Telegram-herald., 1889-11-13

Z >
I beng elcro4shed upon, aud Il con
rinued Tor = year OT tao longer the
& tine % apply tie remedy Will have
/ passed. aid you, equally Win our
/ selves. VII Dc the sufferers
eve trust tns vii receive your
| prompt AID earnest attention.
Respeetluly,
/ Cas-. i. SLIGH,
Chairman,
l. G. STOW,
CHAs. B. JUDD,
| Mu0 G. RASDALL,
JOHS SSIIsELER-
The subject then was for the Board
OF Trade 10 adopt tie report. W Il.
| shelby stated tuat the report W&s ~
the right direction, but should De
| directed 10 the roads eenterns mere
and not 10 any particular rOad. Inc
| report VAS adopted.
The president then called on the
| Committee on Transportation, through
/ .Ls chairman, Cu4s. l.. singh, VINO suo-
milted the following
| To the Board OF Trade:
Your comm tIee % whom was re-
/ fcrrel the matter OF water cOmmuul-
| cation, between this city and Lake
/ Mich gan, would respectfully report;
| Iu8t we nr-t naturally directed our at
rent.Ou tO Grand River, but were easily
discourage lind from continuous nyes-
| tlgaLOn ln tals direction by tnc uh-
| favorable reports made Uy Capt. LOcA-
wood and Col. Mansfield, and therefore
| began looking elsewhere. At the nyi-
| tatlOu OF the citizens of Holland your
| committee, and a large number OF
other members of this board, made a
| trip ln carriages over a proposed route
/ for a canal between tins city and Black
| Lake, and without exception every
| member 0t the party was tavOrably I'M
pressed with the pracuca0llity OF the
| same.
The route proposed lies through an
| apparently level stretch o. country
Principally marsh, and had what your
committee considered an ample water
supply. The impression was SO favor
able that this board directors author
lied the employment OF an engineer to
make a survey, and Mr.. DOrr Skeels
was engaged for the work. About ten
| davs' time was consumed by him IN
going over the route. He began taking
| levels AT the old boat landing near God
| frey plaster mills and worked south
westerly through the lowest levels he
could tnd To near the head OF Black
| Lake, where he reached back water
| from Lake Michigan. His observations
show that the level of water IN Grand
river at Grand Rapids Is 5.S3 feet higher
| than the level of Black Lake, and that
the highest point at the divide near
Huds)nvilie Is 1920 feet higher than
| Black Lake This elevation Is reached
| by an ascent so long and gradual that
il IS imDercepuble 10 the naked eye,
and IS consequently very decelvlng.
\ profile and map of Mr.. Skeels'
work hung on the wall of this room tor
| the inspection of all interested.
To excavate for canal over this
route with ten feet of water and down
10 a lake level would necesSitate a cut
of about forty to fifty feet for cOnsld-
erable distance, and as the water sup
ply j. not sufficient to operate locks,
TINS would be the only possible plan,
| involving an enormous expense.
| On October II, while the above
mentioned survey was being made, your
| committee and several other members
OF this board went down Grand river
on the steamer Barrett on tour of IN
J spectiOn and observation. In the party
was Congressman Belknap, ex-COngress-
| man COmstOck and several other gentle
men VINO had been familiar with the
river more or less for many years, bnt
as we inspected Il with 4 view of utillz-
| ing il as a means of deep water COM
| munlcatlOn, Z was revelation TO us
TAN. The magnitude and possibilities
| of Grand River had never be
fore been fully appreciated by
| any member of the party,
and that this magnificent waterway
| has never been fully utilized for the
| benefit of the interior OF Western Mich
| gan, appears to Your committee like
| cuIpable negligence on the part of the
| business men OF this city. Every mem
Der of tine party returned fully deter
mined that So far as lay in hIs power
| he would exert every means and leave
no stone unturned to secure the I'M
prOyemeut of the river, so that vessels
of az least eight or nine feet draft
could nav Satc to Grand Rapids.
We found between TINS city and
Harc's landing two or three bars over
which there j. but from two feet To two
and One-half feet of water, bat the
average depth of the river over this
distance IS NJ least over three feet, and
fr0n Haire's landing 10 Lamont VIII
average four and One-half feet. From
this point to two mile. below SpOonvllle
the average depth is at least SIX or
seven feet. and from this point % the
mouth 0f the river vessels of fourteen
feet draft can navigate wItuOuttrOuble.
AZ Bleudou, where the river DarrOws
MO tO about Oue-alI Its usual width,
and hills slope down on either dc TO