Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-06-24
Mr.. CRoEs' SPEECH.

welcome to the members of the American
Society of Civil Engineers, who have come
tn ousands of miles in every direction tc
in terchange ideas and experience at this
central point of our common heritage, and
who have been met everywhere with hos
pitality beyond our imagination, but not
greater than We ought to have expected
from the composition of the inhabitants OF
this magnificent region.
Communities in which several genera
tlons have been born, have lived ard have
passed away, inherit certain traditions and
become sectional and narrow. But here
the aggressive and progressive minds of all
regions, forced away from their old homes
by the feeling of narrowness, meet on
common ground and vie with each other
in the furthering of bold and novel enter
prises.
1t is most fitting therefore that we who
represent the profession whose aim and
object is to direct the faces of nature for
the good of man, should assemble to learn
what has been, what can be and what must
be done to develope a great country, here
at its heart where great natural water ways
begin their mighty course, conveying life
giving products on the one hand to the
st. Lawrence and on the other to the Gulf
of Mexico.
Some of US whose lives have been
chiefly spent in the olden sections of
our land, have been led to believe that
water was held of little account in the Great
West.
We suppose it to be used for culinary
purposes and sometimes for washing. We
knew that the creation of steam presup-
posed the use of water and that therefore
even the railroads which bind the states
together with bands of steel, require a GER
tain amount of it.
But we find that after all il is water
more than anything else which contributes
to the development of this region, and the
comfort and happiness of its residents.
The beautiful lakes of your state are the
paradise of the seeker for repose and
health. The multiduninous small streams
afford water for your live stock, and Wall
street supplies water for your railroad
stock. Your rivers afford the cheapest
mode of conveyance to the market of the
stores Of timber, the procuring and manu-
facture of which is so immense an indus
try. The Father of Waters at the outset
of his useful course is pressed into your
service, and the greatest water power of
d
nations houses and to grind the -four to
feed their occupants. And it looks as if
the reason why we find no blockheads
here is becouse you grind them into saw
dust and send them. floating down the
stream to be dispersed in the great ocean.
American civil engineering owes great
debt to water, for its obstructive and de-
structive characteristics have forced the
nnoinaap 70 ho
of his greatest achievements in this great
northwest. 1t has compelled HIM to de-
part from the beaten track of precedent
suggested by the lower animals and only
developed by superior intelligence. The
beaver builds above ground his dams of
timber and earth, and men have followed
his example, but it has been reserved for
these later days for the engineer to arrest
the destructive forces of nature by build
ing at the Falls of st. Anthony, subter-
ranean and submarine dam of masonry
more enduring than the native rock.
The spider spun his web across a stream
and made the first suspension bridge, and
man has initiated him, but science and
Intellect have gone farther and, with what
would be audacity, were it not the result
Of calculation and industries, built out
piece by piece and bolt by bolt, eny struc-
ture, hundreds of feet above and across
great gorges, until meeting, in mid air,
the fragile looking "short line" bridge is
able to carry the heaviest loads.
The drainage of the refuse water of a
great Northwestern city, to perfect which
1t had been first necessary to lift the city
up bodily, polluted its water supply, and
the engineer daringly burrowed for miles
in the clay under a great lake and reached
q point beyond possibility of pollution. If
then, as we have been told many times
during this delightful week, the Northwest
is under Obligations to the engineers, we
cannot but feel that the engineer, in turn,
IS enormously indebted to the northwest
fer opportunities of constructing great
works, and the wise hberality which spares
no money TO accomplish its purpose.
This mutual dependence has wrought
good results in other ways, and has Gone
much 20 destroy faith out here in what al
eminent historian and thinker has termed
the dogma, that if man Is only sutii-
ciendy ignorant his whims and notions
constitute plain common sense;
You may think that / am inclined to
magnify mine ottice.' Il may be so, but |
beg you to remember that 1900 years ago
81. raul ala the same thing and his de-
scendants have not forgotten his example,
and q weeks association with them has
borne It's fruits. Impressed with all that
We have seen and all that we have heard,
overwhelmed almost with the profuseness
and heartiness of the hospitality we have
met with, it is with extreme pleasure that
We here conclude our round of excursions.
discussions and festivities, and feel that
while contact unto winds and waves is
invigorating, and constant alertness is
inspiring, it is well for Us to find ourselves
at last, in StiIlwate
After the speech making the visitors
were escorted upon The stage by the com
mittee on Refreshments, consisting of G.
NJ Brush, A. K. Doe, D. II. Hersey, A. J.
jerks and w. A. Chambers. Three long
tables were arranged across the stage and
loaded with sandwiches, pickles, straw
berries, cakes, wines, etc. All formality
was laid aside, and everybody helped them
selves, keeping time with spoon and fork
with the music dispersed by the band.
After the banquet the visitors proceeded
to the depot and boarded the special train
provided by the st. Paul d Duluth rail
road. AS the train left the depot the citi-
zen5 assembled at the depot gave three
cheers and tiger, which was responded to
from the cars. At White Bear the train