Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1833-02-27

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In locking over the documents accompany.
ing the annual NJ ssage af the President, we
met with the following r. 29r--ahich con
tains Information of SOM ssrest to many of
our readers:- Missouri Republican,
Annual Report Of the ,sorE doae improoiag The
navigation Of the ohioaa4 Mississippi rip-
ers, from the first of Cctober, 1881, to the
30hi Of September, 1892.
From the st of OctoDer. 1881, to the LIST of
March, 1882, h steamboa, He'lepdis remoy ed
96l snags, and fcled 1895 trees from the
banks. In the same time, the steam boat Ar~
chimedes removed 22S snags trorn the banks
of the river. o. the first day Of March, those
boats were laid up at St. Louis, the river being
zoo high for them TO operate. They were res
paired and refrted, and commenced operations
on the 10Th of June las:. Sine that time th
Helepolis has removed from the bed IF the riy-
or 53S snags, and felled, from tie falin g'banks
of the river, $3.50 trees. In te same time,
the Archimedes has removed from the bed Of
the river 6S5 snags, and feled, from the banks
of the river, 1860 trees. The ota number Of
snags removed in the year by tie two boats is
1851; the lumber Of trees felltd BY the crews
of the same boats in the .sameyear, is 59l4,
besides The whole number ielled bv The crew Of
the steamboat Arehinedes. from he Isl Of o :
tober, 81, to the st Of Mach, 1882, not en-
umerated. By a reference to he ghonthy re-
ports from The captains of the Two boats, the
department may see the part ofthe river from
which the snags above alluded to have been
taken; aise he daily operationsof those boats
during the year The whole lie of operation
for the year, has been from Bayou Placquc-
mine to the Missouri river, distance Of a
bout 100 miles.
Three companies Of men, Of about 40 each,
were employed from the LIST Of October, to the
4.lth 9; January last, falling timber from the
banks. Two companies of abou so men each,
commenced at the same service about the 18th
of August last, up TO the Both of September.
The banks have been cleared Of the dangerous
timber, in the last year, a distance Of about
;27O miles.
Ga the Ohio river, four machine boats were
worked from the Both of September, to the Isl
of December. They were again put into op-
Grafton on the 10Th Of August Iast-Thev
have been engaged removing logs, roots, and
snags, from the low water channels of the Ohio
river. In that time, those four boats have re-
moved ll2O logs, ROOTS sc, of different sizes,
(from great to small } from the bottom of the
Ohio river.
The improvement of the Ohio river, under
the act of Congress of the Cd Of VI 5rSh, 1871,
for deepening the channel over he bars 10 that
pal oh fha
last year; the water being too high 70 com
raenec operations at an earlier date. The fail
being cold, and he high stage of water opera
ted so much against that work, that but little
was done except quarry ing stone, making pre-
partitions, sc. In July last, that work was
again commenced. Two wing dams have been
completed at French Island, measuring iogeth.
or over one mile and half IN length; two at
Scuffletown bars. nrwards of three quarters of
a mile long; three at the Three Sister Islands,
in length one and half miles; and one a, the
Three Mile island bar. about half mile in
length. At those four bars, the great difficulty
in the low water navigation was formerly met
with: frequently there was not more than Isl
TO "a inches of water to be found over the bars.
Sin the wing dams have been completed,
there has not been less than four feet water in
the channels over them, although the water has
been within few inches Of its lowest stage.
At the head of Cumberland island, dam
has been built across the main channel Of thei
river, for the purpose Of changing the channel
to tho left side of the island, so as to pass thel
town of Smithland and the mouth of the Cum
berland river, by which means the bar at theI
entrance of the Cumberland river, will be re.I
moved A shoal in the Ohio river, at the foot
OF the island known by the name of the Cum
berland bar, will also be Stunned by the chan
rel of the river being changed to the left sideI
of the island Much benefit will also be felt
from this Improvement by large portion of the
boats that pass down the Ohio, when the water
is below medium stage. A large portion of
these boats have passengers and freight to land
at Smi,hland, which could not approach previ
Gus to this Improvement. The dam is now
nearly finished; the work will be completed in
few days should the laborers employed cons
tinue healthy.
There will probably be three more dams
finished this fall which will so far improve that
river that boats may navigate it, from the falls,
to the mouth, with three leet draft of water att
the lowest sta9e-at least one-third more wa.
ter than would be carried through that part of
the river previous to the wing dams being com
menced. This work, which was formerly
viewed as an experiment, is now reduced to a |
practical certainty. The bars throughout the