Show F tift fa in a d 14 fax te sk am AAL COM AS aab tv N Q 1 al 91 1 ca 1 1 ta x 4 I 1 N W k I 1 W wk na T an FIT wr 71 7 1 P qt OTT V w A 6 Z 7 t Z PA z aa ti Z th ahe 2 go 0 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON IRN president ller beit flooder un vella and dedicates a monument erected hilgh upon a cliff in eden park in cincinnati tt it will vill mark not only the lie completed canalization of the ohio river from pittsburgh to cairo ill III but it will mean also that there heie cinq tin been forged the first link in the chain of inland waterways which the united states proposes oses to establish for thus will the first important step be taken in a project which the president has declared will contribute to the wealth and econ economic onile pi ogress of every section of the union contribute to the unity of the nation and la Is of concern concerio conc erik to every one of our millions of farms and homes the dream of a vast inland waterways system which now appa appears irs to lo be ba approaching realization Is not a new nev one more than years ago A george washington visiting the he ohio river country as agent for virginia off officers leers who had been granted western lands for their services in tile the french and indian war caught the first vision of the importance of this natural natu ral a highway into the little known interior of the continent in 1783 1793 after a t tour our froni from his camp at newburg into central new york where lie lind find esp explored lored the headwaters of the and tile the susquehanna in a letter to the marquis de Chastel lux he wrote 1 I could not help taking a more extensive view of the vast inland navigation of those these united states and could not but be struck by the immense extent and 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 inny have wisdom enough to improve them I 1 shall not rest contented till I 1 have explored the western country find traversed these lines or a great part pan of them which have given bounds to a nv new empire after the lie fl devolution evolution lie he did explore the western ern country again to have tits his falth strengthened in the of tile the inland waterways nys to tho the nation which ans then in tile the process of building und he fie wrote to henry lee iee open all the communications which nature has afforded between the alie atlantic states arid and tile the western territory and encourage the lie use of them to the utmost and sure I 1 ani am there Is no better tie lie by which they will form a link in the file chain of federal union of part in the development of our inand waterways archer huller buller in his volline vo ohi luine ine tile the paths of inland commerce in the yale ville university press chronicles of america writes some of the pictures in vision reveal in the tight light of subsequent events an almost uncanny prescience he very plainly prophesied the international rivalry tor for the trade of the 3 reat lakes embodied today in the welland and erle canals he declared deI ared the p r of navi gating wit orean going 2000 mile channel of the ohio a wippl river and within pitmen yc ye arash e ohio crossed crosse 1 the atlantic and ballod inte the mediterranean he be approved and encouraged encourage dl nuni num mechanical chan ch anical teril invention h for propelling boats against the stream rh showing owing that he fie had a glimpse of what WA n to follow after fritch filch rumsey and fulton should have overcome the mighty currents cui rents of the lie haaron and the onto ohio with the steamboats paddle wheel HI that longress ion gress should under take a survoy uro yf or western rivers for he purpose of giving people at large a knowledge of belr pos po aible importance as avenues of commerce was a forecast of the lewis and ana clarke expedition as well weil os as or of the policy of the government today toe fot the improvement of the areat 0 reat tri inland larid rivers and har hai hors when the stream of immigration begun began to pour I 1 into the landt lands beyond tiie the alleghenies in the early doys if f the and the new country begun began to isef felt no is a vital part of the me nation and n grent political force in the gov eov vrn eminent merit there began an erp of internal Intern nl improve menta forced upon the government bv the apat fu acor say rc it emers the most striking manifestation of this flits movement was irk in tile the development of waterways and the tos and became very definitely the canal period in our history uy by 1825 new york had completed complete tier her erie canal from albany to buffalo fit at a cost of ohio and illinois caught the canal fever even before the new yorkers had completed their project and the result was wag the ohio canal and the illinois michigan canal all of these had bad a profound influence la in building up the new country none more strikingly than the erie canal over it poured a stream of immigration to the west and back bacic from the borderlands a little later began streaming the commerce which was to build up new york city from a population of in 1820 to POO in 1810 18 10 what was true of the erie canal in new york city was no less true of the illinois michigan canal and chicago there Is no doubt that this waterway contributed immeasurably to the growth and prosperity of chicago in its early years and started it on its ita way to becoming the metropolis of the mississippi valley teut the canal period came to an abrupt close an and the decline of waterway transportation began when the first iron horsell horse began puffing along the crudely constructed roadbed of the earliest railroads although water transportation was to continue in an important role in the development of tho the mississippi valley and nd the trans reg regions lons the railroads became the major factor in transportation of people and of commerce and they continued to do so flown down to the present time tito the revival in recent years of tile the sentiment for inland waterways development lias 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 mat materials brials and operation since the war tins lias turned the attention of the american Americ hn people to tile the necessity for finding some method for reducing transportation costs the development of inland waterways holds out a hope tor for finding that way it la 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 in tile last two administrations upon him devolved the leadership lu ili solving tile the problems of transportation and commerce in the united states and as an engineer by training he brought to the fast ask of developing the inland waterways system which Is so largely ch an engineering lem lein tile the understanding necessary to that lion hon speaking before the mississippi valley association in st louis in november 1027 president fl hoover then secret secretory nry of commerce declared that the national mind until tho ho past twos two or three years has conceived waterways devel p ment as ocal local projects of some immediate nearby improvement instead istead If of a wide vision rif of n comprehensive system of twelve thousand miles of connected inland water transportation reaching from the gulf to tile the northern frontier and from the iches to the atlantic ile he then than outlined the plan chica be character ahn facter zed lazed as the greatest engineering undertaking in history hist nry 11 for such a comprehensive system as fis Js s now going forward unde r his administration ns as president the principal points in that th it plan are twofold two fold first the mississippi system to deepen the nilles miles of the mississippi and its tribu barics to a minimum depth of six in 10 nine fiet fet so na as to permit modern barge service second tile the great teea system to construct tile the st lawrence front from the inkes to the atlantic thus opening the lake ports to vessels from froin till nil over oter tile the world over ak X miles of depp waterways minor points in the plan are the stabilize lIza tinn of f lake levels and deepening of channels in BO fis AR to permit fu full 11 ship loading within the lakes the extension of intra costol coital waterways and tile the contin continuous unus development of nf our included in tile the mississippi system will be the of the missouri river to kansas city and as far above that point as traffic warrants war ranta the connecting of lake michigan with the mississippi sis sippi river hy by a nine foot channel and the canalization of the ohio which tins has just been completed in the latter tile the construct loo of 60 50 locks locka and dams by the federal government at a cost of about will now assure navi navigation gatlon on the ohio dailo it 0 nine font stage the year round it la Is in celebration of this fact that the ohio river dedication sponsored by the ohio valley improvement association will be held throughout the ohio valley during one week in october according to plans for the celebration announced by president oscar F barrett of the ohio valley improvement association the steamer cincinnati which has been chartered by tile the association na the flagship of the pageant will leave tier home port at cincinnati heading bending upstream aorl pittsburg where here V tide 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 nt at this city situated at the juncture of the allegheny and the he monongahela rivers which mingle their mountain batera to form the ohio gov ov howard M gore will officiate clate at the west virginia dedicatory services vices at cincinnati president hoover will unveil and dedicate the ohio river monument mon ament myers Y cooper governor of ohio will introduce the president and will officially represent his state in tile 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 pinto bears the foli following owing description A D 1670 A a D 1929 river ohio so called by the iroquois on account ot of its beauty descended by bleur de ln la salle discovered by the french explorer la salle about 1670 and claimed by him for loula louis XIV of france seized by the british as the result of the french indian war 1755 1702 1762 descended by george washington in 1770 included in the territory of the united states as the result of thi the revolutionary war and treaty of paris saved to the union by general william henry fl arrison in the war of 1812 the first steamboat new orleans piloted by captain nicholas J roosevelt was launched at pittsburgh in 1811 for more mora than two hundred years it was the ali great highway to the west of the american plo pioneer neer this thin monument was dedicated by herbert hoover president bf 6 the united states to mark the completion of the canalization of 0 the river to a depth of nine teet feet from pittsburgh to cairo a distance of nine hundred and eighty miles the tablet on the south face records the organization and work of the ahlo valley improvement association on the enst cast face Is n testimonial to john L vance of Gaill polls ohio first president ert of the organization which for 35 years tins fins sponsored tile the improvement of the ohio river on the west face the tablet bears a part of the work done by albert bollinger Bettl nger cincinnati to the accomplishment of regu intIng the flow of the ohio river to t fissure navigation on this stream a nine foot stage the year round the day after the dedication of the he monument kentucky will stage its demonstration which will feature the importance of the river development to tile the southland gov flern D sampson will welcome president Ill hoover and the members of tile the ohio valley improvement association in behalf of his commonwealth the thirty fifth 1110 annual convention of tile the n association will be field aboard the steamer cincinnati when she ties up nt at tile the evansville ind public landing tile the business sessions of the organization wilt will occupy the he day over which president dOnt oscar F garrett I 1 will preside with gov harry 0 leslie as an hon honored nicil guest aock and dam dain no 53 nt at the foot of orand chain will then rhen be dedicated as aa tills this part of uie tile system was the last to le be constructed cairo at the lie confluence tit fl the lie ohio will conclude the celebration with n R river regatta races fireworks and a program of speeches by high iante futato ollic tills of which gov einuis I 1 Frn merson will he be the principal figure tie he will keynote the file improved ahlo rivers significance toabe to lie progress of the west and convey to the flie delegates the file greetings of illinois then he will wish the voyagers it safe journey home as the mehmet cincinnati will subsequently travel the last leg of her 2000 tulle nille trip back to her home port clu chi catl 8 C |