The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-12
PARTY RETURNS
 BUOYANT OVER
 CANAL PROJECT Valley Creek Deserves the More Substantial Name
 of "River" CITIZENS SAY CANAL IS EASILY FEASIBLE Massey, Anderson, Jemison, Van Hoose and Weller Make a Trip Along Proposed Canal Route.
 to the Warrior River
By WALTER HARPER

The special committee appointed by President Richard W. Massey of the Chamber of Commerce of Birmingh am to investigate and report on the feasi- bilty of the VanHoose canal, made a trip down Valley creek along the proposed route of the canal yesterday.
 The party consisted of President Richard w. Massey. Chairman Frank Y. Anderson. Robert Jemison, J. A VanHoose. and T. A. Weller. M. C. Fields joined the party at Raney's Mill and acted as guide for the re- mainder of the trip.
 Every member of the party was en- thusiastic over the conditions, the volume of water and other physical conditions that were really revela- tion even to Mir vanHoose, who has advocated the building of the canal for so many years.
 VanHoose Pioneer
 Sixteen years ago J. A. VanHoose, then mayor of Birmingham started the now famous agitation for the build ing of a canal from the Warrior river along the course of Valley creek to Birmingham.
 Though the project had the unoual- med indorsement of a number of the far-sighted business men of the district and some of the best engineers of the country, in the early days of it's sug- gestion it was considered as joke or dream by vast majority of the people of this section.
 While mayor of Birmingham MT Vanfioose secured an appropriation from Congress for survey of Vallev creek. Engineer Joseph Ripley. one of the best in the service, and who. by the way, was later put in charge of JOCK construction on the Panama canal. was assigned to the work.
 Engineer Ripley's report goes as far as an official report of the kind can go in commenting the canalfzation of the stream from the Warrior m to McAdory's mill few miles below Bes- semer the only part of the river in- ciuded in the order for survey.
 Original Survey
 While the survey was made In an exceptionally dry season and the wa ter was lower than it had been for 40 years. the report declares that there was sufficient water for canalization purposes.
 The report intimates a doubt of suf- hcient water above McAdorys mill for the extension of the canal to the Sloss furnaces in North Birmingham as pro- posed by MT. VanHoose and others. hut Engineer Ripley made no investiga tion at for
 der the direction of concerns inter- ested In Birming gham show that there is an abundance of water if properly conserved In reservoirs and directed into a 30 or 50-foot channel for an all-the-year- round canal. This fact Is substantiated in a special survey made by Prof. Edgar B. Kay of the Univer- sity of Alabama.
 All these facts are further substanti- ated, and most enthusiastically, by the special committee from the Chamber of Commerce of Birmingham that made the tour of inspection yesterday
 In his enthusiasm Major Anderson pro- mulgated a decree that Valley creek should no longer be called a creek but a river Why. 1t is much bigger than many another stream in Alabama that Is dig nif1ed as a river" he declared, as he gazed across the stream seven miles from the point where 1t empties into the War rior ''As a proof of this challenge Bob Jemison to throw a rock across 1t. I do not believe he can do it.
 Jemison Throws Stone
 Bob tried and succeed in getting the toes of a stone in the mud on the oppo- site bank. And 1t Is said that Bob could pitch stone across the Warrior at Tus- caloosa when he was a boy.
 It is estimated that the river is 130 feet across at this point. It will easily average from 50 to 100 feet for 15 or 20 miles up from the Warrior. The average depth now is from one to three feet
 Engineer Ripley gives the flow at 13,- 5O0,o00 cubic feet per day. The river flows through a natural channel between hills almost all the way, and but little tillable land would be overfowed in its develop ment for navigation. It is most adnnIr-