Mr. BROWN. This is a bill to sanction and forward an enterprise of very great moment, not only to the State that I represent, but to all the States in the central belt of territory east and west of the State of Missouri and has for its object the effecting of a continuous line of railwa across the Mississippi river at StLouis. this desirable, however, that in doin so, care should be taken that no substantia interference shall take place with the navigation of the river. That matter has been one of considerable discussion between the different interests involved, the railroad interests as Representing the great continental lines centering at that point, and the steamboatin" interests representing e. commerce on the Mississippi that promises to be the most gigantic inland commerce of the world, and has elicited a great deal of feeling on the subject. For my own part I desire to say that I want this structure, when built, to be one worthy of the great States it is to connect, one that shall be of such amplecapacity as will permit the transit of the reights of all the railwa lines that may hereafter center at this great istrib uting point of the continent. Let it be built, too, for the ages, of a material that shall defy time and in a style that will be equall a triumph of art and a contribution to in ustrial development. No narrow view of expense or contracted idea. of the power of engineering skill should induce us to permit any attempt at bridging the Mississippi river that great in land highway that must ever be the great de pendence of the valley of the Mississippi for transferring its grain to the seaboard and the markets of the Atlantic and the Gulf, that will seriously interfere with its navigation. But when these are fully considered, then I believe that the highest boon we can confer on the facilities of transit and intercourse across the continent will be found to lie in this authorization to erect this bridge. The company to which the enterprise is committed is one that has the sanction, as I am advised. of both the States of Missouri and Illinois, and revisions areingrafted on its charter that wilFinsure the local municipalities interested a controlling right to subseribe to the capital stock. Mr. President. the substitute which is reported by the committee has in it certain details of height, measurement, and width of span which it has been thought are not sufficiently guarded to avoid interference with the navigation of the rivet. l have therefore submitted an amendment in lieu of the 2nd section, which has been printed, and to which Iask Senators to refer, which proposes to take the extreme limits that have been asked by any interest there, and make these the conditions of the structure. In doing so I am satisfied that those limitations and conditions will present no obstacles that the engineering skil of this age and country cannot overcome. They are in the 1st place that this bridge shall be 50 feet in height above highwater mark, or rather what is substantially highwater mark, the elevation line of the city directrix. 2nd. it shall have at least one span of 600 feet in the clear. which would make it the largest bridge in the world, or else 2 spans of 450 feet in the clear each, and that if the 2 latter spans be used the one over the main channel shall be at least 50 feet show: the city directrix. The 3rd is, that no s an over the water way at low water mark shall be less than 200 feet in the clear of abutmeuts. These conditions I assume, will satisfy all the requirements of commerce. They will give ample space for steamers to pass to and fro between the without any interference, and will be of a height sufficient to permit them to pass under the bridge without any trouble. It will be necessary, of course. that steamers shall make some little arrangement of their chimneys, using the telese opic chimney, but the height stipulated will give ample room to pass clear of the ilot houses and the fixed wooden structure of the boats. It is only necessa to say in connection with this amendment which I propose, in regard to the use of the words “city irectrix, ” that its level is the point at the intersection of the levee and Market. street that marks the curbstone, and is near enough to the extreme highwater mark for all practical purposes. I hed in my hand a hydrograph of, the Mississippi river at StLouis, which shows that for the preceding 6 years, that is, from 1860 to the present time, or 1865, the river did not come up to within many feet of the level of the city directrix, and that there have been in the last quarter of a centur only 3 occasions on which the water as risen above that point in 1851, in 1858, and in 1844; on one of those occasions, only 3 feet, on the other 4 feet and on the other 7 feet and some inches, alto gether for a space of 3 or 4 days at each time, so that really these rises have uothingte do with the substantial merits of the question, or the great interests of navigation, only occupying 2 or 3 days during the period of over a quarter of a century. For all practical purposes, therefore, the city directrix may be assumed and is assumed. in StLouis as the fixed oint from which these measurements and all other measurements of city levels and water levels should be made. This h drograph is prepared under the direction of the city engineer of StLouis, Mr. Truman J. EIomer, an engineer of the very highest promise in his profession, who has given great attention to this whole subject; who is fully equal, as I believe, to carry out into construction this great enter rise, as rejected by him in the printed iimp let I ho din my hand. I assume, there ore, that the data on which this bill is based, and the practicability of the undertaking, giant like as it is in character, are entirely reliable. I also have before me the measurement of several of the steamers plying on different parts of the river, the lower waters, the upperwaters, the Illinois river, and the Missouririver, showing that a space of 50 feet will clear the structures of almost all of these boats as at present constructed, even if the river were at the high point of the city diiectrix. In ordinary cases, nt least 360 days out of the year, all the time in fact with the exception of ten or 15 days in a quarter of a cen tury, there will be a good deal more space than that, so that on the oiiit of interference the amendment covers al that can be asked with any reason in the premises. I now offer the amendment, and ask that it be read.