Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-14
THEY DON'T OBSERVE.
Eight of Uncle Sans Signal
Stations Suspended.
RIVER MEN INDIGNANT.
Sergeant 0. D. Stewart Explains the
Financial Hiatus.
no WARNING FOR COAL OWNERS.
General Greely Has Hard Shedding to Make
$4,000 Go Around.
RIVER MEN INDIGNANT.
no WARNING FOR COAL OWNERS.
PITTSBURG REQUIRES MORE SERVICE

both the MoDongahela and Allegheny rivers
has suggested the idea that ii might prove
the inception of a coalboat rise, and with
that in view a DISPATCH representative
waylaid a prominent riverman yesterday
and proceeded to ask for the latest news of
the river.
The riverman snorted Indignantly and
said: Didn't you know that the United
States Signal Service has been discontinued
for the last two weeks in a number of sta
tions, and that coalboat rise might be right
upon our boats without our knowing any
thing about it?'
Being assured that the public was not in
formed on the subject the follower of the
plac1d Ohio came down to details: ION the
1st of October we were notified by Sergeant
O. d. Stewart, of the signal station, that
there would be no reports from eight sta
tion in Pennsylvania and West Virginia
during the month of October, owing
to the insufficiency of the Con-
pressional appropriation for the
river service branch of the Weather Bureau.
So here we Pittsburgers are with 10000, 900
bushels of coal loaded ready for a rise, and
no means provided for information as to the
condition of the Monongahela river.
MUCH MONEY INVOLVED.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are thus
subject to risk on account of the niggardly
policy of the Government. 1 admit that
since January l, 1885, when the river service
was established under Observer Stewart, it
has proved of incaleulable value to Pitts
burg and Monongahela coal and river men,
but that makes its discontinuance all the
more serious at as critical a time as the
present. The annual fall freshet is long
overdue, and may come at any time. We
have become used to depending on the Sig
nal Service for river bulletins, and my firm,
in particular, and / suppose others also,
have discontinued the system of information
as to the state of the river, made use of be-
fore the Signal Service began. This is not
the first time we have been left in the lurch,
and it is very probable that the coal men OF
Pittsburg will present memorial upon the
subject to the next Congress. We ought
to be given better service, if anything, than
at present, but to have our regular informa
ton cut of at short notice is something of a
hardship. The coal fraternity is really
alarmed because rises come so rapidly that
thousands of dollars of damage might be
done before means could be adopted to
insure the safety of the barges, many Of
which are in a very precarious condition as
regards their moorings and liability to drift
away and 60 to the bottom.
APPEALING TO PROCTOR.
''The loss of even one barge would amount
to more than the cost Of the whole months
service. Something ought to be done, and
we may telegraph Secretary Proctor Of the
War Department, asking him to make
some special arrangement to cover the
interval in which there will be no service"
Signal Sergeant o. D. Stewart was SUBJ
sequently seen and asked for an explanation
of the riverman's emphatic kick. The
genial Sergeant suspended his usual avoca-
tion of throwing dice with Jupiter Pluvius
and Old Boreas, and hung his guessing cap
up to dry.
"It is fact that the paucity
of the appropriation has compelled us
to suspend eigh: signal stations during |
the month of October, The eight stations |
shelved for the month are as follows: War |
ren, Clarion, Parker's Landing, Salisbury, |
BrookYille and Greensborough, Pa, and |
Rowlesburg and Weston, W. Va. The two |
latter ara Of vital importance to the Pitts
burg coal men, as they are on the head
waters of the Monongahela, Our rain re-
ports from these two stations are infallible /
indications Of coalboat rise when one is in |
process. For this month the Signal Service |
river branch is entirely in the dark as to
the condition OF the Monongahela, with the |
exception of Morgantown and Lock No. 4.
from which we receive daily reports as
usual"
RIvERMEN FIGHTING MAD.
'The rivermen are up in arms about the
suspension of the reports"
eyes, they have been here to file indig-
nant protests, and I think the situation is
very unfair to them. But we are powerless
to adopt any other course under the cir
cumstances. General Greely has to do
most marvellous pinching and scrapiug in
order to make S., 900 cover the entire river
branch Of the Signal Service. Enough
money ought to be afforded this extremely
important section OF the service to entirely
remodel it and increase its efficiency. The
Pittsburg station is by all odds the most i'm
portant in the United States in regard to the
river bulletin service. Not only does more
tonnage originate in or about Pittsburg than
anY city of the country, not barring New
York, but the condition of the Monongahela,
Allegheny and Ohio rivers hereabouts has
an immediate bearing upon the entire Ohio
and Mississippi system of navigation. To
be sure the steamboatmen below Louisville
have navigation all the year around, which
we have not as yet, but shippers all over the
West should be informed of the prospects for
high or low water, and the river men below
US ought to be kept posted as TO the liability
of floods.
MORE MONEY NEEDED.
"The conditions of the service here are that
we have 10 stations, inclusive OF Johnstown.
which, however, has not yet been re-estab-
lished, nor do know when it will be- We
do not have enough money to run
the 10 stations during the entire year.
This year, for instance, we had IL Sta
tions during July, August and September
and six stations in October. There will be
II stations in November and December and
full service In January, February, March,
April and May. This is the result of verv
exact calculations on the part of General
Greely, who is obliged to cut his coat by .
the cloth. Nine Thousand dollars is very
small sum when it has to cover river gauges.
paw for observations and repair of station
The observers in the Pitts
burg district received SIS month during
he first few years of the work, but are now ,
paid so much-or, rather, so little-per OBJ
iervatiOn. The river gauges cost 500, and
therefore form quite an item of expense. I
The scope of a river station is to take OBJ
iervations on the depth of the river. the
ain all, direction and velocity of wind and
of weather Several rivermen
lave suggested the addition of thermome-
er observation, which would be useful in
old weather.
JUST 5000 WANTED.
eve should have 5000 year in the
'ittsburg Station for the river branch of the 8
- IL
ng and evening continuous reports instead
n one diem q rarnaanf WE nnrlld