The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-03-03
THAT PALINGENESIS.

III VI. MURDOCH, Editor.
THAT PALINGENEsIS.
Lanenting winds sweeping on from mountain te
Repretfnlly sigh for the straam's lost pageantry.
Yc., anon. in exuiting strains of ecstasy
For its inetasenesis-
There is suit pending in the district
court of this county which involves the
former status of the Arkansas river as
navigable stream and the consequent
title to the lands embraced by certain
island. The testimony would prove IN
teresitng to the later comers OF the
valley. The Insignificant stream that
now threads its weary way through OBJ
structing sands and dead reeds, and
which for much of the year is lost sight
of altogether, was, in the long ago Tor
many months of each year, broad rush
ing tide of turbed waters whose murky
deeps of foam and swirls were grandiy,
significant. The iron bridge on Douglas
avenue was longer by two hun dred feet
and from bank to bank, and brim full,
the Great Arkansas went rolling by in
volume that was inspiring. 1t at last
inspired the ''Nile of America" and
many other poems not only, but stimu-
lated the ambition of the statesman and
the navigator. Ferry boats were main
tained here, at Oxford, and Arkansas
City. That was before the days OF
bridges. With a stiff breeze from
the south there was much pleasure to be
had in plunging about in boat rugged
with a sail over the broad expanse of
water that stretched away from the foot
of Douglas avenue down to the isle of
Patmos," as the writer can from ex-
perience testify. With strong wind
the waves would roll threateningly
high. The waters always looked dark,
dangerous and unfathonable. Vagrant
family boats and tramp scows, launched
in the shadows of the pine high in the
regions of the Rocky mountains, in float
ing by, tied up at the Wichita wharf.
1t was then that the EAGLE discussed
the possibility of navigabiIity. A drug
store was shipped from this point
during rise, and at another time a raft
of lumber was sent whirling down
IN the bosom of the Rackensack,
A cargo of wheat was shipped from |
Arkansa City to the lower country, and |
IValton's steamboat started northward |
or Wichita, running into the pontoon
It Oxford. A congressional appropria-
ion was at last secured and the United |
states, after measuring the volume of |
water passing this point, demonstrated
o the satisfaction of the department at
that there was plenty of
water for boats of light draught and for
everal months in each year, providing
he water could be confined to channel
# reasonable width. These engineers
ound the bottom of the river too near
he top of the water in many places, or
n other words. the water thick enough
or navigation but too thin for steam
boats because of its being so spread
'ut. Their official report, however,
demonstrated to the satisfaction of the
'ommittee on appropriations and the
var department that by reasonable
the Great Arkansas river
would be rendered navigable from the
mouth of the Little Arkansas to Fort
smith and to the sea. To this every
'ody assented and the average Wichita
hipper confidently expected to hear
he echoes of this vicinity awakened by
he hoarse music of the calliope, and to
ee the black smoking stacks of proud
jackets and sturdy tows nesting along
he crowded and busy wharfs of
Wichita. But, alas, ere the first ppro-
riation had been expended in jetties
nd in pulling snags the irrigation craze
truck the squatters of Colorado, who
egan to dig bitches and divert to their
otato patches the fluid which we had
apked so much upon in the way of
heap freights and frightful railroad
ompetition. The government contract
rs struggled on, and Wichita prayed,
ut the gift of the melting snow banks
the far off mountain riffs percolated
he wind swept swells and was lost in
he sands of the sombrous sweeps of the s
nute, tristful and treeless immensitv O. {
he boundless beyond. The regretful
lghs and the dreams of steamboats,
we're lost in the murmur of the lament
1g winds which alone reached the sea.
Neath the shelter OF that islands lissome willows
till waiily watching for his need of minnows {
gaunt crane, far away from his native bil,oys ,
Stands poised In quaint srote.queness