Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-13
TERMS OF THE DISPATCH.
POSTAGE FREE IN THE UNITED STATES.
PITTsBURG, SATURDAY. DEC. /, 1SsO8
A QUESTION OF FACT.

The plans tor improving the rivers of the
Mississippi and controlling the foods are so
far developed in the third paper of the
series, printed on the first page of this issue,
that clear general idea of their nature can
be formed, and intelligent discussion begun
as to their practicability. The plan briefly
stated is this: To convert the water courses
into storage reservoirs by movable dams, to
supplement the storage so obtained with
small basins at the heads of the streams
The idea of controlling foods by means of
reservoirs is not new, having been proposed
for the Ohio river IN 1S49 by Mr.. Charles
Ellet, and later by Mr.. Elwood Morris, dis
tinguished engineers of that time; these
reservoirs, however, were not to be in the
streams themselves, but 10 be reservoirs in
the ordinary sense of the term. The plan
when proposed was vigorously assailed and
Nally abandoned, the estimate of its cost
being S215, 900, 600 for the Ohio river alone,
to control the outflow, then estimated at only
one-third of what is now known to be neces-
sary.
The plan of movable dams to improve the
river for purposes of navigation we believe
to be approved by the best engineering
talent of the time, its estimated cost as ap-
piled to the Ohio being O,0OO, 900. The
new combination of the old ideas, as set
forth in these papers, appears plausible to
say the least, and reduces the problem to a
question of fact, which may be considered
under three heads.
(a) Is it practicable to obtain the neces-
sarY storage capacity in the way proposed?
The volume of water necessary is deter
mined by General Greely, from the gauging
of the Mississippi River Commission, at
something over IS cubic miles for the Ohio
Valley alone, in which the great foods of
the Mississippi originate. This question can
probably be settled from surveys already
made, which ought to give the cubic volume
of water courses
(b) Is it practicable to construct and
operate movable dams of the great size
necessary to accomplish the object? The
papers are to contain drawings of dams
which the author believes TO be practicable,
and no more expensive than those proposed
to give six feet of water only in the Ohio,
to render that stream navigable. 1t is
hoped that these designs or others will meet
every requirement, and criticism is invited
when they are so far unfolded that they NAV
be intelligently comprehended.
(c) Can the improvement be made at
cost commercially possible? The solution
of the mechanical problem will probably
solve this also. 1t is we'll to bear in mind,
in this connection, that the plan is not alone
to control the huods. but also to SO deepen
aud improve the water courses that they
will float ships of the heaviest tonnage, this
feature being natural sequence of the plan
of forming the storage reservoirs and adding
to the value of the system as means for
controlling the floods, its great value in de-
yeloping our internal water ways to their
greatest possible carrying capacity, so pro-
tecting US from the destructive violence of
natural forces, and at the same time freeing
us from our present thralldom to greedy
corporations.