As early as 1830 the state of Missouri had petitioned Congress for permission to annex the southeastern limits of the Iowa Territory, which, had the request been granted, would have given that state access to the rapids. That the Saints viewed the rapids as a source of power from which industry could be developed is apparent from the June 1840 article in the Times and Seasons which emphasized that the city was “situated on a beautiful point of land on the Mississippi” which because of its proximity to the rapids “afforded good privileges for all kinds of machinery in consequence of the rapidity of the current.”
