The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-08-17

Sioux City. But still we had M
rest, for we had just time to clear
off the newly-acquired CRIME Of
the city when we were whiskec
back downtown for dinner, fol
lowed by visit to one of the
better night spots that lasted far
into the night.
With all this attention, we were
having the time of our lives, for
it was all very new, but by the
time the last floor show was over
and our hosts wanted to take us
TO another place, we had to admit
defeat. Both of us were so tired
and sleepy we couldn't keep our
eyes open and you know the in
ference drawn from bobbing
head in . night spot.
Channel From Now On
We Just told our kind hosts
shout the night before and they
took US TO their apartment, where
we reveled in II straight hours
of uninterrupted sleep.
Sioux City is the present head
of navigation on the Missouri
river. OF course, on rare occasions
q river boat will make a routine
trip up as far as Fort Peck dam,
but those are mostly snag boats
or survey parties.
There Is a channel on the upper
river, but 1t has been years since
the snags have been removed and.
even to little boat such as ours,
the trip was somewhat dangerous.
But, from Sioux City down to
the mouth of the river, the gov
eminent is busily engaged in i'm
proving the river so that 1t will
have a definite channel, free from
snags and sandbars, and marked
with buoys and mileage. For the
most part Sioux City is enthu-
siastic about the river and the
fact that it is the head af naviga-
ton but. at the present time. they
seem to be doing little about 1t.
View Resentments
Passing under the railroad
bridge and entering the main
tanned river channel was just like
coming out on paved super
highway after spending months on
back country dirt roads. The river
narrowed down to two-thirds its
former width. sandbars were few
and far between. and the current,
brought into harness, was stepped
up to four and two-tenths miles
an hour. nearly a mile and a half
faster than the upper river, for
the latter was falling fast.
On the channel side were the
pile revetments. backed up by the
standard bank revetments Of will
low mats and rock, while the
straight-out bikes and tail bikes
on the other side kept the main
current in the channel and pre-
vented it from cutting haphaz-
ardly through and over the banks
as II does when it is under no
restraint.
Trial and Error
These bikes and revetments are
the results of years of constant
study of the river by United
States engineers. When work on
the Missouri started many years
ago. the engineers found river
that was radically different from
any other in the world. A river
that seemed To do just as II wished
despite mans puny efforts TO con-
troll 1t: a river carrying so much
sediment that sandbars formed
overnight either multiplying or COM
pletely destroying years of pains
taking effort.
With no other river like il TO
draw their knowledge from. the
engineers had to work on more
or less trial and error method at
first. As the years went by i'm
practical methods were discarded.
with the result that today. though
il is doubtful IL the Missouri will
ever he under complete control.
the rivermen are using time-tried
methods with good deal of
success.