Pennsylvania.— The Monongahela River is to be made navigable for 130 miles above its month by the construction of 15 locks and dams to afford slack-water navigation from Pittsburgh, Pa., to a point four miles above Fairmont, W. Va. The locks have a width of 50 to 56 feet and lengths of 159 to 360 feet, and lifts of four and four-tenths to 12.8 feet and with five to nine and four-tenths feet of water over the mitre sills. The tonnage on the Monon gahela in 1917, was 16,000,153 tons.
The River is 325 miles long and joins the Monongahela to form the Ohio at Pittsburgh, Pa. It is designed that it have an open channel from its mouth to the New York State line, a distance of 214 miles. Formerly it was the route for the pioneer and traderspass ing between New York and southern Ohio. Locks 286 to 360 feet long and 55 to 56 feet wide with seven to 11 feet of water over their mitre sills and having lifts of seven to 12 feet are being constructed above Pittsburgh and three have been completed affording slack-water navigation up to Natrona, Pa., a distance of 24 miles with a controlling depth of six and one half feet. Slack-water navigation is to be ex tended to Riverton, Pa., a distance of 37 miles. Its tonnage in 1917 was 2,300,143 tons. The har bor at Pittsburgh comprises sections of the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers and these are 27.2 miles in length. The channels are from 300 to 800 feet wide and seven to 10 feet deep. Terminal facilities include wharves, docks, hoists of various types and other equip ment. The commerce of Pittsburgh for the year 1917 was 14,639,496 tons.
The Youghiogheny River, Pennsylvania, a tributary of the Monongahela, is being improved by dredgingand the construction of three locks, 360 feet long and 56 feet wide, with eight feet of water over the mitre sills and dams between its mouth and West Newton, 1954 miles up-stream, which will afford slack-water navi gation to Wog Newton. The tonnage on that river in 1917 was 85,585 tons.
Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana. — The Little ICaanwha, a tributary of the Ohio, has been improved for a distance of 48 miles from its mouth to Creston by the construction of locks and dams, thereby affording, a navi gable depth of four feet to Creston. The locks are 125 feet long, 23 feet wide and have a depth of four to 102 feet over the mitre sills and lifts of six and four-tenths to 12.4 feet. The ton nage over that river in 1917 was 40,849 tons.
The States of Virginia and West Virginia, im proved sections of the Kanawha River, also a tributary of the Ohio, and packets and barges ascended the river for a distance of 90 miles at high-water stages. It is 97 miles long. Ten locks, 271 to 313 feet long, 50 to 55 feet wide, with six and five-tenths to 11.35 feet of water over the mitre sills and having five and sixty five hundreths to 13.67 feet lifts, are being constructed at various sections of the river. All the dams are of the movable type except two. That will afford a navigable channel of six feet depth for 90 miles above its mouth. The tonnage on that river in 1917 was 1,605,495 tons. Sixteen steamboats and 265 other craft navigated the river in 1917. The Wabash River, 517 miles long, flows northwesterly from Ohio across Indiana and southerly between that State and Illinois into the Ohio, 121 miles above the mouth of the latter river. The Wabash in its original condition was 450 to 1,300 feet wide and was navigable at periods of high water, when boats ascended as far as Peru, lad., 366 miles above its mouth. It has been made navigable in separate sections and at different periods. A, lock, 214 feet long and 52 feet wide, and dam at Grand Rapids, 97.1 miles above the mouth, provide slack water navigation for 12 miles. Through navi gation is impracticable on account of the rapids and shallows in some parts of the river. The New Harmony Cutoff, 4W miles above the mouth, where there is a fall of six and one half feet, is to be closed and the river dredged to afford a navigable channel of three and one half feet at low water from the mouth a the river to Terre Haute, 214 miles from the mouth, but boats drawing three feet can make that dis tance for less than four months of the year. Boats of 20-inches draft can pass from Mount Carmel, 96 miles above the mouth, to Vincennes, 32 miles farther up-stream, at all stages of water, but cannot pass down-stream to the mouth of the river only at very high water. In 1917 about 800 boats passed through the locks at Grand Rapids. One of the principal tributaries of the Wabash River is the White River, formed by the confluence of the East and West Forks about 50 miles above its en trance into the Wabash. It is navigable in its lower reaches for light-draft boats. The Scioto, Maumee and Miami rivers formerly were nav igable and the latter two are in the route of the projected Miami and Erie Canal across Ohio.