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PERSONAL SKETCHES.
With the permission of Colonel Morgan, the commanding officer at Fort Armstrong, in 1818 he erected a double log cabin on the island that he might have more room for his goods. He also purchased in St. Louis a small keelboat loaded it with goods and provisions, and brought them to Rock Island. During the winter he traversed the prairies of Iowa and bought all the best furs, feathers, beeswax and deer's tallow. In the spring, all these were packed in good order and shipped to St. Louis. He also traded for lead at Fever River and at the Dubuque mines; this branch of his trade proving also very profitable. He established trading-posts at Fever River, Flint Hills, Iowa River, Wapsipinicon and Maquoketa, in addition to those previously established on Rock River. His headquarters, or principal depot, was on Rock Island, where all the furs, skins and other commodities received from the Indians were collected and shipped to St. Louis. At Rock Island his goods for the Indians were invoiced and sent to the different branch posts, where his agents disposed of them.
In 1823, Davenport, by request, piloted the first steamboat the--"Virginia"--over the rapids at Rock Island. She was laden with provisions for Prairie du Chien, and was from Wheeling, Virginia. In 1825 he was appointed postmaster at Rock Island. The next year he became a member of the American Fur Company, and assumed the management of its trade from the mouth of Iowa River up to Turkey River. In the spring of 1827, he left on a visit to his native country--England--and returned in May of the next year. In 1830 he visited Washington City to counsel with the president and secretary of war in reference to the removal of the Indians to the west side of the
