Evening star., 1909-04-16
DANGER IN THE PLAN.
Treacherous Waters Of Mississippi
Would Menace Battleships.
To the Editor Of The Star:

WOUlO 1Su6CS 66tt1eSo1pS.
To the Editor Of The Star:
Permit me to comment briefly on your
editorial. ''The Mississippi" In Wednes-
days Star. The article Is most interest
ing and wholesome in tone. as everybody
will concede to be characteristic OF The
Stars discussions Of public affairs but
would like to throw a sidelight upon the
proposition to send a battleship of the
first order up the Mississippi river to
Natchez.
It would be q very great mistake on the
part OF the navy officials to allow this,
because this new and magnificent engine
of deepwater war would In all Likelihood
encounter destructive II not fatal expert
ences In such q river voyage. Your edi-
torial opens thus:
There should be no difficulty about ar
ranging for q visit Of the battleship Mis-
sissippi to Natchez for the ceremony OF
silver service presentation. as requested
by the members Of Congress from Missis-
sippi, louisiana Arkansas and Tennes-
see. provided there Is enough water In
the river to float the vessel safely.
The proviso covers the whole prop
osition. To be sure. this is the beginning
of the high-water season In the Mis-
sissippf. when the spring thawlng IN the
great watershed of the Missouri and the
upper Mississippi is In full force; yet this
is a variable element in this greatest OF
our streams, due to the fact that in
very short time the low-water season Will
set in for the Mississippi's second great
est feeder, the Ohio. with It's rooie az
fluehts.
Natural conditions are such that what
produces flood stages in the upper water
shed leads quickly on to the minimum
flow in the lower east and south coun-
try: and it is the visitation OF exceptional
influences which induce an unusual pro-
longed food stage in the Ohio watershed
that causes every few years the dlsas-
trous overflows In the rich country OF the
lower Mississippi. The traditions OF the
Ohio indicate that this Is to be one Of
those exceptional seasons when the Ohio
will augment its flow 80 that the tide or
the greater stream will be backed up or
killed" twenty. thirty. even forty. miles
tent Of disaster. will mean. of course.
more water for vessels In the lower river:
But with every possible augmentation OF
waterfiow the Mississippi Is not safe
fairway for a vessel weighing 1900 tons
and requiring tl,irty-one feet to float In.
The Mississippi is q succession OF bends
and whirlpools and these whirlpools
would be the peril of the battleship the
elementary and Interchangeable formation
main weight Of flow impinRes upon
vast rock bank or chain and 1t caroms
to the opposite side, where the now en-
counters another rock bank or chain.
invariably at the turn of bend. ana II IS
again thrown violently away. The whirl-
pool. an unceasing eddying of water a
half or three-ouarters of mile long and
a half mile wide. veritable maelstrom, Is
the result.
the Mississippi she would begin to have
experiences at the great rock-riveted
shoal lying between Forts st. Philip and
Jackson, short distance above the Eads
ietties. This Is not the worst place by
II. -f,@ $n1,
in this narrow. swift and tortuous chan
mel Of mile she would collide with a
force fifty times her weight against
solid rock bottom or revetinent.
Between New Orleans and Algiers is
another whirler. and near Willow Point.
the beginning of that great natural OBJ
struction that creates the crescent from
which the city takes its popular name. is
an eddy Of great force. and so on. by
Bonnet Carre Baton Rouge; Donaldson,
one Of these characteristic battling places
between water and rock. At the end Of
the alluvial bottoms at BATON Rouge
where the bluff country begins these
features are met with greater 1reCTGencE
and violence.
Three naval ships have ascended the
Mississippi in late years. but they were
all little ones. Commander ROYAL Brad
ford took the Bennington. LOO tons as
far as Cairo. 1.1e5 miles from the gulf.
hut refused to go higher: Commander
Washington MAYNARD took the Nashville
500 tons, to st. Louis In the worlds
fair year and Commander vreeland car
ried the Arkansas. :: 2oo tons: to st. Louis
couple Of years later. The Arkansas
had a hair raising experience getting out
from st. Louis. She was grounded and
channel bound for several days near
Herculaneum and had not a Gods mercy
in the form OF little two-foot mop rise.
come along this formidable gunbcat would
have laid where she stopped all
winter until the March tides came down
the Missouri. but meanwhile she would
have taken chances against the vast
eorges Of ice that run usually a month
each winter from hoth the upper Misd-
sissfppi and the Missouri.
It il a mistake. at the present stare Of
the game to send deep vessels. without
auick storage control up the Mississippi.
whether to Natchez. VicLsburg Mem
phis. Cairo or st. Louis. The great sys-
tenn OF improvement now imminent to Sc
cure a deep waterway from the lakes 70
the gulf should not he ieopardized or al
lowed to fall into disrepute by any un-
seemly and unnecessary disaster to
government warshfp sent on an errand of