Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1884-01-16
THE MISSISSIPPI.
THE REPORT OF THE COJrHISsION
ERS ON ITS IMPROVENENT.
An Interesting Account of the Work Done
Completed Above st. louisa Good
Showing for the Money Expended-A
Grand Water Thoroughfsre.

WASHINGTON. Jan. 15.-The report
! of the select committee OF the
senate appointed in accordance with the
resolution of February % last
to examine the works of improve
ment in progress on the Missis-
sippi river, and tbs methods employed iu
making such Improvements, and also the
jetty system, was presented to the senate
to-day The conmittee consisted OF
Senator Logan, chairman, and Senators
Jones of Nevada, Sawyer, Jones and
Walker They met in Chicago Oct. 27.
and all were present except Senator Jones
It was decided to begin the work of inves-
hgation at Rock Island, and testimony
was accordingly taken at that
place, and at Burlington, Keokuk, Quincy,
Alton, st. Louis, Cairo, Memphis, Green
vile, Vicksourg, Lake Providence, st. Jo-
seph, Natchez and New Orleans. In addi-
tion to this testimony, the committee
reports that ii was assisted in it's investi-
cation by
THE ENGINEERS IN CHARGE
of the work in the various districts visited,
who came on board the boat on which the
committee made its trip of inspection, and
pointed out and explained the features of
the work under their control. Besides
| this, the committee reports of having
made landings at all the points where i'm
! portant works were in progress or already
completed, and having made a thorough
investigation of their character, extent and
value. The first part of the work of the
improvement treated on by the committee,
is that begun on the Mississippi
BETWEEN ST. PAUL AND THE MOUTH OF THE
ILLINOIS RIVER.
The following description of the obsta-
cles to navigation in this stretch of the
river and the work already done towards
it's improvement, which work the commit
tee reports, received almost the unanimous
endorsement of the river and steamboat
men and the persons living along the river.
The committee alludes to the recommend
atIons heretofore made to congress in
support of the large appropriations as
more economical, and endorsing those
recommendations, say: "Your committee
is persuaded if the work of i'm
provement is worth doing at all, it is
eorth doing we'll, and 10 secure thor
oughness, permanency and economy in
its prosecution, a uniform syetem must
be pted and adhered to- Your com
mittee does not propose to suggest the
solutions of
ENGINEERING PROBLEMS.
Il intends simply to guard the senate
against the habit of legislation, which
tends to fritter away the appropriations
in feeble, desultory work" Il adds the
system now in use on the river between
the mouth-of the Illinois and st. Paul,
with the notifications suggested by ex-
perience, seems to be adequate to the
improvement of navigation, and should
in the judgment of your committee, be
pnshed rapidly to completion. With re-
spect to the improvement of the river
from st. Paul to the Des Moines rapids,
the committee reports that from St. Paul
TO the mouth of the st. Croix, the channel
has been deepened nearly two feet, and as
this deepening must proceed gradually,
still further results will be obtained from
the works already constructed, and upon
their completion navigation will be made
easy"
''In the fifty-four mile stretch from the
mouth of the
the committee says, 'the worst obstruction
was Smiths bar, which, until 1879, was the
head of navigation for large boats, there
being but thirty inches of
water on its course, but since the
improvement there has been from six to
nine feet at the lowest stages Of the r1ver.
La the ten miles from Reeds Landing to
Alma, oostructions were formerly very
troublesome, but the result of the improve
ments up to 1888, the committee says "In
that year,-yery low water season-there
was not less than four feet on any bar on
this stretch of the river, where formerly.
often for weeks st time, the maximum
dapfh on several of the reefs did not exceed
thirty inches to three feet. Ths report
deals in detail with the obstacles to navi-
CATION, and improvements made in
the other bars and shoals of the river. and
says ali the completed works
HAvE GIVEN GOOD RESULTS.
Coming so that part of the river between
the Des Moines rapids and the Illinois
river, the committee reports that the sum
thus far appropriated for the improve
ments of the general navigation in this
Sbr6EcQ OF tn6 TlNSr, 10 D1Ilo-5 dSRISSdtcS
$615,O0O. It adds: ''The Improvement of
the Rock Island rapids, by rock excavation,
and the Des Moines rapids by means of a
canal, are too well known to need further
mention in this report, as the attention of
congress will probably be directed there in
other ways"
TIE committee recommends that the
work at the Rock Island harbor and
Quincy bay be continued, and that a suffi-
cient appropriatio-s be made to insure
their Improvements. A good deal of
space is devoted to that portion of the
river, 232 miles between the mouths of
the Illinois and Ohio rivers. In alluding
to the action of the river upon the banks
below the mouth of the Missouri river, the
committee says: To the inquiry, Glow
it happens that river, drawing half of
the continent is unable to provide at
point several thousand miles from its head
waters, depth of channel sufficient for
all the purposes of navigation, the expla-
nation is simple. The supply of
WATER is ABUNDANT.
but in bad shape, and this is due to the
fact that the banks are not strong enough
to hold it. In ths natural state of the
river the strength of the banks, was
largely reinforced by trees growing upon
them. When the bank caves the trees fall
to the foot of it, and there form consid-
orat,lo %borrb prptnptinn