The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-18
A RiSsr os Rolling sand

A river of sand rolls past Kansas City. The bottom of the Missouri river. from the mountains of the Northwest to where 1t empties into the Mississippi,
 is one rolling, shifting bed of sand,
 ever moving slowly onward to the sea.
 If you were to go down in a diving
 suit to the river bottom you would see this sand constantly moving down steam, rolling over and over in the curren. Opposite Kansas City this sand that forms the river bed is fifty feet deep in places Blu it is not always the same depth at the same place. It Is continually shifting exactly as sand bars shift upon the shores in the treacherous current.
 This sand comes from erosion of the mountain rocks. No one knows or can guess how many years ago the sand now drifting past Kansas City was on it's long journey from the mountains It may have started many thousands of years ago. It may have been halt ed upon the way for hundreds or thou sands of years, The Big Muddy has a trick of dumping a few million tons of sand by the wayside and of leaving it there for years. But the river al- ways claims and takes it again some time.
 It is all a part of the tearing down and building up plan of this myster- ious old earth. Eventually the sand will be deposited upon the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, forming a vast plateau that some time, by some great con vulsion of nature, will be unlilted from the waves and from a fertile cen tinent.
 This river of sand has helpd to build Kansas City. Wherever you see a bit of concrete or street paving or cement Is fTnVn rfu in 1t.
 Along the river front of Kansas City are $50 acres of level. dBiftingF sand. The sand Is from twenty to fifty feet deep all over the $50 acres. There are millions of tons of sand there and every grain of it was pumped from the bottom of the Missouri river.
 There are two boats which work day and night pumping sand upon the land that is being reclaimed from the river. From the pump upon the boat the sand and water are forced a long iron pipes and are discharged upont he land In this way the $50 acres have been, reclaimed from the river. The land Is owned by the Armour-Swift in- terests. It is worth s30,O00 an acre now.
 The water of the Missouri river where 1t flows past Kansas City aver ages twenty feet in depth, and the cur rent Is very swift. Anchord 100 feet from the shore are the pump boats and sand barges. They have powerful en- zines and pumps and long steel pipes that are lowered to the bottom of the river. The nozzle of the pipe sinks into the sand and the pump sucks it up, The sand that is sold for building purposes runs out into a scow. The sand fills the scow, the water rising and running over the edges until the scow is full of sand. Then the barge is lowed to the bank, a system of buckets upon an endless belt running up a long crane scoops the sand out carries 1t up. and dumps it in a pile upon shore where wagons can get at It.
 For years and years, day and night, the pumps have been steadily sucking up sand from the river bottom. But the quantity never lessens. There is always a mass of 1t rolling and drift ing slowly onward, and the current quickly fills up the depression made by the pump nozzle.
 Beneath the sand is a deposit of "gumbo" or hard clay, beneath that is a blue shale, and next to that Is the bed rock. The piers of the Winner bridge go through from ninety to 125 feet of sand and soil before they reach bed rock. There is more of each of the piers below ground than there is above.