Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-07-21


false rumOrs in connection with this
most atrociOus Of atrocious crimes.
Railway and Canal Transportation.
Eastward of Chicago and st. Louis a
vast network of railways disputes the
precedence with any and all other routes
Of transportation. There is now fiercer
rivalry than ever before. On Canadian
soil the Grand Trunk Railway parallels
the st. Lawrence system of canals, and
extends beyond their Montreal terminus
as far to the east as Quebec and Port
land. The western terminus is over
Tapped by the distance between Port
Colborne and DETROIT, Sarnia, Colling-
wood, and other upper lake ports. At
COlllngwoOd, friendly railroad re-
lieyes the steamers Of freight thar they
so recently carried through the Welland,
and delivers it to other bottoms or to
the Grand Trunk at Toronto. In 1878,
grain to the value of S274,sO3 passed
over this route for the Eastern or for
eign market. In 1879, the value of grain
transported was S1,536,35I. This re-
markable increase of traffic is to receive
the attention of the United States gov
ernment as matter affecting the col
lection of customs and the interest of
American shippers in general
Still other railroad routes in Canada
are to contest the carrying trade. The
building of the Pacific Railway has been
undertaken by syndicate of English
capitalists, and when once completed, it
will be formidable rival of the water
routes. Indeed, the chief arguments
advanced for its construction are based
upon the taking of the lions share in
transporting the grain of the Northwest
"a claim which, IL founded on fact, will
close the Welland Canal from the mo-
ment the railway is opened. Connect
ing at its eartern terminus-Lake Nj
pissing-with the Canadian RAILWAYS.
the Canada Pacific will find eastern out
lets without the aid of the st. Lawrence
canals; while, if the Coteau Bridge is
built, Ottawa will become a railroad
center, whence diyerging lines to the
southwark will send the traffic to Amer
lean ports in spite of the proximity and
terminal facilities offered by Montreal.
The great trunk lines of the United
States have also asserted their right to a
proportion Of the carrying trade. Roll
Ing stock has been marvellously inereas-
ed, terminal facilities have been estab-
lished or improved at every Atlantic
port where transhipment is necessary.
and the great Northwest-Americ
and Canadian alike-the granary of the
world, tapped by a Northern Pacific
Railway. sends its products to the sea-
O.ffd A M. 10 hn 9 Al.
world, according to the following ratio:
United States, 100; France, los; Russia.
80; Germany, 40; Spain, AZ; Italy. 80;
Austria with Hungary, 80; Great Brit
ain, 80.
A few figures tell the story of trans
portatiOn more briefly than words. The
five great Atlantic ports-considering
Montreal as such-are New York, Bos-
ton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Mont
real. Between the years 1873 and 1880
New York, with all its railways and its
lake and canal navigation, has dropped
from sixty per cent. to fifty-One per
cent. of the whole amount of grain re-
ceived at the above named ports. With
in the same period Montreal, with bet
ter canals but poorer railroads, has va
ried greatly, but now drops to rs per
cent. On the other hand, the three re-
naming ports, supplied exclusively by
rail, have steadily increased.
Although New York has not succeed
ed in holding the proportion of the sum
total of grain reaching the sea-board, as
compared with 1874 and 1877, yet it holds
its own with Montreal. And when we
consider the sources of the supply, We
find that during the last season of nayi-
cation 1SSO) the receipts Of grain at
New York were fifty-six and half mil
lion bushels by rail, sixty-nine and a
half million bushels by canal, and four
million bushels by river and coastwise
the largest business ever done on the
State waterways. The canal men take
courage from these figures. and predict
a very prosperous season for 1881.
With the interests of the whole people
guarded against further encroachments
by the land routes, and with the early
of enlarged waterways on
both American and Canadian soil, the
outlook for a cheaper transportation of
breadstuffs bids fair to be bright. The
greater the facilities for shipping grain,
the better for all the lake ports east of
Toledo and Detroit; and the less tempta-
ton will the prairie farmer have to burn
his corn for fuel because its worth to
him is ten cents, while in Liverpool the
expense of carrying has increased the
cost to one hundred and three cents.
Competition is the life of trade; and no
rail routes. present or prospective, no
Erie, no enlarged Welland,
and no Mississippi route, can hope to
secure monopoly of the carrying trade.
In bringing about this result, as we have
seen, the great waterways are PERFORM
will perform-a most import
ant part Frederick G. Mather, in
Magazine for August.