The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-30
FATE OF THE MISSOURI
1T WILL DEPEND LARGELY ON AN
ENGINEER CAPTAINS REPORT.
River May BE Abandoned rs n Navi-
gable Stream-He VIII Recommend
Appropriation of 81 100000.

Sioux City Letter in Kansas City Star.
Capt. III. M. Chttenden, of this city, chief
of the United States engineers for the en-
tire Missouri river and Yellowstone Park.
is preparing report upon the condition
of the Missouri river which may decide
the fate of the stream. Whether Congress
will continue to appropriate money to main
tain the Missouri navigable stream and
to protect the shores from the inroads will
depend largely upon the recommendations
of Captain Chittenden. He will either rec
ommend the discontinuance of the work
upon the river or advise Congress to set
aside 100000 a year for it's maintenance.
my report will be thorough" said Cap
tain Chittenden, land will treat of the adj
visibility of continuing the expenditure of
money upon the river. The abolition of the
Missouri river commission by Congress and
the greatly reduced appropriations indicate
that many in that body believe 1t Is fu-
tile to continue the necessary allowances.
1t will require round $l,000,000 annually
to keep the river in proper condition. The
benefits from this expenditure will be set
forth in my report
Beginning in 1871, Congress has in thirty
years spent about 100000 to make the
Missouri a tractabe stream. If the APP
preparations are now discontinued much
of the benefit of the money already ex-
pended will be lost. The active Missouri
needs not much encOura cement TO snake
off all shackles. The maintenance of the
Missouri as a navigable stream has served
to largely increase the volume OF traffic.
Owing to the large distances between rail-
roads the long part of the river trans
portation in late years has been upon the
upper Missouri river. The report or Cap
tain Chittenden for the last year shows
fl@.t he frnff 10
alone amounted to 6S,3SS,OOO pounds of
freight, II, 429 head of cattle and 756 passen-
gers In 1878, when the Missouri was the
sole means of transportation for Montana
shippers the traffic was $500, 900 pounds
and 1000 passengers. The eleven steamboats,
now plying upon the upper Missouri are
engaged solely In hauling freight TO and
fifty and seventy-five miles between the
railroads on the upper river, and to carry
the freight to these roads the boats s,soa are
have developed wonderfully, so the traffic
for these stretches of isolated country alone
exceeds the entire upper river business or
quarter of century ago.
ABUNDANCE OF MONEY.
OF the million dollars which Captain
Chittenden estimates will be needed as an
annual appropriation for the river, not
more than a fifth will be required to keep
the channel open for navigation. The Mis-
souri,, exerting a pressure of 5O,000-horse
power on it's banks, has been eating out
trees and carrying them into the channel
for countless years. When the government
began in the early seventies to clear the
channel, it was necessary to remove the
Accommodations of centuries Now all that
is required is to take out the debris of one
year. 1t has cost only 1916, 1880 to keep
open the entire upper river since 1890 The
very first expedition up the Missouri from
,OrliS m Longs
government fleet resulted in the wreck OF
the jefferson. From that time until 1870
1873 boats went to the bottom. Isl because of
snags; but since 1880 but eight boats have
sunk and only four because of snags.
1T isn't like the early river traffic, said
Capt W. II. Gould, of Yankton, S. D., who
has been on the Missouri since 1865. "In
those first days there were sixty-five boats
on the Missouri river-big fellows ranging
from 500 tons capacity-occupied in hauling
all the provisions to the t upper rlyer TOWNS p;
and pelts and crude ore to be carried on to
the gulf and across to Wales to be reduced.
The snags were all in the river then and
there were so many wrecks that the own
ers were nearly put out of the business"
Freight charges were so terrific that the
owners of the boats received enough from
loss of a vessel and even to pay the pilots
5000 for making the trip one way.
The caprice of the Missouri river a few
weeks ago to abandon in single night the
course of its channel at Nebraska City,
Neb, leaving that town without water
light or power, illustrates the greatest need
of an appropriation for curbing this stream.
Thirty years ago the Missouri changed its
course at Nebraska City, making a cutoff
across the head of a great bend. This fall
ii determined to resume its old course and
did so between the setting and rising of
the sun not only carving the new channel,
but filling up the one it had left. The town
water pipes were half mile from the
river.
There are few towns or cities along the
whole course of the Missouri river some of
whose prosperity is not endangered by the
propinquity of the stream. Farm lands are
left to it's mercy. AT times of high water.
when the corrodng current is most vicious,
one may hear the boom of falling bluffs for
great distances. Valuable farms thus dis
appear in a week. To save river fronts of
towns and cities from similar fate the
engineers have built revetment. This is
done by making mattresses of branches OF
trees, grading the banks by hydraulic pres
sure and sinking the mattresses. These are
held in place by large rock and the large
rock is protected by several inches of small
er stone, which prevents the river from
working its way under the stone and the
mattress.
The difficulty arises from the fact that
when the course of the capricious current
is stopped by dykes or revetment the pres
sure OF the water Is greatly increased and
often the water works it's way under or
around and carries out the artificial struc-
lures. For this reason considerable sum
is required annually TO repair the damage
done by the river
1t Is because OF experience gained upon
the Missouri river. government engineers
say. that the Mississippi river now has
deep channel from the Ohio to the gulf
and the engineering department has con-
fidence in Its ability TO ultimately restrain
the Missouri. The appropriations have
been a mere bagatelle in comparison with