Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-07
.ROBBING THE RIVERS.
Government officials Inquire Into The
Entertainments Upon the
LINES DETERMINED UPON In 1858
Colonel Merrill Says New Survey May Ee
Ordered, and the Matter
PLACED WITH THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY

The important question of the encroach-
ment upon the river lines entered upon
another phase yesterday.
A commission. consisting Of Lieutenant
Colonel W. E. Merrill. Major Lockwood
and Lieutenant Gillette, all of the United
States Engineers, commenced investigation
into, the subject yesterday in the Chamber of
Commerce.
The commission was ordered here BY the
Secretary of War as the result of a resolu-
tion, of November last of the Chamber of
Commerce Committee on Rivers and Har-
bors, requesting the Secretary to appoint
commission of engineers to examine into the
encroachments on the river channel at Pitts
burg and make such regulations as the navi-
CATION required. The power to do so was
conferred in the general law dealing with
the question, and embodied with the River
and Harbor bill, which was passed in Sep
temher of last year. In 1858 the State
passed a law under which river lines were
established by Commissioner Of high and
low water lines, which made survey at a
fcient. in that it did not provide for an
official to look after its enactments, and, as
result, there has never been any person
whose duty it was to look after the channel.
The Entire Matter Discussed Informally.
AT yesterdays meeting the question was
discussed at length in rather an informal
manner. The river men are said to be in
favor Of the existing law, provided it is
placed in operation. The railroads were
criticised for taking of so much space, and
the boatmen had word or two anent the
practice of dumping waste matter into the
river. Among those who Joined in the dis
cussion were Captain John A. bravo,
of the Chamber Of Commerce Committee on
Wood, w. G. Jutte, Captain G. W. Batch
elor, Arthur Kirk, Addison Lysle and j. B.
Sneathen.
at o'clock the party boarded the D. w.
Wood, kindly placed at its disposal by
Captain John A. Wood, and went down the
Ohio as far as Mckee's Rocks. At different
points, places where fragrant eEcroachments
were made in the channel were indicated,
many old river men testi ying of their own
knowledge as to the extent to which the
river had been filled in. The river men
seem to think that if an officer were ap-
pointed to see the law was carried out, the
offenders could be brought to the front.
Colonel Merrill said that the law, as it stood,
was clear in its application to the matter Of
encroachments, and he thought it likely
that action would be taken by the United
States District Attorney. He thought that
new survey might be ordered.
An Interview With Colonel Merrill
When asked what kind of report he
would make, he said: "T am not allowed
to say in advance. 1t wasn't necessary for
US to view the Allegheny side, as we could
tell from what we saw what was necessary
to be done. I noticed n number of irr gu
iarities between Lock No. i and McKee's
Rocks which disturb the channel. The
Baltimore and Ohio road has not hesitated
to fill up the shore to make track. room. 1
blame the river men here for not enforcing
the State law, which consider good one.
The old harbor lines were drawn by
the State surveyors in 1856. The
last river and harbor act gives US plenty
of authority to stop encroachment on the
waterways, and the man who violates this
law can be prosecuted in the United States
Courts. If we should decide that it was
necessary to lay out new lines, the expenses
of the survey will be paid by the Govern
ment."
State Assistance Must Be Had.
Colonel T. P. Roberts, who was present at
the meeting and at the excursion, said last
night that among matters broached at the
meeting was the fact that unless the State
authorities were invoked in some way to
act in conjunction with the United States in
the establishment OF harbor lines, only
vague understanding would be had in re-
10 he l,fia Of he foI
trict Attorney or the United States agents
who might be called upon to look after their
care and preservation.
'In this aspect" he,,said. ''the case is con-
siderably complicated. No one TOR a mo-
ment doubts the right Of the United States
Government to establish channel and har-
Dor lines beyond which no encroachment
would be allowed. But the cases will not
be infrequent in which considerable space
will be found included between the pre-
scribed harbor or channel line and the pres
ent or existing lines or ordinary banks of
the rivers. The question tl.en arises, under
what regulation. or under what laws-State
or national-these back spaces, so to speak,
may be filled up or utilized? 1t is true that
this recent act of Congress forbids the dump
ing into the river OF ashes and other refuse
which might tend to interrupt navigation,
and in this respect an official clothed with
the proper authority might interfere to pre-
vent such use of the river-as q dumping
place for ordinary refuse.
A Necessity for the City of Pittsburg.
"It is apparent, therefore, on its face,
that what is now demanded is more than a
definition OF harbor or channel lines. The
city Of Pittsburg, with Its 20 or more miles
of river front, demands that not only chan
mel lines, but also embankment lines, be
prescribed now and for all time up to which
limits the rivers may be filled out. We
may rest assured that the United States
Government engineers will not prescribe
lines for the rivers so narrow that to fill out
to them would lead to any such disasters as
the "Johnstown flood, {" or any food which
was supposed to have been aggravated by
the narrowing OF the banks.
''This part of the question is important,
because of the we'll recognized fact that if
there is, by any possibility. a chance for
making any ground on our river fronts, it
should become the property of the people.
Suppose part of the river front, between
this city and Braddock, for several miles,
could be filled out for say 100 feet along one
shore. without detriment to the interests of
navigation, would it not be good thing to
permit the construction of railways along
such an embankment
The Rights of Riparian Owners.
"The right that riparian owners have to
the use of the river front opposite their
ba1J l. IL