Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1874-01-22

CT ycb pccn uSeu up 10 any tnlnS like iCS
capacity, nevertheless, our increasing
requirements need now to be forecast
and provided for by recourse to the nat
ural outlet of the lakes, the River St.
Lawrence, and the Hudson, to the sea :;
that the value of the lake trade has in
creased to $700,0O0,OOO from $4,000, ,OO0
its value in 1S4l; that the Champlain
route would be the surest guarantee
against monopolies and combinations Of
railroad companies; that the frequent
and long detention of produce at Buffa-
10 and on the Erie Canal is ruinous to
the producer,and exceedingly annoying
and vexatious to the shipper ;that when
the northern Pacific Railroad is compile
ted line Of propellers from Chicago or
Duluth to New York, to 60 through in
from eight to ten days without break
ing bulk, will be indispensable; that if
this route were opened any vessel that
comes to Montreal, New York's present
greatest rival, could keep on her course
right through to the metropolis; that
the large quantities of iron ore raised
and shipped from the Champlain region
require an outlet ;that there is no doubt
but the Caughnawaga Canal will be
built by Canada, and that the benefits
derived BY this country from that canal
will be reaped by Boston, Portland, and
other Eastern cities, if New York rejects
the prize; that it would furnish an out
let for the lumber districts of New York
Yer mont, and Canada; that the cost of
the work would not exceed $s,000,0OO
which allows s3,5OO,0OO for raising
eleven dams two feet higher and eleven
locks the increased size, and for con-
structing the seventeen miles of canal
ten feet in depth instead Of seven; that
ton of freight can be carried from
Lake Erie to tide water via the st. Law
renee and Lake Champlain for sl.95 less
than by the Erie Canal in five days less
time,and that the capacity of the north
ern route would be three times that of
the Erie Canal; that the question of
"steam on the canals would be solved;
and that the enlargement of the Erie
Canal. if accomplished, would even be
no reason why the Champlain shIpca-
nal should not be built,as there would be
plenty of work for both.
THE PLAN SAID TO BE IAPRACTICABLE.
The Champlain ship canal scheme is.
not with its weak points and there is no
lack of expounders to make them
known. In the first place <hey claim
that the cost of such a work would be
$l5, ,O0O, 900 or 10000, 900 instead of S.
00O, 1000 or $4,000, 900, and that the trade
from the Northwest by this route when
completed would be about enough to
pay the lOck-tenders on the canal. The
immense cost of the work would only
be another load of debt upon the State
or leech upon the earnings of the
Erie Canal, like the Genesee Valley Ca
nal with its $l5,OO0,OO0 debit balance, the
Chenango Canal with its S,400 900 debt
balance, the Black River Canal with its
IS, ,2O0, 900 debit balance, the Oswego Ca
nal with its $780, 900 debit balance, and
the Chenug Canal with its s., ,135, 900
debit balance. The opponents of the
Champlain ship canal scheme ask why,
if the enterprise is such paying one,
private capital does not build it. They
assert that the Erie Canal, with its $780,
000, 900 credit balance, is and will be, if
properly cared for, the principal if not
almost the sole channel of commerce by
water through the State of New York;
that long before the Champlain ship ca
mails enlarged most Of the vessels on the
lakes will be of too large class to navi-
gate them, for the size of vessels built
during the past two years for lake SER
vice, especially screw steamers,is almost
1000 tons ;that to make the canals large
enough to pass such vessels as these
would cost about 500, ,OOO, GOO; that it
has been found to be much cheaper to
move grain in the large class Of lake
vessels, and that hereafter small ones
will not be built; that it is much cheap
er to transport freight in barges after it
leaves Lake Erie, as is now done on the
Rideau Canal from Kingston to Mon
treal, than to go to the expense of max
ing channel large enough to allow the
lake craft to pass all the way through;
that it would take steam vessels about
seven days and sailing vessels thirteen
days to pass through the les miles of
canals between Lake Erie and New
Yoek via Lake Champlain, besides the
time required to pass over the 544 miles
of natural water navigation. Accord
ing to the estimate of j. P. Goodnell,
while State Engineer and Surveyor,
the cost of enlarging the present Cham
plain Canal from Troy to Whitehall
(not from Fort Edward to Whitehall(so
as to admit of the passage of boats Of
500 tons, with locks 225 feet long, % feet
wide, and feet of water, according to
Senate Document 81, 1867, would be So
s66,s5l. The cost of canal of the same
from Fort Edward to White
hall-twenty-five miles-with improve
ment of the Hudson from Fort Edward
down to Troy, as now proposed, is ssti-
mated at $4,534, 1873. The proposed ship
canal on the same line is to have 20 feet |
of water instead Of z, water surface of
l50 feet instead of 80 feet,with locks 800
by As feet instead of 225 by % feet. 1t
is claimed, therefore, that if such a ca
nal as was contemplated when Mr..
Goodnell made this survey would cost |
s., ,0O0, 900 or 6,OOO,O 900, and constructed |
on the present plan would cost $l5, ,OOO,-
900 or $40, 100000.
The Canadian officials, in their public |
state that the object of the |
projected Caughnawaga Canal from the |
st. Lawrence to the Richelieu, and |
which lies in the course of the Cham
plain ioute from New York to the West,
sis to compete with the Erie and Oswe-
go canals, and to create facilities for the
passage OF vessels down the st. Law
renee, through the Caughnawaga Canal
into Lake Champlain, and thence to
New York; likewise to secure an easy
and cheap communication for vessels
with wheat and other grain
for the Eastern States, to connect with
the Boston railway at Burlingten,Vt to |