The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-07-09
Traffic on the Miss,ss,

THE EhIE CANAL-VTFuc
CAPT sEADs. -
New York Herald. IS
Captain James B. Eads If G
Louis, was in town YESTERDAY !. ?
Fifth Avenne Hotel He has L ,I'
travelling a good deal of late ~,
expects to leave for Eurone :; r''
few weeks. He returned e.,
Mexico on the same steamer M.
General Grant, after having his Con
cession to authorize the bIildinra.
a ship railroad across the Istmr, ~.
Tehuantepec confirmed bv b.E
houses of the Mexican Conq,,,
Recently he has been exami,,,
the harbor of Toronto, at the =,
quest of the Canadian governmeo.
for the purpose of discovering !.
capacity for future improversn.
The Canadians appear to bin
be earnestly engaged in LEAVING n.
stone u-turned toward utilizipg IN
the advantages they possess for .
curing the carrying trade of n
West and Northwest, and the in
provement of Toronto harbor is ~
auxiliary step in this direction.
Captain Eads, in referring TO fl.
growth of business on the Miss
sippi river since the deepening ~
the water at New Orleans. said.
"The shipments of grain from tbe
mouth of the river have increase
forty fold in six years. Before that
time not half a million bushels of
grain were shipped from New O..
leans, while during the past wear
the exports were between seven.
teen and twenty million of bushel,
The cotton export has also greatly
increased, and the cost of transpor.
tation has been reduced 81 to SI,;
bale. The only drawback at this
moment to rapid and continuous
increase in the grain carrying bus.
ness is the lack of barge capacity.
Mr.. Jackson, president of the Ele.
vator Company of ST. Louis, tells
me that they could do twice as
much shipping if they had the bar
ges. So great is the pressure On
their resources that they have been
forced to fix the price of carrying
grain at eight cents a bushel when
it would pay them to carry it at
three cents if they had the accom-,
modations: but of course efforts are
being made to meet the wants Of
shippers, and the present state Of
affairs only goes to show that
strong and wide spread appreCia-
ton of the advantages of the Mis-.
sissippi River as channel or trans
portation has taken hold west. Rail
road iron from abroad intended for
roads in the Northwest now comes
to New Orleans, though it formerly
went by way of New York and the
Erie Canal. The Mississippi threat
ems at no distant day to be serious
rival of the Erie Canal, and in or.
der that the latter's capacity may be
enlarged the State ought to abolish
the tolls on it.
"People think it is an idle boast
that the deepening of the water at
the mouth of the Mississippi river
saves the States tributary to the river
S25 100000 year, but figures prove
that it does. There were about TWO
thousand million bushels of grain
produced in the entire country last
year and three fourths of that quan.
tity came from the States tributary
to the Mississippi. A saving OF a
cent bushel on the amount would
be $I5,ooo,ooo, but the actual saving
connot be less than five cents a bush
ell, and if it were not there would
be no inducement for the trade to
go that way in preference to other
routes"
"What is the present condition
of the mouth of the river"
There are twentvnlne feet Of
water at low tide, so that the largest
vessels can come into port at any
time, day or night. This they can
not do here but must wait at SANDY
Hook until the tide rises on the bar
"What improvements are contem
plated on the river above New Or'
leans?"
There was a proposition orig'
nally to devote FIVE million to the
Improvement of the river above, ou'
this was cut down to one million
which under a commission aPpoln'i,
ed for the purpose will be apPlleu
mitially to the work of improve,
nient at point in the river about
one hundred miles below Caro-
"What average depth of water .
it possible to secure on the MAN
portion of the riverF
at is perfectly practicable 70 *
cure twenty feet of water from CaH'
down"
"How long does low water ln'e !,
fere with navigation to any extent
For three months of the year
September, October and Noveur
Der"
"What other shipping ports ai ),
there on the river besides St. LOUIS
Cairo must become great snip,
ping point. 1t is already dong !
large business. Davenport anu
other places are mentioned, anu - :.
l said before, there appears TO Us
nothing to stop the increase III 'n y,
traffic on the river but the wan '
sufficient means of conveyance