Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1911-11-18
WATER ENOUGH
/ AT LOW STAGE
TO NAVIGATE
Col. Richie Maintains That
at Lowest Period the Des
Moines Can Carry "a, ,000,-
900 Tons of Freight.

There is enough water in the Des
Moines river at it's lowest stage to-
carry 24,000,O0O tons Of freight If the
proper means is adopted in preparing
the river for navigation" said Col. G.
8. Richie of Detroit, the government
engineer in charge of the Des Moines
river survey who was in Ottumwa to-
day. With the we'll known engineer
was A. c. Miller of Des Moines who
has given perhaps more time to the
question of river navigation than any
other booster in Iowa. The object of
the visit of the two river enthusiasts
was to tell Ottumwans something of
the findings Of Col. Richie in his in
vestigation of the possibilities of the
Des Moines river as navigable stream
and also as means of developing
water power for commercial uses. The
visitors came to Ottumwa this morn
ing in response to telegram of invi-
tation sent them yesterday and during
the entire morning, they were the CEN
ter of good sized group of Ottumwa
boosters.
Plenty Of Water.
The talk made to the men gathered
at the Commercial association this
morning was given in semi-confidence
because Col. Richie did not wish to
have his report or parts of it made pub
lie through his utterances before it
had reached the department heads at
Washington and was made public in
the proper way. He did, however tell
the assembled members of the Com ,
mercial association who numbered up
wards of twenty, that there are as
great possibilities in the Des Moines |
river now as ever existed. He also
stated that with the lowest stage of
water that the river has had during the !
past summer, there has been suffi cient /
volume of water that if properly hand
led as would be done If the system of !
locks and dams were in use, to handle |
24,O00,0OO tons of freight in eight |
months.
To Reduce Freight Rates
Col. Richie stated that the only ef-
fective way to reduce the railway !
freight rates is by river transportation |
The interstate commerce commission !
was said to be not an effective means
of regulating rates as compared with
water transportation. The effective. !
ness Of rivef navigation was said by
the well known engineer to depend
upon the connecting of one river with
several other streams in order to in |
sure the shipper that his shipm tents
can get anywhere. The figures secured |
by him in his data necessary to COM
plete his report to congress showed
that the cost of water transportation
is less than by rail. He cited the great /
lakes and the factor they have become I
in making the United States the great
est steel country in the world. The
difference in the type of craft used on
the lakes and that needed for river
was illustrated by Col.
Richie in the remark that deep boat is
needed on the great lakes, but any old
box will haul freight on the rivers.
The great hauling of coal from Pitts
burgh to the gulf on the Ohio river
was used as an argument, for river
freighting by Col. Richie. The people
do rot know the possibilities of the
Des Moines valley, said Col. Richie,
who stated that only the surface has
been scratched, and that If 1t were not i
for the great lakes as a means for
the iron deposits about
Duluth and the lake regions, that
country would probably have never
been developed as the wonderful iron
and steel country.
Need Long Haul.
The long haul was said by Col.
Richie to be needed for the success Of
the river transportation, for the short
haul cannot be depended on to be of
any good to the cause Of navigation.
An inland waterways system that will
make it possible to carry freight from
Ottumwa to Chicago, st. Louis, Pitts
burgh, or other long distance places,
was the plan of the engineer, who has
studied all of the phases of the Des
Moines river as a navigable stream.
Cost Less Than $11,ooo,ooo.
The system Of making the river
navigable as outlined by Col. Richie
to the federal government in his re-
port, includes two plans. One Of these
Is to build twenty-three dams between
st. Francisville and Des Moines at
an approximate cost Of $1O,875,00O to
q provision in the locks to carry nine
feet and thus protect against floods,
Is also included in this plan. This
will entail the donation by those bene.
ated, of overflow lands, etc. The other
plan reduces the number of dams to
seventeen to develop the water power.
This plan reduces the expense to the
government about $3,00O,O00 and makes
The power companies pay for the land
overflowed. 1t is expected that the
report Of the engineer will go forward
within a week or two and that before
{ gets through the various Offices to
which 1t is submitted before reaching
congress, that it will be three months
before it is made public and ready for
congress.
A deluge of questions were nlied