Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-09-13

The navigation of the upper Mis-
souri, river is essential to the sue
cess of the general scheme of i'm
provements Of that stream including
a deep-water channel on its lower
reaches.
Unless the country at large is
made to appreciate the tremendous
length of the navigable part Of the
Missouri, over which since 1882 stan
dard river craft have been able to
ply for about $500 miles above it's
junction with the Mississippi, when
ever and wherever commercial de-
mands made it feasible; that in ira
versing that great distance the river
is crossed or commercially affected
by something like score Of prac-
tically trans-continental railroad
lines, that at least half dozen of
those lines span the upper Missouri
region embracing by far the larger
portion of country which is tribu-
tary to the river, and that the ac-
Qualities and the possibilities OF that
upper portion Of the valley are such
as to have already formed CONNER
cial ties which bid fair to dominate
the continent and to place at dis
count the great commercial centers
in the lower portion Of that valley
unless these startling factors are
brought home to the public no ade-
quate sentiment at all commensurate
with the good that may come from
Missouri river improvement is like
ly to be aroused.
And until actual long-distance ma
vigation from large commercial cen
tiers on the lower river into the re-
gion of 1,500 miles of navigable wat
ers above Sioux City Is revived and
set on a footing which bids fair to
be permanent, the general public is
likely to be slow In reaching the cor
clusion that the river as a whole
should be exploited by the federal
government for the purpose of it's
navigation. .-.-.
We who live and have for many
years lived upon the banks Of this
greatest of all water courses upon
the American continent know per-
fectly well the evidences which prove
that it is navigable from Fort Ben
ton: Mont, downward. But the gen.
eral public will not be awakened to
that fact until the puff of the steam
er and the power-generating explos-
ions of the gasoline engine shall be
heard to Indicate that upon the
breast Of that waterway commerce
between widely separated points is
again teeming, and until that fact
shall be heralded to the whole coun-
try through the press. We dwellers
in the river cities know, too, that
now and during all the years since
railroads came upon the scene navi-
cation is and has been going on to a
greater or less degree between local
points upon the upper Missouri, by
ferry-boats and general river craft.
But the only tangible proof, to the
people Of this country at large, that
there is a mighty waterway reaching
from the Gulf Of Mexico to the base
of the Rocky mountains almost on
the International boundary line in
the remote northwest, every foot Of
which, measuring three thousand
five hundred and sixty miles, is ma
vigable, will be found in setting the
boats afoat over those vast stretches.
And in that process the most impress
sive object lesson which can be
taught, by which to loosen the purse
strings of the voters behind the ap-
preparation committees, will be to
exploit the upper Missouri
Where does the upper Missouri be-
gin? II we are to be guided by what
is probable the general tradition of
the fur-trading period the mouth of
the latter would seem to be regarded
as the dividing line between the low
er and upper Missouri. On the 9th
er hand, the most potential fur-trad-
ing company of that period, in the
concern long known as the ~. M.
o." organized in 1927 in st. Louis
as an organ of the American Fur
company, was projected to operate
upon what was recognized as the
upper Missouri beginning at the
mouth of the Big Sioux where Sioux
City is located. The Upper Missouri
Outfit" thus marked what is now
the southeastern corner of South
Dakota as such dividing line, and
that concern was in active existence
until near the middle of the last cen
fury. Therefore while Omaha would
be on the upper Missouri IL the di-
vision indicated by the Platte were
regarded as controlling, yet we will
H. 4.