14 
Edith M. Southall 
RIVER IMPROVEMENT 
Shipping facilities. CincinDati’s advantageous railroad con- 
nections have already been mentioned. The city is connected 
with the south, east and west by fifteen railroads. But the river 
has always been the chief factor in Cincinnati's progress. The 
harbor at Cincinnati is very superior, the current of the river is 
about 3 miles an hour, and there are no shoals or reefs to prevent 
the landing of boats. 
F embank Dam. This dam, a government project just recently 
finished, is destined to have an important effect on the city’s 
future commercial progress. Heretofore the low stage of water in 
the summer months has frequently been the source of great incon- 
venience and a great loss of money to manufacturers. This dam 
affords a lake for harbor purposes the year round at Cincinnati, 
and will produce a large amount of water-power for electrical 
energy, which can be utilized for manufacturing purposes, and 
will therefore be of very great value to the city. 
Improve7nent of the Mississippi system. Fernbank Dam is but 
one of the many dams which the government is now building or 
planning to build. It is estimated that, in order to secure a 9-foot 
stage from Pittsburg to Cairo, 111., about seventy-five dams will 
be required, at a cost of about $75,000,000. Ft the present 
time the Ohio Piver is navigable at Pittsburg, on an average, 
only about eighty-one days during the year. Since the region 
about Pittsburg is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, freight- 
producing center of the country, this is a serious detriment. It 
is planned, by means of collapsible dams, to store up a supply of 
water during flood times, and thus make navigation possible the 
year round. By holding back the waters of the Monongahela, 
Kanawha, Allegheny, Youghiogheny, and the numerous small 
tributaries of the Ohio, the disastrous effects of floods will also 
be lessened, and a large amount of power will be developed at the 
dams. With the 9-foot stage, it will be possible to use less power- 
ful steamers in bringing barges down the river, each boat taking 
fewer barges, with less capital invested at less risk. 
The freight carried by the Ohio Piver system forms the bulk 
of the Alississippi system tonnage. It has been estimated that 
with the improvement of the Alississippi Piver system, and the 
completion of the Panama Canal, freight can be sent by water 
