Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-08-03

The amount of this iron which reached Lake
Erie in 1851 was
BY Erie canal TO Buffalo ............ 46,S76,427
BY Weand canal 10 Lake Erie. .... .156, 7e4,320
2Oa66o TAT
equal to l0l, $3.50, tons of 1000 lbs; and the
reduced toll on this one article would be
$553,955 20. 1t has been estimated by the
late Hon. Robert Rantou, jr., M. O., that the
northwest will require 100000 tons of railroad
iron per annum for the next five years, upon
which they will now pay more than half mil
lion of dollars less, in tolls alone, than they
would have paid before the enlarged Welland
canafwas opened.
Again over 100000 tons of wheat and -four,
and 10000 tons of corn from western States
were shipped eastward from Buffalo in 1851,
the reduction on the tolls of which amounts to
$5l2,830 from the rates of 1915; besides some
$4,000 tons of wheat and flour, and 10000
tons of corn, which passed down through the
Welland, to the most of which the reduced
tolls should be applied.
Thus the eastern States, in their imports of
three articles from the west, as well as the
western ones, in their import Of one article
from the east, have each obtained q reduction
of transit dues amounting to over half mil
lion of dollars, which is mainly to be ascribed
to the construction of the ship canals of Ca
NADIA.
Again: the tolls on the Erie canal upon to-
bacco are four times greater If "going from
tide-water" than if going torard" il, by which
policy it is hoped to draw this article from the
lower Ohio, Missouri, &C., to the eastern States
aud the seaboard through this canal. This
discrimination in direction has been abandoned
in respect of other articles, and will follow with
tobacco, because no similar distinctions are
made on the Welland
The auditor of the canal department, in his
report on the tolls, trade, and tonnage for 1850,
bears the following evidence to the influence
of the Welland canal:
"The diversion of western trade from Buffa-
10 to Oswego has also considerably affected the
revenue. While there has been 36,475 tons
less of this trade entered the Canal at Buffalo
in 1850 than in lS49, the western tonnage
coming in at Ospego has increased by 4l,664
TONS"
The Stae engineer of New York, in his re-
port Of February, 1851, urging the necessity Of
the enlargement of the Erie canal, says, that its
full capacity will be reached in 1852, and, after
remarkinglihat the cost of transport is one and
half cent per ton per mile, says, "There are
lines of communication now built, and in pro-
gress of construction, which can take freight at
cheaper rate;;" and, after alluding to the Og-
densburg rrilroad, he says: "But there is ano.
ther and, Iapprehend, still cheaper route, by
,oater to Lake Champlain, soon to come into
competition at the north, which will produce as
cheap or cheaper rates to Boston than the
above. The freight by that route aaoat on
Lake Chauplain may find cheaper transport to
New York than to Boston. 1t will not pass
through the Erie canal, and will be diverted
A ol,o L
says: Canada and Boston have not yet per-
fected all their works. All will soon have their
whole machinery in motion. Their plans are
not the product OF blindness or folly-they are
the results of good judgment and just appre-
citation oflthe great boon sought and the best
means of sttainment."
The effect of the Canadian navigation on the
imports OF western States is ascertained by the
$4,000 tons of iron american property i'm
ported las year via Quebec. The large amount
of tonnage entering Quebec in ballast in quest
of timber will bring in coal, iron, slate, salt,
and other heavy articles at about half the rates
now charged on these articles to New FORK.
While, therefore, ocean freights inward are SO
much less than at New Y ork, the abundance
Of timber enhances all other freghts outward
to more than double that from New York
The position of the two ports is reversed: it is
the outward voyage which pays at Quebec,
while at New York -four has been carried om
for six pence sterling per barrel to Liverpool.
When the effect of the repeal of the naviga-
ton laws brings more vessels into Quebec than
are required for timber, outward freight from
the lakes may pour down the st. Lawrence,
and the rates Of freight come down to a stand
ard which will make the whole cost of ship.
ment from the lakes to Europe, via the st. Law
renee, as favorable as via New York.
THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS.
This group of islands occupies prominent
position, almost in the centre of the Gulf of st.
Lawrence, and directly in the track of vessels
bound up the gulf for Quebec. Including the
Bird and BrioI islands, which evidently form
part of the group, the whole length Of the
range is about ifty-six miles in an eastnorth-
east direction.
Amherst island, the most southern Of the
chain, is nearly oval, nearly six miles in length
and three and half in extreme width. It's
harbor is the best in the chain, with narrow
but straight entrance, over a soft ooze bar, for
vessels drawing eleven to twelve feet water.
This island is eighteen leagues northwest of
Cape Breton; the same northward of Prince
Edward island. 1t is thirty-six leagues from
the nearest point of Newfoundland, seventy
i've leagues from the French settlements at st.
Pierre and Miquelon, and one hundred and
eighty leagues eastward of Quebec.
The central portions of the Magdalen islands
rise into hills, varying from two hundred to
five hundred and eighty feet above the sea;
their tops are rounded. On the sides of these
hills are found strati6ed deposits of sand.
stones and ochreous clays, with gypsum in the
hoilows and basins, and also occasionally in
veins.
The water of many springs and rivulets is so
salt as to be unfit for use; and although rock
salt has not yet been found, yet it is believed
TO exist in these islands.
The gypsum forms an article Of export. On
one OF the group it is found of exceeding fine
quality, and very white, approaching TO alabas
ter in purity.
The principal dependence Of the inhabitants
IS upon the cod fishery, although they also
prosecute the. herring and seal fisheries to some
extent.
there are at present upon these islands
about two thousand inhabitants, the majority
OF whom are French Acadians.
The fisheries around the Magdalen islands