Average freight charges from Saint Louis to New Orleans, by the barge line, for seven years.

Average freight charges from Saint Paul to Saint Louis by steamers for seventeen yearsdistance eight hundred miles.

The years 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1864 were the years of the great civil strife, and during most of that time there was no commerce between this city and New Orleans.

The honorable committee will please note the following features of this answer. The highest and lowest rates of freight charged on corn per bushel by river during the above years were as follows:

It will be noted that there is a wide difference between the highest rate charged and the lowest. The lowest rate is that which prevails when there are more than eight feet of water on the worst bars, and the highest rate that which is charged when there are less than five feet on the worst bars. If, therefore, the Government will build the wing-dams recommended by this committee, at the worst spots between Saint Louis and Cairo, the localities to be determined hereafter, we believe that ten feet of water may be obtained throughout the year, and the rate of freight be thus reduced to something near the lowest figure above given, namely, 5 cents for a bushel of corn. As an evidence that the wing-dams or jettees which we ask to be constructed will effectively remedy the evils of which we complain, we may state that General Simpson, as will be seen from his letter accompanying this report, is now engaged, by order of the Government, in constructing such a series of works at Horsetail Bar, twelve miles below Saint Louis, as are here referred to.

It will be noted that during the decade bounded by 1850 and 1860 freight-rates from Saint Louis to New Orleans averaged much lower than they have since. The reason of this was that our steamers, in the comparative absence of rail facilities between the sea-board and the Mississippi Valley, did a large portion of the carrying trade of the West. Goods, passengers, mails, and express matter traversed the rivers of the valley to a much greater extent than they have since done, and therefore steamers were not compelled to make all their money on the freight of the down trip as they now must. But let us represent to this committee that the great bulk of the produce exported from America is produced in the Mississippi Basin, and is carried across half a conti nent by expensive and artificial thoroughfares, when it might better take the cheaper, natural, and more comprehensive route to the sea afforded by the descent thither of its own navigable waters. We beg the committee also to note that fully three-fourths of the coffee, tea, and miscellaneous merchandise imported into the United States is consumed in the Mississippi Basin, and that those goods are brought by vessels to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore, and thence distributed to the people of this vast basin by expensive artificial routes of carriage instead of coming up the navigable streams of the valley in boats that ascend comparatively cargoless. In view of these two facts, does it not seem plain that were the Western consumers willing to bring their foreign goods and merchandise by the Gulf and rivers, a sufficient reduction could be made in the price charged for carrying produce from the Mississippi Valley bins to Europe, along this great natural water path, to render this route the most economical one on the face of the globe?

Q. What have been the average number of days in the year for twenty years when there has been less than four feet of water between Saint Louis and Cairo? Less than six? Less than eight? Less than ten? More than ten ?

A. The question respecting the number of days in each year for a series of years, in which there was a specified depth of water in the channel of the Mississippi between this point and Cairo, properly concerns only the worst bars between Saint Louis and Cairo. The channel of the river between this city and Cairo is a deep one, but it is crossed by several bars or shoals, and when a steamer loads for a lower port she must do so with sole reference to the amount of water on the worst bar. Sometimes it happens that one single place, or at most, two places on the entire route, will shoal to a depth of five feet; and notwithstanding the fact that along the whole length of the channel, with these exceptions, a depth of eight to twenty feet exists, all steamers bound down stream must load for these shoal spots. With this explanation we present the following table in answer to the query concerning the prevailing depth of the Mississippi channel between this city and Cairo:

River navigation from Saint Louis to New Orleans for nine years, being the depth of water in the channel between Saint Louis and Cairo.

By an examination of these figures it will be noted that at no time during 1871 was there so low a stage as four feet reported, yet during that year there was a period of forty-nine days of suspension of navigation between Saint Louis and Cairo. The truth of it is the river never averaged lower for so many weeks together than during the summer, fall, and winter of 1871, and though there was always a little more than 5 feet on the worst places to Cairo, yet there was not water enough for either barges or boats to run. Most of the boats in the lower river trade draw 4 to 5 feet light, and a depth of less than 5 feet practically lays them up. As elsewhere stated, a few inexpensive wing-dams would obviate this difficulty, and secure, during the lowest stage, fully 10 feet of water between Saint Louis and New Orleans, upon which depth paying loads can be taken by any of the boats or barges in the trade, and uniform minimum rates of freight may be established for the entire year, subject only to the rebates and "cuttings" induced by a sharp competition.

Q. 3. What have been the number of days in each year during which navigation between Saint Louis and New Orleans has been suspended on account of ice or low

water?

A. In reference to the number of days during which there has been a total suspension of navigation between this port and New Orleans for a series of years past, we find the following to be the facts: In 1859, there was 12 days; in 1860, 14 days; in 1861, 7 days; in 1862, 14 days; in 1863, 12 days; in 1864, 38 days; in 1865, 16 days; in 1866, 17 days; in 1867, 7 days; in 1868, 31 days; in 1869, 7 days; in 1870, 10 days; in 1871, 49 days; and in 1872, 25 days. It will be observed that there is great irregularity in the periods of suspension of navigation, the longest period being 49 days, and the shortest 7 days. This is explained as follows: Between this city and Cairo there are five or six places in the river where, from the great breadth it attains and the flatness of the country over which it flows, the current is so weakened as to permit a rapid precipitation of the sediment its waters contain, and sand-bars and shallow spots are the result. During 1871 the water became quite low in the river, and for weeks these places were impassable, and during the succeeding winter the ice which floated from above Saint Louis would continually lodge upon these bars and shoals, and so gorge the river as to make it unnavigable. These two causes combined produced the unusual suspension of navigation noted in 1864, 1868, 1871, and 1872. The remedy for this is simple, cheap, and effective. It is the construction on the part of the Government of wing-dams on these few bad spots, which will so narrow the channel as to cut away

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the bars and insure a good depth of water to Cairo throughout the entire year, even in the driest seasons, for upon either side of these bars, at the lowest stage of the river, the water is at least 10 feet deep. There are several parties in this city and elsewhere who have made estimates upon the cost of constructing the required dams. The lowest of such estimates has been $20,000, and the highest $30,000 each. Therefore, the honorable committee will observe that for a trifling expense the period of suspended navigation of the Mississippi River, between the cities of Saint Louis and New Orleans, can be reduced to an annual average of ten or twelve days.

Q. 4. What are the advantages gained by the transportation of grain in bulk over grain in sacks?

A. Succinctly stated, the advantages gained in transporting grain in bulk over grain in sacks are, first, a saving of the sack, which amounts to about 5 cents per bushel on the grain; second, a saving in handling, which will amount, in course of the two or three transshipments which occur between the producer's point of shipment and the consumer's point of reception, to fully 5 cents per bushel more, or 10 cents per bushel altogether. From 1865 to 1872 shipments of corn and oats from this city by the river alone, in bags and bulk, have been as follows:

7.864

1865.

1866.

1867.

1868

1869.

1870.

1871

1872......

Total

The greater part of this sacked grain has been consumed by the people of the South. Its sum total amounts to 13,294,837 sacks, or, at the least estimate, 45,000,000 bushels. The saving, then, on the grain thus consumed during the eight years mentioned would have been not less than $4,500,000.

Q. 5. Are there any disadvantages of a climatic nature involved in the transportation of grain from Saint Louis to European ports via the river and Gulf?

A. To the inquiry of the committee in reference to the climatic disadvantages of the Gulf route, we reply there are none. In proof of this we submit the following account of sales of northern spring wheat shipped in sailing vessels, in bulk, by the Saint Louis Grain Association to Liverpool during the summer of 1869, and call attention to the amount in each cargo returned as damaged: The cargo of the ship Essex consisted of 14,611 bushels; 30 bushels returned as damaged; cargo sold by Budgett & James, Bristol, England. The cargo of the ship Industrie consisted of 27,586 bushels; not a pound returned as damaged; cargo sold by Budgett & James, Bristol, England. The cargo of the ship Ocean Phantom consisted of 32,10155 bushels; 4 bushels returned as damaged; cargo sold by Budgett & James, of Bristol, England. The cargo of the ship Johannes consisted of 23,752 bushels; not a pound returned as damaged; cargo sold by Budgett & James, of Bristol, England. The cargo of the ship Emma F. Secor consisted of 25,757 bushels, 105 pounds of which were returned as damaged; cargo sold by Patterson Bros. & Co., Liverpool. The cargo of the ship Mary Jones consisted of 13,196 bushels; returned as damaged, 46 bushels and 17 pounds; cargo sold by Patterson Bros. & Co., of Liverpool. The cargo of the ship Roseneath consisted of 22,170 bushels; returned as damaged, 39 bushels; cargo sold by Patterson Bros. & Co., of Liverpool, England. We presume it is sufficient for your honorable committee to know that the above statements were accurately copied from the original account of sales rendered to the Saint Louis Grain Association of this city. We have selected the cargoes of sailing-vessels because, if any damage can come to grain from climatic disadvantages, that shipped by sail is most in danger. The above cargoes were all wheat. Shipment of them was begun in March, 1869, and one to two cargoes per month were sent forward throughout the summer. One of the above cargoes was becalmed in the Gulf, and lay under a burning sun for days together. The calm was succeeded by a