Washington sentinel., 1900-02-17
~ .,1s SENTINEL
TRADE HINTS FROM OUR
cONSULS ABROAD.

AMERICAN DN ElJNrE IN ND9sAA'--
The successful trials Of a powerful
dredge-Beta-built for the Rus
sian Government from plans drawn
by Lindou w. Bates, oi Chicago,
have attracted the attention OF the
leading countries OF the world. The
contract for this boat, made in
1897, demanded capacity Of l, 900
cubic yards an hour, with a prem
ium OF half the dredge's cost If it
should deliver 7 400 cubic yards
an hour, which was beyond any
thing heretofore attempted. The
Beta's official trials have recorded
a capacity OF 1880 cubic yards per
hour.
The first OF these hydraulic
credge boats was built for the
United States Government in 1896
for use on the bars in the Missis-
sippi River. 1t attracted the atten-
tion OF the Belgian Government,
which sent a committee Of engin-
GERS to America to Investigate the
Bates system with reference to the
availability oi the machines for the
proposed Grand CompuTe" in the
Scheldt below Antwerp. The
commission reported minutelY on
the American dredges and advised
their adoption tor the Scheldt i'm
provement. This report attracted
the attention of the Russian au-
thorites, who had been trying to
find means to remove distractions
in the Volga for a long series Of
years, when Prince Hilkoff, Minis
ter of Ways and Communications,
invited Mr.. Bates, who was in St.
Petersburg, to make for the gov
eminent a private report upon its
ports, as well as to examine the
Volga and report upon the adapt
ability OF his dredging system to
its conditions.
The Volga is OF the very highest
importance 70 Russia. 1t is not
only the first river OF the empire,
but is its greatest transport high
way. The railroads do not, as in
the case OF the Mississippi, parallel
the stream, but cross it, and are
not its competitors. The Volga is
connected with the Arctic Ocean
by canal, and with the Baltic by
system OF canals. Navigation is,
however, seriously handicapped
by bars, to cope with which no
satisfactory instrument had been
found. The most perplexing prob
lem which exists in southern Rus
sia is that Of the mouth of che
Nolga. Forty miles out at sea in
the shallow water beyond the great
Volga Delta is a floating city ol
many thousands, engaged in trans
ferring oil from the deep draft
boats o the Caspian to the shallow
craft OF the Volga. To devise
some acceptable scheme OF i'm
provement, hich would obviate
this transfer, has been the study Of
the Government Tor many years.
Mr.. Bates report to Prince Hill
koff resulted IN a contract to con-
strust for the Russian Government,
for the sum ofS5Is, 900, the largest
and most powerful dredging mach
inc in the world, to be selfpropel-
ling by electric power, something
unneard of in hydraulic dredging.
So general was the interest in
the official trial that, in addition to
Prince Hilkoff and four Russian
commissioners. there were present
the German, French, Austrian, and
Turkish ambassadors, the Belgian
ministers, commissions from Aus
tralia. India, Germany, France,
and the Argentine, and hundreds
OF engineers from all parts Of
Europe. Trains were run at re
duced rates to accommodate the
people eager TO see the American
dredge," and the Societe Cooke
Till Tor six weeks kept boats at Ant
werp taking visitors up and down
the Scheldt to the points OF opera
Gion.
On the completion OF the Bel
gian trials the machine was brought
to St. Petersburg, where, in the
presence OF an important body OF
officials, it was again put through
a series Oitests. These but served
to confirm the first record, so the
dredge was formally accepted by
the Russian Government and
awaits the spring to proceed to the
Volga.
The government OF Queensland,
Australia, having difficulty with
its haTbors and capital city which
floods kept inundating, invited Mr..
Bates to visit that city last winter.
He has reported on altthe ports Of
the colony, His system was
adopted, and machinery to the |
value Of S7,a5o, 600 was decided
upon, provided the Russian trials |
should prove the machine capable |
Of fulfilling the contracts.
On the way from Australia 10 |
Europe, Mr.. Bates stopped at Cal |
cutta. While m London he had |
been asked to examine the |
Hooghly and submit a plan for its !
relief. Mr.. Bates was told that he |
must make a proposition on the
"no-cure. no. pay" basis. The rem |
edy proposed BY Mr.. Bates appears /
70 have been quite different from
those previo uslY suggested, and
his project aroused enough inter
est to induce the Calcutta board to
send their engineer to Antwerp to |
be present at the Russian trials, |
and then to proceed TO America on
further tour Of insDection.
AS the result oi the trials Of the /
Beta, Calcutta has closed an order
for one lraM 90 nL The - "a n a-.r.n