Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1858-01-30
TUESDAY, JANUARY 2e, 1858.
Diversion OF the DesmOiMes River
Grant.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1858.
v | ----~->1-l~<l>~-,>e~1->~>~ ~~-~~~~1>~
Diversion OF tho DesmoiMes Rive
Grant.
i We observe that Senator Harlan has re
Gently introduced bill in Congress grant
ing to the State of Iowa the privilege of di
verting to another purpose the lands appro
priated by the General Government for tn
improvement Of the Desmoines river b,
locks and dams (slack water navigation. J.
The design is to appropriate the lands re-
naming to the construction of the Keokul
and Fort Desmoines Railroad. This is O
matter in which the people of this portion
of the State have no special interest, save to
see what remains of this munifccnt grant
secured or disposed of in such manner that
it will be of some possible advantage to the
State. Heretofore, as is intimated in an
extract below from the Burlington Hawkeye,
the grant has been literally squandered to
no purpose whatever. The people of the
State have long since arrived at the conclu-
sion that the so called &C sDesmeines River
improvement is huge humbug, and if its
means can be diverted to the construction OF
railroad running to Keokuk even to the
supposed disadvantage of Burlington, (vide
Burlington Gazette - they will heartily
second the motion. We copy several para
graphs from an article in the Hawkeye on
this subject: .....
ssWe are strongly inclined to believe that
all the work which has been done upon these
dams has been rather an injury than ben
eft, and that the expenditure OF money to
sweep away every dam out of the river
would be more iudiciously employed than in
putting any more into it. Restored to its
natural state, the Desmoines would be nav
igable some three months every season with
out the yexation of detention or the pay
nent Of tolls Can as much ever be said of
tho improved river? At all events can any
rational person believe that the remnant Of
this river fund cannot be more usefully en-
ployed upon railroad, the utility of which
is no longer problematical, than by contin-
uing to follow up the fruitless and chimeri-
cal attempt to improve few miles Of the
river, leaving the mouth as inaccessible as
it was before. "A large portion of the fund
has already been squandered. Shall not
our dear bought experience induce us to hus-
band the remainder ?"
The reason assigned by the Hawkeye for
this change of policy are thus briefly set
forth:
ssIt has been more than ten years since
the improvement of this river was first COM
menced. About six hundred thousand acres
of land have already been expended on that
work If the grant is limited to the north
ern line of our State, in accordance with the
recent decision of the Attorney General
Gushing, there is only about three hundred
thousand acres left If it extends to the
head waters of the river, there are about six
hundred thousand acres still left. One half,
and perhaps two thirds, of all the lands
how much has been accomplished The
plete, but that is all. Four more locks,
and Croton, are in q state of greater or less
forwardness. Work has also been done and
materials furnished at some half dozen 9TH
er points, but the amount accomplished is
very inconsiderable-not enough in either
case 10 oDStruc6 the Haturll utFlSaUIllIy VI
the stream. Besides all this there has been
a considerable amount expended in making
surveys and plans for improvement all the
way to Fort Desmoines, most of which will
be wholly useless.
'' Here, then, we shall have one-half or
two thirds of our fund expended, and but
FIVE miles of navigation completed. Twen-
ty miles more are in a state Of forwardness,
and perhaps thirty more commenced. Some
sixty miles are thus commenced, and the
work on that whole distance less than half
done. Judging Of the future by the past, at
the end of ten years more our funds will be
entirely exhausted, and we shall, at best,
have but sixty miles of river navigation
completed.''