Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-12-26

Work Has Been In Rrokress ssjsran
Years, and Much Remains TO He Done
--District Involved Covers 725 MiIes
Of the River's Course. no. = -


Few persons, In this age OF railroads.
realize the Importance OF the Upper
Mississippi river as great commercial
waterway or the extent OF the improve
ments upon 1t, In which the government
Is constantly engaged. The district COW
ers 725 miles of the rivers course and
extends from st. Paul to the mouth OF
the Missouri river.
Some idea of the importance Of the
river as a commercial waterway can be-
obtained when 1t Is stated that during
one OF the lightest years 1884, with I'M
usually low water, there were manu-
featured and fioated upon this section
Of the river LIZA, psi ,793 feet of lumber
and 603,311, 750 shingles; the value OF
this product being, In round numbers.
SO 100000. If this lumber were load
ed upon cars 1t would fill train OF
10000 cars, which would extend over
1000 miles in length, or 1t would make
1900 trains of twenty cars each. The
value of the seventy-five tow boats
used in the lumber business is $780,
600. stf.r
During the year mentioned the draw
of the bridge at Winona, Mimi, opened
to allow the passage Of 3,715 steamers,
1,422 barges and 1,172 RATS, in spite OF
the serious impediment to navigation OF
low water. The amount Of internal rev.
enue collected on the river and contrib
uting territory for 1894 was So, 939 GAG;
and customs revenue, 81, 233, 024.
System Of River improvements.
Prior to the close of the war little
attention had been paid to the improve
ment of the Upper Mississippi. Since
that time, however, the government
has projected extensive improvements,
although the upper river has had to
suffer largely for the benefit of the low
err river, as well as for obscure and not
always necessary improvements" APP
preparations for which have been made
from time to time for political reasons.
Between st. Paul and the Missouri
river there are two series of rapids
which have always been serious obsta-
cles to the navigation of the Mississippi.
at Rock Island and near the mouth OF
the Des MOines river ut Keokuk. At
the latter place the rapids are so shall
low as to absolutely prevent naviga-
ton in low water, and in 1869 canal
was begun, extending around the rap
ids, which was completed in 1876 at a
cost of $4,56S, sol.
At Rock Island, the seat of the Unit
ed States arsenal, the work of remov-
ing rocks from the crooked channel and
widening 1t to an average width of 200
feet was projected in 1866 and COM
pleted twenty years later. This re-
suited in dredging, blasting and remov
ing S7,926 cubic yards of rock at
cost of 81, CSC, $50, and made 1t possible
for good sized packets to navigate the
river Experience demonstrated, how
ever, that a 20O-foot channel was not
of sufficient width, owing to its tortuous
nature In places, to be perfectly safe
for the larger boats, and later efforts
have been making to widen 1t to 400
feet
ments, as suggested ut the outset, there
is being carried out a broad and COM
prehensive system Of general improve
ments.
1t has been found by careful measure
ments and estimates that by far the
most prolific cause Of sand and mud
bars. shifting channels, snags, etc, is
not from the tributaries, but from the
crumbling banks Of the river itself.
which annually devours and sweeps
down toward the sea hundreds of acres
Of land more or less good. This will be
appreciated when 1t Is known that in
the 725 miles Of the rivers course en-
braced in this district there are $50
miles Of crumbling banks. Manifestly,
then, one of the greatest aids to naviga-
ton Is the protection of these banks In
such way as to preserve them intact
and prevent their washing. Nearly 100