Tower Rock: Local landmark has a long history

Tower Rock has always been a well-known landmark on the Mississippi and the source of the name of Grand Tower, Illinois. Most literate early European travelers mention it, usually as a marker of a particularly treacherous section of the river for early travelers.

The earliest mention is by Father Jacques Marquette in 1673:

"...the Savages... believe that a ... demon [is there], that devours travelers... This is the demon: there is a small cove, surrounded by rocks 20 feet high, into which the whole Current of the river rushes; and, being pushed back against the waters following it, and checked by an Island near by, the Current is compelled to pass through a narrow Channel. This is not done without a violent Struggle between all these waters, which force one another back, or without a great din, which inspires terror in the savages...."

The Jesuit priest Jean-Francois Buisson de St. Cosme erected a cross on Tower Rock in December 1698, but that is an entire story unto itself.

Meriwether Lewis described the Grand Tower (Tower Rock) and its surroundings in his journal entry of Nov. 26, 1803:

"When the river is high the courent setts in with great violence on the W. side of this rock and being confined on that by a range of high hills is driven with much impetuosity through a narrow channel formed by the rock which composes this rock, and one which forms the base of the Sugar-loaf point, this courent meets the other portion of the river which runs E. of the Tower and on the Tower side in an obtuse angle; these strong courants thus meeting each other form an immence and dangerous whirlpool..."

Most of the wrecks occurring around the rock went unrecorded or are legends or otherwise unconfirmed, but there is frequent reference to 14 members of the Miami tribe drowning in one incident.

The area was alleged to be a center of river piracy in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and the numerous potential refuges support that likelihood.

The original configuration of the Missouri side of the channel at Tower Rock included several rock pinnacles. Engineers removed much of this to improve navigation, and quarrying removed much of the elevated rock shelf around the pinnacles. When Prince Maximilian of the German state of Wied-Neuwied traveled up the Mississippi in 1832, the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer accompanied him. Bodmer painted Tower Rock, providing the first accurate image of the landmark. Unfortunately the angle he chose fails to depict shoreline landmarks.

Long considered a hazard to navigation, engineers proposed removing rocks restricting the channel along with Tower Rock after the Civil War. However, President Grant issued an executive order designating Tower Rock for public purposes on February 24, 1871. One possible consideration at the time was that the rock might serve as a pier for a future bridge. It is currently under the jurisdiction of the Missouri Department of Conservation and part of Tower Rock Natural Area.