The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-06-12
withholds judgment on these PROPOSE
tions until the estimates are finally

withholds judgment on these PROPOSE
tions until the estimates are finally
received.
The report holds that by dredging
and regularization in the open river
the fourteen-foot waterway is feas-
ible proposition. The cost of the wa
terway from St. Louis to the gulf is
estimated at $128,OOO,0OO and the
maintenance at $6,810,000 annually.
The report Of the special board which
acted on the waterway proposition
from Chicago to st. Louis in 1906
IN found the cost of that part of
N,'p to be $30,097,462 and the
otx "e 100000 annually, is ac-
cep> Nn.W md added to the figures
below >ISy,. - estimate the cost
and mainl>' of the whole sys-
tenn.
Riyer Low Six Months of the Year.
As to the methods of constructing
the waterway reported feasible by
the engineers, Chief Marshall ap-
proves all except the lock and dam
system to be applied between st.
Louis and Cairo. The report shows
that in this 100-mile section of the
Mississippi from St. Louis to the
mouth of the Ohio river depth of IA
feet obtains naturally for an average
period of one and one-half months
each year, while below Cairo this
depth obtains for six months each
year. For the remainder of the year,
however, the average depth between
st. Louis and Cairo 61a feet, and the
dredges have difficulty in maintaining
a uniform depth of feet. 1t is esti-
mated that throughout the whole Mis-
sissippi river billion cubic yards
of banks slip away each year, serving
to form dangerous bars. For this
reason Engineer Marshall expresses
his doubts whether the lock and dam
system proposed between St. Louis
and Cairo would be practicable. He
bases this assertion on his own ex-
perience in that region.
Present Demands Provided For.
The engineers, in voicing their OBJ
jections to the construction Of four
teen-foot channel, declare that the
projects now under way for the i'm
provement of the Mississippi river
already meet the present demands of
commerce. These projects provide
for an eight-foot channel from Chi
cago to Cairo, as the least that would
adequately meet the demands of COM
merce," and the board believes the
construction of such channel would
be desirable if it can be constructed
at reasonable cost.
On the construction of fourteen
foot channel from Chicago to the gulf,
the board says: present and pros
pective demands of commerce be-
tween Chicago and the gulf will be
adequately served by a through chan
mel nine feet in depth, which may be
obtained without violent changes Of
existing methods of improvement"
10 Complete Chicago End Soon.
The board adds that it has made no
estimate of an eight or nine foot chan
mel from Lake Michigan to the mouth
of the Ohio river, but will undertake
such an estimate at once, and will
have it ready before congress meets
again in December Engineer Mar
shall says on this subject that he is
mot prepared to say that the con-
struction of either will be desirable
until the estimates are made"
The board complains of lack Of
information furnished it by CONNER
cial bodies from Chicago to the gulf
as to the prospective commerce that
would be carried on fourteen-foot
waterway if one were constructed.
1t concludes that there would be no
great increase and points out that
since the construction of the Well
and and other lake canals at depth
of fourteen feet the construction Of
freighters on the lakes has far en-
ceeded in draught the depth of these
canals