The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-11-12
WATERWAYS IMPROVEMENTS


opposed TO tho idea of making n navl,
gable channel in the Mississippi riv'
cr. and generally to the river improve
mcnt propositions in the Mississippi
VALLEY. II Is perhaps natural that
New England which has Just received
such tremendous benefits from the Fed
cral Government in the passage of a
cal interests, should consider that no
other part Of the country is now en-
titled to anything. New England haN'
ing got what it wanted. there is moth
inc else worth while TO consider,
And vet il is shame for any Amcrl'
caus to take such a miserable selfish.
uarrow view as that. The water trans
portatiou Of this country offers, if
properly developed. facilities such as
arc possessed by no other country M
| the world. We have the great river
! systems of the Mississippi Valley we
! have the river systems OF the west
coast; aud we have tho river systems
cast Of the Allcghcnics. All OF these
should be handled scientifically and the
water made available for the service
of the people 10 the utmost possible
extent The ancient peoples were able
to handle such streams as the Nile,
the Euphratcs, and the TlgriS bodily.
I'm the building Of Babylon. the river
| Euphrates was absolutely diverted and
the city left dry for the purpose of
/ building the wall and the cmbankmcnts
! and watcrgarcs within the city. and
| then tho stream was turned back when
everything was ready. The great res.
ervoir lakes Of the Egyptians aud the
numerous channels into which the Nile
was diverted. speak cloqucptly Of the
! hydraulic engineering of the ancient
times. To say that VIC. with our i'm.
menscly improved mechanical systems,
with our electric power, with our hy-
draulic motors, with our powerful
| dredgcs and dam building energy,
with, in fact. all tho modern engi.
necriug appliances, cannot do for our
rivers what the aucicnts did with
theirs, is TO confess a shameful and hu-
initiating defeat
The truth is that the river systems
of the Mississippi Valley should all be
improved on comprehensive scale,
There are lakes at the headwatcrs Of
the Mississippi. as Of the Missouri,
whore immense volumes OF water could
he impoundcd. and there arc opportu-
mites at tho headwaters of those
streams and of the Ohio and of all the
other contributivc streams of that syS-
tenn. where the impounding of water
could be made sufficient TO retain the
HIGH waters of the food seasons, aud
those waters could be released later
on when the streams are low y good
navipablc channel in the MISSISSIPPI
River To ST. Paul. in the Ohio TO Pitts
burgh. and in the Missouri. almost If not
completely 10 Fort Benton. ought TO
he made one of the practical, every
dav things Of commerce and business.
1t is a vast proposition, 20 be sure,
but this is vast country, and vast
results would follow. To admit that
this country must suffer damage by
the tens of millions OF dollars every
wear through floods, when those mi
lions properly applied would IN few
wears hold back and handle to advan.
taec all that flood water, is 10 confess
permanent imbecility. To say that
there must always he devastating floods
on the lower Mississippi, is TO confess
in advance that we arc not practical
people. and not able to apply our thco-
retical knowledge 10 saving ourselves
from continued disaster.
4 navigable channel iu the main
rivers of sufficient width for all pur'
poses, aud deep enough 10 float the or
dinary up.rivcr steamers and their
tows is n perfectly practicable propo-
sitiou j may he that the proposition
TO provide fourtcen.toot channel is
too great for the present but four
tecu.foot channel is not needed for the
ordinary up-river navigation. y SIX
foot channel is ample, and that could
easily be provided. Ia fnct, an eight
to tcn-foot channel is practical OF OBJ
tanning in all the great rivers, m the
Missouri up past Omaha, the OHIO TO
Pittsburgh. and tho Mississippi TO St
Paul
\ comprehensive system of handling
the water of all these streams TO the
best advantage is tho great need of the
time, and in our Judgment the attcn
ton of Congress should be addressed
to this, not in "A spasmodic way, as
Speaker Cannon suggests, TO apply IN
those wears when we have plenty Of
money and let the work 20 idle in the
wears when we have none 10 spare
That. of course, is tho most wastetnl
and destructive proposition that could
possibly be imagined What is wanted
is comprehensive, steady, permanent
plan. both in storing the water and in
providing navlgablc stages Of water IN
all the open season, Surely, that is not
too great Il thing TO expect mighty
country like this 10 do, and it is not
too much TO expect that the country
will do IL on n basis commensurate with