The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-10-10
RESTORE WATERWAYS,
SAYS GOV. CRAWFORD
Both Will Serve to Revive COM
petition, South Dakota
Governor Declares.

Memphis, Tenn, Oct. S.--Declaring
} that one OF the most effective ways to
check the monopoly of railroad trans
p~ortation, which for years has harassed
the trade of South Dakota, as well as
her sister states, is to improve the Mis-
u river SO as to allow the passage
Of large vessels, Governor Coe i. Craw-
ford, of South Dakota, for fifteen min
utes today spoke eloquently before the
delegates OF the deep waterway con-
vention on the subject, The Relation
! of South Dakota to Transportation on
h Missouri and Mississippi Rivers"
During his address he referred to the
important part the Missouri river will
play, in the event that the purpose OF
the convention is successfully carried
out, In bringing the states vast re-
sources to h markets Of the world.
Governor Crawford said: .
A few years ago q dealer in wool living
at Pierre, 8. d., wished to ship 100, 900
pounds of wool from there to New York
city. Upon inquiry he learned that the
Pierre to New York, while from Sioux
City, Ia, about 200 miles down the Mis-
souri, river below Pierre, the rate to New
boat traffic upon the river between Sioux
City and Pierre. was very light and ire
g9laT.-only one or W boats making the
trip In an entire season. This wool dealer,
however, rather than pay the exorbitant
railroad rate, succeeded In hiring a boat
to take his wool from Pierre to Sioux City
for 40 cents per hundred, including plac-
ing 1t on board cars for New York.
River Forced Lower Rate.
BY this means he shipped It from Pierre
to New York for $1.2 per hundred instead
or ". The next year the railroad company
tltion to reduce its rate from Pierre to
New York to A-15 per hundred, which has
since been the rate. This is an instance
OF how a waterway capable Of floating
G0mnRTa" NAV no n nnnGfnFt ,rlannIy Y,nA~h
a railway company, even though II actu-
ally carry little or no traffic. / represent
one Of the new states through which the
upper Missouri pours its swift and muddy
current on the way to join the Mississippi.
For many years this great river inter
posed a barrier to the railroads which en-
stopped building when they came to its
eastern bank. At Pierre, the capital, sit
uated upon its eastern bank near the geo.
Chamberlain, about ninety miles below,
the Chicago and Northwestern and the
Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul railway
companies for twenty years halted in the
extension Of their lines to the west, About
one-half OF the state lies on the west side
or this river and that portion was without
a railroad except in the extreme west,
Black Hills from Nebraska. Within that
portion OF the state was a country en-
praclng about 2S,OOO square miles used for
Indian reservations and grazing lands.
without a railroad.
Old and the New,
Tn chief output from that great section
OF tne country,-cattle horses, sheep and
wool,-was brought across the river by
Terry and shipped by rail from Pierre to
chamberlain. During the past five years.
the conditions there have undergone a
great change. The lands have been sur
Veyed; the Indian lands allotted, the bal
ance taken by the homesteaders, and the
rich pasture lands are being converted
into farms.
Three Una. oe rotI.o.a
river and extended to the western border
or the state. The distance from Pierre TO
Rapid City, in the Black Hills, by rail.
miles. =" Az"
The prairtes are filled with settlers.
towns nave sprung up like magic; natural
Eas mas been discovered; a commercial
ana out or the country has enormously
increased. With this new order Of things
; Spon ss,Ion n people are awakened to the
play In the future of our state.
IN the old times before the railroad
came; me upper Missouri was the route
ment soldier reached the far Off north
west. Steamboats, not MY came and
VEN from ST. Louis to Independence. but
Mont, carrying soldiers, military s%1Ipniies
scouts, trappers and Indian Missionaries:
bringing back furs from the Indian coun,
u" Ee ads s snS t rIar the placer mines.
Choteau, Jr., George Catlin, Colonel At
knson, Generals Harvey, Suiy, Crook. !
Engser' o and the city q St. Louis are
that great upper country, -inseparabIy
connected with the old days of the plains.
m1n, Sne scout, the trapper. and the buf-
Railways Kill River commero.
Upon the discovery of gold In the RIacL
Hills In the '7Os there was a heavy river
trade from Sioux City to Ft. Pierre, from
which point passengers and freight were
hauled overland to Deadwood, 200 miles 10 !
the west. Today. with three lines OF rail
way crossing this river and trayersin1 the
state from east to west on their way to the
Pacific and with the Northern Pacific and
Great Northern doing the same thing in
North Dakota and Montana, the MINER
Missouri carries no commerce. Neyerthe-
less, its sullen current lows on, suggesting
always a way Of escape when the rsilroad
becomes too exacting. The states living in
the basin Of the upper Missouri are a Dart
Appalachian and Rocky mountains Know
as the Mississippi valley, which we are
told embraces over 1900 miles Of river
waterway system Of the United States
The Missouri river IL a very IMPORTANT
part OF the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ohio wa
Ing and grain producing section OF the
United States.
This great section embraces about one
cent. Of Its population. 1t has about 20
per cent. Of the entire railway mileage Of
the country and contributes about M ner
cent. Of gross earnings annually to :he
railroads.
South Dakota Win Help.
The building of the Panama canal alone
will undoubtedly accentuate the
on the Mississippi river. The construction
Of a great trunk canal from Lake Michi-
gan to the Gulf of Mexico would enlarge
that tremendously, while the
efficient improvement Of the Missouri riy-
'er, so as to make 1t a practical route for
commerce from South Dakota to st. Louis,
would bring to the trunk canal a t-ibu-
tary which could deliver to It millions of
tons annually; and the savin to the peo-
pie both directly and indirectly would be
tncalculable. 1t is claimed that the aver
age rate for carrying freight on the Great
Lakes and upon the rivers in the Missis-
sippi valley IL only about one-seventh of
average rate charged by the railroads
OF the United Gtates. The people OF the
Upper Missouri country, in common with
the people Of the central region of the
United States. see the value of a great wa
ter route of this kind as a leveler and a
check upon railway rates. They are not
only willing, but anxious to support a