The Portland daily press., 1868-12-12
Routes from the West TO ,l,e nsi.


ST. Paul has Chamber of Commerce, and
at meeting of that body he,o few days
ago, Mr.. Thomas NJ. Monroe of Richmond,
Va, made an elaborate speech, leading to a
long debate. The point discussed was, how the
st. Paul Chamber of Commerce can be enabled
to forward grain and other productions to Liv-
erpool ut the least cost The st. Paul people
have three plans before them, as follows:-
l. That they will ship by the Mississippi
River TO Prairie du Chen, where, by the aid Of
the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers navigation i'm
provement, they will reach Green Bay; from
Green Bay they propose to go to Buffalo, and
thence by Erie Canal and Hudson River to
New York.
2 The route from st. Paul to New Orleans.
thence direct to Liverpool, or to Liverpool by
way of New York. =
g. The" central water line" which is by way
of Miss ssppi and Ohio Rivers TO the Kama
wha River, in West Virginia; thence by that
river aud canal Improvement, to Richmond;
thence by James River, to Hampton Roads and
Liverpool.
1t is estimated that it will cost for transpor.
tation from ST. Paul to New York, by the
| Green Bay route, 81 67 per ton, or % cents
| per bushel of wheat. That it will cost from ST.
Paul to New York, by way of the Gulf Sc Ga
per ton. The cost by the central water line,
from st. Paul to Hampton Roads. will be IS II
per ton. Including the ocean charges, the cost
of transportation between St. Paul and Liver
pool is thus stated:-St. Paul to Liverpool, by
way of Green Bay, for each bushel of wheat,
35 cents; by way OF New Orleans, Al cents.
There is an unfortunate diff Guilty in the way
of transporting freight by the Wisconsin aud
Fox Rivers. These rivers are frozen in the
winter, and rarely have auy water in them
during the season of navigation. To be avaiia-
BILE, they will require TO be locked and damned
at an expense of many millions of dollars, and
then under very questionable chances of sue
cess. We do not wish to throw cold water up
on the proposition to improve the navigation
OF those rivers by artificial means; on the cou-
trary, we hope Wisconsin, with that enterprize
for which her people are so remarkable, will
prosecute the work SO soon as there is any
seeming necessity for it. But for the present
we do not think the people OF Wisconsin are
willing to create a debt of six to ten millions
upon an improvement which, if successful, will
have the effect OF diverting trade from Milwau-
kee, and which, in all probability, will be ut
terly valueless when completed.
The central water route is also unfortunately
obstructed by the Allegheny Mountains Were
it net for these, it would, perhaps, be imme-
diately available. The sum estimated as ne
cessary to put that part of this route lying in
Virginia in order is $26000000, or more than
double the cost of building the widest kind of
a canal around the Falls of Niagara. The
Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers have dIsa-
greeable habit, particularly in the season OF
navigation, of getting low III the supply of wa
ter; and supp0sing the Allegheny Mountains
all tunnelled, and all the creeks and streams
arched and made tributary, at an expense of
$40 0000C0, there would still be the Two great
rivers TO be attended TO. 1t would not do 10
have freight shipped from st. Paul to Liver
pool remain aground in one or both of these
rivers month or six weeks, waiting for a rain
to float it. The man is not living who will see
the general government undertake the wild
scheme of making, by artificial means, these
rivers navigable.
We are not opposed to the great central
route;' we hope it will be built just as speedily
as Old and West Virginia are able to do so,
and have promise that the business would
pay the interest on the money; but we do not
think that the present generation will See that
day.
The road from St Paul to market is plain
one. The lakes and the ST. Lawrence are the
natural outlet for the Northwest. The Erie
Canal, for long period, sufficed tor the bust
ness between the East and the West, but it is
wholly inadequate ior that purpose now Miiis LII
ar ificial means of getting round fa1 t 80 n
at Niagara, the West would find an ou.-~. u'.n ~.
the volume of production in eAee'' WV N'o
capacity OF the Erie Canal o,omapt like the
The Kanawha Canal IMP mn i',nrnvemaut NAV
Fn, and Wisconsin, Rivers lihproNeAhsht, my
HoA "nu w iSConJI t;nIp but il is not the pressing
De Completed NJ ~ day The country is rapidly
Necessity "a md ten years hence new routes 10
nllng uppit;c rom various points, and OF which
tue ,Annw nothing At present, may be demand
we kho"
ed. ,.-z;ox, &c ,I;s snb;act bad {, or ,.aooh
ed a conclusion when the ST. Paul Chamber OF
Commerce adjourned, and this par ,cular gues-
ton was postponed for a week. st. Paul and
the whole West, while taking q lively interest
in all projected works of this kind, have an i'm
mediate and pressing want for the early and
speedy construction OF the Niagara snip ga
nal That is a question of to-day; the others
can be considered hereafter.