Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1862-03-04
The Enlargement orthe Canal.

The Enlargement orthe Canal.
We givs,in to days paper, the bill report
ed by the Committee On Military affairs in
the House Of Representatives providing for
the enlargement Of the canal We need not
advise our readers to peruse it, as it is
matter of sufficient magnitude to claim the
the attention of every man in the Union.
The bill as reported contains much that
may by objectionable, but, in the main, IT
is worded with caution. 1t is true, it gives
wide powers to the Commissioners, but this
IL necessary in order to givethe proposition
/ a tangible character. The bill may TER
/ hays require modification or improvement,
/ but that the exigences demand its adopt
/ ion in some form does not admit Of d doubt.
/ The committee submitted TO the House,
accompanying the bill, report setting forth
| the plan, costs and feasibility of the work.
The report is elaborate and presents the
matter in its true attitude, and were it not
/ for its length we would give it entire to
! our readers. The committee first discuss
the Importance of connecting the great
northwestern lakes with the nayigable wa
tiers of the Mississippi by q channel which
should permit steamboats, and war vessels
to pass from the Mississippi to the lakes,
and then enter upr n an examination of the
various propositions suggested for the ini>
provement.
Politically the committee regard the ship
canal as Of vast Importance. They argue
that its tendency would be to bind together
the States Of the Northwest and the South
west and both these to the East. Certain
it is that the Improvement will have to be
made at no distant day. Saving nothing
about its great commercial advantages,
under the existing circumstances, it has
become an absolute military necessity
The report recommends that the line of
the present canal be abandoned at this
city, and to substitute slack water naviga-
ton, by locks and dams on the river running
through this city and nearly parallel to it,
for distance of sixty miles.
For the information Of Congress, es.i-
mates nave been made by the Secretary of
the Board of Canal Trustees, William
Goodwin ESQ, chief engineer of the work
at the time of its construction, and from a
survey of the Illinois River by John B.
Preston, ESQ, at present engineer and gen
eral superintendent of the canal. The es-
Inmates upon which the committee base
their report are perfectly reliable, as the
gentlemen who furnish them possess the
ability and experience to arrive at the facts
with minutenoss only possessed by them
at present; as the surveys are in their pos.
session.
In the event of a war with England,
which is DG improbable occurrence, consid-
ering the existing complications, the ship
canal would be an object of indispensable
necessity. And il our difficulties with the
South, the enterprise is of equal impor-
lance Therefore, all objections to the
contamination of the great work should
cease, AMI it should ba completed ut the
earliest possible moment.
Three plans are proposed by the COM
mittee. The first is to enlarge our present
canal from Chicago to this place sufficient
for ships and steamboats, to pass, and then
10 improve the river from here 10 the Mis-
sissippi-the water to be taken from Lake
Michigan. The canal to be l60 feet wide
on the bottom and the locks $50 feet long
and ~ feet wide The depth Of water to he
sufficient fer the passage Of the largest
class O.! stoam boats aud vessels drawing six
feet. The total cost Of this plan is estima>
ted at $I3 246. 824
The second plan proposed is for Il width If
100 feet at the bottom. and to cost $ll 500,
900. And the third is for supplying the
water from the Calumet, Des PLANES and
Du Page rivers. and by pumping wheels
from Lake Michigan at cost 50 ,242. Al
Whichever OF the plans the Government
may choose TO adopt, tho committee are Of
the opini, that the work can he completed
without material charge upon the treasury,
for the reronue derived from tolls when
the proposed improvement shall be compile
ted, will be sufficient not only to keep it in
repair aud pay the interest on its cost, but
also to provide a sinking fund Cor the liq-
uidatiOn of the principal.
According to the estimate Of hecommit
tee, it would take five years to complete the
work, without interfering with the naviga-
ticn on the canal or Illinois river, and three
years if the work should be pushed ahead
without regard to the interruption Of naviga
ton.
We would not be considered as specula-
ting upon probabilities, but it is our
opinion, if this great improvement be I'M
dertaken By the Government, that real
estate on the route will be more than dOub~
led in price and that in fact, not only
the prosperity of this State be greatly in
creased but that Of the whole Union, East
and West, will be immensely enhanced
1t is, therefore, desirable not only On ac-
count of its military aud naval advantages
but for its political and commercial benefits
The junction of the Mississippi and the
lakes by steam navigation would open a
new era in the history Of our country and
bind the different sections more closely to-
gether.
A Sermon by Rev. John Kidd.
The eloquent and able sermon delivered
by the Rev. John Kidd, NJ. A, in the First
Congregational Church of this city. On the
morning of the 9Th of subject.
"Scripture Warrant of the Hope Ct Eternal