Omaha daily bee., 1922-04-27
Inspection Of River
Retards Is Made Here


Dakota, in the problem Of protecting
10 miles ai water front in the vicinity
OF the new fsRktoh bridge.
I A party of taliloTnlsns had more
10 say about river navigation, One
ei these was w, +. Dwysf, pFesidsa,
OF the Sacramento River Navigation
company,
~ envy YOU the amour, OF water
IN this river" MF, DwyeF exclaimed,
we have II steamboats, and -
baEges running from Sacramento and
above down 10 San Francisco. There
isn't room enough 10 turn around,
most oi the waY In the dry sea-
son We operate in 20 inches Of VA
teF."
/ Have Same Problems.
Business on the Sacramento u
Increasing" Mr. Dwysr said. ''ihe
boats carrying wheat and other
farm products downstream and oil.
cement, lumber and other goods
back.
"You have the same problem with
the Missouri as We have with the
Sacramento" said Charles de 81.
Maurice. reclamation engineer.
"Ihe swifling current there as here
cuts into the bank. making fiprap.
ping failure. We put concrete
sides along the Sacramento and il
washed behind them and carried the
concrete downstream. We are now
using the Bignell piles and the re-
tards 10 hold the channel.
"Of course boats could be put on
the Missouri river. II this quantity
OF water could be restricted TO a
narrower channel. !, would scour to
greater depth and stop shifting. The
current can be controlled by these
fctards aud placed wherever il is
wanted. Maj. 4. 6. Grant, who is
in charge OF the army river work in
California. expects much from this
new system"
Crossing TO the Iowa side OF the
Missouri over the Illinois Central
bridge, the party inspected the re-
tsrds that are driving the current
back from its a,tcmp, TO cut around
behind this structure.
Stop in Channel.
North OF Council Bluffs. where
formerly there were two channels,
enc OF them threatening the Illinois
Central tracks. there is now only
ono channel and the wind is blowing
dust from sandbars that have been
formed since IA retards were INSTALL
ed year ago. Trees were ancorcd
here in Is feet OF water. and now
only the top layer projects above
the sand. The river has stopped its
cutting, and an engineer estimates
that S00,0OO,000 cubic yards OF earth
washed down from the farms up
stream have been deposited. At Fol-
som, which was not visited on this
tour, the Burlington railroad now
farms $500 acres recovered from the
river.
The inventor OF the reinforced |
concrete pile that is used to anchor
this work is Edward Bignall, assist
ant superintendent OF fuel economy
tor the Burlington railroad. He be-
gan his Investigations in 1914, but
did not perfect his pile until 1917.
1t has been used in building a num-
Der of railroad bridges in Nebraska,
saving much caisson work.
Have Big Contracts.
Woods Bros, who control the
rights on this patent. now have
- 100000 worth Of work under con-
.ract or in view. At Dakota City.
hey are protecting 10000 acres of
arm land and two railway lines.
Other work is at Barney, Platts-
mouth, Corning, Ia, and below Kan
'as City, where the crossing of the
Sinclair oil pipe line is being safe
guarded. The Baltimore and Ohio
abroad is using the piling on the Big
Miami and Ohio rivers and the Rock
Island on the West Canadian river
II Oklahoma.
A party from Atlantic City N. J.,
ecently visited Omaha with view
O making a $l,O0O,0O0 contract for
protecting the beach from washing
lway. One of the men inspecting
he Omaha work yesterday was
Charles T. Healey. assistant city en-
.;neer of Chicago, where the city
las a project for an inner harbor
nd lake protection. Another was
:. V. Willard, state drainage en-
,ineer of Minnesota, who is interest
d in use of the piles to prevent dams
rom being washed out.
Mark w. Woods, one Of the firm.
tates that army engineers are i'll
crested in adopting the plan to pro.
ect the dikes along the Mississippi