Excerpt from Proceedings of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce: In Relation to the Improvement of the Navigation of the Mississippi River and Its Principal Tributaries and the St. Louis Harbor These snags are to be found in almost every part of the river, but they accumulate in greater numbers in bends, or where the current is obstructed by islands or sand bars. The' pilots, generally, are perfectly famillar with every part of the river, knowing it as well as a boy does the way to his school house, yet their knowledge and skill do not at all times avail them. These snags, and other causes, divert the current, and the pilot is compelled to steer accordingly, and when he least thinks he is in danger, his boat strikes a snag, of which he is ignorant, and is lost. They also accumulate in great numbers where the channel is most obstructed, and instan ces have occurred on the Missouri, where boats were actu ally fenced ia by them. Last summer, a boat ascended the Missouri and on her return, the water having fallen, the Cap tain was compelled to send his hands out and cut his way through the snags, there not being room to navigate between them. A channel, if well opened and kept open a short time, will remain so, for the water always deepens that part of it, and every snag on the sides, contributes to throw the water into the channel. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.