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Show 1118111 - ' II j .' ' If fe' f ' ' ovelrS Osjcar Barrett- By ELMO SCOTT WATSON TTTTTT HEN President Herbert Hoover un- 1 1 vells an dedicates a monument, 1111 I erected high upon a cliff In Edea i II park In Cincinnati, It will mark not V Vf only tlie completed canalization of pjt lJl the Ohio river from Tlttsburgh to I W If I Cairo, III., but It will mean also JL I J. that there has been forged the Yast? first link In the chain of inland I T waterways which the United z5sL States proposes to establish. For SVS thus will the first Important step be taken In a project-wuIcljL.the . President has declared wiiU-conTribute to the wealth and economic-progress of every section of theUolfta.'contrlbute to the unity of the nation prnxfls of concern to every one of our millions of I farms and homes." ' The dream of a vast Inland waterways system which now appears to be 'approaching realization, Is not a new one. More than 150 .years ago George Washington, visiting the Ohio river country coun-try as agent for Virginia officers who had been granted western lands for -their services In the French and Indian war, caught the first vision of the Importance of this natural highway into the little-known Interior of the continent. In 17S3, after a tour from his camiv at Newburg into central cen-tral New York where he had explored the headwaters head-waters of the Mohawk and the Susquehanna. In a letter to the Marquis de Chastellux, he wrote: "I could not help taking a more extensive view of the vast Inland navigation of these United States and could not but bestruck by the Immense extent nnd Importance of It, and of the goodness of that Providence which has dealt its favors to us with so profuse a hand. Would to God we may have wisdom enough to improve them. I shall not rest contented till I have explored the Western country, and traversed these lines, or a great part of them, which have given bounds to a new empire." ' After the Itevolutlon he dtd explore the western west-ern country again to have his faith strengthened In the Importance of the Inland waterways to the nation which was then In the process of building, and he wrote to Henry Lee: "Open all the communications com-munications which nature has afforded between the Atlantic states and the western territory, and encournge the use of them to the utmost . . . and sure I am there Is no better tie by which they will form a link In the chain of Federal Union." Of Washington's part In the development of our Inland waterways. Archer Butler Hulbert In his volume, "The Paths of Inland Commerce" In the Tnle University Press "Chronicles of America" writes: Some of the pictures In Washington's vlalrn reveal. In the light of subsequent events, an almost uncanny prescience. He very plainly prophesied proph-esied the International rivalry for the trade of the Great Lakes, embodied today In the Welland and Erie canals. He declared the possibility of navigating navi-gating with ocean-going vessels the tortuous 2,000-mlla 2,000-mlla channel of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers: and within sixteen years ships left the Ohio, crossed the Atlantic, and sailed Into the Mediterranean . . . he approved and encouraged Rumaey's mechanical me-chanical Invention for propelling boats against the stream, showing that he had a glimpse of what was to fol1ow after Fitch, Rumscy and Fulton should have overcome the mighty currents of tho Hudson and the Ohio with the steamboat's paddle wheel. His proposal that congress should undertake under-take a survey of western rivers for tho purpose of giving people at large a' knowledge of their possible pos-sible Importance as avenues of commerce was a forecast of the Lewis nnd Clarke expedition as well as of the policy of the government today for the Improvement of the great Inland rivers and hai-bors. hai-bors. When the stream of Immigration began to pour into the lands beyond the Alleghenies In the early days of the Republic' mid the new country began to wake Itself felt as a vital part of the nation and a -great political force In the national Government, Gov-ernment, there began an era of Internal Improvements Improve-ments forced upon the government by the west erners. The most striking manifestation of this movement was In the development of waterways and the '20s and '30s became very definitely "the canal period" In our history. By 1S25 New York had completed her Erie canal from Albany to Buffalo at a cost of $7,000,000. Ohio and Illinois caught the canal fever even before the New Yorkers York-ers bad completed their project and the result was the Ohio canal and the Illinois-Michigan canal. All of these had a profound Influence In building up the new country, none more strikingly strik-ingly than the Erie canal. Over It poured a stream of Immigration to the west, and back from the borderlands a little later began streaming , the commerce which was to build up New York ' city from a population of 124,000 In 1S20 to 203,-000 203,-000 In 1S30. What was true of the Erie canal In New York city was no less true of the Illinois-Michigan cnnal and Chicago. There Is no doubt thaf this waterway contributed immeasurably to the growth and prosperity of Chicago In Its early years and started It on Its way to becoming the metropolis of the Mississippi valley. But the "canal period" came to an abrupt close and the decline of waterway water-way transportation began when the first "Iron horse" began puffing along the crudely constructed construct-ed roadbed of the earliest railroads. Although water transportation was to continue In 'an important im-portant role In the development of tho Mississippi valley and the trans-Mississippi regions, the railroads rail-roads became the major factor In transportation of people and of commerce and they continued to do so down to the present time. The revival In recent years of the sentiment for Inland water-ways water-ways development has resulted from economic shifts due to the World war. The large advance In railroad rates as a result of higher wages and higher costs of materials and operation since the war has turned the attention of the American people to the necessity for finding some method for reducing transportation costs. The development develop-ment of Inland waterways holds out a hope for finding that way. It Is altogether fitting that President Hoover should dedicate the monument which marks the completion of the first step In developing the Inland waterways system. As secretary of commerce com-merce In the last two administrations, upon him devolved the leadership in solving the problems of transportation and commerce In the United States and as an engineer by training he brought to the task of developing the Inland waterways Bystem, which Is so largely an engineering problem, prob-lem, the understanding necessary to that solution. solu-tion. Speaking before the Mississippi Valley association asso-ciation In St. Louis in November, 1027, President noover, then secretary of commerce, declared that "The national mind until the past two or three years has conceived waterways development develop-ment as local projects of some Immediate nearby Improvement Instead of a wide vision of a comprehensive com-prehensive system of twelve thousand miles of connected Inland water transportation reaching from the gulf to the northern frontier and from the lakes to the Atlantic." He then outlined the plan which he characterized character-ized as "the greatest engineering undertaking In history," for such a comprehensive system as Is now going forward tinder I1I3 administration as President. The principal points In that plan are two-fold: first, the Mississippi system, to deepen the 9,000 miles of the Mississippi and Its tributaries tribu-taries to a minimum depth of six to nine feet so ns-CU perwrit Kodcrs barge service; second, the Great Lakes system: to construct the St, Lawrence Law-rence shlpwny from the Lakes to the Atlantic, thus opening the lake ports to vessels from all over the world over 3,(H)0 miles of deep waterways. water-ways. Minor points In the plan are the stabilization stabiliza-tion of lake levels and deepening of channels so ns to permit full ship-loading within the lakes, the extension of Intrn-costal waterways nnd the continuous development of our harbors. Included In the Mississippi system will be the deepening of the Missouri river to Kansas City and as far above that point as traCBc warrants, the connecting of Lake Michigan with the Mississippi Mis-sissippi river by a nine-foot channel and the canalization of the Ohio which has Just been completed. com-pleted. In the latter the construction of 50 locks and dams by the federal government at a cost of about $125,000,000 will now assure navigation on the Ohio a nine-foot stage the year round. It Is In celebration of this fact that the Ohio river dedication, sponsored by the Ohio Valley Improve-" Improve-" roent association, will be held throughout tht Ohio, valley, during one week In October. According to plans for the celebration announced an-nounced by President Oscar . F. Barrett of the Ohio Valley Improvement association, the stealer steal-er Cincinnati, which has been chartered by tfce association as the flagship of the pageant, v'lll leave her home port at Cincinnati, heading upstream up-stream for Pittsburg, where the commemorative ceremonies will begin. Pennsylvania will hold Its gala affair at Pittsburgh, Gov. John S. Fisher presiding. The historic significance of the Ohio river will be stressed at this city, situated at the Juncture of the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers which mingle their mountain waters to form the Ohio. Gov. noward M. Gore will officiate at the West Virginia dedicatory services. At Cincinnati President Hoover will unveil and dedicate the Ohio River monument. Myers Y. Cooper, governor of Ohio, will Introduce the President and will officially represent his state in the exercises. The monument Is a granite obelisk 20 feet above Its base bearing four bronze tablets. On the north face of the monument, a plate bears the following description: A. D. 1670 A. D. 1929, Illvcr Ohio, so called by the Iroquois on account of Its beauty descended by Sieur De La Salle; discovered by the French explorer. La Salle, about 1670 and claimed by him for Louis XIV of France; seized by the British as the result of the French-Indian war 1755-1762; descended by George Washington In 1770; Included In the territory of the United States as the result of the Revolutionary war nnd Treaty of Paris 1776-.1783; 1776-.1783; saved to the Union by General William Henry Harrison In the War of 1812; The first steamboat "New Orleans" piloted by Captain Nicholas J. Roosevelt was launched at Pittsburgh In 1811. For more than two hundred years It was the great highway to the west of the American pioneer; this monument was dedicated by Herbert Hoover, President Pres-ident of the United States, to mark the completion of tho canalization of the river to a depth of nine foot, from Pittsburgh to Cairo, & distance of nine hundred and eighty miles. The tablet on the south face records the organization organ-ization and work of the Ohio Valley Improvement association. On the east face Is a testimonial to John L. Vance of Galllpolls, Ohio, first president of the organization, which for 35 years has sponsored the improvement of the Ohio river. On the west face the tablet bears a part of the work done by Albert Bettlnger, Cincinnati, to the accomplishment of regulating the flow of the Ohio river to assure navigation on this stream, a nine-foot Btage the year round. The day after the dedication of the monument Kentucky will stage Its demonstration which ill feature the importance of the river development to the Southland. Oov. Flem D. Sampson will welcome wel-come President Hoover nnd the members of the Ohio Valley Improvement association in behalf of his commonwealth. The thirty-fifth annual convention of the association asso-ciation will be held aboard the stetfmer Cincinnati Cincin-nati when she ties up at the Evansville (Ind.) public landing. The business sessions of the organization will occupy the day over which President Oscar F. Barrett will preside, with Gov. Harry fl. Leslie as an honored guest. Lock nnd Dam No. 53 at the foot of Grand Chain will then ,be dedicated as this part of the system was the last to be constructed. Cairo, at the cnniluence of the Ohio, will conclude con-clude the celebration with a river regatta, races, fireworks, and a program of speeches by high state onlclals, of which Gov. Louis L. Emmerson will be the principal figure. He will keynote the improved Ohio river's significance to' the progress of the West, and convey to the delegates the greetings of Illinois. Then he will wish the river voyagers a safe Journey home as the steamer Cincinnati will subsequently travel the last leg of her 2,000 mile trip back to her home port, Cin cinnatl. Stingiest "Iodine" Found Having all the antiseptic properties of iodine, but not stinging when applied ap-plied to open wounds, a new drug has been discovered by Prof. Hans Fried-enthal, Fried-enthal, a psyslologist of tbe Berlin university. He ha3 named the new antiseptic "metajodin." which Is said to be made by combining Iodine with oxygen. |