Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-04-05
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Pierre, April Awhile the attend
ance of outside delegations at the
Missouri river meeting held here
did not show up to a large extent
outside OF the river towns from
Bismarck to Yankton, few of the
inland towns took enough interest to
get representatives to the meeting.
The discussions which developed, es-
pecially those in which practical and
experienced river mea took part,
showed that in their estimation the
Missouri river can be navigated Just
as we'll today as it could in days gone
by when it was the great artery OF
commerce for the whole Of the north
west. The trafic will not now pay
the profits which it did when q boat
was built at Pittsburg or st. Louis
and sent to Fort Benton, and In
single round trip was expected to
pay for itself with all the expenses OF
the trip added, and leave any future
earnings Of the boat as net profit.
The character of the freight which
mas 10 Uc udAUISu a. SAo PAS0eAs
time is different from that OF the
oldea days, when the carrying OF
trappers' supplies to the upper river
and the bringing back OF their
catches of the season made the re-
turn cargoes. Now the traffic to be
handled is in the way of grain and
live stock, and the shipments in
stead of being from one end of the
stream to the other are from points
remote to rail facilities to the rail-
road points for trans-shipment. In
the local trafic is to be the great
carrying trade of the upper river in
the estimation of most of the practi-
cal operators. Captain Baker of
Bismarck with his Benton Transpor-
tatioa company, keeps nine boats
busy with that kind of business, and
to do the same at almost any central
point on the river is only an ad-
justment to meet the co.,
ditions which exist at the present
time to make boating profitable in
his estimation.
The representatives from down
river points appear to look at the
situation from different angle, as
their dream is that of great artery
of commerce which Is to reach from
the upper reaches of the Missouri to
the gulf, and become not only a
great highway of commerce, but
general regulator of freight rates
for. large part Of the central west.
To this end they are working to-
ward the organization of boat COM
panies, at St. Louis and Kansas City,
and are asking for a deep channel to
carry the class of boats which they
desire to operate and which they
say must be of large carrying capac-
ity to assure low freight rates with
the gulf as an outlet.
The advocates of building up local
traffic are not asking for the deep
channel which the others dsire,~ but
demand that the government shall
either care for the river or release
its claim of control and management
and allow them to work out their
own salvation. The method of con-
troll which the government attempts
to use, is considered by all the prac-
tical river men to be radically wrong.
It attempts to provide channel,
without attempting to stop the caus-
es which prevent the river from
clearing a channel of it's own. So
long as the protection of banks of