Arizona republican., 1900-10-02
THE WATERWAY HE WANTS Mr. seddon's Gigantic Scheme For a
 Mississippi Ship Canal.

James A. Seddon. an engineer at the head of his profession. says he has solved the problem of running seago- ing vessels through the Mississippi val ley.
 Mr. Seddon would kill two birds with one stone. High waters ruin channels. If the Mississippi river did not go on rampaces It would be an easy matter for the river engineers to establish and maintain deep waterway.
 There is always water enough to float ships of the greatest draught. but it covers too much river bed and is con- sequently very shallow. So the Sedd1n plan is to stop the flood. By taking the flood out of the valley the river will be permitted to pursue its course without bursting its banks and going upon q rail from which it returns with its channel gone and much work for the government engineers. if there is to bc any navigation later in the year when the river is low.
 A few years of even a noodless flow will cause the river to establish by erosion channel which ssa going ves- sells can navigate. and which will all most take care of itself.
 This is the Seddcn plan in g nutshell.
 
 been unfolded before the Illinois River Valley association and the Western Society of Engineers. Il i< d radical departure from all former plans of riv- CT work. and is remarkable for the req son that it contomplates abandonm ut of work which has cosr the engineering corps of the United States War depart ment quarter of a century of plan q the United Srates treasury an exprnd- iture of half hundred million of dol lars. AIr. SeddDn want- to begin all over again. He has no word of criti- cism for any of the men who hay. plan ned or have done or are dcing any f the river work along old lines. He says it was nat to be expected We should have solved these problems without the expenditure Of much mon ey and time in experiment.
 The author of this plan is thus intro duced by ;he legislative committee of the Illinois River Valley association:
 James A. Seddon. assistant to the board of officers tp which the Ques ton of a waterway in the Illinois river was referred by the last congress. has for eighteen years been exclusively engaS- ed in mathematical analysis of the data of the Mississippi river and it's tribu- taries. He is the author of a number of official reports and monographs upon these matters. and more recently in the transactions If the American Society of Civil Engineers, a complete system of river hydraulics, planned for the pre- else determination of the special prob lens met in the study of alluvial riy- CTS. Altogether his statements in re- gard tO the intricate relations of dis charge and stage in thes= rivers are generally taken by the well informed in his profession as final.
 The following AIr. Seddpn when asked about his project, told d reporter: The lower Mississippi river. which is the scene of my plan. has been worked with for twenty years by the govern ment at a cost of almost j0 million dol lars, and neither the flood OF tha chan mel have been mastered. l offer what I believe to be q solution of both prob lens. I do n,L do this in criticism of the men who have planned the work done on the river. Nothing is fulrher from my mind. l haze simply what I