Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-07-03
PLEADS FOR "a
FOOT water WAY
CHICAGO ENGINEER TAKES ISSUE
WITH GOVERNMENT MEN IN
LATE REPORT.
SAYS PLAN WOULD PAY
Lyman E. Cooley Declares Cost VIII
Be No Greater Than Single
Track Railway and the Main.
tenance Less.
SAYS PLAN WOULD PAY

made public a letter from Lyman +.
Cooley, the hydraulic engineer and ex-
pert of Chicago, which the proponents
of the deep water way declare is inc
most powerful document In oehalI Oh
the project yet made.
Some of the arguments made by MI.
Cooley in the letter have already been
presented by him in interviews anu
discussions of the plan. In the letter 70
Mr.. Kavanau~h, however they are
nodded into what Is probably the most
exhaustive report on the waterway
since that issued by the board of army |
engineers, with which Mr.. Cooley takes
ISSUE
Mr.. Cooley does not disagree with
the board on the facts as 1t FOUND
them, but on the conclusions 1t drew
from the facts. The conclusions, he
declares, are illogical and wrong, and
the members of the board have given
opinions on subject on which they
are not competent to testify, namely
the commercial value Of the deep wa
ter way.
Congress to Hear His Opinion.
| The board could not qualify in court
as an expert witness, he says, as
against the merchant, the manufac-
turer and the master of transporta-
| ton, for these men make commerce
anG know what is required to serve its
needs. The board of engineers is to be
commenced for it's achievements IN
engineering, however, and It's testl-
money on this point is valuable, al
though it's findings in the fields OF
economics and law are worthless
In fact, Mr.. Cooley holds that the
waterway as planned b. the associa-
ton is entirely feasible. His opinions
will be presented to Congress by the
advocates Of the project, Who feel that
his letter meets all the objections that
have been raised.
Mr.. Cooley says that semi official
statements declare that every bend
permanently secured below Cairo
would result in the Improvement of the
miles below, and that the securing of
all bends. together with channel cor
rection at the crossings, would produce
! a permanent depth of not less than
fourteen feet. with nominal cost for
maintenance. The report Of the engin-
GERS did not show this.
Cost no More Than Railway.
i The statement of the board that
ravigable depth of nine feet will be
sufficient for all the needs of commerce
that now can be foreseen is also called
inaccurate by Mr.. Cooley.
Il According; to him the total estimate
of S15s,0oO,O00 for the construction of
the canal is less than the cost of a
single track railroad across the United
States; and this water way, with he
ca pac::y of many railroads would
traverse the most productive portion OF
the continent. The estimate for main
tenance and operation, S7,100,000 an
| nually is less than the most of main
tenance of way and structure for o.
600 miles Of railway, or between and
3 per cent of that for the railway mile
age of the United States.
Shows Possibilities by Ditch. /
To prove the low cost of freight
| n I. i Tow
way, Mr.. Cooley points out that six
barses can be moved in an unbroken
feet with 4 single crew and carrying
5000 tons of dead freiPht. These
barges can be made staunch enough
to be towed by seagoing tugs through
: out the great lakes and about the sea-
. coasts.
operation the lake vessels with a rec
ord breaking carrying capacity, which
now are compelled to lie idle during
the winter months. could pass down
to the high seas and engage In salt
: water commerce during the winter.
Lake shipbuilding yards can builo
: tonnage cheaper than builders on the
coast and can deliver their output tc
a any market In the world. Ship subsidy
Legislation mas contemplated an an
Il nual expenditure of sS0,000000 and fol
less than this sum, he says, the lake
: shores can De fndQe SulpydIuS " lis
= world.
Bank Protection Separate.
: One of the chief objections the en-
u gineers raised to the plan was TIL
S90,000O00 item for bank p romotioi
8 below Cairo. Mr.. Cooley declares thi
II is not properly chargeable to the waite
n. way as a route of commerce. In thl
connection he says:
d In cooperation with the six state
below Cairo the United States has con
a tributed a small fraction of the $500,
u 100000 expended on the modern leve
system for the protection of some 20.
X O0O,0 900 acres of alluvial land subjeC
to floods 1t is now recognized that tn
n permanent security of the levee sys
$ tenn and the enormous wealth develop
inc behind it requires the protect1o
81 of every caving bend below Cairo
Bank protection is demanded for tn
IN protection of riparian rights. The riy
$ ers must be fixed and determined !
their courses, as they are in all dense
IS w populated countries, whether tn
g streams are utilized for navigation c
not ,n
Taking from the estimated cost
n the water wa what Mr.. Cooley d.
al clares is not properly chargeable to
its entire cost would be only 100000
COO. This is no more than the Oh
river project recommended highly
the board, and Of this amount $4,000
vn 900 is for the river below Cairo,
y. which the interests of the Ohio al
Ter the Upper Mississippi-lakes regio
are common.
lte The statement of the engineers tn
the cost of the undertaking is not ju
.ia titled by the commerce that would
Il carried on by the water wav is refut
~ by Mr.. Cooley. He declares they a
ne not liable to use their imaginatio
- scientifically and says:
The country within wagon haul,
CIV twenty miles of this news coast lineH
la water way and the lake shores, h
nv an area exceeding half the area
France or Germany, and it is wor
is while, If ii had no other resources
serve and If it has no tributaries wi
as back country to feed it.
7. "A strip 200 miles wide from t
lakes to the gulf margin is an ar
,op equal to either France or German
and far more potential. Nearly a tn
of of this area is alluviunl More til
ltal four Egypts of the best days of
lPharaohs and more than four Hollar