The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1893-09-30

the stains of the Monon
gaheia river improvements above
Morgantown, now about to he under
taken by the United States govern
ment. as follows:
sMy connection with his work
consists simply in the fact of my
having charge of the original sur
veys of the river under Col W. Z.
Merrill, of the United States engin
eer corps Of 1873 Prior to that /
had been for several years on the
Ohio river improvement, and Col.
Merrill sent me up in 1875 to exam
inc and report upon the feasibility
of extending the slackwater uayiga
tion to Fairinont, the point where
the Wheeling branch of the Balti i
more and Ohio crosses the river. and
for which surveys Congress bad ap-
propriated small sum.
1.-THE work of the construction OF
dam No. 10, at or near MorgaDtown,
eighteen years after the original sur
veys, and which is but the beginning
of the important work desired by |
the people of West Virginia, is under
direction of Maj. Amos Stickney,
United States engineer, and the en-
ginDer in charge is Col. Philip Golay, |
who has for several years had charge
of locks and dams Nos and 8. built
by the United States above lock and
dam No. of the MonoDgahela Nav
igstion Company. 1t is TO be hoped
Congress will not be so dilstory as
it has been during the past twenty
years in the river works it has au-
thorized upon The rivers of Pennsyl-
vania AMI West Virginia.
THE NECESSARY DAMS.
"The fall of the Monongahela riy
err between Morgantown, the present
head of navigation, and Fairmont,
the enter of the raiload developed
Monengahela coal field in West Vir
ginia, is about 55 feet, and to over
come the descent it was proposed il
1875 to construct the following dams:
No. 10 at Morgantown with 13 feet
lift; No. IL near Ellington four miles
above, with 10 feet lift; No. -, at
Jennings Ripple, seven miles above
Morgantown, with=1l feet left; No.
ID, at Trippett's Ripple, nine miles
above Morgantown, with 10 feet lift;
No IA, at townsville, thirteen miles
above Morgantown. with 10 feet
left.
Having reached Lewesville. the
worst falls of the Monongahela river
are overcome, so that dam No. IA
would form a pool nine miles long.
The last projected dam, or No. Is,
was at Hoults Mill, twenty-five
miles above Morgantown, and about
three and one.half miles below Fair
mont. This dam would form a pool
extending a number of miles above
Fairmont. and some distance up the
West Fork river, though it would
not pond the Tygart's Valley very
far-the Tygart's Valley river
abounding with rocky rapids of
sharp descent nearly all the way to
Grafton.
1--WE may consider the Tygart's
Valley branch impracticahle for i'm
provement, though the lesser branch
the West Fork, is quite favorable
for many miles above the junction,
and it Insects the great Pittsburgh
coal vein with two other heavy
veins beneath It) all way TO Weston.
II ie .1anhtft.l 10 Ia .f boe . b.,v X aef
Fork discharges sufficient water in
dry weather to maintain slack water
navigation, and maintain loss from
evaporation in the pools, though it
undoubtedly has enough water for
these purposes during the greater
part of the boating season.
COAL MEN MOVING UP STREAM.
ut is fact that at present no
coal is mined above the fifth pool,
nevertheless there has been within
the last few years marked tendency
among the river coal miners to move
up the river where the coal veins are
heavier. There is now a well devel-
oped railroad coal trade conferred al
Fairmont, and only twenty five miles
distant from navigable water. The
coal vein most largely worked is full
ly ten feet thick, and is so easily
mined that one digger will produce
daily almost as much coal as two
diggers will in our lower pools. This
coal is largely used in Baltimore,
Boston and New York for gas max.
ing, being sold for the same price as
the best Penn or Westmoreland gas
coal in the eastern markets. 1t is
also shipped to Detroit, Chicago and
other western cities.
within recent years several hun
dred coke ovens have been erected
upon the Monongahela below Fair
mont and both the coal and coke
from this region are now well known
in the markets. 1t is scarcely
wonder, therefore, that the West
Virginia people are appealing to Con
gress to afford them cheaper trans
portation. The five locks and dams
can no doubt be constructed for ST.,
100000, or $4,000 each, and this
is sum which private organizations
frequently invested in the transpor-
tation business where the induce
ments are not equal to what the
Upper Monongahela valley of
fers. Cor. Pittsburgh Commercial
Gazette.