The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-07-17

trees, of limestone bluffs here present.
ing bold face of bare rock resembling
the palisades, yonder covered with
trees and other vegetation, and occa'
sionally assuming some fantastic form
or taking on the similitude of me.
diaeval castle. It'ssimp!y wonderful,
these works that nature hat wrought
and they inspire in the mind feeling
of awe and reverence for the Master
Mind that created them.
Though but mere shadow Of its
former self, the Mississippi is great
river. But it needs fixing; it requires
constant care and attention to keep it
in a navigable condition. Sandbars
are plentiful and tie current shifts.
The national government has expend-
ed large sums n building wing dams,
doing rip rap work and dredging. And
this work is going on all the time.
We passed, do not know how many,
government boats and crews at work.
The wing dams are built of mats of
small willow trees held down by rock.
The government quarries the rock
from the limestone bluffs along the
river and transports it on scows to
the places needed, the motive power
being small stern wheel boats which
push the scows. On the way down
we saw several hydraulic dredges at
work pumping sand, water and mud
from the channel.
And that channel. The way it
shifts from shore to shore is some
thing appalling. To the lay mind, it
seems incredible that any man can
steer boat along this river without
coming to grief. But the government
has erected beacons at intervals along
the shore. So adept are the pilots in
their art that they know where to
look for these beacons, although there
are over 400 of them between St. Paul
and Davenport. At night the bea-
cons-or rather part of them are
lighted. These with the aid of an
electric searchlight enable the pilot
to guide his craft safely through the
crooks and turns Of the winding
stream in the darkest night. In az
dition there are scores of buoys, some
Of them bearing lights, anchored at
intervals to indicate the channels
course. Fog is the only enemy the
pilot cannot conquer. Our boat was
forced to tie up three hours near the
head of Lake Pepin Thursday morn
ing on this account.
It's interesting to sit on the for
ward deck and speculate On the direc-
ton the boat will take. If one can
see the white painted beacons he can
guess right, but these are not all WISH
BILE to the lay eye as they are to that
of the experienced navigator. 1 take
off my hat to the Mississippi river
pilot.
The Morning Star carried about 100
passengers on this trip. We left ST..
Paul at 2 o'clock Wednesday. The
gentlemanly purser assigned us our
seats for supper and we retained our
respective places throughout the trip.
1t was my good fortune to sit at a
table with Mr.. and Mrs. J. S. Card of
Grinnell, Iowa; Mr.. and Mrs. w. S..
Block and young daughter of Dixon,
Ills; Mr.. and Mrs. E. S. Jones of
Minneapolis. Mr.. Card is solid
business man; Mr.. Block owns daily.
newspaper in a town of II, 900 people:
Mr.. Jones is assistant manager of the
bennington Hotel, Minneapolis; and
the party at our table was rounded
out by pair of "Newly WEEDS" from
Chicago on the last clap" of their
wedding tour. They furnished the
comedy for the party.
On the boat was John H. Cary,
cashier of the Davenport Daily Times,
an evening daily witha circulation Of
$4,000. Davenport is city of As, 900
and is proud of such a newspaper as
the Times, which, by the way, is
housed in a beautiful new building
fitted with every modem appliance
known to the manufacture of products
as the art preservation. The Times