Omaha daily bee., 1907-11-25
Wants Fifteen-Foot Channel from
St. Louis to Gulf First.
UPPER RIVER CITIES JOIN HANDS
Sioux Cityans Accept Invitation Of
Omaha Commercial Club.
MOVE ON WASHINGTON TOGETHER
A. River transportation IL to Beneat
All citizens in Missouri valley,
Vast sum should he Will
inEIy ApprOpriatS&.

Influential men in the west and norSA-
west are TO combine their strength for the
Improvement OF inland waterways and tho
opening Of river navigation, and before they
rest from their work a total of S35 c01,O00
will be expended by congress on the Mis-
souri, river opening channels and eradcat-
Ing crossings" but not a single cent for
protecting the banks from erosion"
Nothing but permanent improvement OF
the Missouri river at the cost of $4,000 per
mile should be considered by the cities Of
the upper Missouri river and the business
interests Of Nebraska Iowa and South
Dakota" said A. b. Beall Of Sioux City,
and member OF the executive committee
Of the Missouri River Navigation Con-
gress.
Mr., Beall arrived In Omaha Sunday after
noon after an extended trip over the ter
ritory interested in Missouri river improve
ment, and conferences with Governor A. b.
Cummins of Iowa. James j. Hill, president
of the Great Northern railroad, and Gov
! ernor John Johnson Of Minnesota.
While in the city Mr. Beall will accept
the invitation OF the Omaha Commercial
club for the Sioux City Real Estate ex-
change, to join the Omahans on the trip
to Washington next week. and will pull
together for the improvement OF the Mis-
! souri, river at the National Rivers and
Harbors Congress
Lower Rates for All Points.
I'm view Of the fact that all of the
states In the great Missouri valley, and
beyond to the Rocky mountains, are to
! be benefited by the lower freight rates
sure to follow water transportation, It Is
not asking too much to demand the per-
manent Improvement OF the river" said
Mr. Beall. '"The estimates In the office
of the United states engineers, which 1
have had the privilege OF examining, show
| that work can be done for $4,000 per mile
which will keep open a channel sufficiently
deep to carry boats which will handle the
trafnc demanded OF shippers along the
| Missouri river. believe Kansas City win
be successful in securing the appropriation
Of s2O.OOO.OOO for the Improvement Of the
! river from ST. Louis 60 Kanaas city. Thui
! is exactly $4,000 per mile. We must start
boats on the upper Missouri at once and
be in a position to ask the same amount
per mile for the river north Of Kansas City
to Omaha and Sioux city"
In regard to the handling Of grain and
all classes of merchandise on the boats,
Mr.. Beal said: "The talk about not bein6
able to handle grain conveniently ia
absurd Mr.. Hill told me Saturday OF
| lake boat with a capacity of 1920 tons,
which has been loaded in seventy-eight
minutes with iron ore II a boat OF such
capacity can be loaded with iron ore II
! that time and emptied in about the same
number OF minutes, the man is around who
will devise a way to load and unload
Missouri river boat Of 1000 tons capacity
with Nebraska wheat in thirty minutes"
Him for Deep Channels.
Mr.. Beal said Mr.. Hill had not looked
into the possibilities OF navigating on the
smaller streams nor the Mississippi and
Missouri rivers above st. Louis, but this
great railroad builder declared emphat-
icaliy for a fifteen-foot channel from st.
Louis to the Gulf. as a necessity to the
handling of traffic to the growing ports Of
the south. Mr.. Hill spoke OF the willingness
| Of the people to invest in legitimate enter
prises at the present time and called Mr..
Beall's attention to the fact that only
short time ago the stock of the Great
Northern Railroad company was. owned by
2SOO individuals, while at present It is dir-
tributed among 10000 shareholders. many
of them employees of the company. Mr..
Beall is OF the opinion that with any show
ing whatever, that steamboat Transports
tion is TO be revived on modern and busi-
nesslke basis, more money will be sub
scribed or offered for building more boats
than coulu pass UP ana uo"h the river De-
tween the time the ice goes out and the
channel freezes over again. With Mime
spolis capitalists he is interested in the or
ganization Of the Inland waterways Navi-
cation company.
Unless Mr.. Hill is called elsewhere Janu-
airy 20 and %, he will be one OF the chief
speakers at the Missouri River Navigation
congress, to be held in Sioux City at that
time, and Governor Johnson Of Minnesota
has accepted an invitation TO be present
Governor Cummins is behind the movement
and will appoint delegates from the state
TO attend. Governor Sheldon Of Nebraska
has also accepted, as has ex-Congressman
j. L. Kennedy. Omaha will be asked TO
send a carload or more TO Sioux City.