Daily globe., 1880-08-24

FIRE OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Improvement.
At the meeting of the chamber of com
merce yesterday morning the following let
ter was read for information:
MINNEAPOLIS, MEM,
Aug. II, 1880.
Hon. FL. 81. Sibley, President Chamber oi
Commerce, St. Paul, Mimi.
Sir: am in receipt Of yours of the 10tt
inst. inclosing copies of resolutions adopted
by the St. Paul chamber of commerce oa Mon
day the 9th inst, on my return from atrip tC
Lake Superior.
| Replying t. the same. have the hoaor tc
state that the subject of the reservoir system
of the upper Mississippi received the full and
mittees on commerce in both
houses of Congress st the last session. which
| its merits and its great impurtance
| to this section of the country, as solving, the
| question of interrupted navigation of theuppeI
| Mississippi river. above Dubuque, duritg the
summer months, seemed to justify. IS "a re.
suit, an appropriation of $75. 900 was mi de to
| inaugurate the system. g.
| I will state in this connection that theappro-
priation for this purpose in no way intfffered
| with the harbor and river appropriation bill
for carrying out the present plan of drdging
and building wing dams from St. Paufto the
Des Moines rapids, $3.50, 600 having been hppro-
priated for that purpose.
The bill to which your resolutions refer (''to
prevent mill refuse and other rubbish fr6m be-
ing thrown into the Mississippi river'A pre-
pared, as l understood, by your ohambst and
sent to the Hon. M. H. Dunnell, was byt him
introduced in the House of Representt lives
and referred to the committee on comI{erce,
The Committee, understand, never mad5l any
report-for what reason am not advise4s The
same bill was also sent to Senatoss Nc.
onl hr, s,s%r Al
Senate and referred to the committee on bonn
merce in that body. This committee rel 3srred
the bill to the engineer Office of the Was5 De-
partment, which was subsequently returE Ia to
the committee, with favorable recomnfsnda.
tion, however, making it general in its opinion
instead of confning it to the Mississippi Over.
The bill SO amended was reported favoratay to
the Senate.
have no doubt the subject will be Fnlly
considered by both houses of Congress al the
next session. Yours respectfully,
w. D. WAsHBuN,
Capt. James Starkey offered the foHow.
ing:
Reso1ted That in view OF the disastrous
fires that within few hours has DESTROYED an
immense amount of property belonging to
some of our most worthy citizens and in kela.
tion thereto, the GLOBE newspaper in its issue
this morning casts some very grave reflections
on the capacity or sufficiency of the city fire
department, special committee of five be
appointed by the chair to confer with the
common council and underwriters of the city,
to enquire into the origin of said fires, 1.-THE
means employed to suppress the same to-
gether with all and every information that may
tend to more efficient fire department of the
city if in their judgment any is needed.
Mr.. Murray thought the resolution should
60 further, and urged the appointment Of q
building inspector. If the buildings had
been properly built the morning fire might
have been averted As it was, nothing could
have saved them.
Mr.. Nc Caine offered the followings as
additional to Capt. Starkey's resolution.
RESOLVED, That in the opinion of the Cham
ber there should be no further delay inthe
appointment by the city council of super
visor of buildings whose business shall by to
see they are properly erected for the purposes
for which they are intended, especially large
buildings for wholesale warehouses and
wholesale purposes.
After considerable debate on the faulty
building both resolutions were adopted, OK
cept that the matter was referred to the
mercantile committee instead of special
committee. The mercantile committee is
composed Of Messrs. d. r. 'Noyes, Jr., y.
Gotzian, John Mathies, VIM. Lindeke, G. D.
Strong.
D. R. Noyes read the following as partial
report from the mercantile committee upon
river improvement:
U. 8. ENGINEERS OFFICE,
ROCK ISLAND, ILL.,, Aug 20, 1880.
Mr.. Daniel r. Moves, Chairman Mercantile
Committee, Chamber of Commerce, st. Paul,
Minn.:
Sr:-Upon my return to Rock Island I find
your letter of Aug. l6. send you a copy of
Mai. Farquhar's report for the fiscal year end.
ing June 80, 1879. My report for the past fiscal
year, ending June 30, 1880, has not yet been
printed. When copies are received 1 will take
pleasure in mailing you copy. A full abstract
of the latter report was published in the Mis-
souri, Republican of Aug. 10. 1880. If can
obtain copy of this paper will forward it to
you. These reports will furnish you in detail
the information you desire.
In reply to your question of how soon good
navigable condition of the river may be ex-
pected would say that the time depends upon
the amounts of the annual appropriations. All
parts of the river are now or liable to become
bad, and a permanently good low water cham
mel cannot be assured until the whole river is
put under control. Very respectfully,
A. MACKENZIE, Capt. of Engineers.
The board then adjourned.