Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-09-30
FEARsAR[ UNFOUNDED
Maj. Meigs on Future of Steam-
boating on the Missis-
sippi.
REVIVAL MAY BE LOOKED FOR
Coal and Fuel Oil Will Bring II
About -Authoritative
Talk.

Probably no man along the Missis-
sippi river is better qualified to speak
of the future of steamboating than
Maj. Meigs, who was in the city sever
al days this week. says the Burling-
ton Journal. During his long years
in the government service on the up
per Mississippi he has seen the larg-
est fleet of rafters that formerIv
piled the upper Mississippi practic-
ally disappear, and has witnessed
the large through line packets gol
out of business as railroad COMPETE
ton grew and the enormous freight
ing business which was formerly done
by the river steamers, gradually alb
sorbed by the railroads.
One of the questions asked the ma
jor during his stay in this city by a
journal reporter was, major, what.
in your opinion, will be the future of
the upper Mississippi, and will it
ever as some people claim, be aban-
doned by the government as navi-
gable stream ?''
This has been much mooted ques-
tion of late years, and the majors
position and long years peculiarly
fit him to answer the question intel
ligently. What he said on this sub
ject will therefore be of general inter
est all along. the river.
VIII Never BE Abandoned.
In the first place the major stated
that the Mississippi would always, in
his opinion. be navigable stream,
and that the government will never
be in position TO abandon it
This talk of abandoning the upper
Mississippi was all caused by the
government abandoning the Missouri.
as the major stated. 1.-The Missouri"
said the major, "really never was a
stream. 1t is true that it
was navigable under difficulties in
the early days, but the conditions
then were quite different. Freight
rates then were 81 per 100 pounds and
a ship owner could risk trip up the
river with cargo of goods and if
he did loose his boat before he re-
turned, the freight rate he had re-
ceived would almost pay for his boat.
With the railroad competition and
low freight rates all that has chang
ed and the river was abandoned by
steamboat men who did not care to
run the risk for what they could get
out of it, long years before the gov
eminent officially abandoned the
With the Mississippi the major ar
e,iled ii was different. @fItsis true that
most of the rafters have gone with
the decline of the business. but there
will be few of them for years to
come. The Diamond 10 company, ac-
cording to information gathered by
the ma jor, had one of the most profit
able seasons this year that it has had
for a long time and reports that
there is a general revival of passenger
business on the river. There is no
more pleasant trip to be imagined
than a trip on a river steamer, and
the people are beginning TO realize
It more. The major is of the opinion
that light draft and high speed pas
senger boats will be the future
boats on the river.
While there is considerable freight
handled by the boats it will in a
great measure be handled by the
short line packets running on sched-
been established all along the river.
Then again there is large increase
in the number of private crafts on the
river and the future will see many of
these.
The boats of the future will be
lighter of draft and much speedier
than the ponderous boats of the past,
but it is the opinion of the major
that the river will be navigable as
long as there is water enough in 4
to float n steamer.
Glorious Future In Coal.
at is my opinion that coal and fuel
oil will be the means of again making
the grand old river a channel of
commerce. Within a few years there
viii be several large lines on the river
towing oil all the way from New Or
St. Paul, and there Will be
more boats on the river than at pres
ent. Should the people of Minnesota
and other northern states discover
coal in any quantity, especially large
deposits of anthracite coal, which is
extremely probable, you would see
a traffic on the river such as has
never been witnessed. Coal and fuel
oil can be transported in barges much
cheaper than the railroads can al
ford to handle it, and it is my opinion |
that they will be the means of again |
booming the river traffic, and, instead |
Of being abandoned, the Mississippi
will be a greater channel of commerce
in the future than it is now or has
been for some years past
.rPheSe were fhe words in which the 1