The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-21
TAFT ON RIVERS.


river amounting to over 100000
tons, and in the carriage of coal the
carrying a ton of coal one mile is
Iour-tenths of a mill-a lower rate in
transportation than Is known else
where in this country.
The Ohio river has a drain area of
1000 square miles and in that area is
a population Of $1,000, 600. At the head
OF the river is the greatest iron manu-
featuring center in the world and in its
immediate vicinity is one of the great
est coal producing territories. Along
the river. from its source to it's mouth.
are the seats of various manufacturing
industries and the country tributary to
the liver produces various kinds of
agricultural products. Not only do the
products differ between one end of the
river than the other, so as to suggest
profits in extremes, but the river
empties into the Mississippi and by the
Mississippi is bought into water COM
munfcation with the south, where the
products are so distinctly different
from those of the north and are so
much in demand for consumption there
as to lead to the rational expectation
that if the navigation of the two rivers
were made practical and more econom-
ical than railroad communication there
would be much greater trade than
Ohio river in it's character looks espe-
cially to the development of this up
stream trade.
More New Locks.
There are now in the Ohio some II
or 13 dams, with corresponding locks.
The dams are movable so that in times
of high water they do not obstruct the
flow but in times of ordinary height
Or low water they maintain above them
long stretches of slack water in which
the navigation is easy both ways. The
official plan recommended by the army
engineers provides for "a new locks and
DAMS which, arranged with reference
to the existino locks and dams. will
make the upstream navigation, in
ordinary heights of water, something
like lake navigation from Cairo :,
Pittsburg and will preserve for the IL
months of a year constant depth OF
nine feet. The uncertainty with refer
ence to the depth of water in the river
has greatly hindered the use OF the
river for continuous transportation or
course, business has adjusted itself TO
seasons, exactly as it does with refer
ence to lake transportation, which, be-
cause of the severity of the winter,
ceases in November and is not resumed
until April or May But If 1t Were
known that every month in the year
the advantage of the low rates or river
TRANSFORMATION could be had, we may
rea sonably expect a very much larger
investment of capital in STEAMBOATS,,
tug boats and barges and very much
greater regularity in the schedules Tor
running them than now obtains
I'm a most instructive report the
United States waterways commission,
headed by your own Senator Burton.
have pointed out the difficulties that
are inherent in river transportation IN
this country and have shown with
great clearness the advantages that
railroad transportation has over river
TRANSPORTATION for constant business
use. The chief difficulty is the cost
of terminal or transfer charges
wherever the destination of the freight
requires the use of both river and rail-
road.
'sIn their investigations abroad the
commission found that great deal OF
money and time had been spent IN per
fectinR the terminals for river trans
portation, and they deplore the entire
absence of such terminals on many Oh
the navigable rivers of this country
"what I think we have reasons to
expect is that, with the Improvement
of the Ohio river according to the plan
proposed and the possibility OF lts con
tinuous use from one years END TO the
other, with the development OF an up
stream trade by reasons of the SLACK
water. there will be a study of econom-
ical terminal facilities and a profitable
investment therein
The Handling of Freight.
1.-The waterways commission points
borne traffic has increased, as on the
Great lakes, careful and elaborate pro-
visions have been made for the hand
ling of freight in the most economical
manner. The equipment for the load
ing and the unloading of freight at lake
terminals is more advanced than any
where in the world. One of the ad-
vantages that the railways have over
the river arises from the reader trans
fer of traffic from one railway to an
%I10 fro f0T
from water to land or land to water
and this affects not only the physical
transfer of traffic but the through haul
of cars without break OF bulk. In TINS
connection, we must note the physical
disadvantage of rivers, due to the very
considerable oscillation in their levels,
which makes it more difficult to pro-
vide convenient and adequate loading
machinery and renders the receipt and
shipment of freight proportionately
more expensive. The variation in the
Ohio river in Cincinnati is over 60 feet
and there are similar variations at 9TH
er points along the Ohio and Missis
sippi.
1T has been suggested that railways,
as a rule, make a higher speed per hour
and that the difference to be traversed
between terminals is usually shorter by
rail and also that the railway is more
reliable in it's schedules. With respect
to these difficulties, however, and exam
inatiOn shows that an average rate OF
speed of a railroad car loaded with
freight is not much greater than would
be the speed of a tugboat and barges
on one of our rivers; and if we could
have a river navigable at all times
of the year at the same depth there
would seem to be no reason why sche
dulles could not be made quite as regu-
lar as those upon railways. Inventors
and river transportation men must,
however, devote their attention to over
coming the physical disadvantage as to
terminals and transfers involved in the
variation of the level of the river.
Competition of Railways.
lone of the great reasons for the de-
crease of river transportation has been
the competition of railways whose phys