Editing Quad Cities (section)

===Early history===
Before European settlers came to inhabit the Quad Cities, the confluence of rivers had attracted many varying cultures of [[indigenous peoples]], who used the waterways and riverbanks for their settlements for thousands of years. At the time of European encounter, it was a home and principal trading place of the [[Sauk people|Sauk]] and Fox tribes of Native Americans. Saukenuk was the principal village of the Sauk tribe and birthplace of its 19th-century [[Tribal chief|war chief]], [[Black Hawk (chief)|Black Hawk]]. In 1832, Sauk chief [[Keokuk (Sauk chief)|Keokuk]] and General [[Winfield Scott]] signed a treaty in Davenport after the US defeated the Sauk and their allies in the [[Black Hawk War]]. The treaty resulted in the Native Americans ceding {{convert|6|e6acre|km2}} of land to the United States in exchange for a much smaller reservation elsewhere. [[Black Hawk State Historic Site]] in Rock Island preserves part of historic Saukenuk and is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

The history of urban settlements in the Quad Cities was stimulated by [[riverboat]] traffic. For {{convert|14|mi}} between [[LeClaire, Iowa]], and Rock Island, the Mississippi River flowed across a series of finger-like rock projections protruding from either bank. These rapids were difficult for steamboats to traverse. As demand for river-based transportation increased along the upper Mississippi, the navigability of the river throughout the "Rock Island Rapids" became a greater concern. Over time, a minor industry grew up in the area to meet the steamboats' needs. Boat crews needed rest areas to stop before encountering the rapids, places to hire expert [[Maritime pilot|pilots]] such as Phillip Suiter, who was the first licensed pilot on the upper Mississippi River, to guide the boat through the rocky waters, or, when the water was low, places where goods could be removed and transported by wagon on land past the rapids.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Frederick Anderson|title=Joined by a River: The Quad Cities, Lee Enterprises, Inc., 1982, p. 16}}</ref> Today, the rocks are submerged six feet underwater by a lake formed by two locks and dams.

As the [[Industrial Revolution]] developed in the United States, many enterprising industrialists looked to the Mississippi River as a promising source of power generation. The combination of energy and easy access to river transportation attracted entrepreneurs and industrialists to the Quad Cities for development. In 1848, [[John Deere (inventor)|John Deere]] moved his plough business to Moline. His business was incorporated in 1868. [[John Deere]] is the largest employer today in the Quad Cities.

The first railroad bridge built across the [[Mississippi River]] connected Davenport and Rock Island in 1856.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bridging the Mississippi |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/summer/bridge.html#:~:text=On%20April%2022%2C%201856%2C%20the,bridge%20over%20the%20Mississippi%20River. |website=National Archives |access-date=February 3, 2021 |language=en |date=15 August 2016}}</ref> It was built by the [[Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad|Rock Island Railroad Company]] and replaced the slow seasonal ferry service and winter [[ice bridge]]s as the primary modes of transportation across the river. Steamboaters saw the nationwide railroads as a threat to their business. On May 6, 1856, just weeks after completion of the bridge, an angry steamboater crashed the ''Effie Afton'' into it. John Hurd, the owner of the ''Effie Afton'', filed a lawsuit against the Rock Island Railroad Company in ''[[Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Company]]''. The Rock Island Railroad Company selected [[Abraham Lincoln]] as their trial lawyer and won after he took the case to the [[US Supreme Court]]. Expert riverboat pilot Phillip Suiter was one of his witnesses. It was a pivotal trial in Lincoln's career.<ref name=":0" />