Boating On Huron River

BOATING ON HURON RIVER

MAY BE ADDED TO LIST OF UNIVERSITY SPORTS

A Water Course Superior to the Famous Henley Course in England Possible

There isn't the slightest reason why the University of Michigan should not convert the Huron river into one of the finest water courses in America, says a student correspondent of the Detroit Evening News, and thereby make possible the long-wished-for 'Varsity crew. Architect Malcomson, of the firm of Malcomson & Higginbotham, Detroit, is not only sure of this, but declares a two-mile course could easily be made.

"It would be straighter than the famous Henly river course in England.

It would not involve any great engineering work, and the use of the river for water power would not be impaired.

"The present mills on the river would not be interfered with, nor would any change be necessitated in the present water level, nor the efficacy of the dams."

Architect Malcomson is engaged in engineering and architectural work in Jackson that takes him there several times a week.

DREDGING REQUIRED.

"I am now on my third thousand mile ticket, and the trip between Detroit, Jackson and return has come to seem little more than a street care ride. Every time I get in the stretch between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti I am more and more impressed with the possibilities of the Huron river as a rowing course. About two miles below the university town the river widens out, and for nearly a mile and a half it is broad and deep. This stretch of water is caused by the big dam at Geddes. It is fairly straight at present. Comparatively little improvement would be necessary on this part of the course. Above, before the river begins to widen out, there is a large area of marsh, and still further back is low land and low country, overrun with brush and scrubby trees.

"Put in big dredging machines and they would make short work of this low land. Deepen and widen out the river. Clear up the brush. Then, without diverting the river bed, but simply by lowering the level of the marsh and low land until the river covers it over, there will be produced a splendid water course, long enough for a rowing course. Michigan has the men to make a winning crew. All she needs is a proper water course, and with comparatively small expense it may be had right there on the Huron.

CHANCE FOR GENEROUS ALUMNI.

"If such possibilities for a rowing course existed near the University of Chicago, a company would be organized by alumni to execute the work at once.

"And down at Princeton, where they have no water course, I understand that Andrew Carnegie, or some other rich man, has subscribed money to dig a hole two miles long, and several hundred yards wide, which will be filled from reservoirs and converted into a long lake for rowing purposes. As soon as this is done Princeton will have a crew."

Students at the University of Michigan have long regretted the lack of facilities for boating. Michigan has the material to make a winning 'varsity crew. The men who have made the Wolverine football team famous would prove equally successful, under proper coaching, in a racing shell. Of course, the whole project would involve a great deal of money – far more than Michigan could devote form the university coffers; and once the water course was made ready for rowing there would be large expenditures necessary to lay in an equipment, shells, a boathouse and the like. Further, the running expense of a crew would be very high and, as no returns come in from gate receipts, the cost is a continual drain that must be made up form other athletic sports, the most productive being football, of course.

Manager Baird has long been in favor of any sport that would increase Michigan's prestige; but for the university itself to go ahead with the dredging scheme is impossible without outside aid.