The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-07-18
y-Treasurer-O. E. Hull,
Leon RenOrtar

| were entertained Win an auto rlQe
over the city, visiting Crapo park
and other points of interest. 1t was
the pleasure of The Reporter man to
be assigned to the car of DR.. A. w.
Sherman, who for number Of years
resided at Lamont, but has been a
resident of Burlington for some
years and is one Of the leading physi-
clans of the city. We greatly enjoy
ed the ride for he was posted on
everything connected with the city,
and is good roads booster, taking
us out in the country number of
miles to see the permanent roads
which are being built by the board
of supervisors of that county at a
cost of $4,000 per mile. They are
fine roads and will be extended each
year. After the auto ride the visit
ors were the guests of the Burling-
ton Hawk-Eye at the Garrick
theater.
| Friday was fixed as a day of pleas
ure, and it was sure an enjoyable
day, the Burlington Commercial Ex-
change having arranged to take the
editors, the county sheriffs, county
clerks and county recorders, who
were also meeting in Burlington, on
a trip to keokuk to view the big
dam. The trip to Keokuk was made
on the steamer Black Hawk, leaving
Burlington few minutes after 8
o'clock, and reaching Keokuk at
1.30. Dinner was served on the boat
by the ladies of one of the Burling-
ton churches. During the forenoon
there were several showers but the
visitors stayed on deck to see the
wonderful panorama of the Mississ7
| ipp river, for many of them had
never taken trip on it before.
DR.. G. Walter Barr, publicity
agent of the Mississippi River Power
Co., came to Burlington to accom-
pany the excursion to Keokuk, and
he is wonderful man, for he knows
every detail of the work, and is ia
miliar with every turn of the river.
During the entire trip he was sur
rounded by a crowd of interested
hearers, who were eager to learn all
they could in regard to this great
project. Several landings were made
on the way down, Dallas City, being
the first stop. Then as Ft. Madison
came in view we saw the big bridge
which spans the river at this point,
tentiary in whose gloomy walls are
confined several thousand prisoners
many of whom will remain there
until they die. At Ft. Madison we
were joined by Nels T. Roberts, edi-
tor of the FIT. Madison Democrat.
who knows the river like book and
it was our pleasure to be with him
during the ride to Keokuk, and we
learned many interesting things from
him. We saw the great Standard
Oil pipe line which crosses the river
just below Ft. Madison, through
whose pipes the oil is pumped from
the Kansas oil fields to the Eastern
States, thus saving the enormous
cost of transportation by rail- We
crossed the river to the old Mormon
town of Nauvoo, which was once a
city of over 10000, but is now a
town of 1900. When the Mormons
wee driven from Nauvoo the city
gradually dwindled away. Back on
the Iowa side we landed at Montrose,
and soon after we passed into the
government canal, which runs north
from Keokuk for a distance of twelve
miles, and cost the government ten
million dollars to buid, and costs
from $4,000 to $75,OOv per year to
maintain. 1t was built so that navi-
cation could extend up the river
around the rapids which stopped
until the canal was built
But when the big dam is completed
the canal and locks, of which there
are four, will be under twenty-five
feet of water. The first view of the
dam was seen from the middle lock,
and looked like flimsy structure,
but as we drew nearer the massive
ness of the work dawned upon us.
We landed at the lower govern
ment lock, and here found special
train fitted up with observation cars
to take us over the many miles of |
work. In each car was
a guide who informed us of the part
of the work we visited. The COM
pany has built many miles of stan
dard railroad track, has about thirty
engines and several hundred cars.
BY means of these tracks the train
was able to visit every corner of the
work, even to the bottom of the
great new lock. This lock will have
a lift of forty feet, while the biggest
lock on the Panama canal has a lift
" OAAJ o6 AOCC. ~ 10 oAoO AAuCA
wider, so that the largest vessel can
pass through it. The Power Com
pany is building this new lock and
presenting it to the government.
First, by a devious curve, the train
descended into the cofferdam, where |:
amid much puffings and clankings of
busy machinery, it passed along the |
lower walls of the power house now
towering above, anything but the
filmy structure seen from a distance.
Great square doorlike openings |
pierced the side of the power house,
though which the pent-up water
above the dam rushes into the tur-
bine chambers. These entrances are
ouriously curved Railways, wide !
enough for the passage of a street ,
car, leading to a common center,
where from a massive ring of steel j
and concrete above, the eighteen ,
foot turbines hang suspended like
huge tops. So accurately are the
,urvings of these Railways made that /
the inrushing water is led in the
most natural course to strike the
turbine blades at every point of their
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