The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-10-25
IMPROVE THE MINNESOTA RIVER;
= !. SLOGAN OF THE MEETING TO-DAY
SET OF STRONG RESOLUTIONS ARE ADOPTED By
IT. A#ts THE BIG GATHERING.
Congressman Davis Voead and Hammond Declare Themselves
Favor of Making the Minnesota NaMgable Steam
Will Draft Petition; Conference Success

From Thursdays Daily.
The Minnesota river improvement
convention was held in the ladies or
binary at the Saulpaugh this after
noon, and was attended by representa-
-tives from most of the counties Dor
dering on the river. Among the prom
~inent men present were Con9ressmeI
w. s. Hammond of st. James, A. j
Volstead of Granite Falls, and c. r
Davis of st. Peter, State Senators 5
ID. Works of Mankato, Frank Clague
of Lamberton, V. b. Seward of Mar.
shall, H. f. Weis of LeSueur, A. o
Poehler of Henderson, Charles A. John
son of st. Peter, and j. A. Collier OF
Shakopee, and Editor NJ. w. Grimes OF
LeSueur. The greater part of those
from abroad arrived OH the noon
trains, and as some of these were late
and the gentlemen had to get dinner
after arriving, the meeting did not
come together at the scheduled time,
which was one o'clock.
The lobby of the hotel was the
scene of considerable animation after
dinner, and before the convention open
ed, as the state senators renewed ac-
quaintanees and different ones were
presented to the congressman. Good
feeling prevailed. There was desire
to get through in time for the visi-
tors to return home on the afternoon
trains, and Senator Works himself, one
of the organizers of the move, was
obliged to take the 4:50 p. m. train
to the Twin Cities.
Senators Works and Collier had been
given work to do at the preliminary
meeting held at Belle Plaine, when the
convention was called, and they had
prepared reports for presentation at
today's meeting, thus facilitating the
business.
Senator Weis called the meeting to
order at 2:40 p. M, and stated that
the subject of the meeting was to
perfect an organization to do some
thing for the overfowed lands of the
valley He stated that Senator Works
had been asked to prepare plan
of organization, and called upon him
for report.
Set of Resolutions.
Senator Works offered the fol-
lowing resolutions:
Whereas, it is patent to every
shipper and consumer in the
Minnesota valley that freight
rates into and out of our towns
are both excessive and to large
extent discriminatory, and believ-
ing that this condition is caused
because we have. no waterway to
produce a real competition, and
believing it to be clearly within
the range of possibility to utilize
the waters of the Minnesota riv-
er for the purpose of navigation,
and thereby affording healthy
competition, and relief from
present conditions; and further,
owing to the fact that large
areas of low and swamp lands
in the Minnesota river basin are
being drained directly into the
river, thereby causing the river
to overflow its banks causing
untold damage to crops and
spelling ruin to many of the
farmers of the lower valley,
therefore be it
Resolved, that we earnestly
invite the cooperation of all the
cities and towns, together with
citizens of the valley, to devise
ways and means for rendering
this noble river navigable in
fact as well as in theory, there
by at the same time relieving
the sufferers from floods and
adding rather than decreasing
value of contiguous property.
Be it further
Resolved, that we form an or
ganization at this time to be
knownX as the Minnesota River
Improvement association, to
whose membership all the citi-