50+ Lifestyles

Just Saying…

By Q.C. Jones

Just the Facts, Ma’am

Dumb, de, dumb, dumb… Dumb, de, dumb, dumb…. Dummmmmb. “Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.”

Some things are omnipresent; the sun, the blue sky, the seasons. Omnipresent in that it’s impossible to remember a time when they weren’t part of your life.  I must admit, I can’t remember a time when Dragnet and Officer Joe Friday weren’t part of my life.

My memories are vivid and blurred at the same time. I have vivid flash backs to the age of five when I was forced to go to bed just after the famous theme song blasted from my family’s 20 inch black and white TV.  Incidentally, like 99.9 percent of the TVs in America, ours had a black panther with lights growing out of it, until my little brother broke it. When I reached the ripe old age of eight, I got to join the grownups for our weekly dose of Sargent Joe Friday and his trusty side-kick Frank Smith.

So when I say, this month’s story is not my fault. I am a product of my single TV owning, three channel watching youthful environment. You should understand. Join old QC Jones as we look at “Just the facts.”

Does Saukenuk have a nice ring to it?

If we would have adopted the Native Name for the Quad-Cities it would have been called Saukenuk. A decade before American Independence in 1776, Massachusetts-born
explorer Jonathon Carver “discovered” the Quad-Cities and commented it was “the largest and best built Indian town” he had ever seen and went on to say, it was “more like a civilized town than the abode of savages.”

One can’t help but wonder if Jonathon noticed the area’s definite lack of a Pollo Tropico chicken shack or a White Castle for that matter. On another note, some portions of the QCA appear to have gone downhill since 1766. The City Fathers of dear old Saukenuk could honestly boast, that absolutely no one was keeping junk cars or old appliances in their back yards.

Is Arsenal Island teaming with Ghosts?

Here are the facts. The Indigenous folks living around Saukenuk felt the spot currently referred to as Arsenal Island was inhabited by friendly spirits. As a near right of passing, the young people from the Sauk and related tribes made the island their summer retreat. Many claimed to witness the spirits amongst the rock outcroppings near the river. But that’s not all.

Today Arsenal Island appears on the obscure and often underground websites of ghost hunters and paranormal experimenters.  Some of the spots listed are Quarters One, the area near the western tip of the island and the old Civil War POW Camp. After reading the chronical of the 8,500 or so brave Confederates held here, I wouldn’t be surprised if some are still looking for a warm blanket and a hunk of salt pork.

Speaking of Spirts…

The Quad-Cities was a spirituous kind of town.  Here’s the scoop on Davenport Whiskey. Thomas Wood built the first distillery in this part of the county back in 1842, when Davenport (the town) was just a spit in the road and Col. George Davenport (the guy) lived in Illinois.  Mr. Wood had a grist mill and decided to make the extra corn into corn squeezings. During the 1800s there were dozens of breweries and a far mix of distilleries on both sides of the river.

The Quad-Cities fought on the front lines of prohibition.  Most don’t realize Iowa Prohibition actually began in 1883 with complete prohibition of all forms of consumable alcohol coming four years before the national Prohibition in 1920.  The Quad-Citians fought a bold fight against tyranny. Our grandparents were definantly sipping on cold beers all through the prohibition.

The legend lives on. Davenport still has a still, and a couple of cool breweries. I recommend you head down to East Second and Iowa Street to visit and take the tour of both. Al Jarosz, the master distiller at Artisan Grain Distillery is an encyclopedia of QCA History. (He and QC are writing a historic walking tour of Downtown Davenport for the tourists.)

The Quad-Cities by any other name Smells as Sweet…

The Quad-Cities has a nice ring to it, but back in our grandparents time it was the Tri-Cities. In the twenty or so years leading up to World War I, the towns of Rock Island, Moline and Davenport started billing themselves as the Tri-Cities. It was mostly a marketing ploy dreamed up to make the area sound bigger and metropolitan (see facts on liquor above).
When the Illinois side got a blast of growth following WWI, the powers to be let East Moline into the club and changed the name to the Quad-Cities (which sounds 25 percent more urban). For those reading this article on ships at sea via the great World Wide Web and/or long distance telepathy, let me say this: Today’s Quad-Cities is like getting a baker’s dozen. We give you (in no particular order) 1) Davenport, 2) Bettendorf, 3) Rock Island, 4) Moline, 5) East Moline, 6) Milan, 7) Silvis and a hodge-podge of Orions, Coal Valleys, Carbon Cliffs and Pleasant Valleys to boot. It’s like an orchestra billing itself as a quartet.

Getting back to Sargent Friday. If Jack Webb asks us to name the Quad-Cities, we better hope isn’t in the Taser-blasting mood.  Just saying…. QC Jones