The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1921-12-09
HARD To TAME
MISSOURI river
Army Engineers Engaged in
Keeping Ii From Swallow
no Farm Land.
ONCE GREAT TRADE ARTERY
Before the Coming of the Railroads
Steamers Flowed Its Waters as
Far as Fort Benton, Mont
Need Special Boats.

Kansas City. Mo.-Taming the MIS-
souri, river. outlaw among American
rivers, is the task Of the United
States army river engineers, whose
headquarters are here Their sector
is the Missouri river, from Fort Ben
ton. Mont. To a point opposite Alton.
H.. where the Missouri. with roar
and rush, joins the Mississippi and
thereafter sweeps with some degrees
of camness To the Gulf OF Mexico.
The task of the river engineers is
To coerce the Missouri river into stay
ing out" and To coax il out of its long
time custom of changing lbs channel
whenever the within moves il. This
may sound like an. eXaggeration, but
To anyone WHO has spent day on the
river with the army engineers, and
has seen the Missouri eating away at
a cornfield with wicked energy, swal-
lowing up earth, corn, weeds. fences
and trees, it seems sometimes as If
the river actually had personality,
and an outlaw one. at that.
other Ruinous Operations.
And while carrying away farm land
from one bank. somewhere else Ii is
equally busy. piling up sand, mud and
driftWOOd. making land cut of what
was river few days before. Then.
too, the river has a habit of occasion
ally clogging'' its own channel, build
ing sandbars so long and so high that
il must needs become broad and shall
low i'm order to. continue its restless
course.
Ii IL a constant struggle, but ii is
not Il hopeless one and the engineers
point with Il measure Of justified pride
To those places along the stream
where they have. built bikes. which
resulted in the making of land; to the
concave bends where revements have
stopped the riyer from cutting its
bank. Given dixie on one side and Il
revetment on the other and constant
diligence, so that small breaks may
he repaired before they become ser-
Gus. the river engineers say they can
keep the stream fairly well anchored.
Once Great Trade Artery.
Fifty years ago, before the coming
of the railroads. the Missouri was the
great western artery of commerce. and
steamboats, plowed its waters rs far
MS Fort Benton, Mont. Knowing how
difficult it always is for the railroads
10 handle great wheat harvesis. one
wonders why il is not possible for the
river tn handle some of this traffic.
The engineer quietly tells you that
it is possible; then he goes on and
explains the two general reasons why
it is not being done. One is that
there is now very little money for i'm
proving and keeping up the river. The
other reason is that many mistakes
have been made In the type of tow
boats used.
Special Beats Needed.
Boats designed for any other river
in the world but the Missouri have
been used and because OF the shift
ns depths 0f the river. have failed
With all its disadvantages. there is Il
good deal to be said, according to the
engineers. for the old paddle-wheel
steamer. Side-wheeler or stern-wheel-
er, that draws little or no water.
which condition is ideal for service
on the Missouri.
The river is navigable, say the en-
gineers, and with. sufficient time and
patience ii can be made manageable.
"A great game if you don't weaken"
one says To Major Wilkes, in charge
of the river work. and his aids
You can't weaken" they assure
you. You just keep after it, for the