The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1884-08-30
Werk Of the River Commission.

of the Mississippi River Commis-
sion, Captain Willard, secretary
of the construction committee OF
the Commission, aud Captain Clin.
ton b. Sears, United States en-
gineer in charge of the Govern
ment work in this district were in
Vicksburg last week. Gen. Com.
stock fell into the hands of a re-
porter of the Commercial Herald,
who sums up the Generals re.
marks as follows:
The General said that himself
and party had spent several days
in inspecting the works at Plum
Point and Lake Providence Reach,
and at both places he had found
the work progressing well and sat.
isfactorily.
After leaving Providence Reach
Gen. Comstock made an inspection
of the government works at Delta
point, and also at the mouth OF
West Pass. AS regards the latter
he says that, in bis opinion, no
great good will result from it, and
that no permanently good results
will be derived from it. Should
the river fall very rapidly, say ten
or twelve feet in three or four
days, said the General, the water
in forcing itself from the lake into
the river would in all probability,
scour out the pass to q depth suf'
ficient TO admit the passage
through it of light draft boats, but
the good thus derived would be
brief.
In answer to a question as to the
possibility of the river commission
making an allotment for the i'm.
provement of the harbor of Vicks.
burg Gen. Comstock said that the
commission at its meeting in New
York had allotted every dollar OF
the moneys in their possession for
the Improvement of the Mississip.
pi, except small reserve fund,
which is kept aside in case of an
emergency, and one hundred and
sixty thousand dollars, which will
be devoted to building and i'm
proving the levees. The commits
sion receives the appropriation
made by Congress with instruc.
tions to use it where the best re.
suits can be obtained, and, accord
ing to the opinion of Gen. Com
stock, it is far from being a GER
tainty. that deep water could be
restored TO the river front of this
city. The commission has no il
feeling toward this city, but they
did not feel that they would bt
faithfully performing the duties
vested in them if they spent 1
large sum of money here in an eff
fort to restore to Vicksburg hel
harbor when it is far from being {
certainty that the work could b.
accomplished. 1t is an acknowl
edr ed fact among the distinguish
cd hydraulic engineers, who hole
positions under the river commis
sion, that to restore this harbol
would require vast amount o.
money, possibly even more thai
the assessed value of the Who'll,
city of Vicksburg. Vicksbur!
missed it, said Gen. Comstocl
when she did not have her repre-
sentatives in Congress have he
harbor specifically identified will
the stated improvements, whicl
were directed to be made by con
, gress. Memphis in this way go
an appropriation of 100000 ant
other river cities were especial.
remembered in the river and har
bor bill. "We, the river commits
sion. are simply an exectiye bod,
to see that the wishes of congress
are carried out, and we woul,
much prefer that congress vonl'
allot all of the funds placed IN ou
hands for expenditure on rive
improvements"
There has as yet been no def
mite day sat for the next meeting
of the river commission, but ther
is no prospect of that body CON
ing together III the near future
ls--s---z
IL .as Glad TO Meet Him.
tDr.ke's Tr veler's Masazine.l
As the train pulled out of Kan
sas City, recently, bound West.
fine.looking gentleman, who occu
pied a seat in smoking car, wa
accosted by a rank looking spec
imam of WpEtnru humanity. "Eoit