Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1838-06-16
GE CITY, OHIO, SATURDAY, JUNE le, 1888.

II 10 nnlsned To Plqua, under contract 10 ot
Mary's and the remaining tiftythree miles tc
its junction near Defiance, with the Wabash
and Erie, is mostly simple excavation through
a level country. The whole line will undoubt.
edly be prepared for navigation IN the summer
of 1910. The length of the main line will be
about one hundred and eighty miles, and oI
navigable feeders, including st. Mary's reser.
-voir, say forty miles. The summit level,
which is some distance south of st. Mary's, is
400 feet above Lake Erie. When finished, ii
will furnish Cincinnati with water communi-
cation to lake Erie, nearly two hundred miles
shorter than that by the Ohio canal and river,
and save one trans-shipment.
Divergng from the main trunk at Fort
Wayne, the Erie and Michigan" canal will
extend to Michigan City, on lake Michigan, a
miles. Summit level above lake. Michigan
323 feet, above upper levelsof Wabash and
Erie canal lag feet The route," say the
Board ofPublic Works of Indiana, in their last
annual report, "is highly favorable in its gen
era features to the construction of a cheap and
safe canal" "This work." the report says,
sis only delayed until the force engaged on
the contiguous work, wabash and Erie) can
in part he spared and transferred to it.
The next branch is to leave the Wabash and
Erie at point yet undetermined, between Fort
Wayne and Logansport, and pass through the
valleys of the Missssinewa and White river,
down the west fork of the latter, and thence to
the Ohio, at Evansville. This is called the
"centrat canal" the lower section of which,
10 miles in length, is common to this and the
Wabash ard Erie canal, as before described.
Its length, exclusive of the lower and southern
section, is about one hundred and seventy
miles. The middle or Indianapolis division is
under contract, to be finished in September
next. Thus we see that the Wabash and Erie
improvement, withts branches leading to it in
general direction towards its exit in Maumee
harbor, comprises length of artificial naviga-
ton Of oNE THOUSAND MILEs--1nd all either
finished, under contract, or soon to be con-
tracted for, and ample means provided for the
speedy completion of the whole plan. Radia-
ing from the Maumee valley, it embraces with
in its widespread arms every variety OF rich
soils, dry rolling prairie, the picturesque oak
openings, and the heavily wooded plains. To
the south, it traverses the rich and highly cul'
tivated Miami country, and connects with the
Ohio river at the point of its two thousand
miles ofcoast where the queen city the West
gathers in her growing commerce. Stretching
far to the south west, it embraces the exuber-
ant valley of the Wabash. To the west, it
commands the trade of upper Indiana and the
St. Joseph's county of Michigan, and forms a
cheap and safe connection between Lakes Erie
and Michigan. ... =.
But the foregoing embrace those canals on.
l,r ,h sc ,,,b;oh fhr
faith Of the States of Ohio and Indiana is ire
vocably pledged. There are other canals in
contemplation, properly belonging to the sys
TEN, which have engaged the attention of the
States of Indiana and Illinois, and which from
the cheapness of their construction and the
important advantages anticipated from theiI
use, will probably be soon commenced, and
ought not to be passed by without notice
The first not having yet been named, will call
the "Calumrt canal" 1t will pass round the
south end Of Lake Michigan, and unite the
Erie and Michigan to the Illinois canal. 1t
will diverge from the Erie and Michigan,
where that cana.., is passing round the ridge,
dividing the waters of the Kankakee from
the waters flowing into the lake on its way
to Michigan city, approaches nearest the
line of Illinois, thence it will follow the Calu-
met twenty four miles to the Illinois line, and
continuing its course westward twenty seven
miles, it will unite with the Illinois canal twen-
ty-four miles below Chicago. On this subject
will quote from the Board of Public Works
and their Engineers in their late report 10 the
Indiana Legislature. The Board say they have
have had survey made of the Erie and Mich
igan improvement with view to its definite To-
cation q. final connection iUithtte Illinois canal.
The president and engiueer of the canal have
recently made survey for.the route on the H.
linois side, and found it entirely practicableto to
make that connection. twill be recollected
that the attention of the General Assembly has
been heretofore invited by the Board to this in
teresting subject, and they now repeat their
conviction ofthe Importance ofthis connection,
which cannot fail to be productive of great
commercial facilities, whilst it will add to the
wealth and character of the State" The en-
gineers say, "the survey which has eenmade
by the State of Illinois; as we were Informed
by the engineer, diverges from the Illinois and
Michigan canal, twenty-four miles west Il
Chicago. The length, west of Indiana, will
probably be twenty-seven miles, the whole Of
which has been located on level, nine and o
half feet above the level of lake Michigan
The portlonto be constructed by Indiana, to
perfect this connection between these canals
will probably be about twenty -four miles.
Sufficient information has been collected to
warrant the assertion that remarkably cheap
and safe location can be made, either along the
grand Calumet or the Calumet proper. From
the best data now at command, the whole dis
tance of the canal from the Illinois and Michi-
gan canal to the Maumee Bay, is estimated at
300 miles," As the Illinois canal extends
westward seventy five miles beyond the juno
ton here spoken Of, the whole length of canal
line will be 375 miles. This is not all. A ca
nal route from the west cid Of the Illinois ca
nal, to the Mississippi, near the mouth Of Rock
River, has been surveyed under authority ofthe
State, and found to offervery few distractions
to the construction Of cheap canal. Its length
! cannot state precisely, but it will not vary
much from one hundred miles. BY this route