The New Student's Reference Work/Rock Island, Ill.

Rock Island, Ill., a city on the Mississippi, opposite Davenport, Ia. — the two towns being connected by a wrought-iron bridge which cost over $1,000,000 — is 180 miles from Chicago. The island in the Mississippi, from which the town is named, belongs to the United States government and is retained as an arsenal for the manufacture of soldiers' equipments, including small arms. Its area is about 1,000 acres; it is beautifully wooded and, with its winding drives, serves as a park for the citizens of Davenport, Moline and Rock Island. The channel south of the island has been dammed so as to furnish immense water-power for the arsenal's use, as also for private plants and public utilities. The city has saw-mills, besides foundries, machine-shops and factories which produce wagons buggies, plows and stoves. Population 24,335.