Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-06

|. industry ana ranSpOrtaClon. AS q
result Of their efforts, extending
over q period of &c years. the
canalization of the Ohio River, from Pittsburgh
to Cairo, is today an accomplished fact. On
October Is, President Herbert Hoover will at
tend the Ohio River dedication ceremonies in
Cincinnati and will dedicate monument In
Eden Park carrying this inscription:
The River Ohio, so called by the Iroquois
on account OF its ,beauty-deScended by Seur
de La Sale Discovered by the French ex-
plorer La Sale about 1870 and claimed by
him for Louis XIV of France; seized by the
British as the result of the French-Indian War,
17s4-1763; descended by George Washington
I'm TITO; included in the territory OF the United
States as the result of the Revolutionary War
and the Treaty of Paris, 1776-l763.
1.-The first steamboat. New Orleans, piloted
by Capt Roosevelt, was launched at Pittsburgh
A. d. 1911 For more than 200 years 1t was
the great highway of the west Of the Anseri-
can pioneers:
This monument was dedicated by
Herbert Hoover
President Of the United States
october Is, 1929
20 marx the completion of the canaliZation OF
the river to a depth of nine feet from Pitts
Aurgh to Cairo. a distance Of $50 miles"
As inscriptions go, the above IS pretty fair.
Il gives, in admirably condensed form, tabloid
ent time What it lacks, however, are romance.
atmosphere and the details Of industrial and
engineering conquest. The history of La Belle
Riviere," as the French called the Ohio, IS
rich in all these elements.
TWENTY-FIVE years ago the Ohio was
wasted and wastefui stream It had dis
eoncerting habit of alternating periods of
navigable depth with periods Of slack water.
Its shifting sand bars were q constant menace.
All in all. it was most unreliable stream. Then
the Army Engineers stepped into the picture.
They proposed q series of so or more dams be
thrown across the river to control its navigable
depth. These dams were to be of the type
known as "chanoine wickets" or bear traps"
This sort of dam has the virtue of not barring
the rivers flow under normal conditions. On
the Ohio as long as 1t measures nine feet or
more in depth. these dams lie nat upon the
bottom. In times of low water, they rise up
and check the course of the stream until the
desired depth is secured. Each dam has a
lock by its side by means of which boats and
bargeS can be let down or lifted up.
Fifty Of these dams have now been COM
pleted. The last one, near Cairo, was COM
pleted a few weeks ago. navigable depth
Of nine feet is now assured from Pittsburgh to
Cairo the year round Wherefore the populace
Of the Ohio River valley are making much
"Whoopee."
The dedication ceremonies in Cincinnati,
which our Engineer President will attend, will
also be graced by the presence of Cabinet OFF,
eials, War Department officials. representatives
of both the Senate and House of Representatives
the Governors of Pennsylvania, Ohio Indiana,
Illinois, Kentucky and West Virginia, as well
Is many other notableS. One of the colorful
features of the celebration viii be a river
pageant of packets and other river craft, their
flagship being the palatial river steamer City
Of Cincinnati Thus there will be ushered in
n new era of industrial utilization Of one of
Americas most famous rivers.
Industry today appreciates the fact that the
dc of waterways is of prime importance in
the transportation Of raw materials and heavy
commodities such as COAL Steel sand and gravel
Water transportation IS the cheapest of all
methods Of moving tonnage, fundamentally be-
cause it requires q much smaller amount Of
power to effect the movement of given weight
If cargo. Heavy shipments, where speed is