The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-03-21
FEATHER OF WATERS :,
Difficulties in the Way Of :, .
Mississippi chan,.,

rF' S'idnnei
The journey of President D.,
down the Mississippi River ana p -
dress before the Deep Wateruaau' s )
vention at Memphis have s 49,
the attention of the whole n.,' 'ac
the project for a deep waterxa 'n
tween the Great Lakes and ,Ss :.
Mr.. l.. f. Cooley, who has s
mong engineers the most pro urtu
advocates OF this waterway diri'
it into three sections, as folnvs WV
The lllinois-Chicago to St. Inn,
with a length of 3s7 miles and .u'
Of 1876 feet.
The middle Mississippi-st ~
to Cairo-1S5 miles long, with ~
of 108 feet. q
The lower Mississippi-caj,o
Red Rocket miles long, with , i,
of 275 feet.
The first section. the improren.
of the Illinois River offers no ns-,;
lar difficulties. 1t is merely mat,
of creating slack-water navigation
a system of locks and dams. ana
rock foundations are available d
these, the work can be carried y,
without serious difficulty, We !
lieve the preliminary estimates Of \
Government engineers indicate tot|
cost of some $4,000 600 for foI
teen-fOot waterway from the lower d
Of the Chicago drainage cana, NO,
Joliet. to st. Louis.
But when the problem Of deem "
terway down the Mississippi is pr
sented, no such easy solution is M
sible. No engineer who looks on !,
Father Of Waters in its fcod sta,
could dream of combining that turbule
flood by any dams ever erected
man. The Mississippi below St. Lov
is like a huge rainwater spout, carl
ing vast Volumes of food water VIII
the rainfall is heavy, but with a fl
dwindling to very small proportio
in the dry weather of summer and IA
Any forces that man can set at wo
are puny compared with the size
this great river; and to make MATE
still more difficult. the river flo
through an alluyial plain, with no
tom anywhere to give foundation
which possible works for river G
troll might be founded.
For ten years past the Mississi
River Commission has maintained
minimum depth Of IL feet in the Il
water channel from st. Louis to
Gulf by hydraulic dredging on the b
between the pools. At Its low-wa
stage, of course. the river is suct
sion of pools of good depth, connec
by stretches of comparatively "a
and shallow water. By deepening tn
shallow rapids with hydraulic dred
during the low water months. last
usually from September to Janus
il is possible to afford about II
3 feet in depth. This work is,
course, merely temporary, and has
be done over and over again. ev
season, and in fact has to be cont
ed during the whole of the lov-wa
period.
AS can be readily understood.
plan OF river improvement is OF INN
scope. Increasing the amount OF ore
ing cannot greatly increase the De
of 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 MISSES
ri in Minnesota. The difficulty "
, this is the great size OF the Missls'
pts channel and its rapid fall, par
ularly in the section from st. 10
to Cairo. 1t takes an enormous
ume of water to have much erect
increasing the ravigable depth. f.nl
err, a heavy draft is already oe
made on Lake Michigan. through
Chicago drainage canal. and TO a c
siderable extent the lakes IN WIN
sofa are actually in use for river !
ulation. How to get an addltloha' u
feet of depht for low-water na''5a'
below St. Louis is therefore an oi's'
ed problem.
Proposals have been mace u =
struct an artificial waterway a'o
side the Mississippi. following 'he -
ural bayous so far as possible o
a waterway, however. would nave
| feet of depth for low-water na',s'.
in the way of restricted speea, .
it is more than doubtful wne'a',
would be feasible to construe. .
maintain it, even with unilmllea =,
Law. in y,e alluvial soil Of the 10,
Mississippi valley.-From the Dn'
eering News.