, 1866-03-01

N4EAt!kf Aux PdshIuE fEehtlS Dl k%-lG tQIS puT-
then, OF If the Nel1and and st. Lawrence
canals are enlarged to the same capacity, It
will only remain to be decided whether ship7
Of ], 200 tons bufthen, passing through 50 or
60 miles Of canal, can successfully compete
with boats Of ssb0 tons travezsing $50 miles of
canal: He had recently seen the pub
eaual, from which it appeared that IS
miles of canal between hkcs nnd rivers would
enable chips Of ], go tons burthen to pass from
Lake Huron to Montreal, reducing the dis
tance between Chicago and Montreal 10 100
miles less than that between Chicago aud
Buffalo. If We mike the Erie Canal adequate
to pass boats Of 600 tons burthen, with the
commanding influence ot New York as CON-
mercial metropolis. and With the advantage
Of employing vessels larger than l 100 tous On
the Lakes, VIC can compete Wlthfthese routes,
but not otherwise.
BY an interesting exhibit Of statistics, 3lr.
Walker proceeded to show that the Erie Ca
nal has already been taxed to It's full capa-
the capacity OF the Erie Canal for each navl-
ga.ion season rs :, ,9o0, 900 tons. This estimate
Is Lased on the assumption that there are 200
days Of unobstructed navigation in the sea-
son, and allowing 1ockage Of . boat through
each Of the double locks every 10
s 9nE toe snd sssh %sPaafd eGat bound
50 tons. This would give lockage for
ia bouts each way p hours The total nun
ber Of loekages at Alexaudtr's lock In t56o was
1855, which gayc 1ockagc every 13 lilo
minutes. The total tonaage Of the canals In
1sG2 was 5,598, ,76S. Theoretically the esti-
mate Of Commissioner Bruce Is right, but
practically It Is wrong, FOR the reason TINT
the tonnage moving from the West i un-
equally distributed, being large in tho spring
and fall mouths, and small in tho summer
months, and varying with the markets. For
four months Of the year 1862 the business
Of the canals reached their maximum capt.
city. While the total tonnage of oil the ca
mails in 1862 was !, 1855, ,7S3, 2,610, 4o1 tons we're
moved eastward from Buffalo and Osweso,
aud SIS, 5u7 tons were received at these points,
making the total eastward and westward
movement At these western terminal points
3,102, ,308 tons- During the same year 3,402,-
100 tons were delivered al tide-watcr. twill
be seen from this that the tonnage from the
lateral cans1s was little more than two.f1fths
Of the v1ole canal tonnage. The thirteen
single locks between Rochester and Clyde
we're, during 1862, In the spring and tall
months, more than taxed to their full capa-
city Te1atious delays frequently occurred, by
sr9wds Of beats, M caused y r. inade1nate
1ab2, 1,O56, ,98a tons were cleared from Buffalo,
equal to 9,9c4 boat-loads of 200 tons each.
One hundred thousand tons of timber and
lumber, equal to 500 boat-loads, we're sent
eastward from Tonawanda, Ia addition to
which there were from 500 to 100 boat-loads
from tho Genesce Valley Canal, and 800 more
tic counties bordering on the
canal west Of Rochester; making about
II GOO boat toads TO pass eastward through
the II single locks. The westward movement
Of the same number would mike e, 200 lock-
ages, for the season. equal to a boat every
1a]]{ minutes. This Is nnequally distributed,
and consequently thete Is an lnadequate CO.
paclty for a movement as large 90 that IN
1863. during about three months Of tie year
This shows conelusiYely u commercial ne
cessity for doubling the u locks, anu #
doubled they should be made of sufficient
burihen, to to meet he demands Of the growing
commerce Of the Western States The eight
states Of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois,
Minnesota, Iowa, Wlsconsion and Missouri,
had in 1910 a population Of 3,34t ,544,
with IN cereal product Of l65, ,6os, So S.:
shsas' stsass in ise Hhd RaR':ssa POP s s viii tse.s
cereal product sof 5ae,sol ,e97 bushels. The
corn crop OF Illinois alone, in 1865, as estfmat-
ed by the Agricultural Bureau, was 5;a;8, $751;
Sij bushels, or more than three times tho
amount Of the total cereal crops Of tho FORE
going eight States iu 1870 The surplus
moved to Eastern markets rangts from fifteen
to twenty per cent Of the crop produced.
The total movement Eastward from the
States In 1862 wns 13s, 600 Goo bushels, OF
which about Is per cent was received at BuE.
fn'o md Oswego. With the amount OF move.
nent In 1862, md the angmenting production
II the canal Vas taxed to Its null capacity in
the former EeaF, it will be entirely Inadequate
in The latter.
Amer remark. By Messrs. Cyrus Clarke, u.
8. Haw1ey, n. c. e1mons, Hon. j. j. L. Jew
ett, s. s. Guthrie, A. L. Griffin and o.. W.
frIJ- -l@4t$ -