Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1867-03-30
GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
GOOD NEWS FOR L.KE SHIPPERS.
General Grams Plan for Remedyfng
the Obstruetions at Sc. Clair FIats
Adopted by Governmenf-The Work
40 be Speedily Commented.
[From the Detroit Post, 18Th. ]

IFrom the Detroit Post, 18th
By last mail, orders from the Engi-
neer Department reached the engineer
officer in charge of our river and har-
Dor improvements. directing General
Cram to discontinue all operations he
may have commenced upon the present
crooked old channel of st. Clair Flats,
and to make the necessary arrange
ments for commencing the work upon
the proposed new channel without de-
lay. $4,000 of last and $3.50, 900 of
this years appropriation will be avail
able with which to commence the
work
1t is also understood that the Chief
of the Engineer Department obtained
the approval of the Secretary of War,
and transmitted that to Gen. Cram for
the work, which it was generally be-
lieved, though not before officially pro-
mulgated, was directed by Congress
''to be made and the money expended
In accordance with the plans and speci-
fications of Gen. Cram, as recommend
ed in his report of Dec. 10, 1866" The
essential features of the plan will be
ascertained by reading the resume
given below.
The Chief Engineer reports to the
Secretary OF War that the canal will
fall within the United States territory,
as shown by the maps and reports of
the boundary commission.
seen. Cram, In his reports to the
Engineer Department, estimates that
the widening, deepening and preserv-
- he -, 1f - Il
channel, will cost the Government
1914, 100. =
"By act of Congress, June %, 1866,
$4,000 were appropriated 'for the i'm
provement of st. Clair fats without
specifying any particular channel or
route to be improved; and the act says
and he 1.-THE Secretary of War; shall
make such changes of the plans hereto
fore adopted for their improvement as
snail be necessary and proper"
Under this authority, given by the
law, Gen. Gram proposes to abandon
| the present crooked route and make q
straight ship canal from the mouth of
the pass, directly across the fiat into
the lake, which will be only IL miles
long, thereby saving one mile at least,
and to have a depth of ID feet below
the lowest known stage of water and q
width of 300 feet between its banks,
which are to be vertical on the sides
next to the canal and protected by a
dyke revetment, and to rise five feet
above the surface of the lake, and to be
| SO feet wide on top, including the II
feet thickness of dyke the banks to
be made of the material excavated to
| form the canal.
''The only perishable part will be
that portion of the wood work of the
dykes above water, which, to keep in
repair, is estimated to cost less per an
mum than the maintenance of the lights
and buoys necessary for the present
crooked channels and which would be
dispensed with for the straight canal.
The banks are to be sloped on the side
next to the lake water, and he adduces
the existing banks Of the United States
Ship Canal, cut from a bend in the
river Raisen directly to Lake Erie, in
1916, as an example, showing how tim
Der will spontaneously grow on banks
whose soil is brought up by excavation.
There trees have grown in % years to
the size of 20 inches IN diamter, with
out any fostering other than what ma
ture has bestowed, and, he says that by
care in planting, and attention after
wards, vegetation may in a few years
be made strong and fourishing on the
| banks of his proposed canal across st.
Clair Flats, and thereby give them a
lasting and handsome character. He
also provides tor preventing Injury to
the outer or lake slopes of the banks
from what might be apprehended from
the lake waves and currents, which by
observations recently and specially di-
rected thereto, are shown to be of
small force.
1.-THE entire cost of the canal is esti-
mated at $428, 754, and to be completed,
If commenced next spring, by the win
ter of 1868.
"Such canal would allow sail YES
sells, under fair wind, to pass without
being towed day and night, relieve the
commerce of an annual tax now borne
of more than $1,000 on account of
its being straight, wide and deep, and
mile shorter, and would also relieve it
of the tax for detention under which it
now labors. And it is shown that, in a
pecuniary point of view, the advantage
TO commerce which the canal, when
completed, would bestow over and
above what the present crooked chan
mel, improved to it's highest degree,
could bestow, is 1925, 900 annually
And it is also shown that the total cost
of the canal would be only seven
eighths of the amount of tax for dam
age, towage, pilotage, illumination and
buoying now annually expended, and
which would be lifted from the COM
merce in one year after completing the
canal. The canal would thus pay for
its whole cost in less than one season
of navigation after its completion. Nor
would this plan require the expendit-
ure of the $40, 1000 recently appropri-
ated for range lights any more than 10
construct two beacon lights, one on
each extremity of one of the canal
banks. The present lighthouse range
| lights, beacon lights, and system of
buoys could be dispensed with as being
no longer necessary.
'"The foregoing are the principal rea-
sons for recommending the engineer
| department to ask the Hon. Secretary
of War to call upon Congress to make
besides the existing $50, 000) an appro-
priation, during the present session, of
| STA, 377, and another appropriation of
the same amount at its next following
session, for the construction of the ca
nal, rather than TO call for appropria.
tons for improving the old route.
"Gen. Cram says: Very few chan
nels of commerce present such a con-
slant stream of naRsinu vessels "a seen