Year: 1875

W
such works determined and decided
30 make piers At the mouth or entry
OF the ST. Louis river. That office
had the right TO make the decision.
and made it. Congress in 1867 be-
gan to grant appropriations tc exc
cute the plan, and continued to vote
money for several years for that
purpose, and the national expendi-
tare on this particular Improvement
at the entry ceased only few
months since.


The IDEA Of such Improvement it
Is said, was to give to the river, in
addition to mouth, of which it bad
by nature too much-a throat, So
deep that no keel might toach or be
hindered and to enable the river so
TO use its own strength as to clear
these passages of any distractions.
The plan adopted could not have
been conceived better When the
northeast winds lodged sand aud
other drift where the waves and cur
rent met, 1t a'so heaped up the wa
ters of the bav-driving in from the
lake and damming back the river.
When the winds fell and the water
sought its level, then came in play
the accumulation of energy gather
ed in the storm, and the floods
would sweep back through the piers
and clear the way again.


Moreover the ordinary current OF
the stream applied itself constantly
to the work of making and keeping
a good navigable bed at all times.


The p an Of the engineers was ex-
celIent and the adjustment and play
of the automatic forces thus made
available, in practice answered eve
~ expectation.


The Duluth canal, so-called, was
cut through Minnesota Point, so as
to admit the water Of the harbor in
to the lake, on the 29th day Of April
1871. On that day aud just before
the break through was made, the
surface of the water, where bay and
canal touched, was fourteen and
one-quarter inches higher than the
surface Of the lake outside, by act
| ual measurement.


! Observations maze by the United
States Coast Survey for twelve
months previous to this time show
ed the mean height Of the bay for
the year to be between three and
four inches. In special instances
of northeast blow, or Of freshet,
as on the day before mentioned, the
/ height was extraordinary for that
reason


/ Ofcourse when the retaining wall
fell. the surcharged river tumbled
like a cataract through the gap, and
! Ieaped away, darkening its course
into the lake for miles with the de-
! bris Of the embankment. And the
st. Louis has gone that way from
that day to this, turning from its
old channel ami ever widening and
deepening its new.


4 have seen the stream flowing
into the lake in the face of a strong
northeast wind and heavy surf,
which at the time was rolling into
the lake entrance Of the canal" .
/ 1ioay to Miller June 26, 1871. And
SO all have seen. Why should the
waters not run wild, whether the
dam give way through the knayery
of its construction as at Mill river.
or it be torn away by premeditated
violence in like shameless defiance
of all laws divine OF human?


SO the strong hand in the fit OF
an hour, swept away the rampant
which had been built up by centu-
ries Of battling between waves and
currents in obedience 10 law, His
law, infinitely more exact than
anv human ordinances or constitu-
tions, and old and untading as eter-
nifty.


And so the havoc of a moment
rendered useless the work Of years,
and the expenditure of hundreds OF
thousands of money, upon the gov;
ernment piers At the mouth of the
river. And so fell the level Of the
. bav that the mill owner on Its
shore soldered additional lengths to
the suction pipe of his engine, in
order to reach the water; timbers in
the wharves which before had been