The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-02-09
IOWA, FEBRUARY 8, 1875
For the Miners Express.

4 GENTLEMEE
In the Herald of Monday las
: an article appears under the singular caption Of
"A peep at Dubuque and her improvements
which merits some consideration. The writer
must have slightly peeped into the suhjec'
when he proposes that our City shall abandon
the present harbor improvement now in sue
cessful progress, which was begun after careful
investigation and iull examination for plan o!
his own conceived while on ramble at season
of low water upon the ssislands and Sloughs'
in front Of the City. His plan is not new
but the propagation of it at this tme-like the
plan ltself--is at once absurd, mlschievsus, and
entirely impracticable. He says "fiil up, fill
up,-make tie landing out at the big slough
( Now leave it TO the good sense of any busi-
ness man in Dubuque if this is not the climax
of folly, betraying at the same time entire gnor
ance of the subject. Let the writer wait for an
other ramble over the s'lslands and Sioushs, -
until next June, and this will be apparent to
! himself. The suggestion implies that the fifteen
gentlemen who acted as a committee to exam-
ine and report a plan of improvement, and
brought forward the present one, as well as the
citizens who voted nearly unanimously for its
adoption, were all stnpid dolts, incapable of
judging Alright. To obtain filing from the
Bluffs for landing and streets out to the slough
of sufficient capacity for business, would cost
more money than the whole city is worth
Blasting rocks to fill up an ayarage depth Of
twenty feet at distance of the bluffs from this
filling, would be an undertaking that would last
for ages to come, anG for more capital than we
possess. A fair estimate for a landing and streets
sufficient, would require million dollars at
least, and then only one small space filed, upon
an uncertain shore, liable at any time to be torn
away by undermining waters, and knoaon to be
gradually Nearing avay from currents setting in
from the main river. Besides, when this filled
space would be completed, it would form dam
to the waters above, cause such stagnaton that
our usual healthy city must become as un-
healthy as it was formely, before the currents Of
water were let in by the small Improvement
made some years ago. Again The landing would
be confined TO the filed grounds alone, and the
spaces not fled, ,rem1in standing pools of water,
which would spread peslence and death in
every direction, as the poisonous effluvia would
exhal, from these sinks of folly On the pres
ent plan we to have harbor all the way
from the foot of the Slough to Eagle Point, a
great portion of the way being expanded sheets
of deep warter, rendered healthy and pure by
letting in the current at that poht, and capable
ofholdng all the steam boats vessels and lumber
RATS on the Mississippi River.
The contracti is made with Mr. Hawley for al
.he work 10 ba done with sufficient bonds to in
sure its entire completion. The money required
for this purpose has been raised by taxation, and
cheerfully paid in towards the contract. 1t is
progressing finely and bids fair to realize the
fullest expectations of our people. This mod
ern Daniel thinks we must abandon, the present
any part of it, or waiting to whether it ans
wers the purpose or not, because hmself and
some others perhaps have ''rambled around
and looked at the improvements. | say for one
that such course is an unwarrantable assump-
ton on the part of the writer, unsound in the
cry aro false IN tac. IL deserves the contemp' |
also of our citizens As it is direct insult to their
understanding The present plan must be fairly
tested, the contract for the full completion OF |
the work must be complied with to the letter,
and harbor extended the whole distance of
the enlarged limits of Dubuque. Let the current
be brought in at Earle Point, rendering the
whole five miles of shore healthy, and accessi |
BILE. Let the experiment be fairly and fully
tried and the Contract with MIR. Hawley pune
tually fulfilled, and then if it fails Of complete
success, call the citizens stupid and foolish and
indulge in ssastonishment" ct the "folly and
needless expenditure. There are in every
community, know, regular croakers. Let them
croak, ,.the "word will go on as usual
RANGER