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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