Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-05-06

pass the Ohio river steamboats,, more than an
hour. tits indeed very doubtful whether a raft
which would fill one Of these locks and cover
therefore moro than half an acre of surface,
could be let through and got.out Of the way in
less than tFTss doVr%. But. assuming that the
average time for pair of coal boats OF a raft,
would be an hour, to pass J09 of them through
a single lock, working day and night, would
consume at least ten dlye, and during that ten
DAYS, at certain Seasons of the year, as many
more would approach and struggle to get
through, as the way might re cleared for them.
Small, comparatively, as is che present trade of
the 1onongahela, and rapidly as the smaller
locks there required can be worked, the descend
ingicoal ilats frequently shut off the navigation
for ascending steamers on that river for three OF
four daysin succession.
TX. The cost of the fifty dams and one hun
dred locks which it Is proposed to build on the
Ohio, deduced from the aScertained cost of the
MOnongaleia mprovemcnt-wit a proper al
leWance for the increased leagth of the DAMS the
increased length, width and height of thelockS,
and the increased value Of labor and materials
since that work was completed, twelve years a.
go,-would be about trcatyJirc millions y CSaS-
The cost of procuringa FIVE feet navigation by
means of reserroiss on the tributaries, ought not
to exceed tire millions ofdolInrs.
Is it better to expend twenty-five millions and
obstruct the chanHel of the Ohio by fifty dams,
during nine months of the year, when the nayi
gasi6n is perfect, or to pay ttso millions to re-
move the distractions caused by low water du-
ring three months of tlrouth.
y. Almost every city on the Ohio is built in
part on soil subject to be oyeriiowed. The con-
struction ofdatns below these cities will increase
the heights OF the floods, and tlcdeptilS and the
frequency of the oycrtlows.
Dams in the mountains may be placed where
no valuable property viii be covered hyyii the
III.
portion of the surplus water, to reduce, instead
of increasing, the height and destructive power
of the floods on the river.
II. Dams across the Ohio, will set the water
IL? into the mouths OF all the tributaries, great
and small, which empty into its channel. On
these tributaries valuable mills and mill
privileges which will BE- submerged, even i'll
low water, aud DESTROYED by the dams
The reservoirs in the mountains will destroy
no mills % water power, bat, Ca the contrary.
they will create vast and never falling water
power wherever the dams which form the rcScr-
voirs are placed.
All. The advocates Of locks and dams cannot
be opposed to reservoirs, nor deny the practical
biiity OF Obtaining water enough by that means
to feed t4c Ohio. They connot take this ground,
f1reyeFy ham they propose to build will form q
reservoir of immense size, but one which is not
available. because it is in the wrong place. Tue
ilty dams which they propose to raise on the
ONO, will form reservoirs i'll the river itself COW
cring in the aggregate, n space OF over .ioHf
hUaRFel squire aaiie5 and holding three times
as much water as would be- needed, Ii they were
placed where they ought to be, in themomtains,
to afford n navigation, the year round, from
Pittsburgh 10 Cairo.
To avoid forming reservoirs in the mountains,
where ti:ey will do great good, they propose to
make posts in tile river where they will do great
harm. These pools in the river will contain
fill, flis.
enlarged from the mountains to support the navi-
cation throughout tite summer. Aud, after the
pools are made in the river, and navigation has
been destroyed %? the dams that form them,
great reservoirs i'll the mountains will still De re-
quirel to supply these pools with water.
Is it not better, ask, to make the reservoirs
in the mountains ut once, and dispense with the
pools il the river altogether?
XEi. The dams which it is proposed to con-
itruct on the Uiio. will convert the channel of
that river into fifty stagnant and Presidential
ponds, caian@cGi:iy the hc.IthfuncSs and dimin-
ishing tine population Of It's valley.
High dams iii ti.e mountains viii form deep
lakes in the rOck-bOund goTgeS. These lakes will
ne filed With cool water iii the winter and spring.
This water viii retain its GOODNESS until it is need
ed for the navigation, and then guSh forth in re
frcshinS torrents, which will temper the heat;
of midsummer Oh the immediate borders of the
river.
Tho locks and dams will destroy Tao navigs-
ton the river when it is in the beSt condition,
and impair the ticaithfuincss OF its shores when
they are the lc:tst sa'ubricus.
The reservoirs in the mountains will improve
the navigation 1TlIen it most needs improvement
give motion to the river wcnits waters are stag
nant. supply the cities on its banks with morc
wholesome beverage and wash out as far as
fresh water can do that work, the causes ofma-
laria.
object, therefore, to locks amd dams on the
Ohio. ] object TO them because the liver can
be improved by q plan which will leave It's cham
mel Inimpaircd and uno5Sructed, which will
improve the navigation of its tributaries, while
it improves that of the river itself: which will
tend to diminish the hight and destruction pro-
lnced By the floods, While increases the depth
of the channel in seasons of drought Which
will create immense water power in the molla-
tains without destroying the water power near
the river. Which will pour hcalthful current
ofcoUl wateTinto the channel from the reservoirs
Ill the mountains, instead Of converting its living
stream into putrid pools. Which can be used
To carry away the ice that obstrtIcts the naviga-
ton i'll the winter, whiieit overcomeS the effect
of drought in the summer. Which will improve
, the health, while it increases the wealth of the
country. Which will do some good TO every in
te-est, and iIjure none.
This is the plan which offer as substitute
for locks and dams on the Ohio.
1t is not q speculative plan. II is based on
careful measurements of tho volume of water
flowing down the Ohio, day by day, aud every
day. for period of six years. 1t is the couclu-
sion which results from minute, laborious and
| appropriate investigations.
THIS plan, and the facts on which itrests, have
been given to tie public in a work which has
received the appreciation and concurrence of
scientific minds throughout the country
Is it not then. worthy the attention of that
great community of business men which has put
the locomotive in motion on the mountain tops,
and filed the na.igable rivers of the West with
magnificent steamersg
have done my share of the work haze
projected the plan. ] have measured the dis
charge of the riTor. have demonstrated the
pract.cabiiity of the scheme, without aid or en-
conragement, and l ask now only that they who
are TO be the most benefited b. the work shall