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NEED OF IMPROVING TENNESSEE AND TRIBUTARIES
The proper improvement of the
Tennessee river and its tributaries,
practically means the establishment
of anew highway of commerce for
a vast territory that is at present
either devoid of railroad transpor
tation or else handicapped by dis
criminating railroad freight rates.
The proposition to provide a three
foot stage above Chattanooga to
Knoxville and a flve-foot stage be
low Chattanooga at the low tide of
the Tennessee river has made ap
preciable progress, but hardly to the
extent demanded by its importance.
Not nearly enough has been done
on its tributaries, the Clinch, Hi
wassee, French Broad, Holston, Elk,
Little Pigeon, Emery and Little
Tennessee rivers, and most of this
work awaits action on the part of
our law-makers at Washington.
The spirit of today is the spirit of
doing things, and it is this spirit
that is being invoked in contempla
tion of what must be done. Statis
tics, a comparison, of figures show
ing its possible advantages and
what has been done elsewhere, and
the demands of current events, all
present reasons that demonstrate
the necessity for the permanent im
provement of the Tennessee river
and its tributaries.
The recent Investigations of the
Hon. Theodore Burton, chairman of
our rivers and harbors committee,
while inspecting the rivers in
France, Germany, Belgium and Hol
land, convinced him that the
amount of money annually expend
ed in those countries, compared with
the sum yearly appropriated for
rivers by the congress of the United
States, made our expenditures as
sume the proportions of a mere pig
my. Many persons seem to think
that the United States is lavish in
the expenditure of government
money. While this may be true in
regard to its expenditures for other
purposes, it Is not true in respect to
river improvements, and especially
marked is its penuriousness in con
nection with Tennessee river im
provements. The United States is a
new country compared with those
European nations, and has not yet
learned the absolute necessity of
providing the most economical
means of transportation that is pos
sible throughout its borders.
The Tennessee river from Knox
ville to New Orleans is 1,680 miles,
and to where it debouches into the
Ohio river at Paducah, including the
courses of its several tributaries, is
about 2,400 miles. It drains an area
of about 42,000 square miles, the
river and its tributaries reaching
into the states of Virginia, North
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Ala
bama and Kentucky. It is the nat
ural outlet of immense coal fields,
timber districts and agricultural de
velopments of a vast area of interior
country, passes through one of the
most promising industrial centers of
the nation, and its annual water
supply is sufficient to provide an
all-year stage for navigable pur
poses.
16,000,000 NEEDED.
It is estimated that, at an ex
penditure of about $6,000,000 in addi
tion to what has been heretofore
expended by the government, to
supplement what nature has done
for us, this great highway may be
opened to all the year navigation.
It seems folly indeed to ignore the
demands of this mighty river and
the internal development of such
a territory. Here is this great basin
carved out by nature in its pro
cesses of erosion and upheaval, with
a channel supplied by ample rain
fall and abundant springs, that only
requires little at the hands of man
to convert it into a most potential
agency for our good, and yet it is
almost ignored.
When properly regulated by the
hand of artifice this channel for
transportation purposes can save
farmers, merchants, manufacturers,
mine operators, and necessarily the
purchasers and consumers of com
modities, a large percentage of the
TO EVERY READER
LEND Y0l)R CO-OPERATION.
Write a strong letter to YOUR CONGRESSMAN AT ONCE,
urging him to use his best efforts to advance the movement of the
Tennessee River from Knoxville to Paducah. Ask him to vote
for the bill. It is to your interest to do what you can for this
movement. We drive the nail by sending every Congressman in
the United States a copy of this paper; you clinch it by a personal
letter to him.
Put your shoulder to the wheel; your letter will count one.
amount now paid out for transpor
tation. At many points like Knox
ville and Chattanooga it will af
ford a competing, or water, rate
that will force down railroad freight
rates, but in the larger portions of
the district it will not affect the rail
roads. There will be no competition
because there the railroads do not
ramify to the extent that the rivers
do. It will provide to those sec
tions that are inaccessible by rail
roads, the most economical method
of transportation known to man,
viz., that afforded by nature in the
buoyancy, mobility and force of
water seeking its level in its on
ward movement towards the sea.
The estimated cost of radically
improving the Ohio river for its en
tire length of about 1,000 miles, af
fording a nine-foot channel through
out tha.t distance, is $100,000,000. The
estimated cost of improving the
Tennessee river and its tributaries
so as to give a five-foot stage from
Paducah to Chattanooga and a
three-foot stage from Chattanooga
up is about $6,000,000. The interest
on this latter sum, if procured by
the ordinary 2 per cent, government
bonds would be $120,000 annually.
With the present amount of. ship
ments from Knoxville, Chattanooga
and other points along the Tennes
see and its tributaries to Paducah,
the question is, would that much be
saved annually to the business
world?
It is estimated by experts that
there are $200,000,000 dollars w r orth
of 'products in the shape of coal,
marble, slate and iron waiting to
be released from deposits in the
contiguous territory, aside from the
increase in manufactures and agri
cultural commerce, that must nec
essarily increase.
In the present incomplete state of
Improvement the total commerce of
the Tennessee river for the year 1899
was 985,199 tons, valued at $13,550,375,
and 67,500 passengers were carried.
In 1898 a conservative estimate of
the annual products of the Tennes
see valley showed 15,000,000 bushels
of wheat, 50,000,000 bushels of corn,
8,000,000 bushels of oats, 600,000 boles
of cotton, 500,000 bales of hay, $60,-
000,000 worth of live stock, $3,500,000
worth of forest products, $10,000,000
in metallic ores, $18,000,000 in fur
nace products, and $8,500,000 in stone
and marble. If we take into con
sideration the natural growth of the
country in wealth and population,
is there any doubt but that the prin
cipal of $6,000,000 will be amply com
pensated for?
When it is further considered that
the estimated savings in freight
charges alone by the “Avalon” from
Chattanooga to Paducah has been
actually demonstrated as being 32
per cent, in freights carried and that
on a conservative estimate of about
$2,000,000 a year that Knoxville and
Chattanooga merchants pay out to
transportation lines alone for
freight, and that a saving of 32 per
cent, would mean $640,000 a year
saved to the merchants of those
cities, what a small figure the in
terest accoynt of $120,000 a year on
$6,000,000 of bonds would cut!
AID TO DEVELOPMENT.
It must be apparent to all that
the farm produce, coal, timber, etc.,
so abundant along the shores and
contiguous territory of the Tennes
see river and its tributaries are not
the source of profit to the owners
and toilers that they should be, even
•with the partial improvements that
have been made. The full values
can never be reached until the Ten
nessee river and its tributaries are
rendered navigable all the year
round at a sufficient stage of water
to utilize the most economical meth
ods for transportation.
The owmers of much of this natu
ral wealth must perforce leave it
undeveloped or exploit Its products
at an almost prohibitory return.
The mass of consumers at the great
business centers must, on their part,
pay an exorbitant price for it, or it
must be sold almost at a loss in
competition with products supplied
by more favored territory. These
manufacturing centers and large
cities want this produce, this raw
material in coal, Iron, etc., and are
willing to pay a fair price for it. All
that is needed is the connecting link
of cheap water transportation.
In order to more specifically indi
cate what is necessary to be done
by the government, herewith is
shown figures, officially submitted,
covering the Tennessee river and
its several tributaries most suscepti
ble to early and practical improve
ment, whereby the advantages
sought for may be enjoyed by more
than 2,000,000 inhabitants of this ter
ritory, and many other millions else
where who want our products.
First In Importance to be consid
ered is the Tennessee river proper
from the junction of the Holston
and French Broad rivers, four and
one-half miles above Knoxville, to
where it empties into the Ohio river
at Paducah, Ky.
Tennessee River.
The Tennessee river is one of the
largest tributaries of the Missis
sippi river. Since the Muscle Shoals
canal has been opened to navigation
it contains no insurmountable ob
stacle from its source to its mouth,
a distance of 651 miles, and at the
present time during several months
in the year, may be navigated
throughout its entire length.
As the work of Improvement is
continued upon other less formidable
obstructions than Muscle Shoals, the
season of navigation will be corre
spondingly lengthened, and it is en
tirely practical to so improve this
river as to make navigation contin
uous throughout the year for its
entire length for boats of sufficient
size for the needs of commerce.
Favorable for Improvement.
Owing to its hard bottom, stable
banks and ample discharge, the river
is particularly favorable for im
provement, and, as it never freezes,
it. escapes one of the principal ob
structions to navigation found upon
most fresh water rivers. The ob
ject of the improvement of the lower
river, 226 miles as far up as River
ton, Ala., is to obtain a low-water
channel of not less than five feet
deep and 150 feet wide.
Major John G. D. Knight, in his
annual report for 1901, showed that
a depth of three and one-half feet
existed in the channel for 196 miles
up the river as far as Hamburg,
and on the shoals in the next thirty
miles not over twenty-four inches
was available at extreme low water.
In the thirty miles from Riverton
to Florence, Ala., ascending the
river, are met the Bee Tree and the
Colbert shoals. It is proposed to
avoid the Colbert and Bee Tree
shoals by means of two locks ami
a lateral canal having a depth of
six feet on lock sills at extreme low
water.
In the section of forty-eight miles
from Florence to Decatur, Ala., are
the Little and Big Muscle shoals,
the Elk River shoals and other
obstructions.
Major Knight estimates that it is
possible at an expense of about
$1,250,000, to obtain slack water nav
igation from Florence to the Big
Muscle** shoals canal, giving five
feet of water on the lower sill of
the lower lock of that canal.
Between Decatur, Ala., and Chat
tanooga, Tenn., it is 160 miles. It
lias been recommended to obtain
five feet of normal low water, as
sumed at one foot above extreme
low water, up to Scott Point, sev
enteen and a half miles below Chat
tanooga, bv regulation works at a
cost of $770,640, the work to extend
over four or five seasons, and
thence to Chattanooga by a lock
and dam at an estimated cost of
$888,624, the latter work requiring
three years for its completion.
From Chattanooga to the head of
the Tennessee river is 188 miles.
At present the river can be navi
gated at ordinary low water stages
by boats drawing two feet, but at
extreme low water it is doubtful if
very small boats drawing more than
twelve inches could reach head
waters. It is proposed to secure by
regulation works a channel depth
of at least three feet at extreme low
tide.
The commerce on the Tennessee
river above Chattanooga during the
calendar year 1900 exceeded that of
the year 1899 by forty-one per cent,
and amounted to 380.G07 tons. Be
tween Chattanooga and Florence it
was 229,1C0 tons during 1900. or 24,00')
tons less than during 1899. Between
Florence and Paducah the con -
merce of 1900 was 1.237,009 tons; ih t
of 1599, 462,307 tons, an i r- ase )f
774.702 tons. The tonnage of 19')0,
Included 480,000 tons of coal n jved
about the harbor of Paducah, or
within seventy-eight miles thereof,
and the increased tonnage included
an increase of 454,000 tons of coal
and 322,000 tons of railroad ties.
In February* 1961, the merchants
of Chattanooga started a steamer
of 305 tons, making regular trips be
tween that city and Paducah. On
upstream trips it carried as high as
2,595. tons, and on downstream trips
as high as 566 tons. On one occasion
freight for it had accumulated in
such quantity as to necessitate the
charter of another boat for one up
trip.
The Tennessee river above Chat
tanooga for 188 miles (four and one
half miles above Knoxville), is
navigable except during the periods
of low water in the summer and
fall months. At such times navi
gation can only be carried on with
very small and light-draft boats,
excepting during the so-called
“rain tides.”
The commerce of this portion of
the river is carried on ans of
steamboats, carrying frd* it and
passengers, and generally towing
one or more barges; by flat-boats
descending with the current from
the upper tributaries and by rafts
of logs and lumber.
Three Foot Low Water Channel.
The plan of improvement contem
plated is to obtain a three-foot low
water navigation channel from
Chattanooga up, at an additional
cost of $650,000. The total amount
expended up to June 30, 1900, was
$388,288.83. Between 1868 and 1900,
nineteen appropriations were made
by the government, the largest
being $40,000, in 1875, and the small
est $3,000, in 1884.
The improvements made at White
Creek shoals and Soddy shoals
have stood the test of several years
and appear to be permanent and
satisfactory.
• Between Chattanooga and River
ton, Ala., the most serious obstruc
tions to navigation are found in the
mountain region just below Chat
tanooga, where the river for about
twenty-five miles is rigidly confiped
by the mountains, its channel being
crooked and exceedingly narrow.
The fall is very rapid, thre being
a fall of sixteen and one-half feet
in a distance of eight and one-half
miles. When the great obstructions
at Colbert shoals and at'Big and
Little Muscle shoals have been com
pletely overcome by canals, the
gieatcot difficulties dangers
to navigation on the river will then
be encountered In this mountain
section.
This portion of the river, com
monly called the “suck,” is between
Chattanooga and Shellmound, and
the estimated cost of its improve
ment Is $888,624.
The French Broad River.
The French Broad river is one of
the largest tributaries of the Ten
nessee river. It rises in North Caro
line, flows generally in a westerly
direction, and finally unites with the
Holston river, four and a half miles
above Knoxville in the state of Ten
nessee, the two forming the Tennes
see river.
The mouth of the Nolachucky
river is taken as the upper limit of
that portion, sixty-nine miles long,
of the river which is worthy of im
provement. This Improvement con
templates securing, by proper regu
lating works a channel three feet in
depth, navigable throughout the
year. The estimated cost is $275,052.
Up to 1001 the execution of the
project had not received the sanc
tion of congress.
It is the opinion of that
the French Broad cannot ♦vop
erly and economically improved
without the use of a very consid
erable and quite expensive plant,
which should be provided.
Barges, derrick boats, towboats, a
dredge, steam drills, and other ap
pliances are necessary for the rapid
and economical handling of rock
necessary for the construction of
dams and training walls or for
breaking Up and removing rock
reefs and large bowlders. The fact
that this plant is necessary and
that it dors not belong exclusively
to the French Broad river causes
the work to be intermittent, and
sometimes involves a delay In its
execution. The total amount ex
pended to the close of tlm fiscal year
ending June, 19C0, was $76,591.54.
The project for the Improvement
of the French Broad and Little
IMgoon rivers was based upon a
reconnaisance made about thirty
years ago. The above mentioned
expenditure resulted in the improve
ment somewhat of navigation b* low
Dandridge, fifty miles from the
mouth, by deepening anu clearing
the channel, removing natural and
artificial obstructions, constructing
wing dams, siils and training w 11s
and revetting the bunks where noc
essa rf.
The total value of freight carried
on the French Broad river during
the calendar year 1900 was $1,225,-
€77.50, or more than fifteen times
the total amount expended on the
river sinc.e the improvement was
begun by the government In 18S0.
Little Pigeon River.
Little Pigeon river Is so closely
identified with the French Broad
that the government in its surveys,
estimates, appropriations and im
provement, has always considered
it in connection with the latter.
It Is formed by the junction of its
east fork and south fork at Sevier
ville, Tenn., and flows In a north
westerly direction f r about five
miles, where it empties into the
French Broad about thirty-two
miles above Knoxville.
The project provides for tHe re
moval of the bar near the mouth
of the shoal below Catlettsbui g, so
as to permit steamers of light draft
to reach that place. The portion of
the Little Pigeon river that can be
made useful for navigation is about
live miles from where it empties
into the French Broad and reaching
to Sevierville.
Owing to the great slope of the
Little Pigeon river, it is subject to
sudden and violent freshets, and
these bring down coarse gravel and
bowlders, which tend to re-form
the two bars that now obstruct the
navigable portion of it. Redredging
of these bars will be necessary from
time to time.
It has been impracticable to show
by figures separately the freight
carried on the French Broad, as the
same boats ply the same trade.
The amount of money estimated
for carrying out the necessary Im
provements on the Little Pigeon is
SSO,OOO.
Hlawassee River.
The Hiwassee river has its sources
in the mountains of western North
Carolina and northwestern Georgia.
Its course Is generally toward the
northwest, and it crosses the corner
of North Carolina, enters the state
of Tennessee, and Anally unites
with the Tennessee river at a point
about forty miles above Chattanoo
ga, Tenn.
In his report as of September 13,
1900, Major Dan C. Kingman pro
nounced the Hiwassee river worthy
of improvement so as to secure a
thirty-inch navigation at ordinary
low water from its mouth to tlie
mouth of the Ocoee. Such a project
could be completed at a cost of $71,-
125, some of the necessary Improve
ment having already been partly
carried out.
The Hiwassee river, even in its
natural condition, was capable of
being navigated und r favorable cir
cumstances, and it has been made
use of for this purpose since the
earliest settlement of the country.
In 1830 the state oi Tennessee ap
propriated money for its improve
ment, and, in 1542, it made a further
appropriation. This money was op
plied almost entirely to the removal
of bowlders, rock reefs, and other
obstructions from the channel and
in cutting overhanging trees from
the banks.
In 1874 under act of congress an
examination was made of the Hi
wassee river below Benton, Term.,
one-half of the small estimate of
$20,000 being required above what is
now known as the mouth of the
Ocoee for the improvement of about
six miles of the river.
In 1876 an appropriation of $36,300
for the work was made.
The Hiwassee drains nn area of
2,725 square miles in extent, and the
general form of this basin is that of
on hour-glass, its length being
about eighty-live miles. The upper
portion of the drainage basin is very
rugged and mountainous, with very
narrow valleys, and tin- slope of the
river is naturally excessive.
After its junction with th Ocoee
river, however, its c!i <r
changes, its slope !> comes t itie
und the volume of its low >’.■ n dis
charge is quite sulln iert. to p mill
of an impro . nt 1 • -
The rainfall in Us l
and is pretty well distributed
throughout th“ ye r. Tie 'test
rainfall, however, is i.atur.hy in ih •
spring and winter months, • nd the
ta the period of Inch water.
Savannah Ford, ab>ut six miles
above the mouth of tin* Ocoee river,
is regarded as the in-ad of river
navigation. From the foot of Gam
ble shoals, which is the 1 1 f l of
the pool into which the Ococ-e emp
ties to the mouth of Die river the
distance is thirty-six miles, and lh*
mean fall Is only about 0.93 or a foot
per mile.
The low water discharge of the
Hiwassee river Is about 6 r )o ruble
feet a second, and of the Ocoee
about 350, making their joint din
charge a little less than J, -0 able
f, ft p r se -f.' and. This amount of
water is sufficient to affed a s tis
factory navigation in a river with
so moderate nn axial slope.
There are twenty-one shoals be
tween the mouth of the Ocoee and
the mouth of the Hiwassee, that
have been regarded as obstructions
to navigation. It Is on this portion
of the river that the work of im
provement heretofore referred to
has been done and it has been so
beneficial that five of these shoata
are no longer obstructions to navi
gation and the conditions have gen
erally been improved upon all of the
shoals. There still remain sixteen
of the schools upon which work is
required to bo done in order to com
plete the improvement of the entire
section.
The river from the mouth of the
Ocoee downward varies in width
from about 200 to 400 feet at low
water. Its average width is about
300 feet. The banks are generally
composed of a hard clay soil or of
rock, and their height above low
water is about fifteen feet. When
not composed of rock, they are cov
ered with trees and brush almost
down to the low water line, showing
a very stable character. The bot
tom of the river shows rock at the
shoals, but as might be expected
with such a gentle slope, the bottom
of the pools Is generally covered
with gravel or sand. The number
of islands is few and there are no
shifting sand bars.
The river In its course cuts
through a great many ridges, gen
erally at right angles to it and par
allel to the Tennessee river. In each
of these valleys is a little tributary
and along these tributaries much,
fertile land is to be found. The Hi
wassee, therefore, Is the natural
outlet for all these secondary val
leys, as well as of the valley of the
river itself, for the country roads
follow down the tributaries in
preference to crossing the high in
i' rveiling ridges.
Three Feet Obtainable.
Major Kingman corroborates As
sistant Engineer G. T. Nellos, who
declares that a channel of sufficient
width and of a mean depth at or
dinary low water of two and one
half feet, and a maximum depth of
three feet In the boat track is ob
tainable. The slope can be limited
to five feet to the mile without re
ducing the mean width below 164
feet at any point along the river ex
cept at Chestua shoals, near the
head of the proposed improvement,
where for a short distance it will
be necessary to reduce the channel
width to 116 feet and to permit a
limiting slope of ten feet to the
mile.
The maximum velocity under
these conditions will not exceed 3.7
feet per second, except at Chestua
shoals, where it may he a little over
five feet. Such velocities will not
present extraordinary difficulties to
navigation, not require the boats to
be warped over the swift places, and
what is yet more important, will
not be sufficient to produce objec
tionable scouring of the bottom or
the banks of the river.
To secure this Improvement it is
proposed to make use of spur dikes,
training walls, and submerged sills
struct these works of riprap stone
which is to be had conveniently, at
many points In the valley; to give
to the dikes and I raining walls a
ciown width of eight feet, and side
slopes of one on one; to protect the
banks wherever it is necessary in
consequence of contraction works by
hand-laid riprap, und to resort to
dredging or other form of excava
tion where this method is most ad
vantageous for the improvement.
Suitable and sufficient unit prices
hive been assumed for the work,
and it can undoubtedly be carried
out at the estimated cost, provided
tie- ippropriations are regular and
F’lfl -h*nt in size to permit the use
IMPORTANT RIVER STATISTICS.
- 4
The Tennesr.ee river is 651 miles in length. j
Its tributaries which are navigable have a mileage of 699 miles. ' {
The tributaries navigable by flatboats have a mileage of 1,050
miles.
The tctal system of navigable area is 42,000 square miles. \
The population of this area is two million.
The freight carried In 1900 was 108,274 tons. <
Its value was $18,140,508. ;
There were seventy-eight steamboats. *
There were 359 barges.
The rainfall of the upper Tennessee averages 52 inches.
4
The discharge per cubic foot per sectnd at Knoxville is 3,500, -
twice the discharge of the Ohio at Pittsburg.
The discharge per cubic foot per second at Chattanocga is 4,268; '
at Riverton, 9,000; at Paducah, 11,000. '
The discharge at Paducah Is equal to that of the Ohio, with the '
Cumberland just added.
The Ohio has received many times as much from the government '
and it is estimated it will take four times as much to complete the
projects.
it is time the Tennessee valley people awoke.
adoption of economical methods.
The total estimated cost of the
proposed work is $71,125. This is
at the rate of about $2,000 a mile to
complete the proposed improvement,
and makes the total cost, including
tiie amount already expended $107,-
625, or about $3,000 a mile. This
seems a very moderate sum for the
regulation of *a river of thi3 size,
and its smallness is nn indication of
the naturally favorable conditions
of the river.
An obstacle to the navigation of
this river mentioned by Maj. King
man Is the railway bridge belong
ing to the Southern railway which
crosses the river at Charleston,
Tenn., about nineteen miles from its
mouth. This is a bridge with fixed
spans, 11 3 total length being 390
feet, divided into three spans, with
about 125 f< et openings in the clear.
It will be necessary to cause a
proper drawspan to be constructed
at this point before the proposed
Improvement is completed, the pres
ent law being considered ample to
permit tfiis lo be done whenever it
Is necesAftry.
From the above it will be seen
that the Hiwassee river is undoubt
edly worthy of improvement so as
to secure a thirty-inch navigation
at ordinary low water from its
mouth to the mouth of the Ocoee.
Most effective service was render
ed and information afforded by Su
perintendent R. It. Thacher In con
nection with the above concerning
the Hiwassee river, and it is re
gretted that his reports cannot be
incorporated at length in this ar
ticle.
Clinch River.
The Clinch river rises in the Cum
berland mountains in southwestern
Virginia, and flows In a southwest
erly direction, generally parallel to
the Holston river, and empties into
the Tennessee river at Kingston,
Tenn., 104 miles above Chattanooga
and seventy-nine miles below Knox
ville, the length of its course in
Tennessee being 230 miles.
The Improvement of the Clinch
river is by no means a recent un
dertaking. As long ago as 1830 the
state of Tennessee made an appro
priation of $160,000 for improving the
navigation of its rivers, and $60,000
of this sum was allotted to the
rivers In East Tennessee and a por
tion of this amount applied to the
Improvement of the Clinch river. In
1842 another appropriation of SIOO,-
000 was made by the state and was
similarly allotted and applied.
In Its original condition the chan
nel was obstructrd by rock reefs,
sand and gravel bars, bowlders,
snags and overhanging trees.
The present projet t provides for
channel excavations, removing sur
face obstructions, and the construc
tion of wing dams ami training
walls, so as to secure a navigable
channel two feet in depth at ordi
nary low water from the mouth of
the river to Clinton, covering about
seventy miles, and of one and o.ne
hnlf feet in depth from Clinton to
Hayne’a (or Walker’s) ferry, about
seventy-five miles. From Hayne’s
ferry to Osborne ford. In Virginia,
a distance of 120 miles, It Is pro
posed simply to remove the loose
rock and bowlders, reduce the rock
lodges, remove snags, overhanging
trees and similar obstructions, so
as to assist raft and fia t boat navi
gation at the stages at which the
river is ordinarily used.
The amount expended to June 20,
1900, was $45,977.78, which had re
sulted In reducing many of the
reefs and removing obstructions
from the channel, building several
wing dams and training walls,
whereby the channel was so far im
proved as t- enable the rlv-*t li h :
7