The Forrest City times., 1902-11-21
NO.9 9.

their cargoes at the wharves in Chi cago, Cincinnati and other Northern ports. It is a military requirement as well as commercial necessity that gun boats and war vessels may pass from the Gulf of Mexico to Chicago. White River improvement is, therefore, not only of vast importance to the State but also link in the chain of water way events which affects the Nation and enlarges and increases the inter- dependence of States and serves to strengthen the bonds of Union. The completion of all the locks and dams embraced in the White River i'm provement scheme will result in the establishment of permanent shipping points along the stream, for boating will then be regular business the year round in low water stages as well as in high water seasons. The benefits to the localities affected by these per manent points for shipment may be i'm agined, yet great as the advantages are they are of secondary importance com pared to the opportunities the dams may afford as waterpowers. If the dams are utilized for waterpowers. as contemplated in the scheme for river improvement. many neglected indus try and belated enterprise will spring into existence. Mills. factories and power plants for generating electricity will be operating at every dam. Per tinent to this suggestion it is deemed proper to reprint the following points which were contained in an article on river improvement which was printed on the auxiliary sheets by the Little Rock Branch of the A. N. Kel- logg Newspaper Company, in October, 1898:
 Dams constructed for the purpose of locking boats over shoals may be said to be so much towards manufac- tories, as they are available for such uses and can be so used without detri- ment to the business of carrying boats from one level to another These wa terpowers will inevitably attract mills and factories. Cotton mills are com ing southward. Who can foretell the number of these plants that would be II It should be considered moreover that every waterpower lays -oen the way for railroad connecting with one of the trunk lines now in operation No mill which may be established at one of these locks will be in isolation h. deed, 1t may be said that the way to give impulse to railroad construction is to open navigation on the rivers by system of locks and dams, for every dam will produce power to generate electricity to operate car lines, and by this means every mill site will be placed in touch with other avenues of traffic than the stream upon which it may be located"
 Millions of dollars are invested in electric generating plants at Niagara Falls, at the St Lawrence rapids in northern New York and other places that may be cited. The scheme to inn prove navigation on White River em- braces the plan to establish water powers and narrow gauge railroads to radiate from the site of every dam to be constructed on the stream. How the consummation of this scheme will awaken the isolated inhabitants of the hills. dells and valleys of that region. whose only means of transportation to faraway railroad stations at present is team of horses or mules? And what an attractive field for investment this region will then present to cap- italists and investors, and what life and activity it will give to enterprises and industries which the State sadly needs and will more sadly need in fu- ture