Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1904-02-19
SOUNDING RIVERS.
Continuance That Records Every Va
rying Depth of Water.

Sonervance That Records Every Va.
rying Depth of Water.
The government snagboat. Col. A.
Mckenzie. arrived in ST. Paul on
Thursday evening and tied up at the
Diamond yoline dock.
The Mckenzie is an interesting
craft, not only from the Importance OF
the work it is engaged in, but because
OF the new methods in conducting the
work. The special mission of the
beat is to keep the river free from
snags and other dangerous obstruc.
tons.
So many charts and profiles of the
Mississippi have been taken that the
engineers know the bottom of the riv.
er almost as the engineer of a rail
road knows the ups and downs of its
grades. New charts are prepared al
most every year. and the charts and
project sheets are corrected and an
notated so carefully and prcfusely that
only man accustomed to working on
them is able to tell anything about
SANAA' OAC PlO1lC Vi tnO lANCl OOtIOA
was made in 1864, and subsequent pro.
files have been traced over the original
until the list of colored links and com
blnations of dotted and dashed lines
is almost exhausted in the endeayor
to make each tracing plain.
An attempt was made last year by
Major Townsend to improve on the
oid-time method of recording the va
riations in the river bottom. The old
method was to take scundings with a
pole every twenty seconds as the boat
proceeded on its course, the results
being a series of reading which gave
the depth of water about every eighty
feet
That method was satisfactory main
ly- because no better method was
known. Major Townsend last year
provided a 36-foot metal pole, which
was adjusted to the stern of the boat
in such a manner that its lower end
would rest on the bottom of the river
all the time. AS the boat moved up
stream the pole would adjust itself to
the varying depths. the variations be-
ing communicated to sheet of paper
wound on a drum revolved by clock
work. The recording mechanism
closely resembled that employed in
government weather Offices to record
temperature and wind velocity.
Under the new arrangement the
device has given perfect satisfaction,
and the result of it's use is a continu-
Gus profile of the bottom CT the river
from the mouth of the Missouri to ST.
Paul The exact depth of water is re-
corded on every foot CT the river in
the navigable channel where the
depth is less than twenty-four feet.
However, if the river is "a feet deep
or more it is deep enough for all pur-
poses, and it does net matter what
the shape of the bottom may be.
Valuable as the measuring device is
as a means of ascertaining the depth
of the river at all points, it has proved
still more valuable as a snag locator.
Whenever the pole turns over a sunk
en- tree or log or other obstruction
the change in depth. is instantly re-
corded on the drum. The man in
charge at once gives warning, and an
investigation is made. In one In
stance the indicator showed up an
even depth of water CT about eight
feet. All at once jump was made to
three feet, and then the indicator
again dropped to eight. That meant
that there was something on the bot.
tom.-St Paul Pioneer Press