Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-10-17
Nt,lsfns,n an rnssH'AsiNn
Uli!tliIs,I.lt III lU.li liIIIlOI.
A long IND INTERESTING MEET-
ING EES1EaD-;T MORNING.

The Proposed E;ridge-The Sawdust Cues
tion-Report of tie Committee of Inyes-
tigation-A Serious Obstruction to Nav
isation--City and County Taxes.
The following business was transacted at
the Chamber Of Commerce yesterday
morning:
TIE PROPOSED BRIDGE.
The subject of new bridge across the
Mississippi river at the foot of Broadway
came up On the amendment
offered by Mr.. Lee at former
meeting 70 the eject that such bridge at
that point was not needed. When the sub
ject WAS introduced there was general
disposition to pass the matter without dis
cussion. but Mr.. McClung thought the
subject was of sufficient importance to
warrant full consideration Of it.
Dr.. Day spoke against the proposed
bridge on account of the fact that it would
injure our harbor and prevent the large
boats from coming up to our levee.
Mr.. Cochran stated that Mr.. Sewail. the
former city engineer. stated that by plac
ing iron spans where the wooden ores now
are, the bridge would be strong enough
for horses to trot over it,
Mr.. McCiung expressed himself in favor
of a number of bridges, the Seventh street
bridge, one i'll upper town from bluff to
bluff. and also one in lower town. He said
We had $500 acres OF land in West St.Paul
that ought to be utilized and made avail
able by bridge facilities.
Mr.. o. Z. Noyes desired to place
himself on record as being in favor
OF The bridge proposed at the
earliest moment. He desired also to be
recorded as being in favor of the bridge
for lower town.
Mr.. Castle favored laying the subject
over to give Mr.. Oppenheim, who was alb
sent. an opportunity to be heard.
DR.. Day did not think it necessary to lay
it over any more; that it had been delayed
several times, and as the chamber was
pretty full they had better come to vote
at once.
Mr.. Murray favored postponement, es-
peclally as the city engineer had been re-
quested by the city council to prepare a
statement of the plans and estimates in
regard to the bridge. He thought it would
be good idea to wait till this report
should be made for they would then have
some information to act upon. Finally on
motion of Mr.. Cochran the subject was
laid on the table.
THE SAW DUST MATTER.
Mr.. McClung, chairman Of the commit
tee on the Mississippi river, stated that
he regretted that it became necessary for
him to SO often address the chamber on the
subject of the Mississippi river. If the
topic was old and uninteresting he could
not help that. If we desired to maintain
a harbor here for the largest steamers and
to continue to be the head of navigation,
we must take the necessary steps to pre-
vent the Mississippi river from being
filed up with sawdust, and bars made by
collection of sawdust. The committee
held meeting, he said, on Saturday, and
desired to make the following report:
AS predicted i'll our last report the CON-
mittee of Minneapolis saw mill men who
appointed themselves to sic in Judgment
on their own cases, reported themselves
not guilty of any damage to the Missis-
sippi river by mill debris and sawdust.
They report having examined the bed and
channel of the river from st. Anthony
Falls to Lake Pepin, and found no saw
dust sandbars except on the sides and
banks of the river where they report great
benefits to navigation and no obstruction
or in jury wha ever.
In the face of this report your commit
tee naturally felt surprised that so skillful
an engineer as Col. Farquahr who was in
charge of the river improvements from the
Falls of st. Anthony to Lake Pepin, the
same route explored by the saw mill COM
mittee, and who has no interest whatever
to bias his judgment should set on foot all
this agitation and ask the chamber of
commerce to procure legislation to pre-
vent the very liberal and
GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS
of Minneapolis sawdust and mill refuse
which were being given without money and
without price to aid him in his work of
benefting the navigation of the river For
it must not be forgotten that this agitation
was not concocted by st. Paul ''cranks, don
keys aud mountebanks" as diabolical
scheme to ruin a great industry of Min
neapolis,' but was suggested by the gov
eminent engineer, Farquahr, who took the
pains to copy with his own hand the law
of Michigan enacted to abate this sawdust
nuisance and to ask for a similar law for
Minnesota. Col. Farquahr, however, la
bored under the disadvantage of never
having read the report of the Minneapo-
lis millers' committee, demonstrating by
actual soundings of the channel that saw
dust was no obstruction, but positive
benefit to navigation.
Your committee were also surprised that
all the river men in this country and Can
ada had fallen into the same error with
Col. Farquahr, and from their actual ex-
perience were willing to endorse and
CORROBORATE HIS THEORY.
If these errors and fallacies had been con-
fined to st. Paul and Minnesota alone, or
to the river men alone, it would not have
seemed SO strange; but that Wisconsin,
Michigan, Illinois, Maine and nearly every
other state and the Canadas should have
fallen into the same errors, and embodied
the public sentiment of the entire people
into statutory laws to punish mill-owners
for contributing to the benefit of their nav
igable waters passed our comprehension
We reflected, however, that none of these