Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1899-12-12
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DISTINCTIONS + Na--'-etion 70
be Located Accurately.

They will be Removed Later Entire
Stretch of River - be Surveyed
Boulders, Dams aud Other Things
to Come out Railroad will Have to
TO be Raised In Places.
Engineer j. {. Barr together with
c. f. Mccoy and j. L. Boyd have
started on surveying trip which will
begin at Fairmont and extend To Nor
gantown. They viii be helped by
Charles and William = " fling
ton. The party started on ai1nday
evening
The survey which is TO start above
the forks of the rivers which form the
Monongahela is to locate all the OBJ
structions TO navigation which will
have to be dealt within the stretch of
water between this place and the up
per end of slackwater 1t will begin
about half mile above the mouth of
each river.
1t will take about six weeks TO fin
ish the job and the corps will remain
out until it is done. They will go
over the ground very carefully and
very correct map viii be made of the
river. There is no map in existence
Of any part of the river.
There was reconnaissance made by
Col. T. 2. Roberts in 1875 but this
map does not show any Of the impor-
tant matters that an engineer has TO
know about the stream. It is parti-
ally TO remedy this defect that the
party has gone out.
There is no river in the country
that is so important to The CONNER
cial interests of the country as the
Monongahela river is. And no river
in the country has been SO neglected.
Many unimportant streams have been
mapped from their source TO their
mouth but there is no map of this one
and even the lower reaches of the riv-
er have also been neglected.
The location Of the distractions TO
navigation that is TO be will take some
time and recommendation will be
made by Major Powell when it is done
that they all be removed. There are
some immense boulders both in the
bed Of the river and along the bank
that will have to be taken out.
This will be attended to before the
locks and dams are completed as it
will be easier to do then than later
when the water is over them. There
is more than enough money appropri-
ated for the Improvement Of the river
and it is to be asked that portion OF
the remainder be expended in Kidding
the river of the distractions. 1t is
expected that this request will be
readily granted. Dynamite will be
used on most OF the boulders TO get
them out OF the way. The work II
done will not start before next Spring.
Besides these large boulders there
are number of other things that
will have to come out. Among these
are vaso number of fish traps and
the dams built out from either side OF
them. The old mill dam will also
have to come out and the channel at
both the Big and Little Falls will have
to receive attention. In some of the
ripples there is also work to be done
All of these things will be looked
after by the corps of surveyors and
when the work is done that they di-
rect to be done the river will be ready
for slackWater.
The railroad will have to be raised
in several places on account Of the
elevation that will take place in the
top of the river. This will come
dangerously near in flood time and the
tracks will be taken higher up on the
bank to get them out Of reach of the
waters. The company will receive
damages on account Of this from the
government. Other property holders
along the river will be damaged slight
ly but none of them will raise much
of kick on account of the advantage
that they will gain by the establish
ment of slackwater.