The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-20

'the Alabama Rivers . stretcn CT 2Ol Wnes The Improvement of the c miles of river be- twssn Lock No. and wetumpha vii there portation, 77e miles in length, from North western. Georeia. through the mineral regt0p ef et North Alabama, to the Gulf Of Mexico as
 In another relort, made in 1890. volume 2. page 1645. it Is said:
 In the meanwhile the coal and iron interests of Alabama have been rapidly deevleped. and the Coosa River coal and iron fields have be- come the objective of the more recent plans provement to wetumpka will unquestionsbly build up a large traffic in coal, iron. and farm products between North Aianama ana port business in coal from Mobile
 The present local business upon this river should not be taken a measure of the value of this improvement.
 The volume of business done annually in Wetumpka is estimated at Sl,5O0,WU and in Montgomery at S40.0000 000 At Tai- lassee, on the Tallapoosa River. which flows into the Alabama River at Mont gomery, the annual business Is E,0o0W. In Prattville, which is in close proximity to the Alabama the annual business IS estimated at $2.0o0.000. And yet MT. Bur ton would have you believe that the onay thing to be taken into consiuerauon III making this appropriation is the assessed valtfS of the counties of Tailapoosa, Coosa and Chiffon in 1S90-twelvc years ago. which he claims was $s,00o.O0O.
 Tn another report the Government En- gineer says:
 The district of Georgia, which lies convent ent to the Coosa River. had in ieso an output
 The present iron production of the coosa Val lev region. extending from the neighborhood ail, below below 2 Foo S, GOO tons. ' nv ~
 The tots, iron Of the United States sss nsry sfs s A'Gs Afs sTosn Ss 'is from s'tsss 30, sons sss It is. now conceded that the Alabama out put will constantly grow in volume. since iron tSs En,ed a's States II we now furnish trans portation so cheap that we can, at Mobile undcrseli any other point upon our coast years will furnish millions of tons for mar ket and the greater part of it would pass dowp the Coosa River. Another report in the same document on page 1873, from Gel. J. II. Simpson says:
 It is fair to assume that the opening of ths Coosa River to navigation between wetumpks and Cireensport will be the virtual opening of channel for direct trade between Rome, S Ss. ana and esoss kSer. sy wssr 700 miles in length. available at all seasons The opening and development Of the rich and extensive coal and iron mines in the Coosa Valley will render this thoroughfare the great | and important feeder of Mobile and the Gai, .h, different counties bordering upon the Coosi | River which seek a market over rough i this great highway. and the benefits of the great carrying trade thus creatud would Dc | felt throughout the length of the river, Many N | products which are now neglected because ol | the difficulty in transportauon would ma ' ready market and become a source or prom l to the producer.
 l Major A. N. Damrell. in the report oi 1881. on page 1922. says;
 The improvement is believed to be of great | focal national and international importance
 for the following reasons: l It would give unbroken water communi
 cation of about 800 miles from the eur Q, and northwestern border of Georgia IL Wou'e l supply a large local demand for fuel, iror
 the present It would reduce immensely tc
 the United States the cost of the large sup
 plies of coal and iron %hieh % wGoif % twe oe of war | and in time of peace it would result in say | ing in the reduction of thes cost of these item | to the cities of this section generally. and t'
 the steamers both merchant and war. of al | nations navigating the Gulf. which would | soon reach the estimated cost of the work
 MT. Chairman, I have other reports here | which are just as favorable as those | have read from the engineers for the pas | twenty-five years who have surveyed this | work but which will not take the tinif | or patience of this House to read; bu, | they all go to show the incorrectness ol
 the report made recently upon this nVei by Mir. Judson.
 In the memorial of the Coosa River I'm | provement Convention, referred to ln th' | report they say:
 De Soto discovered the river in $40, an' | marched down it's entire length. Alter ht l remained undisturbed except by the trioa | wars of the Indians for nearly century an
 a half In 1873 and l6 1t became os, .ne seen th | Creek Indians. which practically termnna1,e' ,e
 with the battle of Horseshoe, upon the Talia
 poosa River. March 27, iSl4.
 Magnitude of the. River.
 The Coosa River rises in the mountains
 North Georgia and flows southwesteriy sf
 River a few miles below wetunpka. Ala. I It is formed by a junction of the Oostanaul
 and Etowah Rivers at Rome, Ga. From tn II most northerly navigabe point the distanc
 along these streams to the Gulf of Mexico as follows; Mile. oostanaula River ....................'.'''' 5V 5V
 Coosa River .....'.....-'..''''''''''''' 50 Alabama River ...-.............. '.,...'.''.. os | Mobile River ............''..''.'.''''''' r.,., ......................... se There would be continuous water route { l transportation over the bosom or these rVei : to the Gulf but for the shoals and rapids | of only l42 miles from Greensport tc Weluihl } ka. Ala, and the.e shoals and rapids are II termingled with long pools of deep wate However of this distance thete has bee opened to navigation by the Government in m l nrovement of the river about 35 to 40 mile | Sron, Greensport, down to Lock 4. Alabama
 The Coosa River Is not one of those insit
 nifoant streams upon which often large sun of money are spent with no avail, but to tf contrary 1t is a deep, bold, running and beat tifu stream, its grandeur and beauty excelie | hv none with sufficient water for succtsstl
 ioSwI wIwater navigation for boats drawing fe,
 of water or over If tho water was proper' I concentrated over the shoals and rapids b' l tween Lock 4 and Wetumpka, Ala, | To give a more correct idea of the magn
 tude of the river and Its possibilities, we quo from the report of Charles Frith, unite | States assistant engineer, in his report :, Nov. 4 iSss. fin which he says: "veleci' , | nhseryations taken at Lock show a dischsrt I foat xxifh a I.