The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-06

waterways commission and by a good many of the governors of the Mississippi valley on another steamboat.
 Will Cost $3o,ooo,o 1000.
 By direction of Congress, engineers O. the government have surveyed the pro- posed waterway from the lakes to St. Louis, have reported that it was feasible and that it's cost will be $So,oo0. 900. As q result of the work done by this associa- tion, following the St. Louis convention of last year, the F'irty-ninth Congress made an appropriation of s1so,0O0 for the survey by the government engineers of the remaining part of the proposed deep waterway from St. Louis to the gulf, which survey is now proceeding under the direction of Col. Clinton B. Sears, presi- dent of the Mississippi river commission and United States engineer In charge at St. Louis
 More than 1900 delegates attended the convention held in St. Louis last year. This convention at Memphis, considering the presence of the President of the Uni ted States, the members of the inland waterways commission and of the many governors who have already promised to attend, with the United States senators and members of Congress, who have been invited, will be of even more importance than tine St. Louis convention.
 Will Start From Canton, o.
 President Roosevelt will leave Canton, O., on September 30 and go to Keokuk, la, reaching there Tuesday morning. De- tober l. At Keokuk he will be met by the inland waterways commission, who will come down the Mississippi river from ,I,f.pf Mo- ,,vi,
 The President will make address at Keokuk and then go on board the steam boat Mississippi with his party and start down the Mississippi river accompanied by the inland waterways commission on the Mackenzie St. Louis will be reached at 9 o'clock, Wednesday morning, octo- Der 2 where they will be met by Cover nors Conner of Alabama, Pindall of Arkan- sas, Butchell of Colorado, Broward of Florida, Dineen of Illinois, Cummins of Iowa, Hoch of Kansas. Blanchard of Louisiana, Johnson of Minnesota, Folk of Missouri. Toole of Montana, Sheldon of Nebraska, Burke of North Dakota, Frantz of Oklahoma, Chamberlain of Oregon Crawford of South Dakota, Patterson of Tennessee. Campbell of Texas, Davidson of Wisconsin and Brooks of Wyoming.
 Entertained In St. Louis.
 All of these governors will reach St Louis on Tuesday, October 1, and will be guests at the eiled Prophets ball that evening. The President members of the inland waterways commission and the governors will be the guests of the Bus mess Mems league of St. Louis.
 At o'clock the President will go on board the boat Mississippi and continue his journey down the river, accompanied by the governors on the steamboat Alton and the commission on the Mackenzie All three of the boats are the property of the government The Alton is entirely new and the Mississippi and Mackenzie are very comfortable boats.
 A stop oyer will be made at Cairo, Ill., for a few hours, where the President will make an address on Thursday morn ing, Actober 3. The boats will again be boarded and Memphis will be reached on Friday afternon, October 4. Carriages wiz be in waiting at the levee and the party will be driven to the great Mem phs auditorium. which seats over 10000 people. where the President will address the convention.
 Over fifty congressman and a dozen sen- Rtors havo accepted the invitation to at- tend the convention, and hundreds of prominent men from all over the county will be in attendance. The mayors of nearly every one of the large cities in the Mississippi valley will also attend.
 Sketch of the Plans.
 Physically, the proposed waterway Is a 14-foot ship channel linking the two huge basins of the Mississippi river and the lakes, and giving both free outlet 10 the sea. It will be about 1500 miles long, 100 miles more than the alI-water route to New York. The first forty-mlle sec- ton from Chicago to Joliet Is practically finished at cost of s53, 100000. Plans are complete for the second division, 2s0 miles to St. Louis, army engineers fixing the cost at S31 5000. The 1s6 miles from St. Louis to Cairo is under survey now gov ernment engineers advocating s73, ,OOO 600 canal paralleling the river, civilian en- Eineers urging direct control of the stream to secure a wider channel and eliminate locks. From Cairo to the Red river, now the head of deep water navigation, the distance Is 764 miles; the only prob lem Is the simple one of dredging to maintain a channel.
 Of the five grand divisions of the wa terway therefore, only one is an unde- termined quantity-the. St. Louis-Cairo section, to survey which the last Congress appropriated s19o,O0O. Even here the is- sue is one of methods. army engineers and civilians agreeing that a navigahe channel can be secured The only serious problem in construction was solved ,when the Chicago drainage canal was complet- ed in 1900, it's forty miles of earth and rock costing half of what the remaining 100 miles will cost-s115 000,O0o Large as this latter sum looks, 1t bulks small be- side the fixed charges paid by the rail- roads of the country last year--s750 O0),- poo.
 Construction of the lakes-gulf waterway will undoubtedly lead to a national move- ment for river development. It will De the trunk line of a system including 15.0O0 miles of navigable rivers in the Missis- .ippi valley and 10000 miles more in the Treat Lakes-St. Lawrence basin The pooling of the Ohio and its tributaries, the Allegheny and Monongahela, supplies one pf these laterals already made.
 Memphis is making extensive prepara lions for entertaining the delegates, and aothing will be left undone towards giving them a royal welcome.