Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-02-10
Keokuk Project to Be Second
Largest IN World.
TO Be COMPLETED IN 1918.
Governments 100000 Canal Will 6s
oblitsrated and Father Of Waters
Transformed Into Lake Fifty Miles r.
Length and Five Wids-Hu9e Locks
Planned For Navigation.

ton OF the mile wide $2O,OOO,OOO dan
in the Mississippi river which is nov
in construction at Keokuk, la. 1t Is
July 1, 1913.
Hugh L. Cooper, the engineer in
charge, states that thirty months Of
work carried on as actively as it Is
now will see the Des Moines rapids
harnessed and 100000 horsepower de-
veloped. The total development is to
be between 100000 and 100000 horse
power, Of which 10000 has already
been contracted for delivery to St
Louis, 200 miles distant. Mr. Cooper
states that Keokuk and vicinity are to
have the first call on the balance OF
the power.
The books of the Keokuk and Ham
ilton Water Power company show that
$50 men are now employed in build
ing the big dam, the first to extend
entirely across the Mississippi river,
for which it was necessary to Sc
cure franchise from congress before
work could be started. BY the LIST Of
July 1900 men will be at work.
100000 Canal to Disappear.
Five hundred are now at work on
the Iowa side, the first task consisting
in building three miles of side track
on which to transport the innumerable
tons Of building material required and
constructing temporary bridge across
the canal, which was built by the
United States forty years ago at a
total cost OF 100000 and which is
to be completely drowned out when
the dam impounds the waters Of the
river
The river from Keokuk north will
be changed from mile wide mean
dering stream into q lake from three
to Ave miles in width and about forty
or fifty miles in length. Thousands
upon thousands Of acres Of lowlands
along both the Iowa and the Illinois
shores will be submerged, but the wa.
ter power company has been securing
options on this property and buying
tracts quietly for the past two or three
years, until today it is stated that 1t
has provided (either by outright pur-
chase or by option) for 80 per cent of
the property which will be inundated.
Altogether almost 100000 has been
spent or will be spent for riparian
rights.
Mr.. Cooper stated that the possibiu-
ties Of the project were only begin
ming to be realized. He predicted that
within twenty years there would be
from 100000 to 100000 people living
on the shores Of the lake which will
be formed when the dam impounds
the rivers waters. He said that wa
ter power of no greater magnitude
supports population Of 100000 in
Switzerland.
Dream Of Years to Be Realized.
1t is only after three-quarters Of a
century Of hoping that Keokuk at last
sees its water power dreams being
realized. As long ago as 1S48 the
Mississippi River improvement asso-
citation was organized, with a capital
stock Of $1,00O,OOO, for the purpose Of
navigation and Harvesting
the water power that might be devel-
oped In the process. Years and dec
AIDES passed, however, and nothing
came Of the plans until within the
past ten years the project was revived
and Keokuk went at earnest on the
proposition. After considerable ma
neuvering franchise was secured
from congress giving the right to
dam the river and develop the power
Of the Des Moines rapids. It was to
make navigation possible and safe
around this dangerous stretch of the
Mississippi that the government built
the nine mile canal In the seventies
and has maintained 1t ever since at
an annual cost Of $4,000.
Before the franchise could be &C.
cured from congress 1t was necessary
for the promoters to agree to replace
this canal and its three locks with one
immense lock, which would allow the
boats and RATS to ascend or descend
from one water level to another, re-
place the present drydock with an
other and furnish electric power to
operate both the new dam and the
new lock for all eternity, absolutely
free to the government.
The dam which IS being built will
be the largest in the world, with the
single exception Of the Assuan dam
built across the Nile, in Egypt, by the
British government. The Keokuk dam
will be mile long and thirty-seven
feet high, with seven feet Of the foun-
dation imbedded in the solid rock of
the river bottom. The dam will be
between thirty-five and forty feet in
width. The power house will be 400