The Princeton union., 1894-03-22

channel, one mile long, would have to be
made from upper st. Croix lake to the head
waters Of the Brule, and it would be neces-
sary to build dams and locks and make
slack water ITS entire length. forty:ive
miles, which has a descent Of 400 feet.
There is, moreover, at its mouth no natural
harbor. The distance from Taylor's Falls
to the lakes is 165 miles.
The third route, marked No. 3 in the cut,
commences at the mouth Of the Kettle river,
one Of the largest tributaries Of the st.
very rapid. and would be required to be
damned, One dam with locks at the head
Of the rapid would provide slack water for
Then at Pine Island another dam would
be needed to slacken the water to the falls
of Kettle river The lower fal,e are some
eighteen feet; from head to foot from the
head Of the lower falls to the head Of the
upper falls, four ana half miles, the river
fails another twenty-five feet, but if the
sandrock' in which the country abounds
was found suitable for dams not much
expense would be incurred in building
the necessary dams and locks. From the
head of the upepr falls to the mouth Of the
Moose river and from this point to Moose
lake four dams would be necessary. From
Moose lake to the crossing Of the old
would be required and the canal would have
to be cut to Black Hoof river, tributary OF
Left Hand river, flowing into Lake Superior.
1t would be very expensive to make these
latter streams nav1gable.
Besides these three routes the commits
sioners also examined the st. Louis river
with reference to a canal from Fond du Lac
cut. They reported the st. Louis river
from Fond du Lac to the head of Knife
Falls twenty-five miles, impracticable for
navigation, but thought that a canal might
be constructed from point above Knife
Falls to the head Of the Moose Horn river,
or that the st. Louis river might be used
as a feeder for "a canal on the third route
examined by the commission: From Knife
Falls up stream the river is 800 hundred
feet wide with good banks and rock bottom.
Six miles from Knife Falls there are rapids
five miles long; four mics above these are
the Cloquet rapids one mile long, and from
the Cloquet river to the East Savannah
there are nineteen miles of slack water, and
from the head Of East Savannah to West
Savannah tributary to Sandy lake, a canal
both streams. The West Savannah is twelve
| miles long to Sandy lake and through Sandy
lake to the Mississippi it is five miles.
In summing up their observations the COM
Namecagon river route too long. The short
est ana best route would he the one via
the Bois Brule and the st. Croix, except
that there was no natural harbor at the
mouth Of the former The route by the
Kettle and Left Hand rivers they con-
sidered would be the most expensive.
| It will be noticed that there is on the map
| numpers showing the elevation at various
Cd0k VO1ulS 4uc SlSSdlAOA OA ALetAc
Superior is 6O2 feet above sea level. willie
| lower water mark at st. Paul is 6S2.5 feet,
showing difference of only 81 feet. The
! divide intervenes between these points, OF
| ing the elevation at Sandy lake, Mile Lacs
and other points on the routes. The route
numbered 1 in the cut consists of more
| miles OF navigable water way than the
other routes described and would involve few
dams to provide slack water and only one
canal untll the Mississippi was reached
| At Brainerd, Little Falls and st. Clouf
canals would have to be built around tht
falls, though dams at present exist at al
| three points. This route also has an abun
! lant supply OF water at the highest eleva
| ton, and Mile Lacs lake by an outlet no
/ shown In the cut could be used as feeder
on account OF It's high elevation, forty fee
above the highest point, Sandy lake, alon;
/ the route