The Cairo bulletin., 1910-01-30
Improvement OF THE RIVER
FROM SAINT LOUIS TO CAIRO
Interesting Story by U, S. Assistant Engineer
Woermann at Meeting Of Illinois Engineers
and Surveyors

One of the able addresses before
he Illinois Society of Engineers and
Surveyors Friday night was by ]. w,
Woermann. L. s. assistant engineer.
Of St Louis, who spoke of The Deep
Waterway from st. Louis TO Cairo. -
| Il was an exhaustive presentation OF
/ he 7utiect in which many are inter.
sted; hrt it is possible to give here
/ my a short extract. beng that FOR
I len which deals witt the state Of the
I liver and with the present method OF
! Improvement. to-wit:
/ ~ ]. w. Woermann, United States
/ Assistant Engineer.
! Under the provisions OF the River
/ md Harbor Act of March 2, 1857 the
ecietary OF War appointed BOARD
Engineers TO investigate the cues.
on OF fourteen-foot waterway from
/ T. Louis TO the Gulf of Mexico, The
I hoard consisted of Colonel W H.
! lyhy. Liert..Col c. Med Townsend
ieut..Col. ]. G. Warren. Mr. Henry
). Richardson, and Mr.. Homer p Rit.
i or
This paper will deal only with that
ortion Of the waterway extending
ON st, Louis to Cairo. which Is
| ometimes called the Middle Missis
.ippi." and which 5 recognized as the
most difficult portion of the proposed
waterway from Chicago TO the CUT
The entrance of the Missouri River
ear the upper end OF this reach pro.
uces a stream which Is radically diff
erent from the Upper Mississippi.
ani one which must be improved by
different methods. The entrance of
The Ohio River at the lower end of
his section causes another change in
character and thereby permits Of
impler methods of Improvement.
OF the great basins constituting the
Mississippi Valley. the Missouri is by
far the largest, amounting to forty
hfee per cent of the entire valley
" dry region; the Upper Mississippi
ias moderate rainfall; while the
ohio has a heavy precipitation. The
,0hio basin constitutes only sixteen
er cent OF the entire valley but it
ontrbutes about three times as much
water as the Missouri As stilt
learer. however the Missouri exceeds
The upper Mississippi and all of tie
thar frfbt,tapsu- rr,y,;,;n
From St, Louis to Grays Point. a
distance of one hundred aud thirty
seven miles the river flows through
m alluvial valley of an average width
OF about five miles. Fetween Grays
Point and Commerce the river is
closely confined between the two
bluffs, which are about mile apa' t.
Below Commerce the valley wdens
out into the St Francis Basin on the
tight and the Ohio Valley on the left
The channel distance from St Louis
20 the mouth OF the Ohio River at
ero stage on the st. Louis garge is
1925 miles The distance in a straight
ines is 1875 miles. At the same stage
the width varies from $50 feet to
lC00 feet. The total fall, at the zero
stage. Is 1913 feet: an average fall
Der mile of 0.59 foot or approximate
ly inches. This slope is not uniform.
aowever, but varies from. 02 feet in
he vicinity of St. Louis, TO 90 foot
per mile near Cairo
At ST, Louis the range in stage from
the extreme low water Of January.
1900. TO the food level of June, 1914.
was about a feet. The correspond.
ing volumes of discharge were ap-
oroximatey $4,000 and l.2500O0 cubic
feet per second respectively. Just be
'ow Cairo the range between the ex
IRENE low water Of January, 1890 and
the food stage Of February. 1889. was
about 81 feet The corresponding I.
volumes of d'e~'ar~e were approXI
mately 10000 auS ! COO. 600 cubic feet
per second respectively. The mean
discharge of the Mississ ippi at Graf I
ton tirst below the mouth of the Hi
aos RiveYl IL ina 100 cubic feet per
second that Of the NJ ;souri River
Just above its mouth is 81 acc; that 4,
of the combined rivers at st, Louis !
amounts to $4,000 cubic feet per sec
ond
The depth to bedrock varies from !
fifty TO one hundred feet below low
water. except between The6es and
Commerce. where for a distance of !
five miles ii varies rom twenty to
fifty feet below low water.
The Mississippi from St Louis to
she Gulf is the most unstable of all
the navigable rivers of the word.
The extent of IFS caying banks and
shifting bottom are not realized by
the engineering profession at l"rge.
much less by the general pubic.
Gazing banks may be classified as
erodine banks slumping banFs. sink
ing banks. and sliding or slipping
hanks. The nature of each is indi
Gated roughly by the name. Space
will not permit Of detailed descr.p
ton
Ercs'on is the most extensive AMI
the most serious. 1t is most active
after the spring or sumner noo d.