Rock Island Arsenal: Origin

The Rock Island Arsenal has long been a seat of the locale known as the Quad Cities Area.  Those few acres of land, nestled in the topographical ribbon that is the Mississippi River, bear the origin of the area's settlement and are literally at the center of the community to this day.  However there were more than a few players vying for the vast tracts of land that surrounded this geographical speck.  The first of course were the Native Americans.

The Sauk (also Sac) and Meskwaki (also "Fox") tribes were prevalent in the area, and a large Sauk village was located just five miles downstream of the island, right where the Rock River finally spills into the Mississippi.  Sauk leader Black Hawk fondly recounts the island as a summer hotspot for both tribes.

"It was our garden, like the white people have near their big villages, which supplied us with strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, plums, apples, and nuts of different kinds.  Being situated at the foot of the rapids, its waters supplied us with the finest fish.  In my early life I spent many happy days on this island.  A good spirit had charge of it, which lived in a cave in the rocks immediately under the place where the fort now stands.  This guardian spirit has often been seen by our people.  It was white, with large wings like a swan's, but ten times larger."

"Sauk & Meskwaki Indians" by Karl Bodmer

History on the Mississippi

Unfortunately, the land would soon be viewed as important by many different nationalities and for numerous reasons.  The first mentions of the island predate the American Revolution and describe a "big island" at the bend of the Mississippi past the "upper rapids."  This was found in documents from French and French-Canadian traders, who were the first in the area seeking to earn their riches trading furs and seeking the easiest route with which to do so.  Also called "voyageurs," they would travel in "North Canoes" that measured up to 20 feet in length and could carry upwards of a ton of cargo in addition to the eight men required to propel and steer such a vessel.

By 1763, France had been pushed out of the region thanks to the French & Indian War, one of many early conflicts in American history that remains covered in a thick layer of dust.  Those results brought in a new trading partner, the British, though some French remained behind and continued to make their living with the victors.  The local tribes didn't seem to care so long as the trading remained good and their European partners kept providing them with the customary gifts that often accompanied trades to grease the wheels of good relations.  As the name of the previous conflict suggests, Native Americans took sides in more than a few conflicts between European nations.

"Voyageur canoe" by Frances Anne Hopkins -  Licensed under Public Domain

By 1783 the American Revolution was over and the Treaty of Paris had been signed, ceding massive areas of land from the British to the newly founded United States of America.  Known as the Northwest Territory, it included the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota. Much like the defeated French in the previous decade the British couldn't quite give up their profitable trade with the Native Americans.  In fact, they outright refused.  From Canada they continued business on a much larger scale than the vanquished French, all the while undermining their American competition.  As if that weren't enough, they also began to provide arms and ammunition to local tribes who began to organize in order to halt the steady Westward flow of white settlers.  Battles took place, as they would countless times in the century to follow, but it mattered little.  There was no stopping Manifest Destiny.  Even if the Native Americans tried to settle peacefully with the government, a treaty would be drawn up to establish lines that ultimately involved Native Americans sacrificing some of their homeland.  It would last until settlers pushed past those boundaries, a new treaty would be drawn up, and the leapfrogging boundaries would continue to push the Native Americans out of any land they ever knew as home.

Boiling Point

In 1800, Spain quietly "gave" back to France 828,000 square miles of land with more than a little coersion applied by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had visions of extending his empire to the new continent.  President Thomas Jefferson, alarmed at the prospect, began to acquire as much land as possible to help thwart the efforts of the "Little Corporal."  To hedge those efforts he even began secret negotiations with France to purchase the land recently ceded to them by Spain.  Treaty after treaty was being signed with various tribes of Native Americans and each one added to the mass of the rapidly growing nation.  Napoleon, in an effort to raise some much needed finance, eventually sold the desired land to Jefferson in 1803 in the famous "Louisiana Purchase."  The lone holdouts in this string of successes were the Sauk and Fox tribes.  Not only were they not interested in selling their land, they wouldn't even attend meetings with the whites.  Jefferson viewed their land as essential since it included the Mississippi River from Prairie du Chien, WI all the way down to St. Louis.  Something had to give.

The Louisiana Purchase ensured that the "Mighty Mississip" was no longer the westernmost border of the United States; now it was an important artery of transportation for trade and travelers alike.  Americans officially owned the land as of March 10, 1804 and that created some tricky political situations for the Native Americans.  In September of that year, things got even trickier when Sauk hunters killed three white men who had settled illegally on tribal land.  It was the worst possible action for the two tribes.  The deaths panicked the whites, who were now demanding protection from the government, and also struck the fear of retaliation into their own people, who were forced to abandon their southern-most villages and move north of the Des Moines River.

William H. Harrison by Remington Peale

Earlier that year, President Thomas Jefferson had charged Indiana Governor (and future 9th U.S. President) William Henry Harrison with acquiring as much land as possible.  Harrison was infamously well-suited to his task using almost any means necessary to procure new territory: liquor, threats, bribery, and broken promises were his tools of the trade.  The killing of white settlers by the Sauk put the tribe exactly where he wanted them.  It forced them to the bargaining table and put him in a position of strength.  Before he could act on his new bargaining chip, two Sauk village chiefs came to St. Louis to publicly condemn the killings.  They didn't want a few bad apples to spoil the relations of the many.  It isn't mentioned if the Americans accepted the apology, but their demands to present the murderers certainly are.  Shortly after returning to their villages with the demands of the Americans, Harrison sent falsely urgent messages to each tribe stating that if they didn't bring the murderers to St. Louis, he feared retaliation against the tribes.  He then traveled to St. Louis to meet with many other tribes, bestowing them gifts.  As if that weren't Machiavellian enough, he then lavished the rival tribe of the Osage with an even more impressive selection of gifts plus offers of friendship and protection.  In just under a fortnight, five leaders (minor chiefs) of the tribes, four Sauk and one Fox, brought one of the killers to St. Louis along with compensation for the victims' families, a common practice known as "covering the dead."  Pay the families of the dead, and if the payment is accepted, no revenge could be sought.  They were also there to make friends with the Americans and to arrange an alliance that might help protect them from the Osage.

Treaty of 1804: The Devious Deal

Harrison quickly reverted to his tried and true tactics.  He got the tribal delegates drunk, asked for land, and made promises of friendship and protection by the Americans as well as sweeping these unpleasant murders under the rug.  The shifty governor knew that the men present had no authority to make such an agreement.  A process was in place for such arrangements that involved much formality, in addition to feedback and participation from the tribes.  This was the equivalent of a back-alley fleecing.  When it was all said and done the Treaty of 1804 sold a massive plot of 52 million acres to the Americans, including both Sauk villages on the Rock River as well as the island known by then as Rock Island.  For this, the Native Americans would receive $2,234.50 in goods, annual payments of $1,000 in goods, an American to teach them how to farm, and the release of the prisoner brought to St. Louis.  If that doesn't sound like enough of a swindle on a massive scale, Harrison had only just begun.

Map of the territory acquired from the Sauk and Fox in the Treaty of 1804
 as prepared by Ernest Royce. In Wisconsin, the acquisition stopped
 at the Wisconsin River. Map by Karen Everingham.

The minor chiefs who had made the agreement were not unfamiliar with alcohol.  They had been trading with Europeans for over a century, after all.  However, it was a European custom to provide gifts during a trade to keep relations smooth.  Knowing this, the delegates may have thought the alcohol a gift from their "American father."  They must have been sorely surprised when the $2,234 they were to receive as payment for their lands was instead given to a well-to-do French trader as payment for expenses incurred.  The Frenchman, Pierre Chouteau, also served as witness to the signed treaty.  In a final insult, the freed Sauk prisoner was shot down while running from his captors.  Despite being skilled and friendly negotiators with the Europeans, the two tribes were double-crossed in every way imaginable by Harrison.  It was the beginning of some very bad blood and sowed the seeds for what would become the Black Hawk War.

Rise of Rock Island

Zebulon Pike

The Treaty of 1804 brought the fabulously named Lieutenant Zebulon Pike (after whom Pike's Peak is named) to Rock Island in 1805.  His expedition was charged with, among other things, gathering information about the river and to seek the best possible strategic locations for forts to help tame the newly acquired territory.  By 1809, Congress has passed legislation to set aside Rock Island as one of the sites for a federal military installation.  Needless to say that Pike's presence was not welcome on the "big island," as he called it, nor was that of any white man.  The Sauk and Fox had warred with many other tribes to establish their lands.  They were tremendous warriors and while they didn't engage in guerrilla warfare or raids against the whites, it wouldn't take long for them to find their opportunity for vengeance.

The War of 1812

Without going too much into the War of 1812 and what it meant for America, the Sauk and Fox saw it as an opportunity to fight against the Americans.  Allegedly, in an attempt to honor the scandalous Treaty of 1804, the Sauk warrior Black Hawk offered the tribe's allegiance at Fort Madison, but was refused.  This, combined with the Americans refusal to offer them credit, a privilege commonly offered by Europeans, made the Sauk more than receptive when the British came to trade.  Credit was extremely important to the Native Americans in order to purchase vital winter supplies.  For their kindness, the British sent a secret message to Black Hawk urging him to gather a war party and meet the British in Green Bay.  Throughout the War of 1812 the two were allies who supported one another while the Sauk and Fox also harassed targets of opportunity.  The Sauk and Fox, led by Black Hawk, enjoyed victories at islands both south (Credit Island) and north (Campbells Island) of Rock Island.  Even after the war, loyalty to Britain among their allied Native American tribes remained high.

An editorial cartoon encouraging Americans to fight

The recent absence of the defeated British and their forts, plus the continuing hostilities with Native Americans gave the Americans great incentive to locate forts at strategic points.  In 1816, 11 years after Pike had set foot there, Fort Armstrong was established on Rock Island.  It provided an important checkpoint in the Mississippi River, and was able to keep the military close to the problematic Sauk and Fox tribes, who were still angry at the Treaty of 1804 and its consequences.  It was the first permanent settlement in the area and because of the safety it provided, also allowed a hub of commerce and economy to gain a foothold.  The surnames of those earliest businessmen still dot the map today as local towns such as Davenport and LeClaire.  The fort also sent a signal to the French, English, & Canadians to remind them that this was now American soil, no matter how recently it became so.

Fort Armstrong

This model of Fort Armstrong is currently on display at the local Putnam Museum.

The fort was situated at the west tip of Rock Island giving it a superior ability to monitor each channel of the Mississippi River that swept around it.  Fort Armstrong, being on the very edge of the island, only required that the 8th U.S. Infantry build two walls to cordon off the area, which were partly formed by the forts barracks, blockhouses, and storehouses.  The 30-foot natural limestone bluffs that were the western bank of the island were considered an adequate deterrent to anyone wishing to assault the fort from that direction.

This map of the fort is in the same display as the above model at the Putnam Museum and lists out the different buildings.

The fort's construction, save for the limestone cliff, was fairly standard construction for the time.  The blockhouses used interlocking square timbers peppered with a more than adequate number of embrasures so that muskets could be fired by inhabitants and attackers outside the buildings.  The second stories of the blockhouses were also constructed at a diagonal to the first story to eliminate "blind spots" in the fields of fire of the occupants.  This is very similar to Spanish forts or castles which often used angled bastions to allow their cannons interlocking fields of fire.  It turns out that comparisons of Fort Armstrong to castles is not completely unfounded, as is relayed in a 1932 article from The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society that quotes one of Illinois Governor Thomas Ford describing the fort as such,

"Rock Island, was then in a complete state of nature, a romantic wilderness.  Fort Armstrong was built upon a rocky cliff on the lower point of an island, near the center of the river... (a traveler) on the voyage upstream after several days solitary progress through a wilderness country...came suddenly in sight of the whitewashed walls and towers of the fort, perched upon a rock , surrounded by the grandeur and beauty of nature, which at a distance gave it the appearance of one of those enchanted castles... so well described in the Arabian Nights Entertainments!"

1819 map of Rock Island.  Note the cleared area for the fort on the Western tip.

Illustration from "History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century"

Black Hawk would write about the construction of the fort decades later in his memoirs

"When we arrived we found that the troops had come to build a fort on Rock Island. This, in our opinion, was a contradiction to what we had done– 'to prepare for war in time of peace.' We did not object, however, to their building their fort on the island, but were very sorry."

Site of Ft. Armstrong Today

Today, the area is set aside as a park of sorts before one crosses the Government Bridge (a.k.a. Arsenal bridge), which connects the island, known today as Arsenal Island, to Davenport, IA and Rock Island, IL.

At the north end of the park, back to the Government Bridge, looking south toward Illinois.

                                                                                                                                                                                             

Cannons rest pointed at the Mississippi adjacent to a replica blockhouse constructed in 1916 to commemorate Fort

Armstrong's centennial anniversary.

Shown here are many of the embrasures and the interlocking corners.

Here are the two cannons that protect the fort today.

Photo of the Westmost cannon (left in above photo) and taken with lower f-stop to
clarify the text on the muzzle which reads, "No. 189  REVERE COPPER 1218 lbs" and "T.J.R. 1863"

Photo of the Eastmost cannon and taken with lower f-stop to 
clarify the text on the muzzle which reads, "No. 324 H.N.H & Co 1239 lbs" and "T.J.R.  1864"
H.N.H. & Co. stands for manufacturer Henry N. Hooper of Boston, MA.

The blockhouse overlooking the Mississippi with the Centennial Bridge in the background.

Also located in this tiny historical plot is a fenced off area containing the graves of two surgeons who
were very important to the people living  in the area at that time.  Each grave is marked with a large boulder.

As the title states, this was the earliest infancy of the Rock Island Arsenal, and also of the entire surrounding Quad Cities area.  Fort Armstrong served an important role in the Black Hawk War and eventually the treaty that ended that conflict was signed there.  It would last a scant 20 years before being abandoned in 1836 - it was no longer needed as an outpost on the edge of the untamed countryside.  It would serve other purposes in later years, but it had already laid the groundwork for a government military installation and as the hub of a thriving community.  Not bad for an area barely larger than a football field. The coming decades would see the little island rise in importance as the location of the first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi and as a military production facility for the largest conflicts the nation has ever seen.

-Written by Joel R. Kolander



SOURCES:

Eaton, George. Images of America: Rock Island Arsenal. Charleston: Arcadia, 2014. Print.

Slattery, Thomas J. An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island. Vol. I. Rock Island, IL: Historical Office, U.S. Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command, 1988. Print.

http://www.blackhawkpark.org/History/Treaty_1804.html

Arsenal of Innovation - Part II

Our previous article on the Rock Island Arsenal covered a portion of the goods produced by the industrious island.  I began writing it as a small summary piece, but it quickly blossomed as the full scope of the arsenal's production came to light.  What I started became the first installment and only covered up through the 19th century.  Thankfully, there's still a lot of fun stuff to cover as we look at the goods produced in the 20th century and beyond.

Documented Historic Brigadier General Issued Rock Island Arsenal M15 General Officer's Pistol with Paperwork, Display Case, General Officer's Belt, Holsters and Spare Magazine,
SOLD: $9,200

We ended the first article in 1885 when the arsenal had started up their jewelry department.  This turns out to be a remarkably appropriate place to break as it nearly marks the end of tenure for Lieutenant Colonel Daniel W. Flagler on the island.  To briefly recap, General Rodman, the "Father of the Arsenal," had planned the arsenal and begun to shape it when he passed away, in part to his long hours and tremendous work ethic, and the job passed to Flagler,  who completed Rodman's vision admirably.  Flagler's term ended on April of 1886 and the remarkable building and expansion that had taken place at the arsenal slowed to all but a halt with a few notable exceptions: a new concrete dam was built in 1896 and the conversion from Teledynamic power to hydroelectricity began in 1899.

With production for the Spanish-American War going full speed at that time, it's a wonder that the conversion was made at all, and it might not have been for several more years had the existing power house with its wooden frame not caught fire.  Knowing that teledynamic power had its limitations and "bugs" (jammed cables, broken cables, slacken cables, etc), the Army made the easy choice to move forward with the new power source.

Fine Pre-World War I U.S. Rock Island Arsenal Model 1903 Bolt Action Rifle with Sling
SOLD: $3,162

1898 - 1903, Spanish-American War Production

Humor me with a brief timeline.

March 9, 1898: Urgent telegram sent to Rock Island Arsenal from Chief of Ordnance that read, "work (should) be pushed (at RIA) on all existing orders as rapidly as possible, and extra shifts of workmen (should) be employed." 

March 26, 1898: RIA receives orders to produce 25,000 complete infantry kits.  Within a fort night, the commander at the arsenal was sent a message to, "press work on all field gun and siege gun carriages as rapidly as possible, employing extra shifts of men as far as economical."

April 21, 1898:  Rock Island Arsenal is ordered to increase infantry kits to 75,000 and begin manufacture of 10,000 units of horse equipment.

April 25, 1898:  U.S. declares war on Spain, but makes it retroactive to April 22.

You can imagine the rapid growth required to meet such a gargantuan increase in demand.  Departments began working day and night, new orders were coming in almost weekly, and eventually much work was contracted out to private companies.  Infantry kits, horse kits, carriages, and more were all produced at the Rock Island Arsenal.  Even as early as July of that year, there were 46 private contractors completing orders for RIA and 131 more producing the material needed to complete the orders such as cotton webbing, duck material, tin plate, brass wire and brass sheet, rope, leather, steel, iron, wood, and canvas.  Originally having only around 500 employees of men and boys, many of whom were temporary, employment boomed on the island and by its peak in August, RIA employed 2,900 and was turning out 6,000 infantry kits, completed 7,000 bayonet scabbards, and repaired 600 rifles per day.  One line from "An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island, Part II," (which this article depends on heavily for its thorough research) says it best, "The RIA literally equipped the American soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War."

Perhaps even more impressive is the Arsenal had not even come close to tapping its potential.  Of the ten stone shops constructed on the island, only one and a half housed machines for manufacture.  It wouldn't be until the Great War that the full power of the Rock Island Arsenal would be unleashed.

Utensils and meat can produced by RIA.

From 1902 to 1910, RIA was the sole manufacturer of the Army's utensils.
Shown bottom right are a set of M1910 utensils

This canteen resembles the Sovereign's Orb of the United Kingdom.

1899, Small Arms Production

Rock Island Arsenal had been refurbishing arms for the U.S. Army since 1865, mostly Springfield Trapdoor rifles.  

Springfield Model 1862 rifled musket

Springfield Model 1873 Trapdoor Carbine

However, the superior performance of the island during the emergency production increase of the Spanish-American War earned it a new mission: build a new rifle to replace the outdated Krag-Jørgensen.  Due to the Army's delays in the testing and selection process, that mission would wait until December of 1904 when the arsenal would finally begin producing the Springfield M1903 bolt action rifle.  However, production of the classic bolt-action on the island would be ceased in 1913 due to government budget cuts.  When the need for these rifles rose again in 1917, the arsenal no longer had the necessary number of skilled workers required who still remembered how to make the rifle, so manufacture of the M1906 took priority at RIA while the M1903 was largely contracted out to private makers.

They even chose to display a rare M1903 with a rod bayonet

1903 - Present, Artillery and Carriages

As mentioned earlier, the Spanish-American War pushed RIA head first into mobile field artillery.  They were producing field carriages, limbers, caissons, battery wagons, and, carriages for siege guns.  Basically, if a large piece of firepower needed to be moved, RIA likely had a hand in its transportation.  Even after the Spanish-American War ended, the arsenal couldn't take a break.  Changing technologies, mainly from horse drawn to self-propelled vehicles, meant that new carriage designs were needed, and now that the war had shown the arsenal the kind of demand that could quickly arise, efforts were also taken to upgrade machinery and enhance automation.

Rock Island Arsenal Field Piece Manufacture, public domain.  Available from the United States Library of Congress

As mentioned in the first RIA article, carriages have always been a big deal for the arsenal and remain so to this day.  While none of the actual carriages or artillery pieces were on display at the Putnam, they did have many models showcasing the island's many products, which will be shown later in this article.

One of the more impressive things ever produced at the arsenal is the Mark VIII Tank.  Even after the November 11 Armistice, RIA received an order for 100 of the behemoths. Then the peak of technology, they could hold eight men and it only took the arsenal 286 days to complete once all the parts had been standardized properly.  The image below is the result of several photos of a single large panorama in the exhibit which reads, "Shipment of 34 Mark VIII Tanks from Rock Island Arsenal to Camp Meade, MD, May 21, 1920."

As time went on they would go on to produce any number of carriages and mobile artillery pieces, constantly evolving with the technology and the changing conflicts.  Here are some examples that were on display, though they are far from exhaustive on the topic.

M2 Tanks in production in Shop M, Building 220.  Note the tiny 37mm barrels.

The device shown in the photo above is reminiscent of the water rockets one would "launch" as a child, but this one enjoys a slightly larger effect.  What you see is the "Davy Crockett," the smallest nuclear weapons system ever built.  Devised prior to the peak of the Cold War this recoilless rifle was essentially a nuclear bazooka (or "ba-nuka" as I like to say) made to halt the Russians in the event they invaded West Germany.  Its M388 round held a W-54 warhead and was 11 inches in diameter, weighing 51 lbs; designed to be carried by a single soldier and roughly three times more powerful than the explosion of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.  Range was a scant 2 - 2.5 miles, so firing into the wind was inadvisable at best.  Anything within a quarter mile of the explosion would almost certainly die, but the radioactivity created would also stay any advancing troops giving the U.S. and NATO forces a chance to act.  Fired in several tests, the 2,100 produced were never used in combat before being stockpiled and eventually decommissioned in 1971.  Only the non-nuclear components were manufactured at the RIA.  This "mini-nuke" was definitely King of the Wild Frontier.

Besides manufacture, RIA also has performed a lot of research and development for the Army, coming up with many innovative ideas along the way.  This "Soft Recoil 105mm Howitzer" was designed for fighting in Vietnam where the marshy ground could cause problems for traditional Howitzer carriages.  Photo is dated "30 June 65" in the bottom right corner.

Looking like a very angry tank, this concept of a self-propelled howitzer shows yet another way that RIA has kept up with technology and the ever-changing demands of the Army.  Photo is dated "15 Mar 66."

These are actual models of proposed weapons that were paired with conceptual drawings as a very real part of the weapons development process.  They may look like toys now, but they were once part of some deadly serious business.

More models designed at the arsenal.

1905, Arsenal Museum is Formed

This fact wasn't so much mentioned in the exhibit, but when you're surrounded with items from the Rock Island Arsenal Military Museum, it seems silly not to list it.  Founded appropriately on the 4th of July that year, it is the Army's second oldest museum, younger only than the one found at West Point Academy.  Please read more about their origin and ever increasing role to preserve the arsenal's history at their webpage.  The small arms collection there is nationally renowned.

This portion of the RIA small arms collection was NOT on display at the Putnam

Photo Credit to http://baseballbyways.blogspot.com

1918 - Present, John Deere

John Deere, headquartered in neighboring Moline, IL, has always been a valued contributor to the U.S. armed forces.  In WWI, over 1,000 of their employees served, and in WWII they added to the production effort, making military tractors, transmissions for tanks, ammunition, airplane parts, engine components, and even mobile laundry units.  Today, their contribution lies mostly in producing M-Gators, versions of their popular 6-wheeled "Gator" ATVs that have been converted to carrying the wounded.  The one shown in the exhibit is the first production model ever assembled, and of course, it was done at the nearby Rock Island Arsenal.

Current Production

The caption provided at the museum reads, "Today's Arsenal is characterized by public/private partnerships.  The Mandus Group, one of these partners, manufactures the Hawkeye Weapon System, a modular lightweight howitzer that can be mounted on a variety of vehicles, even a pick-up truck."

Unfortunately, I don't know if that means the item was designed or actually fabricated at RIA or Mandus.

The arsenal also takes on many projects revolving around HMMWVs (Humvees).  On display was an armored door they currently manufacture next to a non-armored door.  Shutting and knocking on these doors makes it instantly clear which door one would rather have in combat.

They also work with the National Guard to produce Humvee Ambulances to maximize storage capacity, increase interior door size, and also improve lighting and ventilation.  Signs in the museum indicate that these "new ambulances are being built in the exact same shop that put out the familiar Jeep ambulances of 50 years ago."

In addition to ambulances, RIA is also producing other specialized modifications for Humvees.  Soldiers aren't the only ones who might need attention in the field.  If a hydraulic system suffers a malfunction in the field, the Hydraulic System Test and Repair Unit (HSTRU) is certain to come in handy.  It's another co-venture with MandusGroup, who is also responsible for the image below.

Much in the same way that RIA built its own forges and made giant leaps ahead in self-sufficiency during the 1800s, the Arsenal is again embracing that same spirit in 3D printing. They are currently partnering with the Quad City Manufacturing Laboratory (QCML) to access cutting edge technology in order to more sucecssfully complete their mission.  Innovation comes much more quickly when parts for prototypes or repairs can be quickly printed on site... in metal.  General Rodman would have given up Quarters One for such advances.

This cube is a "demonstration component for a nuclear reactor" and is made from stainless steel
for a project with Lockheed-Martin.

This impeller is printed from titanium alloy.

I wish I could say, "that covers it," but these two articles on the Rock Island Arsenal in no way begin to cover the goods that have been produced on its 946 acres.  You'll notice that the products from the Great War and World War II were all but omitted.  Those goods tend to be a bit more well-known to collectors due to the massive scope of those conflicts.  The exhibit at the Putnam Museum chose instead to focus on goods that would be decidedly less familiar to enthusiasts of military history and the arsenal.  Besides, it's really hard to fit an M2 tank on the second story of a museum.

Thanks to both the Putnam Museum and the Rock Island Arsenal Museum for collaborating to put together such an informative, in-depth, and educational exhibit on this local and national treasure. There is no doubt RIA will continue its relevance, contributions and innovation in the centuries to come.

"M2A2 Terra Star 105mm Auxiliary Propelled Howitzer front quarter" by Jon.jeckell - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

On display at the outdoor RIA artillery collection, this M2A2 Terra Star, is known
to be the only surviving prototype.

-Written by Joel Kolander

SOURCES:

Lepore, Herbery P., "Rock Island Arsenal: An Arsenal for Democracy, 50th Anniversary of WWII"  Historical Office,

Slattery, Thomas J., "An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal Island, Part Two" Historical Office, U.S. Army Armament, 1989

Wallace, Lisa, "An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island, Part Three" History Office, U.S. Army Sustainment Command

Display information at "An Arsenal of Innovation," Putnam Museum, Davenport, IA

An Arsenal of Innovation, Part I

Image courtesy of the Putnam Museum

When I began to research different aspects of the Rock Island Arsenal for our ongoing series of articles covering the island, I made the happy discovery that a local museum was running an exhibit about the arsenal as well.  Titled "Arsenal of Innovation" it focuses on the island's manufacturing prowess, the contributions it has made to the U.S. military, and how its role has changed over time and in various conflicts.  The exhibit is currently on display with many items on loan from the actual Rock Island Arsenal Museum and will run through Sunday, November 15.  By chance, the Putnam is also showing "D-Day: Normandy 1944" in its IMAX theater, so U.S. history buffs and military enthusiasts will have no problem spending an afternoon at the facility.

The Putnam Museum in Davenport, IA

I took photos of just about everything on display, but have tried to narrow it down to a few of the most fascinating or impressive things that the Rock Island Arsenal has done in its nearly two centuries of existence.  With that said, and the founding of Fort Armstrong in 1816, Rock Island Arsenal will be celebrating its bicentennial next year.  It's good to see interest in local history and few such interests are fortunately enough to be graced with a timely museum exhibit.  A tip of the hat to the Putnam for their work and recognition of such an event.  Now let's take a look inside and see what historical militaria they have on display.

Right off the bat you can see that there are some really good aspects of the exhibit and some things that could be improved.  Then again, since this is a temporary exhibit and a museum in a small market, I'm sure that options and funding are more limited than they are at say the Smithsonian or Chicago's Museum of Natural History.  That said, the amount of material that was shown readily achieves its goal of showcasing a wide variety of what the Rock Island Arsenal has produced through the decades.

In showing these manufactured goods, I'll try to go as chronologically as possible.  However, one of the things I felt was a shortcoming of the exhibit was the lack of chronological presentation.  Granted, some of the earliest items (leather goods, mess kits) are in front and the most modern (Humvee armor) are in the rear, but ultimately things are organized into groups.  A group of Great War items here, a group of Cold War goods there, etc.  I do like that aspect of the exhibit, as it gives a true scope of the items produced during each era.  Two other shortcomings, I felt were the lack of firearms shown (then again, I'm admittedly very biased toward that), and the missed potential of vertical space in the exhibit.  As seen above, it's a very tall room and the only large item to use that space is the clock face.  Placing tall items against walls or even hanging things from the ceiling could have given the exhibit a more "permanent" feel, shown some neat items, and really been attractive to the eye.

On a more positive note, they do have some interesting, easy-to-use, and in-depth interactive displays in the museum (like the one shown below specifically made for the Arsenal Exhibit).  They also had a Jeep and artillery piece on display in the lobby for their IMAX theater, which helped promote the exhibit as well as the D-Day movie.

This display gave first hand account of former arsenal employees, many of which related to items in the exhibit.

These are just my opinions.  I'm sure there are designers of museum exhibits out there just itching to tell me that the arrangement of this exhibit encourages exploration or is better in one way or another.  To that I say, you're probably right.  The "shortcomings" mentioned above are merely the opinion of someone with zero experience in that field.  Please take any criticisms with that grain of salt.

Canvas goods produced for the Army by the Rock Island Arsenal.

1863, Clock Tower Construction Begins

The original 1867 clock hands shown here were donated to the Putnam in 1954.

Current day Clock Tower as seen on Google Earth.  Photopgrapher: Robert Maihofer II, © All Rights Reserved 

Not so coincidentally, one of the very first things that you see when walking into the exhibit is the life-size replica of the arsenal's clock tower face that bears the clock's original hands.  The face is roughly 12 feet in diameter and the hands are five and six feet long.  The first clock was purchased from A.S. Hotchkiss of New York City for the large sum of $5,000.  That's especially impressive since the Clock Tower, finished in 1867, was the first permanent government structure on the island.  It was originally built on top of what was then known modestly as "Storehouse A," but by 1868, had three more clock faces added to the remaining sides of the clock tower.  The original hands were replaced in 1954 and donated to the museum.  Today the Clock Tower building serves as an office building for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (since 1934) and the clock still operates as installed.

1871, Recycling

In 1871, Colonel Thomas Jackson Rodman, largely considered to be the "Father of the Arsenal" for his work in its initial design and subsequent growth, began building a blacksmith shop and later that same year would add blast furnaces to that facility.  Besides allowing the arsenal to produce building or ordnance materials, they could also implement another innovation: recycling.  Rodman would die in June of that year, but his successor, Major Flagler, was very ready to utilize these cupola furnaces to minimize construction costs, save time on the delivery of new materials, and increase the island's self sufficiency.  Tons of scrap metal existed from the Civil War: cannons, bullets, horse shoes, and more.  Previously all this material would be sold to dealers, but now the arsenal was making all sorts of material for their own use such as castings, iron columns for construction, sewer pipes, fences, railings, trusses, weights, pulleys, machines, and many other types of fixtures.  Brass was also re-purposed for construction needs.

Post Civil War shot yard full of unused ordnance at the Rock Island Arsenal.

That ordnance after being repurposed at the arsenal.

A staircase on the arsenal made from recycled metal.

1875 - 1921, Leather Equipment

Early in 1875, General Stephen V. Benet, later the Chief of United States Army Ordnance, sent the Rock Island Arsenal Commander an order for 3,000 sets of infantry equipment  and 3,000 saddles. This would mark the beginning of manufacturing for the Army at the arsenal. Prior to 1875, the arsenal's foundry and other buildings were very active producing construction material and shop equipment, but it was for the proliferation of the island's facilities and not the U.S. Army.  Also, the arsenal had been refurbishing small arms at this point, mostly Trapdoor rifles, but had not yet begun manufacturing them.  Throughout this time of cavalry use, the Rock Island Arsenal would produce saddles, bridles, reins, harnesses, stirrups, gun belts, saddles bags, cartridge pouches, slings, holsters, and scabbards.  The large boost in the production of leather goods was largely due to the Spanish-American war and gave rise to the island's Metal Polishing & Plating Department for all the rivets, buckles, and hardware on the aforementioned leather goods.

Note the crest on the front of the machine framework, also made by arsenal employees.
These were people proud of their job and their quality.

The finished products.

The sewing machine shown were originally made by Wheeler and Wilson, which, after their bankruptcy, was purchased by Singer who would continue to provide machines for the arsenal.  Many times large inventions or innovations (like the following section on the Telodynamic power) receive all the attention, but it was refreshing to see in this exhibit the many small ways that arsenal employees took it upon themselves to make small changes in their environment and work space to become more efficient.  The sewing machine table shown below is a prime example of this.  Basically, it's just a longer sewing machine table, but it was adapted from its original, standard size for use on the arsenal.  The longer table allowed the larger or longer objects to be supported while the employees worked on them, thus completing the task more quickly and easily.

Another example of these small innovations can be seen on the wooden saddler's bench shown below.  Notice the pad on the wooden seat?  Notice what it is made from?  Someone had that seat put together from the materials the arsenal was using to make the U.S. Army's canvas goods.  It's just a simple cushion, but once it was created and seen by coworkers, I bet it wasn't the only one in the shop.  Just another small way the employees of the arsenal addressed a problem and tackled it themselves.

Some of the mess kits and smaller leather goods also created by the arsenal.

1879, Telodynamic Power

As the variety and load of the work increased at the arsenal, so did the demand for powered machinery.  New buildings were going up and an answer would be needed in short form.  Enter Major Daniel W. Flagler (eventually Brigadier General Flagler) who introduced an innovative new telodynamic system.  The system used the Mississippi River to turn several turbines that, through a series of gears, turned a huge drive wheel 15 feet in diameter.

This wheel spun a cable, much like a ski lift, that proceeded north to a series of large towers behind the work shops.  Wheels on the towers transferred that same energy into the shops by using wires to turn a centralized overhead "drive shaft" of sorts.

In this photo, workmen can be seen attaching the cables that would eventually
transfer power into the shops.

When workers inside needed to power their machine, they would allow their machine's belts to come into contact with the drive shaft.  Such an idea of belt driven machines was not new, Winchester was using belts to polish his rifles almost as soon as the company bore his name, but the idea of transferring the available energy such a long distance and dispersing it in such a way was an early innovation in the history of the arsenal.  These belts powered machinery for all manner of tasks: sawing, grinding, polishing, cutting, and more.  The Teledyne system would eventually be replaced by electrical power generators in 1901.

1881, Printing Press

Not a huge innovation, but it's interesting to know that the arsenal also operated a printing press to print out many different types of targets for the Army.  They would create their own metal printing plates used in the process, and also created rolls of "target pasters," which were essentially stickers to cover bullet holes so that paper targets could be reused.  The pasters would be used through the Great War.

In another example of simple innovations at the arsenal, is what appears to be a heavy duty cane shown in the display case with the metal printing plates.  This big stick with a small leather loop was one employee's way to make life simpler.  Using this tool, a printing press operator could avoid smearing the fresh ink on the newly printed targets when removing them from the press.  This "target lifter" also likely prevented the operator's hands from being covered with ink.   Its inventor is unknown.

1885, Jewelry Department

We often associate the Rock Island Arsenal with military firearms, leather goods, and if you live in the area, you may even be aware that they currently produce armor for military HMMWVs (Humvees).  However, toward the end of the 19th century, "a Jewelry Department was added to the island to produce pins, badges, trophies, and insignia for saddle gear."  They would also electroplate items, repair saber scabbards & belts, and so on.  This lead to increased responsibilities for the arsenal in the ways of metalwork and soon the island was also tasked with making gun carriages, metal targets, horse equipment, siege carriages, caissons, forges, and eventually "gun tubes" (a.k.a. barrels).  The fabrication of artillery carriages remains to this day, an area of expertise of the Rock Island Arsenal.

The even made the boxes on the arsenal and the box liners

According to Thomas Slattery, author of An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal Island, "The RIA literally equipped the American soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War."  He then mentioned a large number of items that when considered, would not be surprising if it were incomplete.  Not because Slattery's work is not thorough, but it simply would not be a shock to discover the arsenal made even MORE things since they seem to make everything else.  He lists: blanket bags, duffel bags, haversacks, canteens, their felt and thick duck covers, meat cans, plates, tin cups, utensils, bayonet scabbards, wooden saddle frames or saddle trees, rings, hooks, straps, carbine scabbards, saddle bags, saddles, stirrups, surcingles ("a girth that binds a saddle, pack, or blanket to the body of the horse), bridles, halters, artillery harnesses, picket pins, nose bags, horse brushes, curry combs, handgun holsters, spurs, saber belts, multiple carriage types, doors, door knobs, window frames, roof straps, pulleys, railings, iron trusses, iron columns, beams, staircases, stoves, desks, chairs, hinges, and more.

This article, even in its length, only covers SOME of the production of the RIA through the 19th century.  The museum also showed many of the items created by the arsenal during the 20th century and that's where things get really interesting for firearms collectors and people who like really big guns.  There's an "urban myth" of sorts in the Quad Cities, the metropolitan area that centers around the island.  It states that, due to the military production prowess of the arsenal, the Quad Cities was once very high on a list of potential bombing targets to be targeted by an opposing military force in a time of war.  The number or priority varies depending on who tells it, of course.  Some have the Quad Cities listed as the #7 location to be bombed, while others place it out of the top ten.  Nobody seems to know the source of such a dark piece of trivia, regardless of its accuracy.  The arsenal's Midwest location may have made such an attack a difficult task indeed, but you can find out in the second part of this article what the museum has on display that make this "urban myth" all too plausible.

-Written by Joel Kolander







SOURCES:

Slattery, Thomas J., "An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal Island, Part Two" Historical Office, U.S. Army Armament, 1989

Display information at "An Arsenal of Innovation," Putnam Museum, Davenport, IA