A NEW CENTURY STRANGE BUT TRUE In 1906 Steamboat Rock had a Chinese laundry. The laundry was operated by Fong Gaw.    His advertising boasted, “Fong Gaw, laundry man, asks for your patronage. Work neatly and promptly done.”    How long he remained in town is not known. 

A NEW CENTURY The year 1900 was the dawn of the twentieth century. Never in the history of mankind have so many changes been made in business, industry, communications, labor, transportation, and lifestyle as were made in this short one hundred year period.    In the second half of the […]

A CENTURY DRAWS TO A CLOSE RURAL MAIL DELIVERY The last event of the 19th Century found of any substance, was the beginning of the first rural mail route.    The route was established on December 4, 1899 at an annual salary of $400 for the carrier. The first rural […]

A CENTURY DRAWS TO A CLOSE GRAND DECORATIONS “Talk about decorations! From actual observations the Echo man is prepared to state the he has never saw the like of it in Eldora, Iowa Falls, or any other town in the county.”    “The glorious red, white and blue were everywhere […]

A CENTURY DRAWS TO A CLOSE A GRAND CELEBRATION There was a grand celebration held in Steamboat Rock for the Fourth of July in 1898, which by all descriptions had never been equaled before or since.    It seems that the reason for such a celebration being held on this […]

A CENTURY DRAWS TO A CLOSE FIRE DEPARTMENT BEGINS The first fire fighting apparatus the town of Steamboat Rock had consisted of two 30 gallon steel water tanks of a cylindrical shape some 15 inches in diameter and six feet in length. These were mounted on a two wheel cart […]

A CENTURY DRAWS TO A CLOSE TOWN JAIL DESTROYED BY FIRE On Sunday evening November 17, 1897 the jail in Steamboat Rock was destroyed by fire. The jail was used for little more than a holding tank for drunkards and a place to lock up the tramps that came into […]

A CENTURY DRAWS TO A CLOSE WE’VE COME A LONG WAY At the beginning of the new year 1898, an article appeared in the Steamboat Rock Echo entitled “An Historic & Business Town.” In the Friday , January 7 issue Mr. A.S. Root was interviewed and he gave his description […]

A CENTURY DRAWS TO A CLOSE As the Century drew to a close, Steamboat Rock was 45 years old. And an amazing 45 years it was. From a wilderness on the edge of civilization a town had grown. Hard working people in trying to build a life for themselves had […]

THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS THE ICE BUSINESS   No one is certain as to when the Ice business in Steamboat Rock actually began. In February of 1890, the Eldora Herald carried an article stating that the Creve Coevr Company of St. Louis was harvesting 50 to 60 cars of […]