The age-herald., 1899-06-22
WARRIOR RIVER
 IMPROVEMENT Congressman Go Over the
 Work. ARE MUCH ENCOURAGED Representative Bankhead Says That Congress Has Never Undertaken More Important Work Will
 Benefit Whole Country.
ARE MUCH ENCOURAGED

Five of the nine Alabama congressman met in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday and pro- ceeded to visit the great work for the Warrior river improvement now being carried out by the United States govern nent, according to the acts of congress.
 The congressman present were Messrs. Bankhead, Underwood, Stallings, Taylor and Burnett. Unhappily, Representatives Clayton, Robbins, Brewer and Wheeler were unable to be present; but are well known to be thoroughly in sympathy with the great work in improving the Warrior. It will be remembered that.congress at it's last session set apart $S00,O00 for the War r!or improvements. That is a continuing" appropriation, in so far as congress has power in the matter. That is to say, in ef- feet, that the expenditure of that great sum will necessitate further liberal appro- priations year by year until the improve ment of the Warrior is completed.
 Three of the congressman were in Bir- minghan yesterday, returning from Tus- caloosa They were MT. Underwood, MT. Bankhead, and MT. Burnett
 The river improvements are in MT. Bank heads district the Sixth though they bor- der closely upon MT. Underwood's the Ninth dfstrict. MT. Bankhead is an old member of the house, and the ranking democratic member of the rivers and har- bors committee. It is not derogatory to MT. Underwood, the able and restlessly en- ergetic representative of the Birmingham district, to say that chief credit for the Warrior work is due to MT. Bankhead. The two have worked together and each has hoo fr,xr1 11,,a 1, together have had the constant and able support of their Alabama colleagues in the house, and of Senator Morgan and Senator Pettus in the senate, without whose aid little could have been accomplished.
 What hey Saw of the VI ork
 Representative Bankhead said regarding his visit up the Warrior
 T was astonished and delighted at what l saw. The work going on under the gov ernment is of national importance. Con- gress has not yet undertaken a more i'm portant work; and all the state will be benefited, and all the country, as for that matter My visit to the works gave me the greatest comfort"
 Representative Underwood was equally enthusiastic.
 
 warmly. "Our people right here at home do not realize the importance of the War rior river improvements. From the third lock above Tuscaloosa nine miles upstream the work of the government has made a deep stream of wonderful beauty and in- calculable value to the mineral region. The sum of SS00,0OO appropriated by the last con gress is working wonders We were all as tonished to be informed by those in author lty that the largest river steamers can now proceed from Mobile to the top of the back water of the third lock seven months in the year. The locks are built to accommo- date these big steamers. The expenditure Of Sl,5OO,O0O, roughly speaking, will make the Warrior navigable for big boats all the year around from the confluence of the Black Warrior and Little Warrior, which is nearly opposite to Birmingham, across the hills to the westward. The expenditure of, say $3,0OO,0o0 will assure deep water all the year from the confluence of the Rivers Warrior to the Mobile bay This much we hope to bring about in very few years" Representative Burnett said:
 ''I consider the Warrior improvement the greatest government enterprise in the his- tory of the state. The work being done, as l saw it, was most astonishing. At Nic- aragua or Panama a great inter-ocean canal must be constructed with the next few years, and having regard to this fact the work on the Warrior is of vast na- tional importance"