Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-01-04


proven in no other way except by the
project would fail. Fortunately there
are still other proofs to show that the
Wise Man OF 1910 who rides in auto
mobiles and places advance orders
with Wright i3rothers (inc.) frequently
overlooks remarkably good some
thing.
A few months ago Hon. Jerry B, Sui
livan prepared report for the war de-
partment to show why the congress
sional appropriation already made
should be devoted to survey of the
Des Moines.
In that report were the names Of
over sixty steamboats, with their cap
tains, that had navigated the Des
Moines river in the days when the
hook-worm was unknown,
Sixty steamboats, on river ought to
indicate some slight adaptability for
navigation.
Once a Good Highway.
Regardless of modern cavil, the Des
Moines river was once highway for
| considerable commerce. With the
coming Of the railway and the Anleri-
can desire for rapid transportation the
river fell into disuse To make mat
tiers worse, private corporation once
undertook to improve the river and
the result was to give the whole pro-
ject an unsavory reputation. The
| decentralization of traffic on the Des
! Moines argued no more against the
| physical capacity Of the river to carry
boats than the abandonment of the
Ohio canal boats would not float The
REIMBURSEMENT OF the nations water
ways was merely part of the evolu.
ton of American commerce. Steam
boats left the Des Moines for the
same reason they left the Mississippi.
And there has never been any reason
for assuming that the Father Of Wat.
ers had gone dry.
Men are prone to measure the value
of navigable waterway by the vol
ume OF water it carries. Now this
happens to be somewhat wrong. Once
Senator Burton-then Congressman
Burton of Ohio-who was the chair
man Of the congressional committee
on rivers and harbors, said in public
that he would stand for the improve
ment of the Mississippi, the Missouri,
the Ohio and the Columbia, but there
he would stop" When asked why he
would favor the Columbia, he explain
ed, in an oratorical and eloquent man
ner that it was a great river. travers-
ing an enormous territory and pouring
a vast volume of water into the sea-
Good Expedition.
But" said the questioner, ARE you
intent upon providing a smooth and
well-kept river bed merely that great
volume of sparkling water may flow
untroubled to the sea? AS mere lay
man it would seem to me that federal
money ought to be spent on streams
that traverse regions where an i'm
mense amount of slow-moving freight
is produced. waterway ought to be
built to carry traffic and not for spec
tacular purposes.
But Senator Burton still held to his
original opinion. Which shows thai
even the best of US "become as little
children" once in while.
There would be no reason for the
federal government improving the Des
Moines river il such waterway were
not needed to carry traffic. But the
tremendous productivity Of the terri
: tory along the stream places it in {
unique position among the rivers o
; the world.
!, Some Real Facts.
Here are some facts:
Uncle. Sam has expended hundreds
OF thousands of dollars upon the Cum
: berland and Tennessee rivers. Boil
! are streams Of considerable magn1
. tude. The Cumberland is $50 mile
long. The Tennessee is 500 miles long
!. The Des Moines is only $50 miles. Ye
: the eighteen counties Immediately il
: the Valley of the Des Moines produc
a larger tonnage of every kind thai
), the region naturally tributary to bot
these longer rivers.
The eighteen counties along the De
! Moines river produce greater tor
mage from agriculture than the entir
state of Arkansas.
r All the products of Southern Califol
r MIA could be piled tobether in one hea
g on the scales and they would nc
d weigh up with the produce of thes
g same eighteen Iowa counties.
d Mississippi is corn raising state {
e some magnitude, but the entire stat
IT falls far behind the eighteen low
D. counties in raising corn.
e The total agricultural tonnage {
n Tennessee falls below the farm pr,
n duce of those eighteen counties.
1t Were Senator Burton to collect
a. one place all the agricultural and maj
i ufactured products that have CON
10 from the territory traversed by tt
IS Columbia river during the last tie
years he would still have to add h
z suit case, his household furniture an
= all the government documents in tt
Il basement of the capitol befare
II could weigh in" against the produ'
Il of those eighteen Iowa counties for
II single year
II Many Coal Deposits.
"A In addition to the amazing agriel
II tural wealth of the counties in the Vi
IA ley of the Des Moines, there are bitul
H inous coal deposits of no small cons
A quence. Six million tons were mine
II in 1908.
Il Besides the coal there are enormo,
IA deposits Of clay and shale. Wi
Il cheap water transportation these cl;
Il deposits would be developed into Il
4 greatest brick and tile producing spo
10 ~ TTp;+o5 Cfofnc Natural ha1