The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-02-27
Steam on the New York. Canals.

Steam on the New York Canals.
A late issue Of the New York Tribune con.
tains the Report osf the State Eugineer and
Surveyor of the 81 ate Of New.York on the
operations during DC season Of Es4 OF the
steamers which hay been placed upon the
Erie canal. There eFe-some twelve or thir-
teen steam caua-s Boat. ,u'yng regularly during
this period on the New .Hork canals. 1t may
be remembered that the ,ssrkzt: offered by the
Legislature Of New York for the most sue
ccssiul steamers on the Erie canal vas Sc
cured, the greater part by the nuilder Ell the
steamer "William Baxter" Sk' 600 bg the
builder OF the" William Neemsn, So.ahoto
TheodoreDayis. The Baxter having perform
ed more satisfactorily .han any'oiFhe cofspe-
ting boats, is the model now generally adopt
ed on the canals. In his eport, the State 1Enel
necr (Mr. l.. III. SWEET emsrksi, after gi viEg
q number of igures, that the results dc.
"velop the interesting and inporant iaa
that the Baxter. boats kslvc demonstrated,
~beyond reasonable doli.s, theie ability not
- to equal, but to eXceed the estimates Of
"the engineer @. the commission Mr. DA-
avid II. GREENE, both 81 70 speed and the
~ ECONOMY Of the ,rlovcm eat" We are fur
Their told that "with an established h,lsi-
ness, and with al nee, aaa facilities, the
steamers of this Nhe Baxt cry line WEI make
"their round trips. regularl'rs in from fifteen
ito seventeen days tskat is, tom Bufikso to
"New Yesk and back again, in all ajooo
-mlee), as against th;:ty.tbree days Of the
horse. boat; in other words, thy will re-
duce the tia.e one-haifs s1nder the best CON-
q" dltions."
We have referred to n esq experiments
with steam on tie Erie canal previoEs ly, but
these previous statements were beeed On
the reposts of Mr.. DAVID NJ. 6 REFINE. the en-
gineer OF the commission appeii 'ted to anper-
intend the inquiry. The prest ut report IS
from Mr. S. 81. SWEET, the Stat Eng'neer'
and constitutes, therefore, an il dependent
testimony on the suHset This gentleman
concludes bis report With the OBJ 'rvatloR ::
"I am ofthe opinion that the quo stion /"
ECONOMY and adaptsbility OF steaua "a mo-
"tiye- power on the eansls Of this Stat. IS re-
"moved beyond the sphere of ply NC al ex'
~periments and that all ultimate Al VI com.
"plete success now depends upon sApltai
Z" alone"
In the March No. OF the GALAXY 1t Is Hted
that during the coming season tbe Tie
canal is obstructed by ice in the winter We
Baxter company propose to put one hun '
dred steamers on the Erie canal.
. These movements are deeply interesting
to us here In Virginia. where we have a
canal very similar to the Erie; and especially
to the city OF Richmond, whose future, In
our opinion, depends very much on the i'm.
provement and extension of thl, work. In
the popular mind the idea has become more :.
or less fixed that our james River canal land
all canals) is very slow atfair--thrown IN +
the background and superseded by the de. J
yelopment Of the railroad system. Such per.
Sons will be doubtless astonished to find that I,
Is coming to the front {
again in manner sufficiently conspicuous
to remove even their scepticiSm. Whatever !
the comparative merits Of water and rail y
the introduction Of steam on b
canals gives an entirely new aspect to the
question. Heretofore it has not been even c
by the advocates of wafer transpor-
alton that eana'N were adapted to the trans. {
te-.-.1-. < !" seasae' my.tIaAjiso = :, j. a;As