The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-08-29
LOOKS FOR GREAT
TRAFFIC REVIVAL
Outlook Expects steel Barge. to
RevoIutionIze Mississippi River
Trade In Near
Future.
NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Old Tins Boats Of Mark Twaln's
Day, But Memory Now
and Picturesque skip
pers Gone.

The Outlook of New York seems t.
see a great revival in Mississippi
river traffic with the start Of the use
OF the steel barge which is still. how
ever, In an experimental state.
There Is no more fascinating chapte
in American industrial history, says
the Outlook, than that which deals
with the thriving days when the Mis-
sissippi river was alive with commerce
and the towering, ornate, paddle-whee
lsteamboats were In their prime. TIL.
old days Of busting Life on the Mis-
sissippi' Of which Mark Twain wrote
have gone forever. The river queens
OF the type Of the Prairie Belle-oi
which John Hay sang-have long age
either been broken up for kindling
wood or, in few cases, are preserved
at the docks OF the big river cities
curious relics of an outgrown age;
while the bones of most of, the groul
lof intrepid, profane, and picturesque
Iskfppers who drove these stately side
wheelers in many heart-wearing race
are buried by the river that they knew
and cursed and loved so well.
Those happy days will not return.
but there are indications that some
thing Of the great commerce of the
past will be won back by the Missis
sippi. About a year ago party o.
southern business men made a trial
trip on a self-propelled freight barge
from New Orleans to st. Paul. The
trip was undertaken as an experiment
to produce accurate data in regard to
the cost of river transportation under
modern methods. So satisfactory were
the results Of this trial trip that the
owners of the barge have been able tn
raise five million dollars as capital
for the construction Of q fleet Of large.
seIf-propelled freight barges using gas
engines operating on coal gas. Tha
direct conversion of coal into power
without the medium Of steam has
proved SO satisfactory that the econ
omfc success Of the enterprise seems
assured. The score Of heavy steel
barges now built or building will be
used on the lower Mississippi, prob
ably between New Orleans and St
Louis, and, says the Review of the
Northwestern National bank of Min
neapolis, which is interested In this
project, shippers along the route
have contracted to ship goods at ex'
listing railroad rates and are to re-
ceive stock in the company in proper
ton to the freight that they pay
This has been said to be equal to a
twenty-five per cent rebate, and should
result in Increasing the fleet Of barges
in the very near future to extend the
service to Minneapolis and st. Paul,
after which time 1t is contemplated to
reduce freight rates and issue no mora
stock. Whether this practice will In.
terfere at all with the existing com
merce of the railroads or will open an
entirely new field to Minneapolis re
mains to be SEEN 1t is probable thas
satisfactory and economical river
transportation would be benefit, not
only to the city, but to the presen
TRANSPORTATION interests.
Apart from economic considerations,
II will be satisfaction to the dwellers
along its banks to see the big, shiftins
inscrutable Mississippi take on new
Lease of life. What almost forgotten
river lore may not now be revived,
what new tales and traditions may y
now be concocted for the delight OF
future generations! American litera'
ture, already much in debt to the
rather Of waters, is bound to be furth'
err enriched by revivification OF Mis-
sissippi traffic.