The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-05-14
THE DAVENPORT CONVENTION.

nal. There is nothing new IN the movement
The "Iiennepln canal" has been talked abou,
, for dozen of years or more surveys have
been made OF the route, careful estimates OF
the cost and congress peltioncd for AID to
build it. It's proposed length is IS miles, to
extend nearly due east from Rock Island to a
point on the Illinois river opposite Ilennepin
Thence to La Salle-l0 miles-lhere Is good
slack water navigation; and from La Sale to
Chicago, 05 miles, is the Illinois and Michi.
gan canal No estimate, we believe, has plac-
ed the cost of the proposed canal-6O feet wide
and 6 feet dcep-above $4000000
But while it IS an old scheme new interest
has been impaired to it by recent events. New
York, Buffalo and Chicago, which formerly
looked upon the lIennepin canal as but anoth.
er of those impractlcable granger" schemes
which were SO abundant few years ago to
'head oil the railroads." have suddenly walked
up to the fact that the despsed "Hennepin
ditch" is needed to meet another and very DIFF
terent kind Of competition--a kind in com
parson with which the railroads are a baga-
tclle. The prosperity Of Chicago, Buffalo,
New York, Boston, and exc Philadelphia and
Baltimore depend largely on the grain trade
of the great northwest. Hitherto the railroads
and Illinois canal have carried most of this
grain to Chicago and Milwaukee, and thence
1t has gone by cheap conveyance via the lakes
and Erie canal to New York or Boston. or II
winter by rail to those cities as we'll as Phila-
delphia and Baltimore.
But violent turn to the course of this trade
is now gwen down the Mississippi river by
the completion OF the Fades jettes. BY the
system Of tug and barge transportation one
steamer will take from any point on the Mis-
slssippl or Missouri river to New Orleans and
thus to tide water at one load as much grain
as twenty-five locomotives can draw or doz.
en- of propcllers can float on the lakes. Grain
which, from any point on the Mississippi or
Missouri river cannot be carried to tide water
by way of Chicago, the lakes and Erie canal
for less than from 10 to % cts. per bushel ut
the most favorable season, can be taken down
the river to tide water to from to cts. From
New Orleans to Liverpool or from New York
to Liverpool by sail or steamer is pretty much
the same thing Certainly cent or two u
bushel will at any time cover the difference.
Therefore, if the object be to send the grain
abroad, the difference by way Of the Fades
jetties Is from to Is cts. a bushel in favor OF
the southern route, while if the object is to
send it to New York and New England, the
odds are still largely in favor OF the southern
route.
Dakota Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska will
have 100,000000 bushels of wheat alone to
send to market this year. Most of it, IN the
form of wheat or flour, will probably 60 to Eu-
rope. Shall it go by way of st. Louis and
New Orleans, or Chicago, Buffalo and New
York? Certainly no railroads can afford to
SNAKE" it across Wisconsin, Iowa and ILL |
nois to the lakes in competition with the tugs
and barges on the Missouri and Mississippi
rivers. What then? the New York papers
notably the Tribune and Times-say the east
must JOIN Chicago in giving an impetus to
TO the Iennepin canal project. This is be-
lieved to be the only available scheme" says
the Tribune, "to bring all the towns on the
Upper Mississippi in direct communication
by an all.water route with this city and harbor,
and will thus extend the system of water tran
SIT which has Its seaboard terminus at this |
point to the granarles of Iowa, western Hi |
nois, Minnesota and western Wisconsin. 1t
will check the new tendency Of the products
of that region to seek the sea by way of New
Orleans, which Is becoming very marked since
the completion of the Fades jettics, and will |
restore and confirm to New York It's old easy
pre- eminence as grain Shipping point. Beth
the city and the state should be well repre-.
sented IN the Davenport convention"
Will the IIennepin canal do that? Where
are the four millions to come from to build
it and when the money is raised 1t will take
three years to do the work Meantime the |
flood of gram down stream has set in such a
canal, though toll free, will, there is abundant
reason 10 fear, fail to check it. Our opinion is |
that nothing short of free ship canal from
Rock Island to Chicago, and another across
Michigan to Detroit or Toledo, with east. bound
grain toll free on the Erie canal, can ever in
sure Chicago and New York against an even.
tual permanent loss of the bulk of their north
western grain trade and if that result can only
be averted by the ship canals we have named
and they lean on them, they might as well
place their dependence tor salvation on rail. |
road to the moon.
Suppose the New York worlds fair of 1888
has petered out, isn't the Yorktown centennial
left! 1t Is believed that not less than half
million of people will gather on the old York
town battle ground next October, and as there