The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-09-14
WILL IMPROVE THE MISSOURI
Government Engineer f. ID. Vincen,
on the Ground With This
Purpose in View.
An Appropriation of $4,000 Which
Will Be Spent Between Great
Falls and Cascade.

+. D. Vincent, a government engineer.
came in Sunday to take charge of the
work Of improving the Missouri river be.
tween this city and Stubs ferry. At
the last session of congress an appro.
p~riation Of $4,000 was made for this
purpose and this amount will be spent
between this city and Cascade. Mr..
Vincent was seen by a TRIBUNE repre-.
sentative yesterday and in answer to his
questions Mr.. Vincent spoke about as
follows:
81 was here last year and did some
work in the way of surveying the river,
but, as / understand it, the present ap-
preparation of $4,000 is the first ore
ever made for the actual improvement
of the river above Great Falls. just
what work will be accomplished with
this money 1 cannot yet say. For the
next two weeks or SO l shall be engaged
in surveying with a view to determining
the most effective manner in
woich it can be used. From a
hasty examination of the stream made
the other day in Capt. Taylor's boat, |
find that the river channel here is con
stantly changing and the maps that |
have, showing the bars and the depth of
the stream, are no longer reliable. OF
course $4,000 is a small sum with
which to accomplish much, and a
large proportion of this sum will be ne.
cesearily spent in dredging machinery.
but there will be enough left to make a
start. The work done this season will
consist in removing the o~bstructing bars
as far as possible, and riprapping to pre-
vent them filling in again, the object
being to confine the river as 'much as
possible to a certain channel. The work
is an important one and the present ap-
preparation, l understand, is only de-
signed to effect a commencement, il
being the design of the government to
make the river navigable between this
city and Stubs Ferry as soon as the
necessary appropriations are available.
A navigable channel between this city
aud Cascade would of itself be a great
advantage to the people here as we'll as
the ranchers along the course of the
river. When l was up the river the
other day with Captain Taylor l heard a
uuulDeT vi ldTu1eTS asking WnaL Cnance
there would be this fall to ship hay and
produce to the city by boat. This kind
Of farm produce could be taken down the
river very cheaply in fiat boats il a proper
channel for a small steamboat existed.
l expect several assistants here shortly
from Sioux Falls, which is the h~eadquar-
tiers of Capt. Hodges, who is the engineer
in charge of the Upper Missouri river
improvements. When we finally get to
work dredging the river the work will
give employment to about twenty men.
However, there is considerable work to
do before we get to that point, and it
may be spring before we commence that
portion Of the work. Meantime we ex-
pect to commence work getting the ma
chinery and fiat boats in order in a few
weeks"
Captain Taylor is entitled to a good
deal of credit for securing this appropri.
alton, as he has been agitating the mat
ter for a number of years and finally
succeeded in getting Senator Power and
Congressman Hartman interested in the
matter sufficiently to get the appropria-
ton, small as it is, Though.