Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-09-27

give the full 100000 horse power. |
Then, in some way, Mr.. Cooper Sc
cured from some source the right to
manipulate the flow, to shut off three
fourths of the natural flow during
the night, so as to refill the pool and
have head enough to maintain the
full load during the day time.
THE flow of the river at zero stage
at Keokuk is between 10000 and
q, 900 feet per second. They say
they have the right to reduce the
spill to 5000 feet per second.
such reduction will cause a drop
Of from one to three feet in a part
Of the river that is already shallow
and has a rock bottom. Under such
conditions navigation will be impos-
sible during the night and until some
time next day when the flow has been
restored. This privilege, or right. to
hold back the flow and use It for pow
er production was not advertised. In
fact, it was done quietly. We only
learned of it accidentally and very
recently"
A recent statement issued by the
! Streckfus company after the withdraw
al of some Of their boats from their
trade, bears out Captain Blair's pre-
dictlons, and is in part as follows:
"The steamer Quincy on this trip
up out of St Louis on Aug. "a was
| delayed by shoal water In reaching
Keokuk, and upon arrival there, on
the evening of the 25th, went aground
on the rocks at the opening of the
I lock, and upon investigation it was
/ discovered that the water below the
| dam at Keokuk had fallen IS inches
within the past few hours, this being
due to the retarded flow incident t,
! impounding of water In the lake above
the lock.
! The Quincy remained Immediately
below the lock for just FIVE hours, IN
til sufficient water was released to
raise the level of the river IS inches,
which permitted free passage, and the
boat proceeded up stream.
1.-THE steamer ST. Paul out of St.
Louis Aug. 90 was delayed eight
hours overtime in going a distance of
less than 100 miles below keokuk, and
as result was SO badly delayed as
to miss the rapids at Rock Island in
daylight, which necessitated holding
the steamer all night at Rock Island
before she could proceed north.
The steamer Dubuque has been
having great difficulty through unnat-
ural rise and fall in the channel below
Keokuk, the variance within a few
hours ranging from y to "a inches,
it being now impossible to get close
enough to our warehouse at Keokuk
to make a fair landing.
The channel of the entire river
above Keokuk is in satisfactory con-
dition and we have had no trouble up
to the present time anywhere north
of Burlington.
THE steamer Dubuque will be able
to operate below Keokuk however, as
she is lighter draft than the Quincy
or ST. Paul, and We will use every en-
deavor to operate the Dubuque even
under the existing conditions
THE question of impounding water
in the lake above the dam at Keokuk
is one which arose long before the
charter for the power plant was grant
ed, but engineers have always insisted
that the natural flow of the river
would not be retarded to such an
extent as would interfere with the
operation of steamboats, below the
dam.
I'VE submit the facts as above out
lined as to the actual workout of the
present arrangement covering the
flowing of the river as controlled by
the power company"
Commenting on the above state,
ment, the Burlington Hawkeye says:
Those who are acquainted with
the situation at Keoluk are puzzled
to know how the operation of the
dam could raise or lower the water
below that structure in so short a
time as stated by the Streckfus com
pany. There was a time when some
people feared that when the 80 tur
bines were running full capacity there
would be periods in very dry weather
when the impounded water would have
to be used to the extent of percep
tibly lowering the stage, in which
case the flow through the turbine
chambers and spillways would have
to be shut off for two or three hour: