OCR Text |
Show I 5EE5 RIVERJOREST tL BOTTOM OF MISSISSIPPI STREWN WITH LOGS AND LUMBER. I Professional Diver Declares Bed of H River Is Like a Dense Thicket Firm Planning to Dredge m for Wood. fm lliirllngton, la. The professional jfll diver, Kugeno Ferris, who has been jf aeurchlng tho bottom of tho liver in 1 front of llurlliigtoii for a missing pro peller wheel, 1ms oncouiiloied much dlMculty In gaining a solid footing on the bed of tho river, lit states that tho snnd and mud forming tho bottom Is so thickly strewn with logs and lumber lum-ber that It Is almost llko trying to tread n deuso thicket to mako his way about, and there Is no solid ground to walk upon. He sajs the logs and lum bor stick up I" H directions and nro wedged In among each othor "ho tightly tight-ly that It Is linposalblo to push thorn aside. Tho report of Diver Ferris cor robomtes that of other dlvois hero and elsewhere that tho bed of tho Mis slsalppl river Is a forest of logs and I lumber that have accumulated dur , Ing tho long years of lumber and log i rafting on tho upper rlvor. It Is stated! that tho Chippewa and other irlbu tarles or tho .Mississippi In tho north down which most of tho lumber has been rnftcd, Is densely sown with lost lumber, and tho piopusltlon has been Imado'thnt companies be foimed to recover re-cover the timber. In tho present day of falling of the lumber supply It Is thought that now burled In tho mud of tho ilvur lied Is Immensely valuable, mid at lo.ut one firm Is s.ild to h contemplating a svs totnatlc di edging for It. It Is well- known that lumber under water preserved pre-served Its Integrity, and nfter many years comes out porrectly free from decay. All that is needed Is to taku It out, pile it up and dry It, when It becomes the best of lumber. In tho olden dnys, when lumber was pleutirul nnd thcro was no thought or u bcaielty In timber, tho rafters weio veiy careless about their cargoes, and tho loss of a thousand logs more or less did not bother them much. Lumber and logs, especially IT green, booh become water-logged nnd sink to tho bottom or the stream, where they become imbedded In tho mud ami Htfid, hometlmcs forming dangerous unngs to tear out tho bottom of pass- HHHJHCHflHflHflHflHflHfl If Ing vessels It will be one of tho tasSs or the government, when constructing tho proposed six-foot chnuuel In tho upper Mississippi, to clear tho river bed or this material. And It Is possible pos-sible when the work begins salvage euinpanUM will be foiincd to tnke over the planks and logs Hulled up by the died gers |