Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-04-02
RIVERS OF ALABAMA
Congressional Appropriation of
$4,000, 900 Wanted.
TO UTILIZE WATERWAYS
Navigation Suspended Eight Months
of the Year.
FOUR FEET OF WATER NEEDED
OF the 1000 Miles Of Streams That
Empty Into the Gulf Only 900
Miles Available ALI the Time.
FOUR FEET OF WATER NEEDED
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Sperial Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

old Indian nomenclature = the melO-
| dious syllables of the Choctaw and
| Cherokee aborigines? 1t has been
woven into a poem by man named
Meek, who calls attention to the phe-
nomenon that although the names of
| the redmen are on our waters, yet
we may not wash them out He tells
how the Chattahoochee pours his yell
low tide along Tallapoosa shores. how
Tuscaloosas waters glide. and Dark
Tombigee's winding tide repeats the
| olden word" along Tuscumbias
bank, tits breathed by stately Tennes-
see," he says. and in further lines
brings in the sonorous Choctawhat-
chez, the Ostanoola, the Conasauga.
the Coosoowottee. the Escambia. the
Conecuh. the Tensaw. the Cahaba and
| the musical names of other streams,
which compose a river system of 1000
| miles or more. The Alabamians claim
| that this is the finest and the largest
| system of internal navigation belong
| ing to any state In the Union or any
| country in the world. and without re-
! gard to the constitutional restrictions.
| which trouble their statesmen when
| appropriations of public money arc
voted for other sections they want
| these rivers navigable at a cost of
about SIS 900 900. without regard to the
limited commerce and the still more
| limited enterprise of the population
/ along their banks.
! Neglect Of the Mississippi.
| l called attention the other day to
the failure of the public to utilize the
Mississippi river. upon which more
| than 800. 100000 has been spent to
make a navigable channel. Although
nearly 100000 barrels Of -four are
shipped from Minneapolis to Europe
every year, not one Of them follows
the Mississippi to the sea. Hundreds
| of millions OF bushels of wheat from
easy distance of the Mississippi, is al
| ways pouring like living stream
across latitudinal Inns to the seaboard,
yet not one bushel finds it's way down
gulf. James ]. Hill has contract TO
| furnish q million bales OF cotton or
more to the manufacturers of japan
every year: and he buys it in the south
| in the Mississippi valley-but he
| ships it by rail instead of boat.
The 500 1000. 600 channel is apparently Of
no use to him. After it reaches the
sources of the Mississippi river by rail- he
Tacoma and ships it from there. In their
| struggle for a quick market. in their
hurry to get their produce to the seaboard
as rapidly as possible the producers and
| the railroads to the rivers, notwithstand-
| ing the continuous clamOr for waterways
| and the immense amount of money that
has been expended by the government in
making them navigable.
When / asked one of the leading ship
pers at New Orleans why this was SO he
explained that the difference in transpor-
tation rates was more than offset by the
| saving in interest upon the money In
volved. the insurance premiums the
| risks. delays and the ability to take adj
vantage Of sudden changes in the market
and thus make a little profit or save a
| little loss.
| If that is true, l asked him. what is the
use of spending hundreds of millions Of
dollars on waterways.
| And he explained still further that the
existence of a navigable channel was
restraint upon the railroads running In
the same direction and kept down rates.
When / suggested that the state boards
| of railway commissioners and the inter-
| state commerce commission at Washing
| ton were supposed to do all that. and
| furthermore. 1t would be impossible for
any one to use the waterways to beat thu
| railroads because there are no boats, he
| answered:
| You better talk to some congressman.
The subject Is getting too deep for me-
The Alabama River System.
Take the state of Alabama for example.
The government has expended up to date
the sum Of s., 300. 731 to improve the har-
Dor Of Mobile, and has obtained a channel
twenty-three feet deep and 100 feet wide
at the bottom. The Mobile river is navi-
gable for vessels Of fourteen feet draft
forty-f1ve miles above Mobile. and. accord
ing to the report Of Maj. Henry Jervey.
the United States engineer in charge, the
combined commerce, foreign and domestic,
Of Mobile during the year 1907 aggregated
3.O45.123 tons. valued at $6O.372 245. and
consisted Of cotton, lumber. timber, bread
stuffs and hog products exports. and
bananas and sisal grass the most i'm
pOrtant imports.
The government has expended an addi-
tional $150.OOO upon bar at the mouth
of Mobile bay to obtain a channel thirty
feet deep and 200 feet wide.
The Coosa and the Tallapoosa rivers.
joining together form the Alabama river.
and the Conasauga. the Oostanoola, the
Coosoowottee and the Xetowah, joining
together. form the Coosa. That is the
river system on the east side of the state.
On the west side the Black Warrior
and the Tombigbee unite at Demopolis
and keep the name of the Tombigbee. or
the 'Bigbee, as they call 1t for short down
here That is the system in the west
ern and northern central part of the
state.
| The Chattahoochee forms the boundary
between Alabama and Georgia and fur
nishes navigation for the extreme eastern
tier of counties.
| The Tennessee river comes down from
| that state at the northeastern corner Of
Alabama and furnishes navigation for
the northern counties. flowing out through
the corner of Mississippi beyond the town
| OF Tuscumbia. prong of the Coosa
goes over into Georgia and the head
waters of the Tombigbee are in Missis-
sippi.
| The headwaters OF the Black Warrior
are within a short distance of the Ten
nessee, and 1t is claimed that by about
/ thirty or thirty-five miles of canaling the
| two rivers may be joined at a cost Of
about $200O.OO0. and make 1t possible for
boats from Pittsburg, ST. Paul or Bis
marck. N. D., to find their way
to Mobile, which may or may not seem
desirable. according as you have a mind
to look at 1t.
Already the government has spent more
than S6,OOO,O0O upon the Tombigbeee and
the Black Warrior. and last year $s.6OO,-
479 worth of cotton seed logs lumber
sand and other building material fer
tilizer. farm supplies and machinery and
general merchandise were Transported on
their waters. In some places, where the
river was formerly six inches deep, army
engineers have dug a channel capable or
/ floating A raft of logs Maj. Jervey. in
his annual report. states that the Tombig-
far up as Columbus. Miss, distance
of 341 miles from its mouth. and for RATS
up as far as Walkers Bridge further
distance Of 1859 miles. and that the origi-
nal channel from Demopoiis to Columbus
which had a minimum depth OF one foot
| and a minimum width of seventy feet
| has been improved so that 1t is now three
feet deep at low water.
Building a System Of Locks.