Daily globe., 1882-04-11
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
Capt. Bsll Gives His Views as to How the
Mississippi River at st. Paul Should be

Mississippi River at st. Paul Should be
Improved.
The board of directors of the chamber of
commerce OF st. Paul met yesterday morning.
CAPT. BELLS VIEWS.
The secretary said the following communi- |
cation from Captain Edwin Bell as
to improving the harbor at
st. Paul. After the reading, on motion OF j.
w. McClug, the communication was referred
to committee consisting OF Capt. Blakely,
Capt. Barney NJ. Somers and Mr.. Rundlett:
ST. PEUL, April 1O--To the pre- sident and
members of the chamber of commerce-Gents:
In compliance with resolution of your body
OF April 3, inviting me to give my views Tor
plan to improve the channel Of the river on the
west side of st. Paul:
First-I would build q low dam at the head
of the island at the saw mill. This low dam
will prevent the sand and sawdust from rum
ming behind the island and depositing. High
water will run over this low dam, causing
less current on the st. Paul side. l would
close up the opening between the islands.
This will keep the sand and sawdust from fill
ing In behind the island, where the dredging
Is to be done. There has been great deal of
discussion about the st. Paul bridge piers be-
ing in danger. My plan for protecting the
piers is this: would surround each pier with
good willow mat eighteen inches thick and
eighteen feet wide, cover the mats with foot
of rock. The current could not get under to
cut away the material under the pier. l would
run sheer dam 300 feet long just below the
outlet of Pickerel lake. This dam will an
Swer three purposes:
T;rct l1cho ff.o Ia hp
Paul side and keep the channel there.
Second-It will cut away the bar and make
good channel for steamboats, as high up as
the stock yards.
Third-it will prevent the sediment from
running behind the islands in high water and
depositipg along the West st. Paul levec. No
ripraping will be required.
I would commence the embankment just
| below the saw mill. The material should be
| taken for the embankment from the bed Of the
| river and deposited on the work. Below the
| bridge the material should be taken out deep
and wide enough to make good steamboat
| landing. The embankment should be contin-
| ued from the saw mill down to below the point
| opposite Dayton's bluff. The point should be
| cut off about 800 feet.
| My reasons for running the embankment SO
low down and cutting off the point, are that
as soon as the river overflows the West St.
Paul banks it runs down over the flats, strikes
Dayton's bluff and Pigs Eye timber, and thus
forms an obstruction to the free run of the
current in the main channel. This
causes the river to back up. 1t has the same
effect as an ice gorge making. the the river
| higher above Dayton's bluff than it is below.
The current being blocked in the main river,
causes heavy current to rush through West
st. Paul. By running the embankment down
and cutting off the point the current will be
led around the bend and give free run to the
river.
My system for dredging is different from
| any in use. If the machine is sixty or seventy
feet long 1 will raise the bed of the river to
near the surface, the full length obthe ma
chine.
l. have system that works with an endless
chain that will make parallel cut the length
| of the machine and carry the material that has
been raised from the bed of the river and de-
liver it on the work. This plan of dredging
deep and wide along the West st. Paul bank
| will obyiate the necessity of widening the bed
| of the river so much as is now proposed by
! the board of public works, and save the con-
demnation of the most valuable property (near
the BRIDGE proposed to be condemned.
Plan for constructing dam by this system:
| place my system across current. The bar
will form in six or eight feet of water to near
the surface, in few hours, by dropping the
machine slowly down the current and form
i the OAR LHe WluIu requlrtU. IL tuc IudCulnc Is
800 feet long the bar will form 800 feet long.
| On this bar place matt 20 feet wide, TO OF
thick, 800 feet long and load it with rock to
keep it in its place. The dam is then fin
| ished.
| In putting in dam under this plan the time
of six or eight men, also the time of the ma.
| chine, would be all the expense in raising q
bar six feet high and as wide as required, also
| 300 feet long, ready for the matt and rock
1 matt Ql0 foot JOrrr On faat vida apd foO%
| thick would cost SITS. The stone for weigh
| ing down this sized matt will be about 1888.
If the chamber wish to appoint committee
| to meet me at the upper levee, when the river
gets lower, will prove to them that can
| cut, in few hours, deep channel through
any reef or bar that now exists or that may
| form in the harbor of St. Paul. will also
| prove that the sawdust aud sand can be moved
back out of the channel and so utilized by
forming it into dams, 30 as 10 be q benefit to
| navigation. The cost of the whole of this
system for forming dams snd building en-
bankments would be about $4,000. 1t is
portable and can be used for years to do this
kind of work. The difference in putting in a
brush and rock dam the length and height
have described, without the labor of putting
in, would be three layess of brush. costing
about SITS for each layer; three layers of
rock, costing about 1888 each layer. This
work would have to be done before reaching
to where would commence laying; the most
on the bar form with sand aud sawdust.
Respectfully yours, EDWIN BELL.
OTHER THINGS.
The committee on nominations recommended
that the hour Of meeting be changed from
to II when the chamber moves into it's new
rooms and that the matter of filling vacancies
be postponed TIL the annual meeting. Both
motions were laid over.
THE NEW ARMORY.
Mr.. D. R.. ..Noyes, called the Iattention of the
members of the board to the fact that while
st. Paul had several companies of citizen SOL
diers that constitute standing armament of
the city, no steps has yet been taken by the
city to furnish them with suitable quarters.
They have been allowed for some time to drill
in the new Market hall but that priv
ilege has now been withdrawn
aud the council will not permit
them to drill any longer in Market hall. In
this connection Mr.. Noyes referred to the fact
that we bad labor strikes and troubles all
through the country. He did not anticipate
any difficulty here In st. Paul. Still if
the city is ever exposed to danger, il is well
enough to have organized bodies of men who
could be of service in case of an emergency.
He argued at some length to show that the.
city ought to construct an armory for the men
who have Joined these companies. The SUBJ