THE WORLD GOES TO WAR ONCE AGAIN! MANY SERVED PROUDLY Roger Gast, son of John C. and Marie Gast, entered the Army in November of 1942, and served until September of 1945.    During the Battle of the Bulge, in January of 1945, Roger was wounded and he was wounded […]

THE WORLD GOES TO WAR ONCE AGAIN! A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT There were many from Steamboat Rock that answered the call to serve their country. My father-in-law, Hollis Havens was in the Navy prior to the start of the war. He and his wife Meta Mae recalled many memories of […]

THE WORLD GOES TO WAR ONCE AGAIN! Military life can be described and understood best by those who have served, and to a much lesser degree by those who have never participated. I having never served in the military even in peacetime and can offer little in way of description […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS BUILDING The building trade began with the community, however there is very little information on Steamboat Rock’s earliest masters of the construction trade.    One of Steamboat Rock’s earliest builders was a gentleman by the name of John McConchie. He built the home for George […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS GYPSIES, TRAMPS, AND THIEVES A few of our oldest citizens will remember the days of tramps, gypsies and horse traders. In the days after the turn of the century and especially during the depression years, it was not uncommon to have a tramp stop by […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS THE AUTOMOBILE Nothing since the train did so much to change things as the automobile. Now people were able to go wherever they wanted whenever they wanted. They were no longer restrained by the schedule of the train. Because it was so important it would […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS MOVING There was a great deal of moving from place to place as people sought to better themselves. Before the railroad it was a difficult process.  After the railroad arrived it became a bit easier but not a lot. After the railroad was in place, […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS 1913 TRAIN WRECK The worst train wreck in Steamboat Rock’s history took place not quite two years later, on March 14, 1913. This one left two stockmen dead and one seriously injured.    The accident was the result of a rear-end collision on the Minneapolis […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS TRAIN WRECKS A serious train derailment caused a freight to plunge through the railroad bridge spanning the Iowa River at Steamboat Rock on the afternoon of April 26, 1911.    According to the trainmen the derailment of a refrigerator car, the first car after the […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS THE RAILROAD The Iowa Central was operated in conjunction with the Minneapolis & St. Louis railroad beginning in 1900 and became the property of the M&StL in 1912.    Until the advent of automobiles in the 1900’s the railroad depot was a very busy and […]