The Brunswick daily news., 1903-12-22
PLENTY Of WATER
ON THE OCMULCEE
-
People of Macon Will Soon
Establish a
s,s..as Ms aE''s Steamer
COL. QUINN MAKES REPORI
Considerable Work has Been Done
on the RiVer Lately by the Gov
ernnlent and Macon is Now
Anxious for Regular Line.

! The following from the Macon Tele.
, graph cf yesterday will be OF inter.
est to the people of this city in partic.
tlar and to points along tn Ocmulgee
and Altamaha rivers in general:
To the Editor of The Telegraph:
During the past twelve months the
| navigation committe of the Chamber
of Commerce, COM ssed of seven of
the largest shipper and most patli-
ctic and public-spi ted men in the
community, have bt IN working To So
cure a liae of ste; ners from M.con
to Brunswick. T. " have worked
with fanth and COT age and havu re-
q great while Mace will have com
plete beat service as any city in the
state.
| These gentlemen are practical men
and, ii they had not satisfied them"
selves that the Ocmulgee river is a
navigabie stream, they would have
nothing TO do with the effort to run
steamboats, on it.
In the excerpts which syou printed
from Ccl. James B. Quinn's report to
the war department yesterday l ind
tnfs sentence: Between these two
obstructions (meaning the sand shoals
opposite Central Park and Mansfield
farm at Macon anu the rock shoals
above Hawkinsville) the river has am
pie depth"
In another portion of Col. Quinn's
report, which has not yet been print
ed In the newspapers, appears a state
ment that ;;'the project Depth" mean
hug the depth which the government
seeks to secure all the way from Ma,
con to The Altamaha, is four feet. II
! the river has ample depth" between
tle obstruction at Macon and those at
/ I1awkinsy iJle, 1t must be that ample
depth" lleans project depth" or four
feet of water that is already between
those points.
Col. Quinns report shows in anoth-
er part. not yet published, that the
SHOALS at Hawkinsville have been cut
out almost half way across the river,
and the steamboat men say that the
only difficulty steamers experience in
crossing there now is caused by the
swiftness of the water as it pours
through the opening that has been
made for boats. -
1t will be seen, therefore, that the
only ret SON the river has a two-foot
carrying depth froom Macon to Haw-
kinsville in extreme lowwater" as you
1uoted yesterday, is that the sand
SHOALS at Macon obstruct the channel
ior about three miles and for that dis
tance tfe depth Is only two feet. AS
a mule can carry only as much load on
! a wagon IS he can draw over the steep
est hill between the starting point and
lestinat On, steamboats, draft must
be governed by the shallowest point
over which it will pass. The shallow
est place between Macon and Haw-
kinsvillt Is two feet This place Is
On the l)pse sand at Macon. 1t is not
enough to prevent navigation even in
extreme ioW water, but 1t constitutes
the con.rolling depth, to which Col.
Quinn 1'cferred. If, as some might
think, there is only a tworfoot depth
bnsvile, the naviga on committee OF
the Chamber of &c merce would be
| asting their time i energy in work
| ing for navigation, I i congress would
re wasting the peol e's money in try
! Ing to improve tt rivers cond ion.
Fortuna.cy there i much gr' lter
depth. The MacoI Cooperage 1m-
pany nov SUGGEST lily navigates the
river with the stea ler Ocmulget be
liJw Macon, and rus throughout the
year.
A letter received by the Chamber OF
| Comme.ce from Colonel James B.
Quinn, on SATURDAY. states that carly
in January the steamer Oconee, which
| IIacon launey constructed, Will be
brought here to take on an excursion
to Hawkinsville about 100 guests OF
the Chamber of Commerce. Macon
lbeopie Will then Sc their river.
Yours, Eugene Anderson.