The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1872-05-04


cial occasion there was for the Duluth ca
nal"-an artificial channel through Mime
sofa Point, that should afford means OF
communication between the Lake, and the
Duluth end of the Bay, without going by
Superior And that object was innocent
enough, if it could have been accomplished
without serious injury 10 important interests
whose rights were vested and legally in
violable.
But the enterprising operators at Duluth
didn't stop to consider other interests or
rights, but went on and dug the canal, only
to find out that the in urious consequences
which had been predicted by the govern
ment engineers, were swifteI in coming, and
nraver, even, than these had foretold. The
current Of the st. Louis river was diverted
to the new outlet; the destruction of the
natural entry as a navigable passage, and
the defeat of the purposes Of the govern
ment works thereat, were imminent; and
no profess, warning or notice could arrest
for moment their depredations, SO long as
the marauders felt confident, as they did,
that Jay Cookies influence with The admin
istration insured them impunity.
At length however, they were suddenly
brought to, by writ of injunction issued
from the United States court at the suit of
the United States itself-a proceeding that
had been instituted upon the recommended
ton of the chief Of engineers, to protect the
government works at the entry.
As,onished to learn that there could be
any law or practice opposed to his wishes.
Mr.. Cooke FASTENED at once to the war
department, to repair little omission of
which he had been guilty, in neglecting to
acuulirt the harbor authorities there, with
his interest in and relation to, Duluth, its
harbor and canal; aud thereupon he OBJ
tanned er partc and without difficulty, a
special diSpensation, under which the in
junction was suspended, and the canal work
allowed to proceed, on condition that a
dyke should be constructed across the Bay
of Superior. so rs to prevent the diversion
of the river from its natural channel.
Hence the dyke: an illegal obstruction
in navigable waters of the Bay of Superior,
over which Wisconsin has concurrent juris-
dction with Minnesota; mterruptlns an
important commerce; cutting off the former
state from practical access 10 part OF It's
iurIsdictional area; hitherto totally ineffect-
uaI to prevent the on flow Of the St. Louis
through the canal, though the time for its
completion, as prescribed again and again
by the department has long since passed;
and In any aspect, constituting an outrage
not less fragrant than the canal itself.
When a representation Of the state Of the
case was made last winter to the war de-
partment by member of congress from
Wisconsin, on behalf of his outraged con
stituents, he was officially informed by let
ter, as we learn, that the department had
"uniformly abstained' from determining
the question of the legality of the dyke;
and 50 the puzzled people of Wisconsin are
left to wonder why this virtuouS abstinence
commenced just when it did; why the de
JAY Cookies request, its own course and
policy; why it did not abstain from the
luxury of indulging that captivating gen
teman in his peculiar whms; why in short,
so long as it is furnished with competent
legal advisers, it should abstain at all from
determining the legality Of any alternative
presented as substitute for its own delib-
erately adopted line of duty; and to this
day the profound and recondite principle
upon which the war department abstalns
and refuses to abstain, is undiscovered, or
at most only guessed at.
If Senator Carpenters bill becomes a
law, as it will, unless Wisconsin is again
contemptuously snubbed i'll congress at the
behest of Jay Cooke, it will take the conduct
of harbor improvements () at Duluth, away
from the lawless and irresponsible manage
ment now dominant there, and relegate the
whole business, with instructions, to the
proper officers of the government.
Then, when the canal shall have been
closed, and the dyke removed, Duluth will
have precisely the same harbor she has
now. but with more of 1t; and all the
shriekng of the Duluth papers about the
"destruction" of their harbor by this bill,
is simply for effect with those who are
strangers to the situation, and is herein
before explained.