The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1914-05-29
GOVERNMENT ENGINEER
In Conference with Citizens About
Cleaning Out River.

county in the counties of Tallahatchie,
Yalobusha, Carroll, Calhoun, Webster
and Lefiore, met in the directors
room of the Grenada Bank Ou Friday
morning of last week at 10 o o'clock to
confer with Captain Ernest Graves,
captain of the corps of engineers of the
U. 5. War Department whose head
quarters are at Vicksburg. relative to
securing aid from the federal govern
ment looking to the cleaning out of
Yalobusha river so that the stream
might again be open to steamboats,.
There were perhaps $50 representative
citizens present which gave unmistak-
able evidence of the very deep concern
the people in this territory feel for the
proposition.
Captain Graves announced that there
had been altogether since early in the
nineties four surveys of the river and
that reports on all the surveys had been
unfavorable; however, he stated that
the last report made by Capt. Woodruff
to the department had not yet been
given to the public. Captain Graves
intimated very strongly that he was
not here to talk and that he could not
afford to put himself in any attitude
other than that of an official who was
willing to hear testimony to overrule
what had been previously done. At the
Captains suggestion, A. M. Carothers,
who was acting secretary of the meet
| ing read from former reports on the
river which reading put the meeting in
possession of the facts as seen by the
War Department. Mr.. w. B. Hoffa
then made some observations as to the
last report and gave some very salts
factory reasons as to why it was unfs-
vorable. In fact it was stated that
Captain Trotter, who made one of the
surveys, made his inspection" trip
along the public road at times as much
as two miles from the river and in the
very midst of the summer, hence there
could be but little wonder that he saw
as one without vision. Mr.. Hoffa then
adverted at some length to the urgency
of the situation. Judge VIM. c. Nc
Lean then arose and stated that he
hardly knew what to say. That the
crowd needed no conversion to the idea
dominant at the meeting but that il
seemed to him that about all that was
necessary Just now was to make a
christian" out of Captain Graves make
him to see the situation as it really is.
The Judge then addressed himself to
the amount of freight carried on the
bosom of what the government calls
"creeks" and rivers and the appropri-
, alton made by congress for each, a
, showing which was most favorable for
, the creeks. Judge Mclean then re-
I ferred to conditions at Grenada wher
J there were as many as twelve steam
boats at one time lying at the wharf
here and the amount of the cargoes
carried by the boats,
Several other talks We're made but
the two other chief speeches were made
! by Dr. j. W. Young and Mr.. W. NJ
; Dubard. 1t was brought out that boat.
t piled the river tor about five NOR this il
t the year up till about twenty year
? ago regularly. that the stream wa
5 now full of drift and snags ard tha
2 much adjacent land had been RENDERED
= impossible of cultivation by the very
5 frequent overflows of the river. |
i seemed to be the fixed opinion of thos
present that the railroads were anXiou
: to keep the river just as it is now, no
b. navigable, as is evidenced by tn
S fact that when it was proposed SOM
t years ago to bridge the river here a
d Grenada the railroad company otfere,
: to donate S5, 900 for the bridge provide,
e the bridge was placed across the rive
r below town which would tend to keep
n ing the boats from being accessible t
e the town of Grenada. The dominating
# thought of the meeting was that it wa
IS the duty of the government to do 70
d this section what it had done and wha
n it is doing for others: that with tn
l. Yalobusha open to boats, the bushes
e men of Grenada as we'll as others with
d in the territory, would save from te
to fifteen cents per barrel on flour an
from fifty to seventy-fve cents pc
bale on cotton and similar amounts o
all other commodities; that Grenad
# would then be better cotton market
n being thereby enabled to offer bender
y prices and that the farms and fari
!. lands along the line of the river woul
,r be more valuable.
% These observations and suggestion
e were all received in a most friendl
IS spirit by Captain Graves and he state
,e that he was open to any and all dat
IS and information that could be furnishe
G. him on the subject. He gave SON
suggestions as to the preparation of ar
n report the citizens might desire to mal
Is and at the conclusion of the meeting
n committee consisting of Judee VIM.
Mclean, w B. Hoffa, W. NJ. Dubar
T. Hubert Calhoon and o. F. Lawren'
ye were named to prepare report TO
ID submitted to Mr.. Graves.
AS result of the meeting it is b
as lieved that ere long the Yalobusha riv
will have returned to its former glo
of carrying boats upon its bosom whi
will be filled with all clases of mercha
disc for the merchants and farmers
this territory.
e. There can be no doubt about the ia
e. that the governments inattention
TO the river has allowed it to fill up whi
v; has been the cause of more freque
Ill overtiows and of the failure to put ma
e. thousands of acres of good land in c,
tivation.
The gathering was very importa
Id one and it pleases the Sentinel to nc
n the cooperative and determined spi
be that marked it. 1t would seem tt
We with that many determined, well
1t formed men behind proposition back
nd by the right. that it could not fail
,s: