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96 engineering talent and millions of money for improvement of the Ohio river, and also for the Mississippi river be- low St. Louis. A vast system of dams is being put into the Ohio river below Pittsburgh and is in partial use, so far as construction has been com- pleted. Further improvements are said to be under way. For Full 10 Months These improvements, combined with the seasonal rises in the river due to spring and fall rains, are likely to enable Ohio river navigation for 10 months in the year. At least this is what the experts say. Shipments from Pittsburgh now reach Memphis on the proposed rail-water route via the river to Louisville and then on via the Louis- ville & Nashville railroad in 12 days. Via the all-river route, they require six to eight weeks. The water-rail shorter route can be maintained for the 10-month period it is believed. The saving over the all-rail rate MARINE REVIEW by the proposed joint rail-water tariff will be about $3.50 a ton, it is figured. However, this will mean an increase of $2 a ton over the all-water rate from Pittsburgh to Memphis. How- ever, the time saved in these water- rail shipments is believed a worthy off- set to the slower but lower rate trans- portation all-water. Yet as pointed out above, the fly in the ointment for the Pittsburgh and Wheeling shippers—although it does not seem ever to have deterred the competing Ironton, O., shippers—has been the question of the inadequate unloading facilities in town and cities down the river. Better docks will have to be built, or rather wharves, before unloading costs can be kept down in line with the lower water transporta- tion costs. It appears easy to dissi- pate in a few hours unloading on a poor wharf and transferring to rail- road cars for further shipment to the Southwest, some of the $2 a ton sav- ings planned through water rates. March, 1925 However, river town authorities may be induced to take a hand in fixing up this matter. The Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. is spending some thousands of dollars in putting in unloading and warehousing facilities at Memphis to accommodate this river trade in the development of which it is taking a leading part. Talks Sizes of Barges Still another question involves the sizes of barges which can be made profitable in shipping iron and _ steel down the river. The Carnegie Steel Co. is employing barges carrying 1000 tons each. However, others are us- ing barges carrying 500 up to 1000 tons each. The smaller barges are used in carrying less ambitious car- goes to the smaller towns and up the smaller branch streams which empty into the Ohio. These are details which now are engaging the attention of river authorities and transportation engineers, for proper adjustment. More Southern Waterway Development WO important steps toward opening up the lower Mississippi river and the Warrior river route out of the Birmingham Ala., iron, steel and coal district have just been taker. Adequate river transportation from Pitts- burgh on the one hand, and from Bir- mingham on the other, both to this city and Mobile on the Gulf, is about to be provided. The Carnegie Steel Co. has just ex- tended an option on an 84-acre tract of land along the Mississippi river at Baton Rouge, La., a quarter mile below the ferry. The tract is to be covered with warehouses, wharves and handling machinery for unloading from river barges into ocean vessels, and vice versa; beside loading onto railroad cars at hand. The Warrior river barge lines has just bought 36 steel barges and _ will place 24 more. Something like $1,500,- 000 will be expended upon this water- carrying back door to the steel mills of Birmingham. Barges Are Bought Purchasing 36 steel bares from the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. and placing an order for 24 more barges by the Federal Inland Water- ways Corp. is announced at Birming- ham. The barges bought were built by the American Bridge Co. and it is expected the orders for the additional 24 will be placed with the American company, for early spring delivery. The Inland Waterways corporation is in charge of the barge service of the government on the Mississippi and Warrior rivers. It proposes to spend | more than $1,500,000 on the Warrior river service, this river extending from the Birmingham district to Mobile. The corporation paid $732,655 for the 36 barges already delivered and will ex- pend $450,000 for the other 24. Additionally the company will loan to the Port of Birmingham Co., $250,- 000 to provide transportation between Birmingham and the Warrior river. The sum of $20,000 will be expended in developing the port of Tuscaloosa on the Warrior river, and $35,000 for reconstructing a self-propelled barge into a packet boat to be run between the Birmingham district and New Or- leans. Plans Big Terminal The second highly important step taken with relation to southern water- ways was the recording of an extension by 60 days of an option on a tract of 84 acres along the water front of Baton Rouge La., by the Carnegie Steel Co., The tract has a frontage of 2000 feet along the Mississippi river. Several high officials of the Carnegie company from Pittsburgh and this city have con- cluded the option negotiations. The Carnegie company proposes to install floating docks along the proper- ty, put in modern electric unloading and loading machinery, and build a railroad spur behind the levee leading to the warehouses. With the establish- ment of this terminal, the Carnegie company proposes to enlarge its Ohio- Mississippi river service from Pitts- burgh to the Gulf. Through the Isth- mian Steamship Line, the ocean ship- ping arm of the United States Steel Corp., it plans to develop foreign trade. along extensive lines. The river at the Baton Rouge point is 70 feet deep.. Would Ship Regularly Present plans contemplate shipping steel products from Pittsburgh to Ba- ton Rouge by river, thence transfering: them to ocean vessels for export and. returning the barges up the _ rivers. with cargoes from abroad. As soon as. the various dams now under con-. struction on the lower Ohio river are: finished, the Carnegie company plans. to make several shipments each month down the rivers to southern ports. This. will do away with the present ir- regular system of waiting until the Tiver rises and _ p:ovides sufficient: water. On Feb. 13 the company started. from Pittsburgh the largest consign- ment of steel products it has yet made down the Ohio river. The shipment included 12 barges towed by the steam- er WiLt1AM G. CLyveE loaded with cotton ties, wire products and structural steel consigned to Evansville, Memphis, and New Orleans. This is the eighth large river shipment made to the South and