The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-11
WATERWAYS OF ALABAMA
 ROME TO GULF CONSIDERED
Second in Series of Articles the Destiny of Alabama River System to Appear in Advance of the Birmingham Convention of November 19, 1907 by the Secretary
 of the Joint Committed
BY G. GRosVENoR DAVE.

extend along the Coosa 20 miles; lead ore exists in great quantities; enormous beds of crystalline marble of the finest quality for building and statuary abso lutely undeveloped because of heavy charges for transportation; limestone for the manufacture of lime and for fuxlng purposes in reducing iron ore; clays ot all grades. including those suitable for reducing refractory substances and for pottery making-and minor minerals, vel low ocher, polishing silica, graphite and mica. Seventh, the development of the region in the gathering out of crude prod ucts means also an unexanfpled devel- opment of manufactures, whose heavier results would reach the world through the oceans water front brought by en- terprise of men right to the very doors of the factories that would crowd the banks of the Coosa under favorable con ditions.
 One point more before we turn to the question of cost to the government in making this potentially rich region contribute of it's riches to the upbuildinG of American commerce. From Lock 4 down to Wetumpka there is a fall of 324 feet in 116 miles-a fall practically twice as great as that of Niagara The greater part of this fall Is made in the AS miles between Weduska shoals and Wetumpka-a fall of 246 feet. High lift locks would be required, rendering avail able along the Coosa, according to en- gineering estimates, a minimum of ,t horse power day and night forever from 'the white coal" which would grad ually be absorbed and utilized, as mod ern factories came into being at points even as far as fifty miles from the source of power. (This range of distribution is now safe; for utilization of power origi- mating at Muscle shoals on the Tennes- see river is expected to reach out through a radius 100 miles long).
 Coming now to cost: Engineers ask for s1, ,000, 900 to render 6-foot open channel navigation available from Mobile to We tumpka. No estimate has ever been made relative to equalization of the Ala bama; though there are no engineering obstacles in the way north of Claiborne; the Tombigbee and Alabama river con ditions being similar as far north as Tuscaloosa on the Warrior and We tumpka on the Alabama. The engineers ask for this $1 100000 to be appropriated in ten years or less so as to get the greatest possible benefit from 1t.
 Engineers ask for s10,024,706 to render six-foot navigation available all the year between Gadsden and Wetumpka.
 The projects, together would call for appropriations subsequent to completion of $l55,000 a year for maintenance.
 Quotation is here made from the re- port of Capt. J. B. Cavanagh, dated June 30, 1904:
 Tt is considered feasible to secure sx-foot navigation in the Coosa and Ala bama rivers practically throughout the year. and the probable expense thereof is estimated to be not greater than si0, 024, 706 for the Coosa river between Gads- den and Wetumpka, Ala. and s1 900 GOO between Wetumpka, Ala, and the mouth of the Alabama river.
 The improvement for a six-foot naviga- tion is believed to be advisable, provided sufficiently liberal appropriations can be made to complete the improvement with In less than ten years, but unless this can be done, it is not considered advis- able. and any small appropriations should be applied to the Alabama river from Montgomery down, where the local com merce Is sufficient to justify the inn provement with reference to through traffic. The expenditure of small appro- priations on the section between We tumpka and Lock 1, where practically no benefits can be derived from the inn provement prior to its completion as a whole, is a waste of public money.
 Any new project for improving the Coosa river between Wetumpka and Lock 1 should contain 8 provision that the water power developed should become the property of the United States to be disposed of for the benefit of the inn provement.
 Upon this report and a supplementary report the board of engineers for rivers and harbors sat in Washington, and ultimately opposed it; not on the ground of feasibility, but on the question of probable benefits as then seen.
 Rome to the Cuff therefore is more problematical as to immediate success than Birmingham to the Gulf" as the engineering force question it's value. The campaign along the Coosa must consist in bombardment of facts, agricultural mineral and manufacturing, to secure the opening of closed question:
 Agitation for Cahaba improvement would be proper apart from the general scheme: agitation for Improvements up to Wetumpka depend upon the upper reaches for full use and advisability agitation for improvement to Montgomery should be immediate. A campaign must be formulated and sustained for a period of time to hasten an improvement as q whole that is as reasonably bound to come as is the general rapid development of Alabama, the state most blessed with natures lavish hand of any state in the union.