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May, 1910 large boulders; there is rock, how- ever, in. several places, The land, being generally hilly, farm- ing is not carried on extensively. State reports indicate good coal in large quantities along the river. There are also oil, timber and limestone. The timber along the river has been thinned out and little, if any, coal is shipped by river from the Little Kanawha fields. With the exception of Parkersburg, which is at the mouth and is in reality is' not. a an OQOhio-river town, there town of any size along the river. Parkersburg may have 25,000 inhabi- but it is doubtful. Parkersburg, there are not more than 75,000 people in the Little Kanawha The principal towns are: Sand Fork, Glenville, Grantsville, Brookville, Creston, Burn- tants, Including valley. Burnsville, ing Springs, Palestine and Elizabeth. Not one of these towns had a popula- tion of 1,000 at the time of the last federal census. In 1867 the Little Kanawha Naviga- tion Co. began the building of four locks and dams, which structures were 1874. 4-ft. navigation for a distance of 41 completed in They provide miles from the mouth of the river. The locks gave a clearance of 125 ft. by 23 ftu;:that is,.a boat 125 ft: by 23 ft. and' drawing not more than 4 ft. could be passed through the locks. Both the locks and the dams were of ordinary construction, and were op- erated and maintained as cheaply as possible. The from $35 to $50 per month; there was little or no plant for making repairs (no floating plant at all); din: fact, -the lockmen were paid structures were allowed to decay. It is said the company made money, and well it could. There were no railroads, much timber was brought down, and the property was not kept in re- pair. The government built a lock and dam near Burning Springs, which ex- tended 4-ft. navigation to Creston, about 48 miles from the mouth. Work on that lock and dam was begun in 1885 and completed in 1891. This lock will pass boats 125 ft. by 26 ft. In November, 1905, the government "TRAE Marine REVIEW purchased the and dams from the Navigation company, paying $75,- 000 for the Since that year $150,000 has been spent in repairing and improving them. locks structures. more than The government increased the salaries of the lockmen to $50 a month and provided an additional man for each lock at a salary of $45 a month. There is not enough work at a lock to keep one man employed, still the govern- ment has:two. The tolls charged by the Navigation company were removed immediately on the government's as--- suming charge of the structures. What has these expenditures? been derived from all In 1892 the ton- nage which passed Lock No. 5 (the uppermost lock) was reported as 244,- | 254, and that for 1908 for the same - lock as 49,707. It has cost more than $2,000 a year for 19 years to operate and maintain Lock No. 5, and it will cost more than that to maintain each of the purchased locks, Nos. 1 to 4, after their repairs are completed. In other words, to provide a free right of way for a distance of 48 miles for about 100,000 tons a year will cost the government more than $10,000 an- What has Saw logs, railroad ties, etc. Out of the 49,707 tons . which , passed Lock No... 6, 1m 1908, 42,772 tons consisted of timber products, of which 25,110 tons were nually,-or 10°: -céents 'a' ton. this tonnage consisted of? saw logs. Only 76 tons of coal was carried, and that was taken upstream, none being shipped by water from the Little Kanawha fields. In 1901, 112,880 tons were timber products out of a total tonnage of 119,439. There are no manufacturing plants of consequence along the Little Ka- nawha, except the carbon factory near Grantsville. ~The present locks are too small to permit the use of water transportation for coal, nor do they extend slack water navigation to the coal fields. Should 'be continued to the coal fields, it is ex- tremely doubtful if there would be sufficient. water. On the Ohio coal cannot be profitably carried by water on less than 6 ft. Can it be carried to advantage on the Little Kanawha on 4 ft.? such locks In regard to the low-water 199 flow, Major Lockwood reported in 1894 as follows: "The water supply during the sum- mer months is insufficient, as the sys- tem now is, to keep the pools full, and, with additional locks and dams, the area of the water surface would be much increased, and loss from evapor- than at present; the result would be that the system would become ation consequently greater inoperative earlier in the summer than now. If the old dams were made as tight as the present government dam _ naviga- tion would last some longer than it does now, but with the system ex- tended and all the dams tight there would be a long time each year when none but the lightest draught boats could run, and times when even such navigation would fail." Steamboatmen familiar with the con- ditions on the Little Kanawha, men on that it would be 'boats said that money wasted to carry the improve- who have = operated river, have ment further, and a careful reading of the reports submitted by the dif- ferent officers in charge of the work ° Should the which the' advocates of indorse that statement. coal fields, slack-water extension base their claims on, be developed, railroads. would be extended at once. .A: line. was pro- jected and construction work com- No doubt work on that line will be re- menced, but it was abandoned. sumed as soon as conditions justify. There is no question but that the inland waterways should be under the control of the government, but it is questionable if the improvement of such streams as the Little Kanawha for navigation purposes will ever justi- fy the expense; in fact, it is doubtful if there is a river under improve- ment for navigation purposes in the United States today which justifies the expense in benefits to the people at large. Tolls were discontinued at the Monongahela river, but consumers pay more for coal now than formerly. Tolls were abolished on the Little Kanawha, but there was no downward tendency in the price of timber, nor has it changed the price of any of the commodities carried. The Great