20 INLAND NAVIGATION AND BARGE CONSTRUCTION 



Finally, one of the best prevailing rules of measuring a successful steamer is 

 by the amount and height of waves it creates. I had to face severe ridicule be- 

 cause this poor boat of mine could carry i,ooo tons of freight at full speed with- 

 out creating enough waves to rock a rowboat. 



The naval architects of this country have turned, and are still turning, their 

 backs to river construction with the result that some of our interior shipyards are 

 splendid antiquarian museums. Oxen may pull the plates from shady trees to the 

 ways, but this does not even impress a casual onlooker with a needed change. It 

 would be really pathetic to describe in detail certain of the interior shipyards of 

 this country that I have visited. 



Lately steel construction is slowly but surely replacing wood construction, but 

 the total lack of architects for river craft has brought about an odd situation. 

 Bridge-building companies went into steel barge construction and apparently are 

 holding their own without doing really anything else but building bridges around 

 which they build a watertight hull. In this connection some really amusing facts 

 could be given. For instance, one official of such a company did not want to build 

 a barge for me on my design because he could not see how such barge, not being 

 strong enough to be loaded at one corner with the other corner sticking out in the 

 air, would do, and the very fact that the barges I would build had to be loaded 

 and unloaded with the same care that one would use when loading ocean vessels 

 was proof in this man's eyes that the barge was undesirable. That the Lloyd and 

 American Bureaus of Shipping passed this construction as Ai did not satisfy this 

 American bridge-barge builder. I had the satisfaction of having another official 

 of a similar company prove to me in detail, with careful calculation, how such a 

 barge would buckle up under its own weight, and while listening to his splendid 

 argument in the way of figures there passed in my mind the thousands of "rynaken" 

 plying upon the Dutch Rhine, that acording to his figures would buckle up, but 

 had the audacity to successfully remain in operation and carry freight for genera- 

 tions. 



Only recently we had a discussion whether it would be possible to build craft 

 that could successfully navigate the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes on account 

 of the limitation of 15^ feet distance from water level to bridges over the canal. 

 This is undoubtedly very well possible, and I would undertake to build a barge for 

 the New York Barge Canal with a carrying capacity of 2,000 tons, a draught of 

 10 feet, and fully seaworthy, still being able to carry freight at a cost of % mill 

 per ton-mile in the canal, and when used in through service at a cost of 134 mills 

 per ton-mile. 



Another prominent marine expert, after hearing that I had proposed to build 

 a large barge with a speed of 14 miles to navigate the Mississippi, recently made 

 the following remark: "Any fool who can speak of a barge with 14-mile speed 

 on the Mississippi River is no man I want to talk to." I fear that he will seriously 

 attempt to get me removed to some institution for insane when he hears I am now 

 preparing to build a barge with a speed of 24 miles per hour. 



