Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-04-06

4
preparations been in the possession Of
this Office at the time the Marietta dam
was originally located, the Marietta
dam would undoubtedly have been put
at the foot of James Island, and there
would have been no question in any
ones mind as to the desirablitiy and
advantage of such location.
The original location at the head of
Muskingum Island is not as good from
an engineering point of view as that
at the foot of James Island, and waa
only adopted because there was no 9th
er better place within the limits of the
original survey which provided for a
dam only as far down the river as Mar
ietta. The bad channel along Muskin-
gum Island at its head will make navl-
cation in the river difficult during dam
construction, will probably make a
good deal of dredging necessary to al
low the passage of coal fleets, and will
delay the progress of work consider
ably. Much of this difficulty can be
avoided at the foot of James Island be-
cause the width and depth is better
adapted to allowing the construction OF
the dam without interfering with the
passing navigation.
AS you well know, the construction
of any dam at Marietta was largely as
sisted by my special recommendations
that the first dams should be built i'm
mediately below large rivers and larg, Z,
cities. in order TO build up and develop
the commerce and harbors of such
places. The change now proposed with
| respect to moving Dam 18 down
to the foot of James Island is
in thorough keeping with those
original recommendations, and will!
be very decidedly in the interests
of the future development of Marietta.
The same reasons that make it desir-
able for Marietta to have the Marietta
dam placed below Muskingum Island,
will make it for the interests of Park
ersburg to have the Parkersburg dam
placed below Blennerhassett Island
In my opinion if Marietta and Parkers-
burg should look ahead into the future
they would both of them urge the very
change which l have now recommend
ed each in their own interests.
1t has always been my intention to
have the local Office in charge of the
construction of this dam placed at Mar
ietta. AS the dam. however, must by
law be built by contract, the contractor
will go where he pleases to make his
own purchases, and the United States
will not have many purchases to make
in any way. During construction it
will be necessary to have local office
at the dam. After construction there
will be no office to be retained any
where except for lockkeeper at the
dam itself. The construction of the
| dam will last only few years. The
operation of the dam will last for the
next fifty years or more. Under such
circumstances, the 'ocation of
the local engineer office will be
| of less Importance than you
probably expect, and l think
it will be far more for your interest
to secure the great additional benefit to
Marietta from having five miles more
in it's harbor than to secure a tempo.
rary small benefit to Marietta from
having the local Office of the Assistant
Engineer in charge of the construction
located at Marietta during such con-
struction.
| Regarding my presence at your
Board of Trade meeting which you
think may be held next Thursday,
can only say that at the present time
district which requires my constant
presence in the Cincinnati Office. II
some of your Board ofTrade should hap.
pen to be in Cincinnati, I could easily
explain many things to them from our
survey maps at this office much more
fully than could do at Marietta.
My only interest in the matter is tc
secure the best final result for Marietta
harbor, Parkersburg harbor, and OhiC
River navigation in general In my
opinion the transfer of the dam from
the head of Muskingum Island to tn,
foot of James Island will be advantage
GUS to all three interests above named
both separately and jointly.
Very respectfully,
w. H. BIXBY,
Major, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.
HEADQUARTERS
Cincinnati, O., March 29, 1901.
Mr. NJ M. Rose Marietta, Ohio.
Sir:-Yours of March 28 is duly a
: hand, on behalf of the Committee ap
pointed by your Board of Trade, tt
. consider the question of change of 10
cation of Dam No. 49, Ohio River
Replying to your letter, | have t,