The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-02-27
TYPES OF RIVER BOATS.

TYPES OF RIVER BOATS.
Last weeks issue of the Waterways
Journal contained as its leading fea-
iture an article by Major Montgomery
Meigs OF this city on the type OF boat
best suited to navigate our western
rivers. Major Meigs agrees with an
other contributor to that publication. /
who discussed the subject in Prev, |
GUS number, that experience long ago
decided, so far as the type of boat use
| full for handling freight is concerned,
! in favor of the stern wheel boat.
Some people seem to think that the
stern wheel boat is antediluvian IN
type and not UP to date. Major Melss
| declares that this is mistake. The
| fact is, he says, that the stern wneei
boat is the survival of the fittest. ~
lis the final result of multitudinous
trials and features. Concerning the
screw propeller he writes as follows:
Probably there is no one thing thai
has been so much experimental Win
! as the western river steamboat, and
1.-THE wise man looks over the field and
eliminates from any future experl-
menting, those types that have been
tried and proved failures already. I'm
fortunately there is always new
icrop Of the uniformed who are not
familiar with what has gone before,
land who have to be shown, for III
stance that the screw propeller Is not
ADAPTED to commercial steamboatlng
on the shallow rivers of the West. MOI
seeing any large screw boats on the
rivers and knowing the superior econo-
my and power of the screw as pro-
lpeller, and seeing thousands of small
gasoline propelled craft successfully,
more OF less, navigating our rivers,
they come to the conclusion that
lstea mboatmen are old fashioned in not
adopting it and add to the succession
LOT failures, by rushing in and essayins
Ito teach the old mossbacks what a
real steamboat should be. There IS
good reason why the screw propeller,
whether a regular or tunnel boat type,
lshould not succeed on the western
rivers as a commercial posslblllty
The answer is 'snags.' For many years
Ito come, and perhaps always, the
A rivers of the west will continue to be
: infested with these wheel killers ano
/. Twill SO continue until the trees along
, 1.-The banks become too valuable TO be
!, allowed to go to waste and are cut vi
!. flor fuel as fast as they threaten te
/. fall into the water.
u And then we will still have the
5. istumps. Let us admit that the screV
n propeller is the best application 0
n power to propulsion that man has de
* lvised and still 1t is easily possible
% that it is not suited to the shallow
+ waters of the western rivers IN
reason is plain that relegates it to thu
discard for us in the west, 1t is tina
lit is not reliable. There are thre'
: things necessary to make boat
commercial success The Bible say
~ there are three virtues necessary t
IL the perfect man and they are these
n Faith, Hope and Charity. and III
W greatest of these Is charity. Now t
1t paraphrase this would say there ar
ne three virtues in successful boat fo
n commercial purposes and they al
Il, these. Power Economy and Reliabi
~. iitv and the greatest of these is reli
70 bility.
:. Here is where the experimenters ia
en down. They invent a powerful boa
Vi economical in operation and with a
1.-THE good qualities except the one TIL
is essential. namely reliability. In n
ost time on the river, running back son
ire thirty years. have seen many enthu'
at asts waste their money and time
-. trying to improve the river boat
nc Major Meigs tells of a number
ars disastrous experiences with componl
-, condensing engines, and makes
&c plain that the-e are other things TO
IN deslen:ng a steamboat for any Civ
-, En,Irpose Much is said about towi
ion Euroneon rivers. Major Mel
- lroirts ont that tie conditions a
- vastly different. Their tows are all,
ont nearly ALL upstream. The big SIT
wheelers with feathering wheels u
~ do the towing are able TO handle I
, tow behind as they have the cure
,tas Iagainst, them. On our rivers the L
- is mostly down, and boat has to c.
!, ,trol her tow with the current acti
-. SO as to drive the tow on to the BIZ
rha in case of sticking, and thus cause
aro collision likely TO prove fatal to b.
tain or barge.
W The stern wheel boat, while
survival OF the fittest on western ]
ers, is far from perfect Major Me
~, suggests certain notifications t
~ would add to it's efficiency. The fl
i he mentions is a reliable and eco
- Emical engine. This means compo'
: ~ lcondensing engine adapted to col
80 itions as they present themseiN
80 Next he would have low WI
Ma without involving loss of power
AL wasting in flogging the water at
~ trance of the bucket This means
feathering wheel, of which he sa
''Of all the multitudinons exp
ments made on boats on western
llsh- ers in the last fifty years, this al
Gas seems the one that has been omit
I'M and the most fruitful % good resi-
sent Perhaps that comes from the
Taft. posed difficulty of application Il
stern wheel boat, and also the con
:. - lion that with its many moving