Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-05

] be a canal across .F10TiQ6 10 Hldke ble
intracoastal route one waterway,
along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are
! rivers feeding into the intracoasta1
waterway. Many of them are navi-
| gable and add much to the eventual
! commercial possibilities of this route
Then there is the Mississippi River
system. This is the greatest river sys-
/ tenn of the country. In fact when all
things are considered, including the
| character of the population, commercial
possibilities, climate and other factors.
! it is. next to the Great Lakes, entitled
| to be termed the foremost Internal
water system of the world. 1t includes
| the Mississippi River as far north as
| Minneapolis and st. Paul and all OF
! the leading branches of the MISSISSIPPI,
such as the Missouri and the Ohio. The
| Mississippi system connects with the
| intracoastal system which reaches from
Corpus Christi to the Mobile region
and which is linked with the Warrior
River system reaching to the great iron
regions of Birmingham.
| To get an accurate picture of the
vastness of the Mississippi system. one
| has to remember that it not only In
cludes all the important tributaries OF
| the Mississippi, but that there are I'M
portant feeders in the form OF naV1-
| gable streams emptying into some OF
| these tributaries. For instance, the
| KanaWha and the Allegheny, the Ten
nessee and the Cumberland, and also
! the Monongahela, are feeders into the
Ohio.
Traffic on MOnOnsaheIa.
The Monongahela, centerinE In
| great coal and iron region, transports
year by year larger commerce than any
other river in the world except the st.
| Mary's. 1t illustrates the importance
| of the feeders of the Mississippi sys-
tenn and of their possibilities.
The Mississippi system which, when
| completed. is expected to have nine
foot channel throughout all of the
main streams. is not only linked with
! the intracoastal waterway along the
! Gulf but it will be tied up with the
! Great Lakes by she proposed Lakes-to-
| the-Gulf waterway, partly completed,
| and connecting the Great Lakes and
the Mississippi.
In other words, if the national system
of waterways were completed, 1t would
| be possible for resident of New York
to start out with light draft steamer,
! drawing the amount of an ordinary
barge or a towboat, go along the At
lantic Coast via the intracoastal cham
mel, rounding Florida or crossing 1t by
the proposed canal, proceed along the
Gulf to the Mississippi, up the Miss
iSSippi and the Lakes-to-the-Cun
waterway to Chicago. then via the
Great Lakes and the New York canal to
the Hudson and back to New York,
Should the proposed all-American canal
across New York ever be built the trip
would be improved upon.
This serves to show the close re-
lationship of the proposed system Of
water routes in this country, though
for practical purposes cArgoes, as rule,
are transported either from port to
port: from an interior center to an ocean
OF Gulf port, or the reverse; or from
| centers of agricultural or raw material
production to market or some point OF
/ consumption.
! 3.500 Miles Of Main Lines.
Magnitude of the Mississippi system
: is indicated by the fact that there are
about $500 miles of main trunk river
lines. The Government has under i'm
proyement about 1000 miles of tribu-
taries to those trunk lines. and an addi-
tional 1000 miles of the system are
navigable more or less freely in their
natural state. This means that the
Mississippi system has, according to
Maj. Dan I. Sultan, resident member
of the Board of Engineers for Rivers
! and HarborS about $500 miles of
trunk lines and IL 500 miles of navigable
! tributaries either navigable under favor
! able conditions or reasonably capable Of
| being made navigable by improvement.
! Going westward to the Pacific region.
I there is the Sacramento and San Joa-
quin system. This Is practically COM
pleted and is carrying large COM
merce.
/. The Columbia system in the North
west is another important one. 1t will
come i'll for improvement. While the
mileage is not extensive as compared
with the Mississippi. 1t promises to have
a large commerce from the wheat area
tributary to it and the rich agricultural
lumber and other resources OF the Co
lumbia alley.
System EclipSes Europe's.
A chapter could be written on what
| has been achieved with respect to the
water routes of the United States. Few
people realize what these achievements
have been to say nothing of the vast
| possibilities of the waterway system
| when completed. Few understand that
| America already has eclipsed Europe In
| waterway development and yet the de-
Velopment here is merely we'll begun
| The locks at the 500. for instance are
4 the busiest in the world and handle
more annual commerce than any SINH
| lar water route, despite the fact that
| they are closed four months in the year.
! The Ohio River system, being part
/ of the vast Mississippi system, is re-
/ markable waterway in itself. 1t has
| cost about S10,000,O00 to canalize tbs
/ Ohio. The work is practically COM
! pleted. Army engineers declare that no
river improvement anywhere can touch
| this work in magnitude. and that it Is
! far ahead OF any river Improvement IN
! Europe
I The commerce now carried on this
Ohio is tremendous and, with the COM
| pletion of canalization, is certain 10
| expand in view of the great mining, in
i dustrial and agricultural resources of
the domain into which 1t reaches. and
! of which Pittsburgh may be considered
! the center.
Traffic on Ohio Increases.
Maj. Gen Edgar Jadwin. Chief Of
Engineers of the Army. in an address
some months ago, declared the trasHc
on the Ohio had increased nearly 800
per cent since 1919 He said the gross
traffic in 1925 was $4,000 900 tons
With the completion of the canal
ization project" he said 1.-The trafie
will undoubtedly make further inn
portant gains. The large steel COM
panies. the oil companies, the publ:c
riers are all planning to use the river
more inte7sively'
AS an illustration of the possibilities
of waterways in saving transportation
costs, he said
During the last ~ years the Monon-
gahela River improvement has paid for
itself and earned a surplus of about
500, 900 900. returned to the general
wealth of the Nation through reduced
N a