Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-16
u. S. INLAND TRANSPORT BY WATER
BECOMES MAGNIFICENT REALITY
Development of Lakes-to-Cuf Project Progresses a.
America and Canada Virtually Agree Upon
St. Lawrence Route

| nations may soon be completed which
will enable actual work to begin on
! navigation and power development of
the st. Lawrence.
| y is probable, too, that before
F.. slaEnh Congress will authorize a
@.Srs upon the Colorado River project.
+ N<M9Bh 1t is primarily for power and
( 't3';SaYion rather than for navigation
-Along with these major projects, a
network of connecting waterways is
gradually being developed. The river
and harbor bill. now pending in Con-
gress, apparently aims to further this
cause by works well engineered and
economically constructed Thus, as
each years job goes forward 1t be-
comes an integral part of the plan.
as was the case with several dams in
the Ohio which go to make the com
pleted whole
New Types Being Perfected.
The new type of carriers for water
| borne traffic now in use on the Mis-
sissippi are successful in moving
heavy commodities at a nominal
charge per unit. yet with reasonable
profit to carriers. New types of craft
for canals and shallow rivers are
being perfected, which may make it
waterways hitherto unavailable.
Present disastrous floods in the val.
leys of our Southeastern States add to
the anxiety concerning possible wide
spread damage from floods in the
mississippi Valley which always re-
ours before the advent of Spring
Really serious floods in the Father
of Waters" may cause damage in ex-
cess of $100,000,000 in a few weeks.
beside great loss of life of humans and
animals, not to mention other losses to
agriculture and to soil which are
beyond computation. Such floods in
terfere with navigation and make it's
problems more complex.
That problem is what it is because
the Mississippi practically drains
much of the vast area between the
AlleghenyS on the east and the
Rockies on the west. The neck of the
bottle is near Cairo, southern Illinois.
where the waters of the northern Mis-
s1ss1ppi and of the Missouri systems
are Joined by the floods of the Ohio.
Cumberland and Tennessee River sys-
TENS. AS there is a fall of only about
one'third OF foot per mile from
Cairo to the Gulf, it is easy to sense
what may happen when the on-rush
of floods break through the levees of
the lower Mississippi
Project Pays for Itself.
1t is curious that only after 20
years of disinterested agitation do the
people of the Mississippi Valley now
begin to appreciate the spillway plan
which may forever carry off the Mis-.
sissippi floods harmlessly to the Gulf,
drain wet areas, irrigate dry areas, in
sure the public health by abo1ishing
malaria, and by utilizing the millions
of available horsepower transform
the valley for width of 300 miles on
either side of the river into the health
lest and most prosperous Industrial
agricultural region on the face of the
earth.
The principles of the spillway have
been actually applied to- the similar.
problem in. the valley of the Sacra-
mento River within a few years. Con-
structed by Nation and State, the
Sacramento spillway now carries off
harmlessly to the ocean the floods
which throughout previous time have
annually menaced vast area.
The precipitation and floods in the
Sacramento County are much more
serious per square mile of area than
in the Mississippi Valley. Relatively,
therefore, the Mississippi spillway is
a similar project, though on a vastly
larger scale. 1t would be the greatest
work of man on the globe, but pos
sesses the great advantage of paying
for itself as the Job goes alona.
lCorrright. 1a2I.A. -