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

new committee and with an initial |
fund of SIS started out to canalize a |
river over three hundred miles long.
What Miller Did.
There were other men who worked
with him They gave all the help they !
could, but it was Miller who dreamed
the dreams and saw the visions"
More than half the twenty-five dollars
in the treasury was spent in obtaining,
in tabulated form, complete state
ment of the expenditures of the fed
eral government on inland waterways
during the past sixty years. The name
of each river in the union was written
on a card and the expenditures of fed
eral money was noted under the name.
The result was staggering. Nameless
or forgotten bayous in Mississippi and
| Louisiana appeared year after year in
| the rivers and harbors bill No freight
ever moved on them. They were not
! in the line of trade between cities. No
earthly purpose was served by the
! government expenditure and those
places seemed rather less remote from
hades than from heaven. To cap the
climax. it was discovered that $4,000
| had been appropriated for the survey
| of little creek in northern Mime
sofa for purposes of navigation"
where D. T. Patton Ga member Of the
conmittee) was wont to fish and
where he found the water too shallow
/ to float canoe carrying two people.
1t was the first time that the rivers
and harbors pork barrel with the
brine missing had been exposed to the
view of Des Moines men.
| ia
| ler's purpose He declared that riv-
er flowing through such country as
the Des Moines could surely be i'm
proved if such amazing things as these
could find congressional support.
What Hull Did.
Late in the fall of 1907 the commit
tee had a conference with Capt j. A.
r. Hull. the congressman from Des
Moines. Jan. 90, 1908, Captain Hull
introduced in congress II. r. 1879 pro-
viding for a survey of the Des MONIES
river for the purpose of determining
whether it could be converted into a
navigable stream The bill was refer
red to the river and harbors commit
tee. All the commercial bodies in Des
Moines, under the leadership of Mr.
Miller, passed resolutions favoring the
bill Similar resolutions were passed
4 by such state organizations as the
Grain Dealers association and the
Meat Producers association.
When the bill came out of the com
mittee it was chewed up and pretty
we'll digested, but the necessary ele-
ment was still intact. Three Iowa riv-
ers were named with others, in con-
. nection with an appropriation of $780,
600 to be expended in determining
whether those rivers were susceptible
Of improvement or not. In railroad
building. such action would be called a
preliminary survey.
Fight Not Ended.
When the appropriation bill was
through congress. the boosters thought
the fight had been won and that the
! survey of the river would proceed
without further delay. But, 10, there
were many things to be learned about
governmental procedure. Major Richie
: OF the corps Of army engineers mott
fed Mr.. Miller that before undertake
ing the survey of the river showing
must be made with reference to the
: tonnage produced in the valley, the
! stages of water at different times OF
| the year, the water power that might
be developed the legal status of the
whole project and several other things
which meant a summers work fol
> somebody Miller protested to the ma
! ior that those were some of the very
= things the survey was expected to de
/ termine. and further that the work
, would have to be done by volunteer
J. workers, if it had to be done in aDes
= Moines So Mr.. Miller began his Ions
Il struggle to get together such a mas:
. Of data as would overwhelm skepti
!, 4 cism. There We're not more than {
L dozen men in the city who we're stuff
GENTLY confident of ultimate success
> to willingly give the needed help. In
/ formation was gathered from the state
9 board of agriculture. from the three
commercial organizations in the city
! from a few old river pilots and from
p private records. Ten or twelve year
~ previous. John S. Emery, a merChan
&c of Des Moines, and Tacitus Husse
had agitated similar movement bu
u the psychological moment had not al
. rived and little was achieved eXcep
the collection of information Some @
this was still valuable a3d was use(
y The legal questions propounded by M
=, jor Richie were answered by Hor
Jerry Sullivan, acting as director {
~ the Commercial club. Some of the fiE
y. ures showing agricultural and miner
le production were compiled in the ofic
le of the Greater Des Moines COMMITTEES
=, . but by far the greater Part of the bu
- den fell on Mr.. Miller personally
~ Iowa first began TO feel a river COZ
le seriousness" when Mr. Miller and h
le associates convinced the general a
&c sembly of the state of Iowa in 1916
that a commission TO examine into an
report upon the natural resources
Iowa was a necessary part of the stat
IL machinery, but the legislature was sh
al in the matter OF money. The appropl
n alton would Just about buy stamps #
;e- a lovesick young man living tweni
ed miles from his only-onliest.
Miller as Chairman.
us In spite of shortage Of money II
tn commission was organized and aga
ay Mr. Miller had tc shoulder the job
he chairman It carried no salary a,
It's was almost as destitute If honor, b