Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-06

only three-ffths Of mill, that is three
hftieths of a cent per ton per mile where
as about the best the railroads can do is
two mills or one-ffth of cent per mile.
1t is predicted that with deeper chan
mel it will be possible to move a ton Of
freight mile on the Ohio or Mississippi
Rivers at the Incredibly low charge OF
one-twenty-dfth of a cent.
President Roosevelt makes his present
trip on typical American river steamer
"a representative of a novel class of
craft that are likely to remain in service
in considerable numbers on the Mississippi
and its tributaries even though the chan
mel may be greatly deepened as years go
by. 1t Is not too much to say that the
steamers of the American inland rivers
are peculiar and unique. Tney are of a
standard design made necessary by the
exigencies of the service In which they
are engaged. for they are continually
encountering shifting bottoms, snags and
shoals and must consequently be Of the
lightest draught. Some of the more mod
ern. packets are side-wheeers but goodly
proportion of the steamers on the rivers
have the old familiar stern-wheel, set 30
high that as its broad paddle blades
strike the water they do not sink to any
great distance below the surface and are
thus not endangered by snags or other
distractions.
In the earlier days when the river
steamers were exclusively of wooden con-
struction, strength was often sacrificed
to secure lightness of ,draught but of
late years steel hulls have made their APP
pearance on the rivers and the result has
been to secure stability to a surprising
degree in a type of steamer that de-
spite her length Of perhaps 250 feet
will float In water little more than three
feet deep. Such boat as has been
described will carry four thousand bales
Of cotton and will travel one thousand
miles each week, incidentally making not
less than 180 landings each week In TAX
ing on and discharging her cargo. BY
means of landing stage or suspended
gangplank such vessel can discharge
passengers and freight even when the
depth OF water will not permit her to
approach close to shore and it is seldom
that the operations Of such craft are In
terfered with even In the low-water sea-
son.
An important and spectacular feature
Of the commerce Of our inland water
ways is found In the coal traffic. The
water-borne shipments OF 1uel OrlBlndte
In the upper reaches Of the Ohio River
and traverse this stream TO Cairo, ILL.,,
and thence down the Mississippi to New
Orleans and other Southern ports. 1t is
primarily in behalf Of this traffic that the
business interests Of Pittsburg are so
earnest in advocating, as part of the
general improvement scheme. the canali-
cation OF the Ohio River and the estab-
of a nine-foot stage OF water in
the river. Under present conditions the
rivers are navigable to this great traffic
little more than one-half the year and
vast fleets of boats representing an In
vestment of millions Of dollars can fre-
quently be seen tied to the banks for In
tervals of days or weeks waiting for a
heavy rainfall or spring freshet to raise
the water SO that they can proceed to
their destination.
II Is no catch phrase to say that in this |
river trafic acres OF coal ara shipped In |
! single feet. It Is nothing unusual to
see fifty or more coal boats or barges In |
1 single tow and this cargo Of perhaps
,ne and one-half million bushels OF coal |
nay be spread over an area Of more than
I've acres. A single steamer with en-
'ines Of say $500 horse power win move ]