Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1874-01-29

immense increase which would be. Civ
en- to the capacity of the canal if Their
were no locks, or if the locks as the!
exist were we'll manned and worked
faster. State Engineer Richmond, il
one of his reports to the Legislature
claimed that four minutes was sufiicien
time for one boat to consume in passing
in and out of q lock. He added tha
'sthis result would give $50 loekages il
twenty-four hours at single lock, ant
72O at double locks. Calling the move
ment from tide equ al to one-seventh Of
the tonnage going to tide-water and
the average length Of the season of nav.
igation 23O days, it would make the an
nual capacity of the Erie Canal equal
to 9 $3.50, 900 tons with single locks and
Is, ,720, 900 tons with double locks" Ex-
periments were made at single
enlarged lock during the season of 1S49
when 80 lockages were made in SIX
hours, equal to 32S in twenty-fOur
hours. If this could be kept up day
and night during the whole season it
would give a capacity to the Erie Ca
nal of 6,052 500 tons with single locks,
or 1S,lO5, 600 tons with double locks.
This is making no allowance for the
CLANS" which frequently occur and
the numerous delays incident to bad
management as well as natural causes,
but goes upon the supposirion that the
boats would move in regular train up
and down, night and day, throughout
the whole season, which is put at 230
days, whereas 2OO.days is the most that
can be depended upon in any one sea-
son.
The cost of enlarging one tier of the
present locks and constructing new en-
larged locks by the side of the present
single ones, to be 225 feet between the
quoins and 25 feet width Of chamber at
the water line Of lesser level, for the
entire length of the Erie Canal was es-
timated by the State Engineer in 1868
at SIC, ,3s0, 1875. This included cost of
land damages, altering structures, re-
moving bench walls, and deepening
the canal one foot. The conclusion Of
the engineer was that this improve
ment would reduce the cost of trans
portation through the canal 80 per cent
1t was reduced 50 per cent. by the first.
enlargement, made at an expense of
$32, ,oOs, ,s50.4O, exclusive of the interest
on loans. The same engineer made by
formula the cost ..of transportation by
the old boats. o. .seventy-six tons, before
the enlargement, 141O0 mills per ton
per mile; by the present boats of 2l0
tons navigating the canal, 2 16-100
mills per ton per mile, and by the pro-
posed large boats of 800 tons, adapted
to the. .re-enlarged.. canal, l 4-lOO0 mills
per ton per mile. Another estimate of
he cost of enlarging the locks Of both
the Erie and Oswego canals is as fol-
lows: For stone locks, $14, ,405, ,ssS, 10;
wood locks, $s2,619,040.15; wood and
stone, $l3,O49,946.65. These estimates
have nothing to do with the cost OF
deepening the canal to seven and one
half or eight feet from its present depth
which is called seven feet. 1t is claim
ed that with the Erie and Oswego ca
mails enlarged so as to pass boats of $50
to 600 tons, the rates of freight from
Chicago to New York, which have
averaged 1923 per ton on wheat and
$6,92H ON corn for the last six years,
would be reduced to about 50 or $3.50
per ton, including State tolls, and that
no rail or water route from the lakes to
the Atlantic will be able to compete
with it.
The enlargement project, however,
has never been able to survive discus
sion by exports. Samuel J. Tilden's.
speech was fatal to it in the late con-
stitutional convention.
STEAM AS MOTOR FOR cANAL-BoATs.
The introduction of steam as a mo-
tive power on the Erie Canal is matter
which has been discussed for several
years past. In 1871 the State Legisla-
ture offered premium of 500, 900 any
inventor who should successfully apply
steam to machinery for. moving boats
on the New York canals. On NOvem-
Der IL, 1872, the steam canal boat New
man left Buffalo with cargo Of 1900
bushels of wheat, and having in tow the
boat Evelyn with $500 bushels, and the
boat Jacobs with $3.50 bushels Of corn,
in all $50 4-lO tons. The boat was de-
tanned by low water and 'jams" about
twenty-six hours and arrived. at Troy
on the 22d, after nine days running time.
The average through time made by ca
nal-boats carrying 200 tons drawn by
animals on the Erie Canal is about four
teen days, sometimes one or two days
more and sometimes two or three days
less. The master of the boat said that,
with full feet of water and greater
width to the canal, giving ample room
tor three,boats to pass at the same time,
canal steamers could make good time.
He also reported that improvements
were greatly needed from Buffalo to
Black Rock, from Fairport to Macedon,
from Clyde to Montezuma, from Jordan
to Syracnse, and from Lodi to Chitten-
ango. He found low water for nearly
the entire distance from Buffalo to Troy.
The steam canal-boat William Baxter
also entered the list of competitors.
This boat was 96 feet long, II feet beam,
and 8 feet depth of hold. With 215 tons
she drew feet of water, and with 201
tons feet 81 inches. Her bow and
stern were built sharper than in the or
binary canal-boat, and she was pro-
pelled by twin three-bladed screws,
right and left, working towards each
other at the bottom, and AZ feet in di-
ameter. Her engine, which was placed
near the stern of the boat, had a stroke
of II inches, and the cylinders were on
each side of the boiler, which was four
feet in diameter and ) feet high. The
starting bar, steam valve, and whistle
were on the deck near the pilot, SO that
he could start, stop, reverse, regulate
speed, give signals, and at the same
steer the boat. She required in addi-
ton to her regular crew competent