The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-11-21
THE ILLINOIS CANAL.

Surveyors under the l. 5. authority hayc
been occupied for the last month or two in
making surveys between Lockport and La
Sale with view of determining the teasibil.
ity, probable cost, &c. of converting the Hi
nois & Michigan canal into ship canal. \
report on the subject will probably be sub
mitted to the next congress- the feasibility OF
the job demonstrated and the cost estimated
at eight or ten millions. There the matter
will drop, until, five or ten years hence, ru-
mors of war; or another cheap transportation
excitement, will revive the project, and then
there may be another survey and estimate, as
there have been three or four already.
There is, however, in this connection, anoth.
cr project ,.on foot which, with the present
western feeling on cheap transportation may
elicit favorable action by congress, SO far, at
least, as TO lead to practical beginning Of
the work. This is the project to extend the
Illinois canal from Peru to Rock Island. The
cost of this undertaking, it is well ascertain
ed, will not exceed $4,jO0,000, and in compa-
rlson with the results to follow from it, the
sum is certainly tritle The proposed ca
nal says writer in the Chicago Tribune,
"woud tap, at Rock Island, the currents of
grain which flow down the Mississippi from
the northwest. How great this flow is may
be inferred from the fact that Iowa, Minneso-
ta Wisconsin and Illinois produced, in 1870
over 100000000 bushels of wheat alone.
Tho Grain nrnJppal in thnSn otnt bn
floated down the Mississippi in barges, and
the barges could then be towed directly to
Chicago. This towing might be done by q
locomotive running on narrow-guage rail
now being tried on the Erie canal may prove
successful enough to warrant their use here.
If only thirty boats passed through the canal
per day, they would transport $500 tons of
grain. I1would take for,y-two heavily laden
railroad trains to carry the same amount.
The saving in cost of transportation would
be great Not only would the goods carried
on the canal pay low freights, bat also those
transported by rail The opening Of the wa.
terway would compel the Chicago &
Rock Island railway to reduce its rates at
once. The Burlington and Quincy and
Northwestern would quickly be forced to fol.
low suit. A similar reduction by all the east
and west lines would be only a question
of time. Thus the whole west whether or
not it used the canal, would be the gamer by
IT."
While these antcipa,ions may possibly be
overdrawn as 10 the probable business of the
canal, the gain TO the west, in the way Of re.
duction of railroad freights, would be certain
and inevitable. For instance, have the farm
ers Of La Sale, Grundy and VIII counties ev
er figured how much they gain each year
by the reduction of railroad freights which
the Illinois canal brings them? Two years
ago grain shippers at ana beyond Princeton,
or anywhere ont of the reach of the river and
canal, paid from - to 20 Cts. per bushel as
freight on corn or wheat TO Chicago; while
counties contigous to the canal paid less
than half those rates. Yet the canal did no
heavy business-its tolls paid little more than
enough to run it and keep it in repair. But
it saved millions to the public nevertheless
in reducing railroad freights The proposed
canal from Rock Island would repay its cost
every year to the people Of the northwest in
the same way. Il might not take near as
much business from the railroads as many an
tcIpate, but it would force the railroads 10 do
business at reasonable rates
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