The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-06-19

~! a." ', ,,,,',, ,,, r.n,,
" ~. ,'o,I rro,t l,,hyy,,, :,
~ - ~ 80 ~ J.n1 Win mo pr,5,,.t, Il ~,
iC'oi .''I ',,',,,'a,,, of y rrei,b, nus
'o' ''o'|'' '''0 ,r'rl'll, ,no,,, InSl; viii
w. Wy "i,,'
may by ~ o', ni,io ,o,, ono hunlr,l million
h ~ '"o - on.I i onnnoIlv carried 10 a mar
Io, -, loss thon two dollars per ton freight
F.o,,, go p;,,.hnrr f. New orleans. a distance
n l'D nror two th9usand miles. and at less than
ono InIIar nrr tom Ia Cincinnati and Louis
,;Iio ohont five hundred and six hundred and
s,,y miles rcsne1tiyeIy
iiera i conyIncinI proof of the incstima
Ib,a volue of the natural highways of the
conrtrv and of The waste OF IFS resources
tbrnngb their NEGLECT proof ample and over
whclminr of the errors of the past and pres
emf and the DANGERS of the future; proof mos,
annie and conyincinr of the value of natural
currents. and of the supreme wisdom in the
GREAT economy of nature in the Mississippi
| Valley. looking TO intercommunlcatlon
From Cairo South. no extended navigation
on earth il perbans upon the whole more ad.
mirable III used with skill and ability than
that of the Mississippi to the Gulf with com
paratiyely slight improvemcnt--yct it is de.
| liberately proposed Caiter deliberately sup
pressing the reasonable Improvement of the
existing highway from Lake Michigan to
the Gul) 10 turn at Cairo-and, instead OF
going on down to the sea, 90 mp through
scores of locks to be built on the Ohio and
Kanhawa, ana climb the AlleghenieS by
means of loCks-pass through an eight mile
tunnel at the canal summit, at an elevation
of 100 feet above tide,watcr, and 50 "on to
Richmond" by the way of the James river.
If we wished to show what the ingenuity of
theoretical, speculative and political interests
c0uM devise, we might adopt such route as
this by way of an Illustration But if eCono-
nv Is the object, it will be seen that eighty
millions for a preliminary estimate by its
friends. IS certainly a high price for an Tins.
tratiOn which after all will not be any better
than can be shown in the great record of the
past-that Is, il we 90 pretty well back, say
to the attempts TO ind northwest passage
to Asia-but as that did not cost much, and
was not very foolish or miscellaneous, we NAV
90 back, say as far as the Tower of Babel
1t is not right to oppose any lust claims of
the people of Ohio, or of West Virginia, Old
Virpinia, or Richmond. Suitable and bene
fetal navigation between the Chesapeake and
Ohio water systems may be practicable by
some of the proposed routes; some safe and
practicable plan of the Ohio river improve
ment fully acceptable and endorsed by all
of our best engineers and by its practical
boatmen may be found; an eight mile tunnel
even can be constructed and all may have
lust claims upon the nation. But to suppose
that the great irelghtagc Of the Mississippi
Valley and the north west, would turn from
Natures highways with level or descending
GRADES. via lakes and culf-and fake this
mountain path TO the Chesapeakc is contrary
TO reason, nature, experience. and common
And vet the violation of reason. nature. ex
perience, and common sense, is not Eew-in
the vital points of the transportation cues
tion-and IS truly a mystery-a wonder-in
the great record of human error 1t was
shown before the Senate committee in ST.
I,ouis in Oct. 1873. that the "Grayeyard"-!
that mart of the Mississippi between ST. LOUIS
and Cairo contained the wrecks mot the
rocks. as The types have made III of five
thousand boats, about all DESTROYED because
of neglect to remove some trees that had fall
len IN or foated there; and vet even St
ouis failed to indicate the snecitic polnt of
failure in the spar.boat service, while her
seemed 10 have been totally
blind To his simplest. p,ainest and most ur
rent duty. during his official term.
The want of solid prosperitv in this Union.
and the frequent wreck of private healthy
nterprise and industry, NAV be traced in "A
yery large degree to such errors es this, due
largely to the general indifference to destruc.
ton and waste, and to sectionalis!l and greed
OF gain by any means.
And now remedies are proposed, and this
Richmond remedy is endorsed by ths
Charleston convention. We taEn, TO the
United States Senate committees very recent
report on Transportation Routes TO the Sea
board Uwo vols; nearly 1900 pages anC
there lind that the rountain path to Rich
mond has through the diligence of its friends /
absorbed the largest space in al the bulky
mass Of evidence, examination pt witnesses,
&c. We find too that Chicago, after having
become great city through being place OF
transfer from land to water carriage, omits
altogether the reasonable improvement Of the
existing route from Lake Michigan to the
Gulf of Mexico, descending gently from her
doorway south to the sea by the Mississippi
and Illinois, and short canal-,hougA by it
freight could be taken from Chicago to New
Orleans at leaxt as chcaD Of tolls were nomi
nall, rs from Plttsburg 10 New Orleans. and