New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-21
nor WATER IN THE CANALS.

nor WaTER IN THE CANALS.
Well. why not7 Now that the right whale
and the sperm have almost entirely abandoned
the warmer ATTITUDES, scarcely enough having
been caught during the past five years be-
tween New-YOrk and Buffalo to lubricate the
wheels of the canal-boats employed on the
line. and the grizzly bear having been driven
from the tOw-path by the slowly-adyanclng
mule, there seems to be no good reason Tor
keeping ice in the Erie Canal during the
! Winter season nothing to hinder that great
artery-so called by all the political conYen-
tions under the sanctity of platforms-from
heinp filed with hot water. So long as it was
the home of the walrus, the dolphin, and the
| whale, and the alternating grizzly sported on
its crystal surface or grazed upon the tow-path'
1t would. pave been improper, not TO 10 say
| cruel, to have turned hot water into the canal
and turned the whale and the grizzly ont.
Mr.. Henry Bergh would have arrested the
fireman and enioined the boiler. But those
days have gone. There may be in the canal
now an occasional lobster or meditatiye
clam but when everybody who has anything
TO do with the canal is continually in hot
water. the crustacea and the mOllusk can
hardly claim exemption. The times demand
hot water for purposes of navigation; the
Erie gondoliers cry aloud for it, the fIisky
mule Juggling at the tOw-line, and the pro-
fame pedestrian that follows him and spurs
him on, are eager for it; and 30 we say again,
why not!
A plan for heating the canal has been in
vented, and, as the readers of The TRIBUNE
have already been informed, was laid before
the Senate Committee on transportation at
its session in this city last Friday. 1t
is greatly to be feared that it will not receive
the attention it deserves. To the Congress
sional mind hot water, associated as it is with
aromatic favors and superficial nutmeg, does
not commend itself as pr0motiye of naylga-
ton. But the plan should be considered. 1t
is simple, practical, and beautiful. 1t consists
of two boilers and 1900 feet of steam pipe to
the mile, is estimated to cost about two mil
lions to begin with and from six to nine
hundred thousand dollars per annum to keep
il I'D. and il is believed will keep the canal
open all Winter, bringing verdure to the tow
path. prosperity to the boatman, tolls to the
treasury and grain to Albany. Could more be
nractical this, and how much cheaper than to
tunnel under the whole length OF the great
artery and undertake to heat it like a tea
kettle from the bottom! 1t is much more to
the purpose, too, and does not involve so
much engineering as the plan to turn the
waters of the Gulf Stream up the Hudson and
through the canal to Buffalo. To this latter
proposition the objection will at once occur
to the thoughtful mind that it would involve
us in suits for damages by Great Britain,
which depends almost entirely upon the Gulf
Stream for its climate. True, under Its trop-
zeal influence we should be able to raise
bananas and cocoanuts along the line of the
canal, enough perhaps. to pay the National
debt, as President Grant proposed to do by
the annexation of Santo Domingo but it would
be hardly worth while to 90 to war with
Great Britain for such a trifie as that.
No, none of these plans will hold water y
hot water-except this one to heat it by boil
ers and pipes. If any one doubts the feasi-
bility of it, let him take tea-kettle of water
and build fire under it. 1t will be found
that the fire keeps the water warm, and that
while in that condition it cannot freeze. II
this is true in the case of the tea-kettle, why
not in the case of the canall Then think of
the amelorations of hot water. With soap
how effcacious upon the beaming countenance
of the mule-driverl To the laundress of the
gondola what "a blessing; to the cook In the
caboose what a boon! How easy to drop into
the bubbling bosom of the deep, in the sim
plicity of bushel basket, the tear-compelling
onion, the bursting tuber, and the heightened
cabbage, and after towing them a suitable
time in the tepid waters of the great CONNER
cal artery, to rescue them all ready for the
table, boiled at the expense of the
nation, for the hardy mariners who
drive the boisterous mule or pillow the
boiling seas. Then, too, in the matter
of eggs, when night and tempest come on and
winds whistle through the rigging, and the pilot
damns the tarry top-lghts of the mule and the
mule surges wildly along the tow path then
when the provisions are exhausted, and the
mule driver and the mule cast lots to sec which
shall turn cannibal and eat the other the storm
tossed canal-boat can lay-to in boiling water.