raiding New-Jackson-Greenbrier River valleys 1763, raiding Ohio-Big Sandy-Little Kanawha-New River valleys 1772, Point Pleasant 1774, Boonesboro, husband of Mingo Woman   Chief Hard Fish followed Black Hawk as the leader of the Sac and Fox Indians and was in charge when the Iowa Governor's Council purchased the Sac and Fox land in Iowa in 1842. Hard Fish and his 2000 followers moved upstream to the Red Rocks in Marion county and left their camp to the whites. The camp was located near the mouth of the Muchakinock Creek on the banks of the Des Moines river.

I say this guy taking a break in the shade.







Take a few steps past the garden there is a view of the Iowa river.  Here are a few photos.

That's about it for Eddyville.  On to Columbus Junction.




Columbus Junction, Iowa, is the site of a historic swinging bridge.



I think this if the first swinging bridge I have ever seen.



The bridge looked to be in pretty good shape..............



There was an older couple just leaving and I asked if they walked across the bridge.
The man said,  "Young man, go  back and look at the sign.  Read the last entry, then you decide. "

I went back, read the sign and decided to pass.

With that,  got  to hit the road and press on to Muscatine.



Getting closer to Muscatine, I passed through Fruitland, Iowa.  Fruitland had a tornado pass through it
and this is all that is left of the Fruitland Post Office.  A couple guys I work with passed by shortly after the
storm leveled the post office, heard calls for help and rescued a couple ladies buried under the rubble.
No one was seriously hurt.



This home was taken completely off the foundation.  The people who own the home are still living
there in the basement.



This home is only missing part of its roof.  These folks were lucky.



This home was totally trashed, but is still standing.

Living in the great northwest does have its advantages.



Now where am I supposed to report for work?  I had to ask.  The fellow pointed to a smoke stack in the
distance and from there it was a piece of cake.  You can see the thing for miles.