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Show Wonderful Engineering Work On the Father of Waters - Secretary Redfield Working On Plan To Utilize Great Possibilities of This River. Copyright, 11)17, by Tho International Syndicate. W ECAUSE THE FEDERAL GOV- ffl Rfih ERNMENT knows that relief oBl In for tno ra"roac9 Is needed now Bjw MJP and the last word In transporta-H9l transporta-H9l tlon economy will bo a vital necessity J i it has turned its attention to urging IkV1 1 h n e rs to uso waterways as a war moans. Thli comes just at the time that the Government high dam in tho jfij Mississippi between Minneapolis and Hff St. Paul has been llnLshed. This dam Btt makes Minneapolis tho head of the l greatest navigable stream in the world. Kj For a long tlmo New Orleans, which j BjT flow claims to be tho second port of WE tho UniteQ States, has been arguing HI that the Mississippi must be more HI generally used as a freight carrier and i WM in tho present war situation tho need aB is still more imporatlvc for tho Latin-"q Latin-"q HHj American countries to the south of us . j Wm v.ill now look to us for commodities c ; IgP they formerly obtained from Germany H an Europo lt s now hoped that In time waterway servlco will bo realized on tho Mississippi as in former cars. Latest Dam In Mississippi. The now Government locks and dam in tho Upper Mississippi are located lo-cated -1.8G miles below the municipal docks in Minneapolis and 8.3 miles from the St. Paul Rlvor docks, and thoy aro tho most Important government govern-ment undertaking of recent years on this river. Though the project was broached as far back as thirty years ago it vas not until a short time ago that anl appropriation was made for building these immense locks and tho dam. Tho tlrst approved plan provided pro-vided for tho construction of two small locks and dams. It was later decided to erect one large dam. Tho cost has been borno by tho United States Government Gov-ernment and the olectrlclcy will be utilized for tho boncflt of the public. Tho building of this dam was a re- 111 ffixr j j ' -'i markablo engineering feat. High rocky cliffs border tho river at this placo and tho river bed is of sand, gravel and limestone The dam is of the now hollow type, 578 foot across and made of steel and concrete. Each of tho scries of chambers is about ton foot long and steel and concroto havo been freely employed in tho buttresses. but-tresses. Tho lock, which is on the Minneapolis side, is 350 feet long and SO feet wide. Two ordinary size rivor boats can lock through at the samo time. Tho power for tho operation of tho stool gatos, which wolgh seventy tons each, comc3 from the St. Paul sldo of tho rlvor. The erection of this large dam has caused a small lako to form In tho Mississippi. Tho banks of tho stream aro boautlful at this point for they aro high bluffs covered cov-ered with green. Tho back wator has mado a now lake six miles long which lies between theso green-clad banks. The University of Minnesota buildings aro situated on theso banks and tho lako affords flno boating. River Cities Erecting Docks. Among tho first boats to uso tho now dam woro four bargo loads of plows which woro sent by Government craft. These wero followed by four Govornment barges loaded with coal from tho south. Thoy returned laden with Iron ore. Government also plans to ront tow boats for uso on various stretches of tho river and In especial that a regular sorvioo may bo inaugurated inau-gurated botweon SL Louts and Now Orleans. Roallzlng that proper terminals term-inals aro essential, Minneapolis has started a, municipal dock and already finished nearly 1,600 feet of sea wall. Davenport, Iowa, SL Louis and Now Orleans havo new and Improved rlvor terminals. It is Interesting to noto that the Mississippi River steamers aro built exaotly as thoso of seventy years ago. Thoy aro so aistinctivo thoy havo given rlso to tho "Mississippi typo." In the early days boforo steam tho boats drifted, or sails or polos wero used. When steam was adopted tho flat hulls woro retained becauso of shallow wator. wa-tor. This necessitates tho piling of freight on tho dock above wator instead in-stead of In a hold as is common In boats of deeper draft. Division For Inland Water Transportation. Transpor-tation. In order to make inland wator transportation economic and profltablo and to utlllzo tho Mississippi, Secretary Secre-tary Rodflold Is trying to creato a Division for inland wator transportation. transporta-tion. Ho has appointed Walter Parker, Park-er, of Now Orleans, as his roprcsenta-tlvo roprcsenta-tlvo for inland waterway transportation transporta-tion and tho Council of National Defense has also a Committee on Inland In-land Watorways. Every effort Is to bo mado to use tho Mississippi now 1 11 that tho railroads aro taking off trains and making other changes In order to facllltato tho moving of troops. Tho building of tho Government dam between be-tween Minneapolis and St. Paul Is one moro link in tho efforts to mako this rlvor a great artery of trade and Its completion Just now Is opportuno slnco transportation Is becoming a moroand moro Important problem. Froight shipped from tho head of navigation direct to tho south is moro direct than for tho Middle West to ship to Duluth and from Duluth to Buffalo, for aftor arriving in Buffalo tho froight must tako a journoy to reach tho seaboard. Tho Mississippi leads south to tho ocean going vessels which leavo New Orloans for all part3 of tho world. Immcnso Dam At Keokuk. Tho only other largo waterway construction con-struction on tho Mississippi is tho dam at Keokuk, Iowa, which furnishes wator wa-tor power and genoratos eloctrlclty for manufacturing In tho Mississippi Valley. This dam Is at tho foot of tho Dcs Moines raplda and thoro aro locks, dry docks and a sea wall. It takes flftoon minutes for a boat to pass through theso locks but it does away with thrco lockages for formerly threo small locks woro used. Tho wholo process of throwing a damiacross tho wldo Mississippi and flinging down Into tho Groat "Valloy tho Immense hydro-electric dovolo'pment involved many probloms. Electric gonorators, transmission lines and dozens of technicalities tech-nicalities woro solved and today government gov-ernment engineers ostlmato tho beno-flta beno-flta from tho work to tho United States to bo worth several million dollars. ( Theso two largo projects tho Gov-ernmont Gov-ernmont dam botweon SL Paul and Minneapolis and tho dam at Keokuk, and now docking and warehouse fa- jH dUtlcs aro calculated to favor tho i jH shipping of freight on our great inland jH waterway. New Orleans has already I proparod great docking and warchouso facilities capable of caring for Imports and exports on a tromendous scalo and a municipal belt lino of railways servos these docks and warehouses. Steel barges wero put on tho Missis-sippi Missis-sippi a year ago to carry freight bo-twecn bo-twecn SL Louis and New Orleans and there are also barges on smaller rivers opening into tho Gulf of Mexico. Ten-nesseo Ten-nesseo and Alabama send coal to New Orleans on barges which navigato these rivers. Beautiful Scenery. J Many a bulky-warehouse stands to-day to-day on tho banks of tho Mississippi In rlvor towns whore fortunes wore made boforo tho coming of tho railroad and thoro Is no rivor sconory in the ; country, unless on tho Hudson and Columbia, which equals that of the beautiful Upper Mississippi. Mighty ' crags and pallsados, magnificent bluffs bare or covored with green vorduro, undulating hills and thriving cities . perched on picturesque hills mako a charming picture, Tho Indian, the jH Mormon and tho trap p or oach has a J share in the history of this river t which ought to be used for commerce and as a pleasuro stream fortourists who now know llttlo of ono of tho J most attractlvo rivers in tho world. |
