Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-06-25
Barge Transportation on the
Missouri.

Barge TRANSPORTATION on tne
Mlssouri.
fRansas City Journal Of Commerce..
Obstacles which could not be over.
co,ne have so far prevented tho Kan.
sas City barge Company from making
arrangements for o practical test o
that Kind or transportation on tht
| Missouri river, and IL seems probabl,
that tho enterprise will remain quiei
no far ms that company 10 concerned
until next year. If nothing else bt
dono meantime, IL Is to be hoped II
will find itself In q position to com.
mand success.
Had tho experiment been made,
however, it would have demonstra.
ted nothing beyond the fact that O
tow had actually made the trip be-
tween st. Louis and Kansas City.
Mississippi river barges are too large
for the Missouri river, and
tho chances that their i'll success,
arising from unsuitableness, would
have damaged the enterprise, arc
about equal with the chance that the
test would have calculated the ext
gencies Of tho river.
Moreover, had tho test been made
it.would have amounted 10 n fully
equipped barge line affOrding adc-
quatc capacity for the shipment OF
tho products Of this country. IL
would have been but II trip, made
ut great expense, involving n special
effort to accumulate the freight al
both ends of the line, to load the
barges, and would not have promised
any succeeding trips to reduce rail-
road charges Or n provision OF
freight for barges, or to change the
present channels Of business. II
would, therefore, have been practi-
cally without permanent results, Its
only benefit being. if successful, to
stop the mutations of those who from
interest or bad judgment pronounce
the enterprise impracticablc; and, rs
above remarked, the chances that il
would do this, with, unsuitable barges
employed, were about evenly balan-
ccd with the chances that the char
acter of the barges would cause a
failure, which would have
ged opponents and discouraged
friends, putting back the consumma-
ton Ofthc enterprise several years.
Had it been tried, however, and
this means of transportation proven
feasible, we would have been then in
the same condition we arc now, cx-
cept, perhaps, that i'm any effort we
might have made afterwards, we
might have felt more assurance and
less doubt. But where is there room
for doubt now? 1t is true when the
journal of Commerce first advanced
f1,n IDA fl,a,., al . at, /, ~ 40 II d. .,l..
because of its novelty, wer ready to
have had time to think about it, i'll
vestigatc the conditions affecting
such navigation, and to examine the
opinions Of able engineers and river
captains, heretofore published, their
doubts have generally been dispersed,
and all seem to have come to the con-
clusion that it is, Or a be made,
feasible, and that it is q necessity
which must be supplied.
Indeed, the man who would 90
among business men of Kansas City
and doubt it would have reason to
believe even aftcrward that he had
made q fool of himself. while the
people, not only of the city, but of
the country for two hundred miles
around us, look forward to it's reali-
for relief from their present
pressing embarrassments, aud wait
with impatient eagerncss GUY action
in the premises. The river can be
upon for three and a half
feet of water during the navigation
season ; good pilots q always find
the channel; tugboats can be made,
and T. made strcng enough to draw
from three to five barges against the
current coming up, and q steersman
on a barge car Keep them i'll place
going down. With these facts exist
ing and well known, what is the use
of expanding money in a ''test" with
unsuitable barges, taking the chances
damaging the prestige of the ell
terprise? We have already possess
ion all of the material facts such a
test could present.
All we need to successfully inau-
gurate the enterprise at once, is, q
sufficient supply of model iron
6argcs. carrying about five hundred
tons each, and drawing not to ex-'
three and a half feet of water
when loaded; a sufficient supply of
tugs, capable of drawing five of
hese harges up stream, and more
If necessary : the whole to he
manned by experienced Missouri
mcn-pilots and captains. a
little experience will demonstrate the
best method of making up tows, and /;
when tho people along the river see |
prospect of the supply of the
they will provide the nccessa-
Y means of supplying fuel, and also
Construct the elevators aud other APP
lllances necessary TO utilize for them
he barge transportation.
Had we succeeded in having made
he so-called test, we would then
been compelled to provide these
before we would have had
my barge line. No other place. capa-
Die OF doing it, sees it to its interest
o provide them. Why not then
proceed with this work at once and
ct the opening of next spring find MS
prepared with barges, elevators, coal
'hntcs, etc, to move the products Of
he country? 1t must be done some
ime; Kansas City can do it now ; the
whole State of Kansas and all OF
Western Missouri, Western Iowa and
Nebraska are suffering because it il
Kansas City has only 10
uppiy 1T to gain a monopoly of the
radc of this vast section; why then
hould she hesitate? There is danger
!, delay, for the people will not suffer
lWayS, awaiting our action, and
ooner or later some other place will
did this to her facilities, outstrip us
II progress and the acquisition of
commercial power, and leave us
ways to realize the bitterness of the
words, sit might have bcenw
Tho Growing Scarcity of Lumber.
Statistics show that there is a
carcity of timber in the United
'tates and C'anadas. In Michigan
nd Wisconsin there is, as was ex-
'ectcd, great falling off in the sup
'ly, while the stock in New York
nd Pennsylvania is unusually small. \
will not have more than a !
air stock, including old and new