Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-03-30

birmingham, Ala, MdTCl So'-Dy
building seventeen locks and dams
across the BLACK Warrior river. Uncle
Sam has practically presented the
people of this city with fine navig'
able river. The work cost the gov.
eminent $4,000, 900 and required
twelve years to finish, and the Biz
mingham people are deeply appreci-
alive of the boon that the nation as
as whole has conferred upon them.
THE Black Warrior river and what
we are going to do with it," would
make good headline for most or
the convers alton and large part OF
the news in Birmingham right now
The city is going to extend its limits
to the banks of the river 1t is al
ready shipping coal to Mobile by
boat and il expects 10 bring back ores
and fertilizers. TIE wholesalers see
a new chance tn rench seward, and
to force, lower rates out of the rail-
roads. The iron and steel makers
assert that they will now supply Tex
as with nails and wire, and reach the
Cuban market in a single shipment
from their own home terminals. IN
a word, tho possibilities seem almost
unlimited and the city is making good
progress toward their realization.
|, The Black Warrior project is one oil
the most striking engineering feats
that the government has ever accom-
plished. Lock seventeen the recent
completion of which brought naVl-
gable water within twelve miles OF
Birmingham, a mountain city. is said
to be the highest lock in the world,
for it holds back a head of water
sixty-three feet deep.
Since very early times the Black
Warrior has been a navigable stream
below Demopolis, little city nail
way to the sea; and as long ago as
1855 steamers came up to Tuscaloosa
during high water. But that did not
do Birmingham much good. The city
is only twelve miles from the river;
but at that point it was only big
mountain stream couple of hundred
yards wide. full of rifles and shoals
and often so low in the summer that
o man could wade across 1t.
Now that same stream has been
converted by modern engineering into
a river half mile wide on an average,
thirty to fifty feet deep IN many
places. and navigable for large earges
all the way to the sea. The narrow
mountain creeks that once came tum-
bling into the Black Warrior have
been converted into deep, naviga0le
bayous reaching back into the heart
of the mountains where the iron and
coal are mined. Incidentally, Birming-
ham now has one of the most attrac-
tive waterways in the south Tor
pleasure boating. Running between
steep wooded mountains, and reach
ing it's arms far up among them, the
Black Warrior is beautiful stretch
of cruising water; and to add to the
delight of sportsmen, both fish and
wild ducks have appeared in great
numbers.
Just at present, however, Birming-
ham is primarily concerned with ways
and means of utilizing this waterway,
which is one of the few in the world
that actually reaches from the noun
tains to the sea, and one OF the few
in the United States that maintains
uniform navigable depth, free from
ice all the year round. Birmingham
has resolved that the flrst step shall
be to bring the city and the river to-
gether both to facilitate shipping and
to prevent private capital from gain
ing control of water frontage which
should belong to the city as a whole.
To accomplish this, the people OF
plan to extend their cor
porate limits in long narrow strip
clear to the banks of the river. 1t is
not project without precedent. Los
Angeles brought itself within touch
Of the Pacific coast by exactly the
same measure and has enjoyed many
practical benefits therefrom. The Bir-
mingham people have made a careful
study of the Los Angeles method and
will probably proceed in a similar