The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-03-11
Other Cities See Gain to
Be Had From Waterway

ne old dumps" on the river banl
nave been transformed and within
year Davenport expects to possess
/ all the terminal facilities and ap
pllances of a modern river port.
The city has discarded the sloping
leyee upon which freight is now
handled in the same manner that pre-
vailed before the civil war. The new
terminal will be served by a belt line
connecting with the Industrial section,
and locomotive cranes and other mod
ern devices will be utilized in trans
ferring freight from car to boat and
i boat to car.
Engineers who have inspected the
plans and have seen what has been
accomplished already, declare that
davenport has solved the problem Of
river freight transportation, and that
II other cities will follow suit and
build modern terminals the Missis-
sippi will finally reach its maximum
einc1ency as an artery of commerce
and the river cities and the tributary
territory will derive the benefits made
possible by the opening of the Pan
anna canal.
me Upper Mississippi River I'M
provement Association has started a
campaign with view OF educating
other river municipalities to adopt
the Davenport policy. Through the
activities of this organization a law
was enacted at the last session of the
Iowa legislature which permits cities
IN that state to issue bonds for the
purpose of building river terminals.
AS Davenport is under special
charter it did not require such legis-
lation before starting its terminal
project
For sum no larger than Davenport
Is spending on its freight terminal,
Chicago could be given six foot
water connection with the Illinois
river and with the upper Mississippi
river by way of the Hennepin canal
At an estimated expenditure of about
100000 the old Illinois and Michi-
gan canal could be dredged in the
shallow portions between Joliet and
LaSalle SO that it would float vessels
of six foot draft and its locks and
squeducts could be enlarged to &C
commodate bargas of the size that can
navigate the Hennepin canal.
The old l. & NJ. canal is the immed-
late key to the problem of connecting
Lake Michigan with the gulf by a |
practicable water way. At the expend-
iture of s1,0c0,000 it could be put into
proper shape within two years, and
from the canal tolls the project, it is
estimated, would pay for itself within
about eight years. The deep water
way-not the old visionary waterway
that should float battleships and
ocean liners. but a channel that viii
be deep enough for modern barges
is as great need as ever, despite the
fact that 1t has been slumbering for
three or four years, politics having
the chloroform.
But even if all were in readiness to
throw the first shovel of dirt on the
deep waterway 1.-THE s20,000,000 pro-
ject) tomorrow, it would require sew
en- or eight years before it could ac-
commodate traffic, and meanwhile
water borne commerce would halt.
These are the facts that have led
shippers who are interested in reap
ing advantages from the opening of
the Panama canal by means of a lake
to gulf route, to focus their attention
for the present upon the rehabilitation
and enlargement of the old /. and NJ.
canal between Joliet and LaSalle.