Explosions

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. The universe may lay claim to the first and the biggest bang, but the Upper Mississippi has witnessed some pretty good echoes ever since the first steamboat exploded in 1837. That year, with Iowa and Northern Illinois newly opened to settlement, the steamer Dubuque bound upstream from St. Louis, blew one of its boilers, throwing a sheet of scalding steam and water over the deck passengers, killing twenty-two of them.

Other Episodes

December 27, 2023

The Special Edition

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.

Listen · 3:00

December 26, 2023

Don Wooten

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.

Listen · 3:12

December 22, 2023

Quad City Symphony

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.

Listen · 3:16

WVIK - Quad Cities NPR

WVIK, Quad Cities NPR, provides news and classical music 24-hours-a-day to the Quad Cities and surrounding community in northwestern Illinois and eastern Iowa. WVIK is a public service of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Our signal is broadcast at 90.3 FM in the Quad Cities area, at 95.9 FM in Dubuque, Iowa (including a small part of southwestern Wisconsin), and around the globe at WVIK.org.

See More Articles From WVIK - Quad Cities NPR