The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-03-14
FEATHER Of wArr,, !.
Difficulties in the w.,
Mississippi ch,,,., "

down the Mississippi Rjvs, : 10y
dress before the Deep Wa,ss sat b
vention at Memphis hav ,s's '.'
the attention of the Who'll att a''''
the project for deep vs v uaslo
tween the Great Lakes .a a.efsa9
MIR. l.. E. Cooley, who NV Nv. '1 .
mong engineers the mos, 41 s.a oea
advocates of this wa,erw. p'0n
it into thre" sections, as ,ol, ,, u
The Chicago tn :,
with a length of 3s7 mils. y - lo)
+ Of 1876 feet. sao
The middle MississipDj-s,
to Cairo-lS5 miles long. WIN ~,
OF los feet. ""a
me lower Mississippi-c.,..
Red Rock-.C4 miles ,onn .a'''
of 275 feet. O. WIN
~ me, s' s'c'ion. the improve
OF the Illinois River, Offers M y.
lar difficulties. 1t is merely !, pa'
OF creating slackwater payie.,ia'
system of locks and dams. s =,
rock foundations are available
these. the work can be car,;as
without serious difficulty, w.
lieve the preliminary estimatos =.
Government engineers indicate .
cost of some $4,000 900 for
tesn-foot waterway from the lorer
of the Chicago drainage canal
Joliet, to st. Louis.
But when the problem Of doom
terway down the Mississippi is
sented. no such easy solution il
sihle. No engineer who looks ON
Father of Waters" in its find :.
could dream of combining that turhr
food by any dams ever erected
man. The Mississippi below St |
is like a huge rainwater spou, -
ing vast Volumes of food water !
the rainfall is heavy, but with /,
dwindling to very small prouor
in the dry weather of summer and
Any forces that man can set at =
are puny compared with the sjz
this great river: and to make ma
still more difficult, the river 4
through an alluvial plain, with DO
tom anywhere to give Foundation
which possible works for river
troll might be founded.
For ten years past the MissisI
River Commission has maintain.
minimum depth of s IL feet in the
water channel from ST Louis 70
Gulf by hydraulic dredging on the
between the pools. At its low.x
stage, of course, the river is a sud
sion of pools of good depth, conne
by stretches of comparatively Il
and shallow water. BY deepening 4
shallow rapids with hydraulic drel
during the low water months, lad
usually from September to JAM
it is possible to afford about |!
3 feet in depth. This work is
course. merely temporary. and ha
be done over and over again, e.
season, and in fact has to be cont
ed during the whole Of the low.w
period.
AS can be readily understood, |
plan of river improvement is Of lim
scope. Increasing the amount OF DR.
ing cannot greatly increase the d
IF water: for as the rapid connect
TWO pools is deepened, the water
the upper pool is lowered.
1t has been suggested that the
water depth could be increased
turning more water into the Missls
ii in Minnesota. The difficulty
his is the great size Of the Mlsslsl
bis channel and its rapid fall, par
1larly in the section from 81. 10
o Cairo. 1T takes an ENORMOUS
lme of water to have much enec'
Increasing the ravigable deptn' rug
r. a heavy draft is alreaay oe
made on Lake Michigan, through
chicago drainage canal, and 10
extent the lakes ~ "'u
ota are actually in use for river :
llation. How to get an additlona'
eet of depht for low-water na'isa
,elow st. Louis is therefore an uA''
d problem.
Proposals have been haae ~
truct an artificial waterway a1
ide the Mississippi, following the y
Iral bayous so far as possible. -
waterway, however. would nave nave,
Get of depth for low-water na',s".
n the way of restricted speed,
t is more than doubtful *ne..
would be feasible to conslIu. s
naintain it, even with unlimited nit ~
ay. in 1le alluvial soil Of \. Ine en- NJ
ering News.