Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-02-05
A DUSTY RIVER
SUCH is THE FATHER OF WATERS
DECLARED TO BE.
A SEDIMENT ON BOATS
Phenomena Not satisfactory Explain
With Fine ParticIes-Dust Blows
into Cabins of Roats-Theory Ad-
vanced for the Cause.

The Mississippi river is the dust
lest in the whole country" said a man
who travels on the river great deal,
and if you don't believe it, put on a
white shirt sometime and take
cruise up the river a few hundred
miles. Really. no thoughtful man
would be stupid enough to question the
statement if he had ever had any ex-
perience on the river. I was reading
an article some time ago about the
dust of the sea, and from the descrip-
ton Of the fine, dry sediment which
falls from the damp mist of the sea,
am inclined to think that the deposit
is not in it with the dust Of the Miss
issippi.
"The water of the river is charged
with fine particles. The heavy par
ticles in the water do not leave the
surface except to sink at some point
where an obstruction diverts the cur
rent and causes a temporary poise. 1t
is this condition which forms the i'm.
mense bars. or sand banks, which we
find along the river. These formations
are due altogether to the resistance ELI
cOuntered by the currents Of the
river. Mind you, the heavier particles
of the river figure in the formations
The lighter particles and the kind
have in mind at this time form a sort
of river dust which is waited here and
there by the winds which sweep the
stream. I have heard a great many
men advance the idea that this dust
was blown from the sand bars and
banks of the river during the dry sea
son.
But there is nothing in this claim
which will explain satisfactorily the
constant setting Of dust on the boats
plying the Mississippi. 1t blows into the
cabin, settles on the deck and other
exposed portions of the boat, and is
just like any other kind Of dust which
one may find in an ordinary road dur
ing a dry season. There is this diff
ference, that it is possibly not so dry,
and hence has a greater Offensive
power. 1t sticks to the thing it
falls on. l have been travelling on the
river for a quarter Of a century, in
the lower trade, and I have paid con-
siderable attention to this question Of
river dust, and it is really very in
teresting subject and one which should
receive more attention.
''It may be pure or impure. In my
judgme nt, no kind Of dust can be very
pure. How this dust gets out of the
river I cannot say, but since no scien-
fist has explained the matter, or set
up a standard of judgment in this re-
spect, l have a right to my opinion Of
the subject. There is, in my judg-
ment, two ways of getting the fine
particles out of the water. They may
rise with the mist in the morning and
when the sun dries and dissipates the
mist these fine particles become the
sport O. the winds and are blown
hither and thither.
COR it may be that the influence of
the sun on the surface of the water
will sufficiently dry and bake these
finer particles to make them an easy
prey for the wind. The wind which
constantly sweeps the surface Of the
water would brush them from the
water and watt them with the direc-
ton of the wind l do not pretend to
say that this is exactly what happens,
but it seems to me to be a reasonable
explanation of the existence of the
strange phenomena we call river dust"
New Orleans Times-Democrat.