The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1852-11-17

SEA pPStoWFu compliment, OF nifin1 procure
the appropriations for improving the Mississippi
We extracted from the SAFE G.z .ttc some ty
weeks since but pnrpnse,y delayed publishin
At, for fear<Se II might initiate against his cleo
iion.
The election is row over /; the letter was wr
ten for the public eye aud it is prop r that
should be laid before the public and therefore W
give it place in columns believing that
will accord justice, where justice has beer
withheld, and do no Violence to the feelings o
reputation Of Mr. Campbell.
FAIRFIELD, Oct 0, 1859.
ED. GAZETTE, SIR:
have been informed That a letter from th
Hon. Thompson Campbell has been publishe,
since the adjournment of Congress, in which i
is asserted that thes4 bill introduced into Con.
gress by him, providing for the improvement o
the Rapids was virtually engratted into tn,
/ River and Harbor bill and that The appropriation
made by the late law for those works would no
have been made but FIR the def-a, of the bill
making grant of lands for the Dubuque ans
/ K kcokuk railroad
In vlndcation of the truth Of history, and t.
! place my colleagues and myself correctly dpor
the newspaper records of tn day, desire yol
| to publish the following plain statement Of iact
connected with the Rapids Improvement appro
| priaion:
One copy of the Memorial of the Rapids Con
ven'ion held in your city in Ocobe las, having
| heen handed 10 me, presented the same to the
| House of Representatives, as soon possible
after its organization, and had it referred to the
Committee Commerce The reasons why
referred it To this Committee were: First, tina,
the appropriation asked for was strictly Ma
tional one, and being such, this was the appro-
pirate committee-Sccondly, it was understood
hv all the old members of Congress (to whose
advice had frequent recourse) that the recon-
mendations Of his committee would meet with
more favorable action IN the part Of the House,
than would the propositions submitted by the
Committee on Roads and CunntS-!nasmuch as
tie latter committee was one which many strict
constructousts considered an unnecessary
committee, and to whose recommendations they
would universally turn deaf ear. The sequel
will show that my reference was the correct
one. sa,4
After introducing the memorial as mentioned
at once proceeded TO converse with the mem
bers and Senators from the States Immediately
interested In order to procure their assistance
in carrying out the wishes of the memoralsts
found that all with whom | conversed were
Campbell. Not tmeeling with cordial res sonse
from him, and having heard it asserted by Judge
Wilson at the Rapids Conve ntion, above alluded
to, that Mr.. c. as Representative of the Gale
M interest was Opposed to the improvement,
contemplated, feared thai such was the case,
and therefore approached him upon that point
Mr. Campbell denied being opposed to the i'm
provement of the Rapids, but n! the time
evlnced no disposition to aid in procuring an ap-
preparation. A day or two afterwards, howev-
er, to my surprise, he introduced bill for that
object, and had it referred to the committee on
Roads and Canals. This Committee reported
his bill to the house, and it was referred to the
Committee of the Whole, where it now Sleeps,
and where 1t is almost sure to die at the coming
session.
After considerable consultation among the
members interested in abtaining an apprnpra
ton, we learned that the Typographical Bureau
was undecided whether the improvement could
be best made by widening and Strengthening the
channel or by constructing a canal around the
rapids. The two Senators from til, STATE and
myself visited the Bareau frequently, and we
found thai great efforts were being made by
those in favor of the canal project, as well as Ly
hers, to pre- vail upon Col Albert to re commend
the latter plan; and that he was awaiting the
receipt of a map which had been prepared at
St. Louis, and which represented the plan. &c,
of Canal on the Iowa side of the Des MONIES
Rapids. Immediately after the receip' and ex
animation of this mp, Col. Albert became sat
isfied that the old plan the most practicable
and cheap.s:-and was willing to grant our re.
quest and submit an estimate for the improve
ment Of the channel We then went to the
House Committee on Commerce and urged upon
its members the importance and necessity ofthe
WORK The proceedings of the Rar,ds Conven
had pofh haon hv Of al
gation-nor were they or any of the statistics
collected by the committee appointed for that
purpose, placed in our hands until near the clr Sc
Of the session, when 1t was too late to be Of any
use. We succeeded, however, in getting the
Committee on Commerce to take up the memo
rial referred to The chairman held consuta
tons with Col. Albert, and after several days
pressing solicitation, we succeeded in getting
the committee TO recommend an appropriation
of $4,000 for the In, ,rovcmcnt Of The lover
rapids. This was ali that the committee thought
could be probably expended during the year,
and all they could be prevailed upon to put in
the bill. Considering the !ac' that even this ap-
preparation would place the work among those
that would be regularly estima,ed for hereafter,
and that when once commenced, the practicable
,ty of this plan OF Improvement would be evil
dnnt | felt That considerable had been accom-
p pished towards carrying out the desire oil the
mf,norialists
The Committee on Commerce in due time re :
ported the 4 .ver and uarhor bill, containing he
S;o0,000 above referred TO. 1t was deba ed at
length, and various amendments were proposed
by MIR. Campbell, Mr. Richardson, n yself and
others, both to increase the amount to be cx-
pended on the Lower Rapids, and to add like
amount for the Improvement of the Upper Rap
ids All, however, failed The bill with some
amendments was finally passed, and sent to
the Senate. There. our Senators succeed d in
getting $50,nC0 additional appropriated Tor the
Improvement IF the Upper Rapids, and $4,000
for the Dubuque IlarbJr. Several o;hrr amend
ments were made in the Senate, among " hich
was one appropriating Sl500a0 for boats, ma
chinery, &c. The bill as amended by the Sen.
| ate came back to the House, there it M a fac
| tiors opposition. The true friends of river and
harbor improvements were undecided as to the
course they should pursue, but fially concluded
that unless they adopted all of the Scna.e anlend
| ments, the bill would be lost as there was not
| time to send it back to the Sena'e. The bill was
accordingly taken up and the Senate amend
m MS severally concurred in. When the amend
ment Of $4,000 for the Dubuque Harbor was
read, Mr.. Caniphell used his best efFors to dei
! feat il, and would have succeeded (as the vote
/ was very close on all the amendmenrs) in defeat
ing it and the ,ohoie bill but for The txertions o.
| Gen Is. rdge and Jones (who were actively
and sta'ously working on the floor of the House
| in behalf Of the bill and arnendments) and who
with Judge Clark and myself got several mem
bcrs to change their votes in favor ofthe $l5, ,0U(
amendments.
1t may b. proper here to state that this amend
nent was made by the unanimous recommends
ton of the Senate Committee on Commerce.
1t appears that while Iowa was Territory, Gen
Dodge procured an appropriation for the i'm
provc,nen, Of the Dubuque Harbor. The money
was expended in filling up the natural steamboa
channel (Which was very crooked) and in cutting
a canal acr SIS the island opposite the city =
The channel was stopped up, and the cana
partly cut, when the appropr. alton failed Th.
city authorities petiuoned Congress to fnisl
tho canal or take out the obstruction that tn,
Governme Mt had placed in the channel-ant
thereby leave the harbor in as good situation
as nature had formed 1t. The equity of this re
quest was at once conceded, and the most stric
constructionlsts cheertully voted for the amend
ment and expressed the opinion freely that i
was the duty Of Congress to make this appropri
alton, if it made no other.
/ Thus much for the history Of the Harbor an
River hill and the enpraltnp thereon Of MI