Rock Island Argus., 1903-08-19
ORDERS INCREASE
In Number of Rainfall and
River Guaging
Stations.
BETTER SERVICE WILL BE HAD
Rafting Season Drawing to a
CIOse-Rafter
Sunk.

\ much needed improvement in the
government weather service has been
ordered by Chief Willis f. Moore. The
plan is to improve the service by plac-
ing additional rainfall and river sta
tions along the river. The plan is to
have river stations closer together
and then it will be possible to more
accurately give the rise and fall of the
river.
For instance the first station north
Of Dubuque is Prairie du Chen. Below
that city the Wisconsin river runs into
the Mississippi. Recently there was Il
great rise in the Wisconsin river but
the Dubuque weather observer had no
knowledge of its coming and was un-
able to issue warning. Had there
been station below the Wisconsin he
would have been notified of the rise.
Observer Parker asks riVcrmen to ex-
press their views as to where is the
best places for putting in those sta
tions and their recommendations will
be forwarded to Washington.
The rafting season is about over and
few of the familiar boats are seen on
the river. Most of the down river
mills are supplied with al the logs
that they can cut this year, and al
though the supply in the north is
not great there are still enough up
there to keep the mills along the Mis-
sissippi going for several seasons
more.
JunIata Sunk.
The steamer Juniata, one of the
colt L
Mississippi river. was sunk in the st.
CrriN river last week and only one
pilot. cabin house and smokestacks
are out of water. The accident uc-
currcd on the west side of the river
while the boat was plying up stream.
She struck some old Sumkcn piing
and a hole was stove in her hull. As
soon as the members of the crew saw
that the boat was sinking they made
their escape in skifrs, and although
some Of the crew were badly fright
encd. no one was injured The hull
Of the boat filled up slowly and. there
fore the crew had plenty of time to
get off. The steamer iS one of the
meet of Bronson d Folsom. of Still
water. and has been on the river for
number of years.
Boats Have Race.
The steamers Helen Blair and j. =.
presented fine appearance as they
came down the river Monday night
almost side by side The steamer
j. :. with the eNcursionistS aboard
came along just as the Helen Blair
was leaving the landing at Audalusia.
The Helen was little i'm the lead and
the captain of the j. :. gave orders
tu his fircmen Ia crowd matters a lit
tie, but the two boats were running
for a distance of about ten miles with
lthrce-quartcrs of mile between
them. At Montpelier the Blair land
ed to put off some freight and pas
sengcrS. when the j. : passed her. the
eNcursionists letting out cheer after
cheer. The Blair. however. did not
lose much time and was soon under
way again. and il was beautiful race
ing was reached, the Helen making a
short crossing above the city and
coming under the high bridge about
three lengths ahead. The boats got
their stage planks out within three
minutes of each other. Hundreds Of
people were at the levee when the
boats appeared between the islands
above the city, and there was consid
cradle excitement until the bow lines
were out.-Muscatine News-Tribune.