Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-07-11

Wisconsin Held to be Open to
ROatS.

KilbOurn indicates that a recent rul-
ing of the department of commerce
and labor to the effect that the
Wisconsin river is navigable stream
has come as a surprise to the owners
of steamboats, plying on that river.
These steamboats, do a passenger
business, carrying summer visitors
through the Dells of the Wisconsin,
and they have been called upon to
submit to inspection by the federal
authorities. The steamship company
protested against such inspection
until the department has formally
decided that the river navigated by
it's boats was a navigable stream and
the decision asked for was promptly
granted. The dispatch goes on to
say:
If this ruling is to obtain, all bridges
on the river must permit of passage
of craft and should the Dells company
steamers endeavor to get past Portage,
where there is closed city bridge, or
Prairie du Chen, where the new steel
bridge of Chicago, Burlington and
Northern has just been completed,
authorities maintain that under the
present ruling the boats would have
to be let through, even if the bridges
had to be torn down,
The only real occasion for surprise
will be found in the fact that no
doubt as to the character of the
Wisconsin river has prevailed at any
time. Beginning way back in 1887,
before the United States became a
nation, the original states adopted an
ordinance which contained "article Of
compact" article of which concludes
with the following agreement:
The navigable waters leading into
the Mississippi and st. Lawrence, and
the carrying places between the same,
shall be common highways, and for
ever free, as well to the inhabitants of
the said territory as to the citizens Of
the United States and those of any
other Estates that may be admitted
into the confederacy, without any tax,
impost, or duty therefor.
This has been held to Oe binding
upon the states SO far as relates to the
freedom of those waters as the
ordinance of 1887 was not abrOgated
by the adoption of the constitution.
Again, article 8, section l, of the
state constitution contains the follow
ing provision:
The river Mississippi and the
navigable waters leading into the
Mississippi and st. Lawrence and the
carrying places between the same
shall be common highways and forever
free as well to the inhabitants of the
state as tolthe citize ms of the United
States without any tax, impost, or
duty therefor,
And .again. section 1896, revised
statues of 1898, reads as follows:
Section 1896. All rivers and streams
which have been meandered and
returned as navigable by the surveyors
employed by the government of the
United States are hereby declared
navigable SO far as the same have
been meandered to the extent that no
dam, bridge, or other obstruction
shall be made in or over the same
without the permission of the leg
islature, but this section shall not be
construed to impair the powers granted
by law to towns, counties, or cities to
construct bridges over such rivers and
streams.
The federal courts have decided
that "riyeIs are navigable waters of
the United States within the meaning
of the acts of congress. in con-
tradistinction from the navigable
rivers Of the states, when they form
in their ordinary condition by them
selves or by uniting with other rivers
a continued highway over which
commerce is or may be carried on
with other states or foreign countries"
There can be no question about the
character of the Wisconsin river and
if vessel owners who are disposed to
use that stream find navigation
DISTRACTED by bridges or dams, they
can file a protest with the department
of commerce and the distractions
will be ordered removed. The dams
already built on that river. however,
are north Of KilbOurn, extending from
NekOOSa to the headwaters, and they
are all located at points that would
not be safe for boats to attempt a
passage. Below Nekoosa the river is
open and free from rapids and falls,
although the channel in some places
is shallow and the shifting sands in
the river bed make it uncertain. A
system of wing dams and revetmentS
like that proposed for the improve
ment Of the Mississippi river would
operate to establish and maintain
permanent channel in the Wisconsin
and If it should ever happen that
commerce should demand the use of
that stream it would be found that
the old compact of 1887 is still in
force and that the waters of the
Wisconsin are now and will forever
remain free. This contingency now