NEWS AND NOTES 



377 



Investment in Water Transportation 



"Within a few months a new thirty-five- 

 foot channel will connect the lower Missis- 

 sippi with the Gulf of Mexico. This is only 

 one of the numerous developments in the 

 way of transportation hy water. Projects arc 

 already under way which mean an invest- 

 ment of hundreds of millions of dollars in 

 the course of probably no more than ten 

 years. Among them is the work on the New 

 York State canal system, involving the ex- 

 penditure of $101,000^000 of public funds. 

 Several millions more will be required fur 

 the canal terminals made necessary by this 

 method of navigation. 



'The Business Men's League of St. Louis 

 has already enlisted some millions of dollars 

 in the effort to restore the Missouri am! 

 Mississippi river traffic, with terminals at 

 St. Louis, at Kansas City, and at New Or- 

 leans. Two new coastwise steamship lines 

 will within a month or more be operating 

 between Philadelphia and the Gulf. On the 

 Pacific coast the development of Mexican 

 and American trade relations is adding to 

 the shipping there, including the Hill line 

 connecting the north coast terminals with San 

 Francisco. 



"The impulse to internal navigation and to 

 coastwise commerce is manifested further in 

 Congressman Ransdell's bill to organize a 

 department of transportation, in the advo- 

 cacy of the issue of $50,000,000 of United 

 States bonds for the improvement of canals 

 and interior streams, and in the survey of 

 the project for a coastal canal extending from 

 Boston harbor to Galveston. 



"No threat to our railroad development as 

 a whole is implied. Such water facilities, in 

 fact, have usually brought more new business 

 to the railroads than they have taken away." — ■ 

 JVall Street Journal. 



"Kansas City is raising a million dollars to 

 get a boat line on the Missouri River, 1,500 

 miles from blue water. New York State is 

 spending $101,000,000 improving the Erie 

 Canal. Canada is spending $100,000,000 making 

 a canal from Lake Huron to the St. Lawrence 

 River, and the state of Illinois is spending 

 $20,000,000 to get deep water from Chicago 

 to the Mississippi. Beaumont, by the way, 

 will very shortly vote $400,000 to get deep 

 water down to the Port Arthur outlet, en- 

 abling her to bring deep-sea ships up to 

 city wharves in the Neches River." — Hottston 

 (Tex.) Chronicle. 



J^ )^ «r' 



To Reclaim Oklahoma Land 



Many thousands of acres of the richest 

 agricultural lands in Oklahoma, now unculti- 

 vated, are to be reclaimed and made perma- 

 nently useful under a law of the first legis- 

 lature that permits counties and communities 

 to cooperate with the Federal Government 

 in the drainage of swamp and overflow lands. 



Throughout almost the entire course of the 

 Deep Fork and Little River, and for long 

 stretches along the North Canadian and 

 Washita, are large areas of land that are 

 either swamp or subject several times a year 

 to inundation. The soil is as rich as may be 

 found, of great depth, and capable of pro- 

 ducing heavy crops for an indefinite period. 

 The reclamation of these lands will be a 

 source of wealth to their owners. 



Since January i surveyors and Federal en- 

 gineers have been at work in Johnston County 

 preparing for the drainage of 5,995 acres 

 of land contiguous to Sandy Creek. About 

 eight miles of canals, and a number of levees 

 will be builtj at a cost of $30,000, which will 

 be charged against the land in proportion to 

 the benefits derived. 



Work on the Washita bottom lands in 

 Marshall and Johnston counties will begin 

 as soon as the Federal Government makes 

 a complete survey of the Washita River from 

 the upper edge of Garvin County to the mouth 

 of the river, giving an estimate of the cost of 

 the drainage of the entire river country. 



Surveys are under way in Lincoln County 

 to reclaim Deep Fork lands. 



^ va i^ 



The Largest Fountain in the United States 



Near the Great Falls of the Missouri in 

 north-central Montana are some very large 

 springs that present certain unique geologic 

 features and suggest an interesting problem 

 as to the source of the water. These springs, 

 known locally as Giant Springs, were discov- 

 ered in 1804 by Captain Lewis, of the Lewis 

 and Clark expedition, who described them 

 as the "largest fountain in the United 

 States." 



These springs, which are on the south 

 side of Missouri River, about three miles 

 below the town of Great Falls, Mont., issue 

 through large joints in a medium to coarse 

 grained sandstone on the bank of the river 

 at the water's edge and in the bed of the 

 river itself. The situation of the springs 

 makes exact measurement of their flow very 

 difficult, but the difference between two 

 measurements of the flow of the Missouri — 

 one above and the other below the springs — 

 has been assumed to be the quantity of water 

 furnished to the river by the springs. Ac- 

 cording to E. T. Nettleton, this amount is 

 approximately 638 cubic feet a second — the 

 equivalent of more than 400,000,000 gallons 

 every twenty-four hours — a veritable under- 

 ground river. The water, which boils up 

 with considerable force, is clear and rela- 

 tively pure, containing no more dissolved 

 salts than the average well-water of the 

 Great Falls region. It has a temperature of 

 about fifty degrees Fahrenheit. 



No use is made of the water at Giant 

 Springs. The report by Mr. C. A. Fisher, 

 published by the Geological Survey, as 

 Water-supply Paper 221, is distributed free. 



