The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-09-07
Captain A. v. Fetter Of Quincy Again
Successful in Landing Bid For
Work Between keokuk
and Hannibal.
MEANS BIG EXPENSE
One Hundred and Eighty Thousand
Dollars Will be Utilized In the
Improvements to be Made
This Year.

One hundred and eighty thousand
dollars are to be expended by the U,
5. government in river improvements
during the next year, and Of this
amount $4,000 will be devoted to
/ work between Keokuk and Hannibal.
The bids for work have been opened
by Major Charles Keller of Rock
Island and the announcement of the
! awarding of contracts made. Captain
A. V. Fetter Of Quincy, ILL.,, has been
named as contractor for the work in
this district. The following are the
bids accepted for the work
From Clayton to Dubuque-Amount
to be expended, $4,000. Awarded to
Captain A. Kirchner of Fountain City,
Wis, rock, $1.53 per cubic yard; brush
81 cents per cubic yard.
From Rock Island to Burlington
Amount to be expended, s45 600
Awarded to Captain A. Kirchner,
Fountain City, Wis, rock, $1.53 per
! cubic yard; brush 81 cents per cubic
yard.
From Keokuk to Hannibal-Amount
| to be expended, s45 900. Awarded to
Captain A. v. Fetter, Quincy, ILL.,; rock
/ s16S per cubic yard; brush, 65 cents
i per cubic yard.
From GAINESVILLE to Illinois river
Amount to be expended, $4,000.
Awarded to Rust Swift & Co., st.
Louis; rock, s1.55 per cubic yard;
/ l. on 10 rI
4 Work That Is Needed.
Considering the low stage of the
4 navigation for some time, consider
able work has been done during the
summer toward the permanent i'm
provement of the upper Mississippi.
Most of the work has been north of
) here, the snag boat, David Upton
having been doing good work above
the La Claire rapids. She could not
come south as there was not enough
water over the rapids and SO was
kept busy above that point.
At present there are four suction
dredges in operation on the upper
river and they are accomplishing a
great deal. One is in the canal at
Rock river, another below Musca
tine, one below Elmer and the fourth
near Prairie du Chen. Four crews Of
men are also busy in other sections
one at Elmer, another near Trempe
{ leau. the third at Commanche and the
fourth at Clarksville, Mo. These mer
are engaged in shore protection work
repairing wing dams and channelinE
through sand bars and mud banks
which obstruct the channel.
J, There is a lot of work yet to BIZ
, done between ST. Louis and Du
5 buque and the three contractors
/ whose bids were accepted at Rocl
{ Island will have to hustle from nov
y on until cold weather forces then
! to retire their fleets to winter quar-
, ters. All three will work as man,
]. men as they can use and no doub
, they will employ all of their Owl
/ boats and equipment and all the.
$ can borrow or lease, as we'll. Thi
y is necessary because of the late start
ing from congress and after that tn
!, bids had to be advertised for month
a SO that the awards could not be mad
Until after September l. But now
is UP to the contractors and witt
good weather and favorable cond
in the next eight or ten weeks. Sew
eral contractors have been busy tn
greater part of the summer, finishin
uncompleted contracts awarded las
year.
Captain Edwards of Dubuque, on
Of the United States engineers ur
der Major Keller, blames congress TO
the suspension Of navigation thi
summer. He says 1t might have bee
avoided, had the rivers and harbor
sooner. And there was no reaso
why it might not have been done
Because of congress- hardness,
said Captain Edwards recently in a
interview, 1.-The money did not becam
available until July l." BY that tim,
lie eAJldiuSu lhS IlNGE Was 81 10
that very few boats could navigat
and there was nothing to do but t
wait for rise. However, that doesn
explain why when the money wa
available on July 1, it was necessar
to wait until August l to advertis
for bids. If this advertising coul
have been done in July, the contract
might have been awarded the first {
August and then the contractors coul
have started out with the first ris
Fetter and the st. Louis contractor
could have started to work any tim
as the river south of Keokuk has ne
been low enough to make any diffe
ence to them. one way or the othe
i So far as the shore work is concerne
conditions have been better this sur
mer than any summer in half ce