Snugged against the east bank of the Mississippi river, Gulfport, Illinois, once battled a seamy reputation as the “wild side of the river.”
It was the place to go to avoid Burlington’s closing hours and a place to catch the latest amateur night or exotic Ethel and Her Magic Snakes.
Burlington levee idlers had seen many strange craft plugging up and down the Mississippi but few were as unusual as the boat “fetched up” near the gas works building one June morning in 1909.
It was a strange looking craft raising steam at the St. Louis levee on an April morning in 1823.
The wood vessel was an unwieldy 118 feet in length. It had a 19-foot beam and drew five feet, two inches.
Its only superstructure was a small cabin well forward with the remainder of its surface given
It could have been Mark Twain that said: “Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough.”
If it was, it was probably during one of his many visits to Burlington when he might have stopped at the Shamrock Tavern on Front Street.
Way back in the 1880s, Burlington was awash in bars and bawdy houses.
Thank God, because lurking somewhere out there is “spring”. In case you forgot, spring is that sensuous season leading us headlong into summer and the delights warm weather and long days can offer.