The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1875-07-08
THE FOX AND WISCONSIN IMPROVE
MENT.

THE FOX AND WISCONSIN IMPROVE.
MENT.
Gen. G. X. Warren, OF the I. 5. Army
Engineer Corps. who has had charge Of
the government surveys in the North
west, and a very competent judge Of
the subject matter, wrote letter the
other day. in reference to the Fox and
Wisconsin canal, IN which he says:
nave much more confidence in making 4
canal than other improvement along the val
ley of the Wisconsin river. In low stages
there is too little water with the high slope it
has TO render success probable by contracting
the stream; but 1t is probable also that the PEG
pie could never be brought to undertake the
canal until the other way has been tried and
failed
When say canal, | mean broad one that
will carry the upper Mississippi steam boats
through its locks and allow them to use their
own steam power III the canal
That means that the Wisconsin river
is of no practical use, but that the, true
plan would be to dig a canal along side
OF the river. The advantages would be
that the river would keep the canal com
panv when it was lonesome; and the
canal could be called 1.-The Fox and Wis
consin river improvement But
wouldn' it be as well to dig the canal
somewhere -lse-say from the st. Croix
to Lake Superior?
An excursion party lately visited the
Fox and Wisconsin canal; members OF
Congress and newspaper correspondents
were with it; and the reports they send
back are anything but encouraging and
mplimentary.
A correspondent of the Minneapolis
.Nan, who signs himself .Old Soldier =
writes as follows:
This Wisconsin river is more OF a stream
than | expected to see. 1t appears to have
nearly as much volume Of water in it as the
Mississippi above st Anthony Falls. The
government engineers say that If il was mar
rowed down and confined to permanent banks,
il would furnish channel three hundred feet
wide an0 SIX feet deep, from Portage to Pral-
RE du Chen. But the bottom is uncertain
as odd Prohs' is nowadays. Sometimes
YOU have il, and again you don't A channel
on the right bank 10 day may be on the LETT
next week. Even that followed by boat Only
three days up, in coming down is entirely
changed in some places. and the sand is 20
pee Altar, too. 1t moves i'll perpendicular
banks, and by this mean exactly what | say.
The lower side Of each is Is abrupt a. he
cliffs along the Mississippi. The water catches
il ON tie upper side and rolls it over aud over,
and il drops off this bank particle by particle
until, perhaps, II has formed an obstruction
nearly across the stream. Then the chok-a
current cuts around from behind and form,
a new channel on the other bank Tie .ngi-
neers have tried TO control this by placing
wing dams at the heads Of soughs and islands
and combining tn stream. A. | write, | can al
most touch the left bank while it is fully a
third OF mil. to the other shore. In the mid
I d. Of the stream Is bar formed BY the last
| fresh-t which has divided it, and the boa, i
| aborlng fearfully to ct through. We shall,
| " hen getting over the head of the bar, doubt
| less b. obliged to &C diagonally across to the
| right bank, for | notice a ripple in the water
which indicates that new formation cuts out
I from our left shore which forces the channel in
an opposite direction 70 wonder that the
/ government engineers are bothered and con-
/ slider the stream = hard one to manage
/ While A. B. Donaldson who accom-
panied the same excursion, writes to the
| Pioneer Press:
/ Thu Wisconsin river 5 unlike any other in
the United States east of the Mississippi 1t il
| almost second edition Of the Plat :, and bu,
| slightly improved in the revision. The vol
alne Of water is sarge. estimated by the gov
eminent ems ineers ut three-fifths OF that Of the
| Mississippi at St Paul; but it il spread out in
wide shadows over beds of fine, shifting
sands which fill up almost the entir~ riveI
bed. We, to-day, passed hundreds Of acres
/ # liars lust out Of water, hundreds more
barely covered with water, and for miles
labored our way over shoals less than two fee.
deep. Three times We were aground on the
| fats of Prairie du Bay, twic- we stuck on Blue
River bars, and IN many other places rt
secured the bottom Of the boat Sixteen
inches floats rs clear. In coming up the nyel
+ IL miles. the steamer has probably run 81
miles on account d zigza1 ing around the liars
+ The river i not now at lis lowest stage. ye,
it is perfectly clear thai, in Its present condi-
| tion-notwifstanding the large SUMS ALREADY
expended in the construction II wing dams, i
is OF little or no vaine a. a cheap water rou,.
! 70 the s-aboard-
An accredited correspondent Of the
Minneapolis Tribune writes that paper
!! Coming through It Lone Rock VIZ wer.
washed up against the piers Putting the an
! cnor into skIff one Of the hand jumped IL
and pulled for the channel. Ii Was hard pull
ing. and becoming disguised, be droppe1 hi.
oars and jumping ont. Ead-d, pushing tn
boat ahead OF him, 10 the desired point, wher
be dropped the anchor and stood on il 70 hold
il down Ard this u The greAt cheap n1ns