The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1878-05-30
TIE RIVER IHPRO TFNE.EI'-


based upon the following considerations:
/. The Wisconsin river is not sus-
ceptible OF improvement by an outlay
which its importance as a commercial
highway warrants.
2. Artificial watercourses do not af-
ford as cheap or as reliable facilities for
transportation as railroads do.
3. The course of the Fox and Of the
Wisconsin are natural impediments to
their being utilized to any great extent
except by riparian owners.
We are extremely skeptical of the Ill
innate success Of wing dams in improv
ing any considerable portion of water
course when there are serious obstacles
in the way Of improvement. A river
without a well defined bed, shallow, and
subject to periodical rises and falls, IN
terposes obstacles which it is almost I'M
possible wholly to overcome. If any
appreciate por ion of the Wiscon sin
were naturally ravigable, if the almost
entire extent which is to form the econ
Meeting link" did not require from the
genius of man what nature failed to be-
stow, the improvement scheme which
the Post champions with such chiyalfous
ardency, might be urged with more
plausiblity and less absurdity. OF the
81, sol, 728 in cash which have already
been expended on the improvement, as
per the report of the Secretary of war,
the greater part, according to the Post,
has been applied to the improvement of
the Fox 1t is generally conceded that
stream to render navigible. Col. Hous-
tons report places the amount required
for completion of the work at s., $40, 663.
Under the most favorable conjuncture of
circumstances, and granting the efficacy
of wing dams in such streams as the
Wisconsin, the balance stated as neces-
sary for completion, might make the
Wisconsin naYigable to the same extent
the Fox now is. Would any particular
adpsntage accrue to the state from such
;mnroyement! How much of its pros
perity does Appleton owe to its being
located on a navigable river? What per
cent of the manufactured articles is
shipped from Appleton by water? What
per cent. of the produce of the surround
ing country OF the material sent there
for manufacturing purposes? Is 1t not
the part OF wisdom to base our hopes OF
the future On what we know Of the pres
ent
In response to our request to name
some rivers improved by the wing dam
system the Post with an air OF con-
scious magnanimity says: very well.
The rivers Garonne and Loire il France
are streams similar to the Wisconsin and
which have been made highly navigable
by means of the wing dam system. The
river Vistula and portions ofthe Danube
have also been improved in the same
manner &c. We are perfectly willing
to learn from the Post and we make an
acknowledgements of orr obligation to 1t
for being taught the lesson OF skeptlclsm.
In the matter of the European rivers,
evidence would have produced conVlc-
ton or silenced objection; mere state
ment simply led TO investigation. While
we have been unable to find anything
absolute with reference to the manner OF
improving the rivers named by the Post,
we find much from which logical infer
cnce may be drawn, entirely at variance
with the statements of the Post, that the
rivers il question have been made high
" navigable, or that the wing dam system
has been at all employed to bring about
the supposititious perfection. Speaking
of the Garonne, the American Cyclic
pedia says:
Vessels ascend to Bordeaux. From
Toulouse it is broad but shallow and nav
igation is more or less impeded by the
litblio WHICH, IL sAC"AA CD co. go
Mermande, about 90 miles above Bor-
deaux
In order to fully appreciate the COM
paratively insignificant part of the Gar
onne which is navigable, it is necessary
to examine the map of France with par
ticular reference to the above extract.
Speaking of the same river Lippin-
colts Gazetteer says:
Its.bed IS variable, its navigation diff
cult and often interrupted by low water.
Evidently here the editor of the Post
relied on his memory AM failed to con-
suit the record. Let us see If his men,
DRY has served him better in the case of
the Loire We quote from the same
aud in the same order:
In the lower part of its course it is OBJ
structed BY shifting sands, but these I'M
pediments are ohyiated by Il canal known
rs the canal laterG! 4 Ia Loire.
Navigation Is interrupted during five
or six months in the year, from want of
water, OVERLOOKING or freezing. Dykes |
VI bbilAaGS nave b5IA COlStt uCtSNt stiohS |
n great part of its course, many of which |
were destroyed by great flood, &c.
1t seems the French engineers relied |
on canals to obviata the distractions to
on account of shifting sands. |
1t also seems that the rivers are by no
means highly nayigable. 1t must also |
be recoliected that France is an old and |
thiekly settled country, that railroads |
are 4 modern institution and that rivers |
directly connected with the ocean offer |
for improvement which |
tributaries can not hold out.
The insulation from the seaboard of |
having an interest in the Dan
ube, would justify au expenditure for its
which under other circum-
stances would be foolhardy. Being COM
mon property it afforded a means of
with the sea which could |