Godsey's Diggings

Moving goods between Arrow Rock's Main Street business district and the riverfront warehouses required wagons to negotiate the long, steep grade of First Street, so a shorter commercial route linking Main Street directly to the wharf was economically desirable. On June 1, 1842, the Arrow Rock Board of Trustees appropriated $300 for grading and clearing part of Main Street nearest the Missouri River under a contract involving Godsey, the town, trustees, and citizens. Burton Godsey, a stone mason and veteran of the War of 1812, served as contractor, and records show periodic payments of $5 to $50 to B. Godsey. Godsey moved to Carroll County in 1844, but his name remained attached to the excavation called Godsey's Diggings. After two years of work, the project remained incomplete. On April 14, 1857, a committee was appointed to examine whether opening the street through Godsey's Diggings was practical, but the grade proved too steep to be practical. On July 14, 1858, the Marshall Weekly Democrat sarcastically mocked the slow progress with a fanciful report about ordering boys from Ireland to finish the work and a steam engine to hoist freight and passengers from the landing, adding that engineers said it could raise 213 pounds of freight and two and a half passengers per day and would last just twenty-three days. Work was discontinued shortly afterward, leaving a brush-filled ravine. The Civil War from 1861 to 1865 disrupted local commerce, and the ensuing decline of steamboat traffic made access to the river less important.

Arrow Rock, Missouri · United States