Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-24
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

The dream of George Washington
of the perfected navigation of the Ohio
River has come true. OF course, the
great Ohio has been naVigated ever
since the. white men found it, but the
river, rather than man, has dictated
how and when the navigation should
prosper At flood, its height at Gin
cinnati has approached 10 feet, in
drought it has Snailed along like lazy
brook. Last Tuesday President Hoover
participated in historic ceremonies at
Cincinnati celebrating the completion
OF a system of so locks and weirS,
which insure from Pittsburgh to Cairo
"a distance of $50 mileS-a minimum
channel of feet, at a cost OF $l25,OOO,-
900, which is one-eighth of the cost
Of the Panama Canal.
The main project began in 1910, but
piecemeal Improvements" date back to
1885, closely following the great flood"
X X r X
The story of the Ohio River begins
with the exploits of the French eX-
plorer, LaSalle, who, in 1870, left his
friends, the Iroquois Indians in Western
New York, to seek what they called
1.-The Beautiful River"-the "Hohio"--
and in his diary he wrote, after he
had stood upon its banks, that the
name was well justified, for the river
traversed the most beautiful and fertile
region he had ever seen.
AS the centuries passed, settlers came
into the Ohio Valley, on both sides of
the river and defended their cabins
against the Indians, and eventually
their prosperity against the selfiShness
of the SpaniardS and French who
controlled navigation of the Mississippi
River, and who barred the English
colonists upon the Ohio from egress
to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic
Ocean to the markets of Europe.
A century after LaSalle, there came
George Washington on a tour down the
Ohio, at least part of it's length. Then
in 1778, in the midst of the Revolution,
George Rogers Clark with his force of
Long Knives" naVigated the river, en-
route to capture Kaskaskia and Vim
cennes, and drive the British out of all
the eastern half of thel Mississippi
Valley, from the AlleghenieS to the
Father of Waters.
When river steamboating f1ourished,
before the coming of railroads, the Ohio
River navigation constituted tWo-thirds
of all navigation in the Mississippi VAL
ley, but it was largely local, for until
the present canaliZation with continu-
Gus 9-foot channel, through navigation
was uncertain.
In recent years the navigation has
taken on new Vigor; in 1924 it was TO-
866, 693 tons, and in 1928 it was dou-
bled, viz, 0,938267 tons. 1t has trebled
since 1920, for as fast as reach OF the
river has been improved by locks and
weirs, commerce has fitted in. All cities
along the river have begun improve
mentS of WharveS preparatory to accom-
modating the coming traffic. Until
now, 95 per cent of the river commerce
has been merely private traffic, but now
common carriers will be established all
along the course. For low-grade, bulky
freight, water transportation is very
much cheaper than railroad or any 9TH
er means known.
Each of the so locks on the Ohio has
an inside measurement OF 600 feet, by
| q width of ITO feet and a depth OF from
| 8 to IL feet over the Sills. All Gov
eminent locks built anywhere since 1910
are Oh '01' **+ wHE
Nearly all such locks are far inland,
| for the rivers are naturally naVigable
! close to their mouths, as they approach
the oceans or Gulf of Mexico.
The first lock on the Hudson Is at
| Troy, 153 miles from the sea; the first
lock on the Mississippi Except the in
| dustrial lock at New Orleans) is at
Keokuk, / ,461 miles from the Gulf, and
| the first on the Tennessee is 1889 miles
| from the sea. The Missouri River is
navigable up to Fort Benton, Mont
! 1855 miles from the Gulf.
The industrial canal at New Orleans
| to Lake Pontchartrain--5l2 miles long
was not intended for navigation.
It contains lock GAO by rs feet, witt