THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER PROBLEM 21 



can not be urged too strongly, for until the flood waters are under 

 absolute control, the construction of a deep channel, no matter whether 

 it be in the river itself or in the form of a canal along the stream, 

 must be clone in the face of constant danger of having the entire 

 system crippled and large portions destroyed whenever overflow takes 

 place. 



Again, Avhen the river is in flood, as it is to a certain degree every 

 year, it is carrying along the greatest amount of sediment, much of 

 which represents the most fertile part of the soil. The total amount 

 so carried is almost beyond conception, but to carry it by freight train 

 would require 500 trains for every working-day in the year, each train 

 consisting of fifty cars with a capacity of fifty tons. Besides this tre- 

 mendous quantity poured out into the Gulf every year, other incalcul- 

 able masses are deposited as bars all along the course, and as the water 

 falls to its normal level these bars are a constant menace to every form 

 of navigation. The presence of these obstructions and their rapid 

 shifting from day to day has always been one of the most serious 

 handicaps to river transportation. In fact, the abandonment of navi- 

 gation on the Missouri may be laid entirely to the utter inability to 

 cope with the shifting sands. Deforestation, cultivation of the land 

 especially, and mining operations, are vitally important in the question 

 of soil washing, surface erosion and the amount of sediment in the 

 streams. 



The project for a deep waterway for commercial purposes, there- 

 fore, is confronted with these serious problems which must be solved 

 before the government can afford to spend one or two hundred million 

 dollars in river improvement. Some system of control must be devised 

 to insure to water fronts and terminal facilities a reasonable degree of 

 permanency through protection against erosion of the banks. There 

 must be some way of checking disastrous floods which would in a single 

 season, and perhaps year after year, destroy improvements costing 

 millions of dollars — as the experience of some of the eastern canalized 

 rivers indicates. The prevention of low-water stages is no less impor- 

 tant, since marked variations in the water level make it difficult to 

 establish the necessary terminal facilities. Finally, the formation of 

 sand bars must be stopped, otherwise it means stupendous, unending 

 and probably ineffective, dredging operations in an attempt to keep 

 the channel open. 



If the Missouri could be removed from the list of tributaries by 

 giving it a separate mouth, the sand-bar problem would no longer exist, 

 since that stream contributes over 60 per cent, of the total brought into 

 the Mississippi. Eeducing the load by 60 per cent, would certainly 

 mean that the Mississippi could then keep its own channel clear. But 

 the idea of providing a separate course for the Missouri from St. Louis 

 to the Gulf is too daring even to be suggested. Moreover, it would 



