Dredging

Hi kids!

While we were sailing down the Chesapeake Bay we ran across one of the
machines that keep the waterway passable. It's called a dredge.

This thing is huge. It is a big, big steam shovel. The big scooper
gets chomped down in the water to the bottom. It bites a bite of mud
and sand from the bottom, picks it up and dumps it into the barge next
to it. Then it does that again until the barge is full. A tugboat then
pushes the barge off someplace else and dumps it.

Why, you might ask, would our beloved government spend money moving
dirt around the bay? Well, kids, they do it to make sure the water is
deep enough for the big ships to pass through as they bring stuff into
the cities and take other stuff away.

Man, it looked like fun to sit and move mud around all day with a big
steam shovel. I like being a traveling pirate but if I was going to
have a job, that's the one I'd want.

So kids, be good and be thankful you have a big, benevolent government
taking care of your waterways making sure your scrap iron can be
exported and your toys can keep coming to the stores near you.