KEOKUK  , a

city of Lee county, Iowa, U.S.A., on the Mississippi river, at the mouth of the Des Moines, in the S.E. corner of the state, about 200 M. above St Louis . Pop . (1900), 14,641; (19o5), 14,604, including 1J34 foreign-born; (1910), 14,008 . It is served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Wabash, and the Toledo, Peoria & Western railways . There is a bridge (about 2200 ft. long) across the Mississippi, and another (about 1200 ft. long) across the Des Moines . The city has a public library and St Joseph and Graham hospitals, and is the seat of the Keokuk Medical College (1849) . There is a national cemetery here . Much of the city is built on bluffs along the Mississippi . Keokuk is at the foot of the Des Moines Rapids, round which the Federal Government has constructed a navigable canal (opened 1877) about 9 M. long, with a draft at extreme low water of 5 ft.; at the foot a great dam, 12 m. long and 38 ft. high, has been constructed . Keokuk has various manufactures; its factory product in 1905 was valued at $4,225,915, 38.6% more than in 1900 . The city was named after Keokuk, a chief of the Sauk and Foxes (1780-1848), whose name meant " the watchful " or " he who moves alertly." In spite of Black Hawk's war policy in 1832 Keokuk was passive and neutral, and with a portion of his nation remained peaceful while Black Hawk and his warriors fought . His grave, surmounted by a monument, is in Rand Park .

The first

house on the site of the city was built about 182o, but further settlement did not begin until 1836 . Keokuk was laid out as a town in 1'837, was chartered as a city in 1848, and in 1907 was one of five cities of the state governed by a special charter .