The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-02-24

Inc EOih III the DOItlH IS not HS Id sc
a one as at first thought and comes
back Tuesday evening with the an
nouncement that the new lock will be
big enough to carry through any war
ships or St. Louis boats.
The two articles make interesting
reading matter TO Keohuk people and
beth are reproduced in full. The one
OF Monday evening was as follows:
"keokuk Dam to Bottle US up?''
Does Lacrosse want to be cut off
from possible participation in great
river commerce?
That is what is threatened, accord
ing TO a discovery made by the st.
Louis Republic, if the new dam at
Keokuk is built according to plans
submitted. The locks will be. it is
claimed, at least Is feet too narrow
and 100 feet too short to provide for
the passage of the big, light-draft
boats particularly suited to traffic on
the upper river. and the effect will be
to limit the upper stream to the type
of boats now in use, which have been
found not the kind under which great
traffic will develop. The locks pro
posed at Keokuk are to be 400 by 95
feet.
At Dubuque are situated the Iowa
Iron works, builders OF steel river
craft, including the famous towboat
Sprague, and hydraulic dredges in
use between st. Louis and Cairo.
There is now at yicksburg the steel
car ferry Albatross, of 11o-foot beam
She was built at Dubuque and taken
down the river by Superintendent Kill
lcen. Being too wide for the canal
the last of the old pilots of the lower
rapids took her through the open
river.
/ The construction of a 95-foot wide
/ lock at Keokuk will mean that the
Iowa Iron works can bid on no more
large size car ferry boats. But this
! is NOT all, nor the worst The Missis
sippi Valley Transportation company
now has plans drawn for a power
/ barge, recently described, which viii
| be 500 by 60 feet. and will draw bu
u inches light. She will carry 1,o0l
tons for each additional foot of draft
! that is. she will be abb TO go to st
! Paul and bring down 1000 tons o
1 -four on three feet This boat is in
/ tended for the st. PaulNew Orlean.
| trade. loading deeper as she goes dow
the river.
If the designers are forced to re
model her to conform to the dimen
sions of the projected lock, it will re
duce her carrying power $50 tons OF
the foot and increase her light draft
4 she will carry 1,5oo tons on three an,
one-half feet, instead of 1000 o.
three.
The lock should be made wild
enough, it is believed, to admit tn
Albatross, and long enough to allo,
for a growth of 100 feet in the lengt
OF cargo boats over the present plan
1T should be 10 by 600 Such
lock will cost little more to bull
than the one planned. but will be n
more expensive to operate and mail
tain and will take no longer to Fl
and empty.
The Republic, in an editorial prin
ed Monday. which has been give
publicity all along the upper rive
closes with this appeal:
"Shall an industry now in exis
ence on the upper Mississippi be sh,
out of field which it has made il
own. and designs for freight carrier
recently completed be changed f.
smaller and less economical model
just for the lack of few more yart
Of concrete and few thousand dc
lars in the construction of lock-"
New Dam o. x"
The Lacrosse Leader-Press OF Tue
day evening SAYS:
The lock on the new Keokuk da
will be large enough to accommoda
any boats or the upper river or Wllit
are likely to be built in the futur
and there is no danger Of LaCros
being bottled up.
This is the assurance Of G.
Cooper. father of H. /. Cooper, WI
holds the charter, and Is the head
the Keokuk Dam and Water Pow
company. Mr.. Cooper, who is spen
ing the winter at the home Of b
daughter, Mrs. w. b. Batchelder,
associated with his son in the gre