The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-03-19
BOARD
IS APPOINTED
TO SURVEY RUoTE OF GULF
COAST CANAL PROJECT.
In Accordance With Act of Congress
Calls for Nine-Foot Depth and
Such Width as Commerce May Re
quire.

The appointment Oh Inc oooiu "
engineers who will examine and re-
port on the proposed inland water
way along the gulf coast extending
from Florida to the Rio Grande.
marks the first step under the recent
act of congress authorizing the sur
yey of the proposed canal. As an
nounced. the personnel of this board
is as follow:
Lieut.. Col. Lansing H. Beach, d.
vision engineer, with headquarters In
New Orleans. who is at the head of
the board; Maj Henry JerVey, sta
toned at Mobile, Ala, Capt. ]. c.
Cakes, stationed at Galveston; Capt.
Harry B. Ferguson, stationed at Mont
gomery. Ala; and Capt. Albert E.
Waldron. stationed at Dallas.
The board has been instructed to
meet at New Orleans upon call OF
| Col. Beach not later than April /, and
is authorized to visit such localities
as necessary for the proper perform
ance if its duties.
The appointment of the board is in
accordance with the rivers and har-
bors act of March 3, 1909, which
provides that the board shall make
a survey along the gulf coast from
| ST. George Sound, Florida, to New
Orleans. thence from the Mississippi
river to the Rio Grande, and submit
its report to the chief of engineers.
The proposed waterway contemplates
a nine-foot depth and such width as
commerce demands.
The action on the part of Congress
/ fl,@ I'M arcfofo inland waterway
along the Texas and Louisiana coasts,
4 with the project for canal extending
down the Atlantic coast, across Florl-
da, and along the gulf coast to New
Orleans. and makes it indeed ma
tional project Less than four years
ago the interstate inland waterway
was launched at a convention held in
Victoria. Texas. Much has been ac-
complished since that time in secur,
ing appropriations for different sec
| tons. but up to this time the project
has been regarded as local. ana each
section has been acted upon favora'
bly, or unfavorably as local commerce
conditions seemed to justify. So far
however. has the work gone that the
? canal is now open from the Mississip
ri river to Mermentau. in Western
Louisiana, and in Texas the section
between Galveston and the BraZoi
river is open, and work is well ad
vanced on the sections between Pas
Cavallo and Arkansas Pass and Aran
sas Pass and Corpus Christi. Unfor
tunately. most of the projects thus ia
undertaken have called for a f1ve-foo
l depth and width of forty feet. Thes
:, dimensions. while large enough t,
accommodate vessels of very igh
, draft, are not regarded as Sufficien
to conduct the character of traffi
that is expected to move over tn
: waterway when it is open througl
a to the Mississippi river and become
: a factor in interstate commerce. TIL
Interstate Inland Waterway League
at the convention in 1906 at LAX
Charles. put itself on record as de
handing a nine-foot channel to cor
form to the approved project for tn
improvement of the Ohio river. in OF
der that the same character of ira
= fic that will be conducted on tha
- river when the work is complete
g might be moved on the inland watel
= way 1t was anticipated that niue
= coal and iron would be brought frol
the Pittsburg district to Galvesto
. and other points along the line whe
= the canal is completed, and for tn
reason the league desired that tn
government dredge to a depth
\ nine feet Apparently Congress hi
:" seen the matter in the same ligh
for the survey to be made from Flor
:. da to the Rio Grande calls for a min
:. foot depth.