The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-05-02
The Natural Route from st. Paul to
New York.

The Natural Route from st. Paul to
New York.
from the New York Public.1
Put ashingle into the Mississippi River
at ST. Paul, and, if it follows the natural
current of the waters without propelling
power, it will be found within 40 days
lying off the harbor of New York. Why
shall not a-barge loaded with wheat take
the same course? Nature supplies all
the needed power. The river sweeps it
downward by New Orleans, and thence
to the gulf stream, and the gulf stream
Artificial power is needed only to keep
the loaded grain in the current. By that
route the loaded grain is already far on
the way to Liverpool, and it has only to
follow the same stream, and in due time
it will be landed without human aid on
British soil. New York is in this great
track of nature, and yet would furrow
the continent in order to make a better.
And there are men who think it folly to
say that grain can ever be moved econ
omically from St. Paul to New York by
way of New Orleans. So there were
men who, four years ago, when writer
declared that grain could be regularly
moved from st. Louis to New Orleans
at cost of less than five cents per
bushel, laughed at his wild enthusiasm
Yet, at this very time, as a St. Louis
paper states, the ordinary charge
for shipment of grain from St.
Louis to New Orleans is only five
cents per -bushel. When the same
writer asserted that, after fair develop
ment of that route, the work could be
done with profit at three cents per
bushel, many thought the statement alb
surd. But now it is claimed by the Off
GERS of the most important transporta-
ton companies of the Mississippi, that
the bushel of grain can be moved at a
charge of not more than three cents
per bushel, with ample cargoes and a
fair stage of water or an improved chan
mel. :.
From st. Paul to New York, by way
of New Orleans, is about $500 miles.
But nature furnishes the track and the
motive power for the whole distance.
Art and commerce have only to put the
wheat into something that will float and
keep it dry. Only a few years ago it
was thought wild to talk of moving
grain in bulk down the Mississippi Riv-
er by barges, but the enormous receipts
at New Orleans this year show that it is
done, and with profit. Years later it
was thought insane to attempt the move
ment of grain over the lakes by barges,
but the thing is done with profit and
safety, as the railroads have learned to
their cost. How long will it be before
the great highway of nature, from the
chief wheat-fields of the West to the chief
markets and greatest consuming cities
of the East, will be utilized?
New York may be assured that it will
not be very long. If this city insists
upon handling no grain for export that
does not come by canal or railroad,
there so much more room for New Or
leans to export grain. Already the
movement has become so large as to at
tract attention. The shipments from
that port have greatly increased since
the jetties gave free ingress and egress
to vessels of such tonnage as to provide
economical transportation. Cotton can
pay almost any freight. Wheat and
corn are worth less than one-sixth as
much per ton, and must seek econom-
ical routes. The beginning has been
made. The barges move down the riv-
er, taking at times from 5000 to $4,000
tons of grain with only a single tug
boat to give direction, and New Orleans
takes rank as a port of the first magni-
tude for the export of grain. The low
est rate granted by any railway from
St. Paul to New York and
thence to Liverpool, is high
compared with rates now made
from st. Paul to New Orleans and thence
to Liverpool. Yet the grain on the
route from New Orleans passes within
few hours sail of this harbor. Is this
not an opportunity for the capital and
enterprise of this city, and is it disloyal
to the Erie Canal to suggest that grain
from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kan
sas and Missouri, if moved by the river,
pays no tax to Chicago railways or Chi
cago elevatorsp -
Westward the star of grain growing
takes its way. Already more than half
OF the wheat that is sent to the market
comes from regions beyond the Missis-
sippi. The river is a highway, and the
cheapest on the earth, and it leads from
the greatest grain fields directly to the
chief consuming regions of the Atlantic
coast and to the chief markets of Eu-
rope. Is it entirely clear to wise New
Workers that they can afford to ignore
these facts By somebody, sooner or
later, these same facts are sure to be
turned to account.
THE new metric system proposed by
1f