The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1855-12-05


current tow boats could carry almost any r
number Of batges or canal boats either up |
Or down. @
Again, boats would not then as now, be
to be idle during most of the
Summer AID Fall months for want Of water. |
Neither would they be obliged. as thes now
are, to start with half load. and
grind the bottom of their boats at that
Nor would they be liable to stick in bars
and riPples often at great expense and dam
age. d I-sEE
These Advantages would render steam
boats a more desirable specious OF property /
and, although the rates Of freight would be
less, their yearly earnings would be more.
Ii may be safely affirm d that a sure navi |
CATION, and uniform tariff of rates, would /
bring Il three fold greater amount of trade
to the river than would ever seek il were
things to Iemain us they arc.
TPs COAL TRADE.
1t is but few years since ccal, in any
considerable quantity, began to be shipped
down the Ohio from the region around
Pittsburgh. but now the shipments reach
millions of bushels annually, and the quan.
rity is rapidly increasing, and must contine
TO increase indefinitely. In 1850, the total
amount of coal received at Cincinnati, was
4. 500, coo bushels; this year it has been tO,-
$50 600 bushels, and in this ratio it will
probably continue 10 increase
The usual mcthdd Of carrying coal 10 the
lower markets at present is 10 load it into
quare, fl At boltomed boats. generally ali
LIE over 100 feet lon5 by sixteen to twenty
wide, and about six deep, known as arks,
Hat hoats and roal.hcrns." One #
these boats will carry From 8 go TO 10. 900
bushels, or from 230 to $50 tons. They
run only in couples, aud from twelve totf-
teen men are required to menage them
They are rugged with several pairs OF
sweeps 20 urge them forward, and steering
, sweeps fore and Mt to keep them in the
Channel. BIti i'll spite of these they are Of
' ten stranded and lost, and the loss Of the
f boat is not unireqoentIy attended with loss
OF life. llis,only in times Of high water
}. that these Boats can run at all, and then
d too, much coal is often thr 'wn upon the
: market at one, to the great Inconvenience
= Of wholesale purchasers, and often to The
n serious detriment Of the shippers. Never,
t. perhaps, was there a great trade carried o,
y more irregularly and flfu!y. Sometime
u there is 50 much cotl at the wharves Of til,
: large cities on the Lower OHIO that purcha
s. sers cannot be found for il; at othe
at times the supptyis almost exhausted. l
the course of "A single season he price {
d coal in Cincinnati has risen from tcn to fol
IS ty cents per bushel. The b ,ats are neve
= brought back.
6 Barges, about 100 feet long, Is wide an
# feet deep. are beginning to be used Tw
Of of ;hyse sre coupled together and tome
II down and back by tow boats. These, to
require high water and great propelin
y power.
Were The river converted into a sac
" water canal, steam tow boat could Cover
" downwards an tow back more than fy
times as many as it now can, and then 10
- water would be better than high, becau'
; less power would be required, and what
still more Important, the trade would b
y prosecuted with safety and regularity.
THE CANAL AROUND THE FALLS.
y whl here sustain this project by anotl
, cr reason, not presented to the Ptttsburg
i Board Of Trade. Should the Ohio be col
> verted into slack water navigation, the C
: nal around the falls would no longer
- necessary, and thus great nuisance woul
- be abated, and a Company of extortionis
cease to exist. The Canal is about tv
Ia miles in length, and just wide enough
ne allow a second class Ohio steamer to pa
! through it, receiving more or less dan
- age in her passage through, Whit
"' usually occupies from four to 81
'e hours after, oftentimes, waiting day for
'e chance to get iato it. The present rate
10 toll, am informed is 25 cents per ton [ui
I'll recently twas 80 cents so that it cosI
E. most steamers 800 to get through, to sa
a. nothing of the damage to the boat, incurre
ID during its long passage and heavy thumI
q ings against the solid walls Of the canal. =
II During most Of the year all vessels goin
above or below Louisville, must pass thrt
1t the canal and some idea Of the enormou
l. amount thus levied u ION the commerca {
el the Ohio, may be formed from few fig
l. ures.
Is During the last year, ending on the 31s
I Of August 369 steamboats, arrived at Gin
i cinna, from New Orleans and st. Louis
Is and the Departures for these two ports wer
= 4l9, making total Of 8l8. The arrival
3 and 1eputures from, and for all other port
e except Pittsburgh, is set down at 3,8o5
making grand total Of 4.623. ASSUMING
that only one e-half of these passed through
the Canal, we would have tolls from Gin
| ia.