NATURAL WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES HARTS. 567 



provided for by recent appropriation and 1 still to be built. The 

 total estimated cost is $9,247,000, of which $8,743,000 has already 

 been made available by Congress. At Lock 17 a dam 63 feet high 

 is being built by private funds for power purposes. It will be 

 equipped with two locks in flight to pass vessels. This dam is now 

 under construction and is practically finished (pi. 8, fig. 1). The com- 

 bined commerce of these rivers is comparatively small, amounting to 

 464,754 tons in 1913. The cost of maintenance of 13 locks in opera- 

 tion in 1913 was $122,000. The high first cost and large amount 

 needed for maintenance will require a large increase in commerce if 

 the work is to .justify the judgment of those responsible for the 

 undertaking. Commerce since 1890 has been as follows: 



Tons. 



1890 57, 868 



1895 37, 291 



1900 360, 950 



Tons. 



1905 250, 000 



1910 837, 194 



1913 464, 754 



Of the Texas rivers the Trinity River is one of the longest in the 

 State and has been navigated at favorable seasons for a distance of 

 120 miles upstream from its mouth in Galveston Bay. It is a narrow, 

 shallow, winding river, with low banks. It was proposed in 1902 to 

 provide a channel, by open river work and locks and dams, to give 

 a 6-foot depth up to Dallas, Tex., 511 miles from Galveston, at a 

 total cost of over $5,000,000. This project was adopted after con- 

 siderable discussion in Congress, and already $1,534,000 has been 

 expended and three locks are now completed. The water is so low 

 in this river at certain seasons that at one time it was seriously sug- 

 gested that artesian wells be used for supplying enough water to 

 overcome the waste due to lockages and evaporation. The commerce 

 has never been important and is now completely interrupted by the 

 unusable condition of the river below the lowest lock. This river is 

 another noteworthy example of the policy of providing facilities for 

 river navigation long in advance of the necessities of commerce. One 

 of the hoped-for results of river improvement in this instance was 

 the regulation of rail rates from Dallas to Galveston, but legislation 

 in Texas has already accomplished much in this direction, and the 

 necessity for the very expensive work required is accordingly much 

 less evident now. 



PACIFIC COAST RIVERS. 



On the Pacific coast the most important river in point of com- 

 merce is the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington. From its 

 mouth in the Pacific Ocean up to the mouth of Willamette River, 

 98 miles, and thence up the Willamette River, 12 miles, to Portland, 

 this waterway forms a very important arteiy of trade. Portland, 

 by virtue of these rivers and their channels to the sea, becomes in 



