Natural Scenic Beauty
The variety in the topography of Rock Island County has made possible
scenery of commanding beauty. Early voyagers were impressed with the charm
of situation of Rock Island, the splendid island surrounded by the bright
waters of the Mississippi and bounded by the outlying bluffs like unto a
spacious amphitheatre changing with the seasons from the charm of green
clad eminence to russet autumn foliage splashed with vermilion tints and
then to snow-clad winter hills. Many chapters have been written of this
section. One extract will be sufficient to give an idea of all. Governor
Reynolds in his "Life and Times" has this paragraph: "The scenery about
Rock Island is not surpassed by any in the whole length of the
Mississippi. It seems as though Nature had made an effort in forming this
beautiful and picturesque country. Rock Island itself presents a grand and
imposing appearance, rising out of the waters of the Mississippi a solid
rock with many feet elevation. It is several miles long, and three-fourths
of a mile wide. The rocks are covered with a fertile soil. The river
washes around its base with a rapid current of pure and limpid water and
Rock River, a few miles south, is seen in the distance, forcing its way
with great rapidity over the rocky rapids into the Father of Waters. The
country around it is interspersed with beautiful groves of timber, which
give to the scene a sweetness and a beauty rarely equaled. The blue hills
in the distance, directing the course of the river, are seen on the north
and the south to rise with gentle slopes from the water to considerable
elevations, and the valley between, embracing the river is some miles in
extent, presenting a variety of surface and a beauty of landscape never
surpassed."
This scenic beauty Rock Island County naturally shares with the part of
Iowa lying on the opposite bank of the Mississippi. There is however one
location of great natural beauty solely within the boundaries of this
county. It is the rugged upland formed on one hand by the bluffs of the
Mississippi and on the other by the precipitous bluffs of the Rock River.
From countless elevations on this tract there are views of ' surpassing
beauty. The eye is challenged by striking declivities of solid rock; rests
admiringly upon stretches of woods that border winding streams of bright
and limpid water and rests peacefully upon widely stretching farmlands
marked by hedgerows and clumps of trees. Rising abruptly for a height of
two hundred feet above the water level is the eminence known as Black
Hawk's Watch Tower. From the crest of this noble hill a panorama of
striking beauty is unrolled before the eye of the visitor. To the west
stretches the line of bluffs that overlooks the confluence of the waters
of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers. To the southwest one can see the
location of Black Hawk's village. To the south in the foreground lies the
town of Milan to which the elevation and distance give picturesqueness. In
the immediate foreground are the four channels of Rock River spanned by
railroad and wagon bridges, the intervening islands covered with groves of
stately elms and between the shimmering and glancing waters hurry over
rocky rapids. The neighborhood of the Watch Tower, as it is familiarly
known, is rich in Indian legends through its having been the location of
one of the largest Indian settlements of the continent from the time when
tradition begins. Black Hawk's Watch Tower takes its name from this Indian
chief and great Sac warrior; he having watched from its summit the
approach of the troops sent against him by Governor Reynolds at the
beginning of the short, sharp and decisive conflict known in history as
Black Hawk's War. The Watch Tower is easily accessible from Rock Island,
Moline, Davenport and Milan by electric lines and is visited annually by
many thousand tourists and residents of this locality. A handsome inn
crowns the elevation and the various attractions of a modern amusement
park furnish recreation for the multitude.
Early Settlements of Rock Island County
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908