Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-01-18

fects Iowa. flows thru a mag
|Snifcent valley ALMOST as level as
4 q billiard table, from Ave to
twenty five miles in width There
is soil from ten to twenty feet
in depth. Below that soil there is a
stratum Of sand. When the river is low
and its surface is opposite this stratum
OF sand 1T eats in, constantly UNDER
4 mining, and ! have seen stretches of it
1 half as wide as this room and half a
mile long drop into the river AIT once.
IN at vast amount of water is taken up
n solution, that rich soil is carried on
down, aiding to give the muddy and
the turbid appearance that the waters
LOT the river have.
/ u is in time deposited lower down
and forms an obstruction in the shape
\ OF a sandbar What think ought to
| be done even to i'm rovs. the navigation
OF the lower Mississippi is to prevent
| this vast volume of drift, as we call it,
composed of vegetable matter, some
sand, some lime. and some clay, from
being dropped into the river If by
means of small and inexpensive dikes
1.-The secretary of war was authorized to
| divert the current from these washing
\ places where it is in contact with the
/ bank. infinite good could be done. An
appropriation of 100000. in my judg-
ment, would do thar. Ii would start a
lscurrent across the river. it is true. 1t
would strike two or three miles below
Lon he opposite bank. bur one of these
barriers made of mattresses formed Of
willows and of wire and weighted with
rock an angle of 80 degrees from the
bank would soon have behind ii a solid
bank, and that wnula protect the river
in It's whole length where 1t Is now
|lnaking the dangerous and expensive
When went into the region of coun-
! try where Live tlirty-four years ago.
the town of Hamburg was our port of
ent try, so Q speak. We had no railways.
There We're then a few boats max
ling occasional visits up the river. i
remember hauling shingles from there
ithirty-four years ago. The tow, was
upon the bank of the river. Today 1T is
eight miles from the river The river
has wandered toward the Nebraskans.
and has destroyed the greater portion.
Of that region between is cid location
and the present one, Now. it may be
sail that this Improvement, of which +
lahave spoken, is not in the int eress of
nav tion--that ii is for tfs protection
Isof the Iowa farmer, May not; suggest
that the committee are estopped from
making that statement, for they have
appropriated SAL .0O, 900 already for the
protection of this Iowa farmer. But IL
Will be said. wv have only spen- sl5.
100000 in building Ievees in the last
+ twenty Years. =
undertake TO say that the ether
lltwen'ty-six million would rstsver have
been demanded if ii had not been the
desire to get the fifteen million: for i
want to make the statement now. in
the presence of the champion OF these
Improvements the gentleman from
Mississippi Mr. Catchings). who has
done so much to secure them, and who.
perhaps, Is sometimes now saying TO
himself, How sharper tlhan a serpent S
tooth 1T is to have a tllankless child =,
want TO say in his presence that .tlere
has been no substantial Improvement
in the navigation of the Mississippi
liver in The last Twenty-Five years /
am ready to stand BY that statement
and TO submit 1t to the dispassionate
Judgment of any man on earth except
zone Interested in the river and barber
I hil. and an engineer Of the United
States army.
remember the president of the
limited tSates Mr.. Cleveland. in a mes
sage TO congress. referred to this mat
te.f, and while he Nas II great friend of
the gentleman from Mississippi Mr..
3Gatchingsl, aeguit that gentlemen.
from any suspicion Of inspiring the
suggestion oftle iressag e. President
Cleveland said that after the expo lds-
tnre Oft have forgotten hon many
millions probably taenty-nine nillions
or something, Ike that they had So
cured an Improvement to the extent of
five inches on the N-w Madrid reach.
think, and seven incft 81 depth On the
Plum Point reach. L l am wrong in
my figurss--7I am not about the Inches
II am wrong in any Of my figures. the
gentleman from Miss issippi Will correct
ne.
Now, Mr.. Chairman. if we can make
lthsss approximations for the protection
of the plantations in Mississippi. Louis
mana, Arkaus sag, and Tennessee can
We no; do the same thing for the pro- u
lection Of The farmers in Missouri.
Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota?
You gantlsnen do not appreciate how
serious this matter is A farrse, GOES
te bed al night tfe owner of 100 acres
of IS prolific land as there is under the
sun He gets up in the morning ana.
sees that q current is setting across the
Iowa side Of the river The river IS Low
and he sees that ins bank has broken
a Nay ard that he has a strip IA rod or /
Two Wide and half a mile long less than
he had when he went 10 bed. so IL goes
on and on until in three months time
that Splendid farm has absolutely die /
appeared. Town have been SO treayea. /
East Nebraska City was once -four I
isiling town on the eastern bank Of the
Missouri river. Today the Missouri T
river is some distance east of tbs most (
easterly building in thar town. ST.
Marys, in Mills county, was once a
town. Il has absolutely dis +
appeared. and its site is two miles over 1
in the state Of Nebraska.
think This matter is one of national. Il
because all of you gentle I
men are Interested in the preseryati ton
Of the corn belt You must renetn-
Der trat there is but little of it N the
world That region of country that
produces corn in its best condition is
limited to six degrees of latituof and
extends from Ohio only a couple of
hundred miles west of the Missouri
river. That is substantially all the corn
II II -