The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-10-06
The E!oride Ship Canal.

The E!osiae Si.i2 canal
The problem as to the construction of a
ship canal across the Florida peninsula,
which has engaged the attention of engi.
neers and economists for fifty years
though more actively studied of late than
ever before, has not yet been definitely
solved, however favorable may be the
prospects claimed for the construction Of
a barge canal across the State. The lat
ter project is one which has recently de.
ri, great Importance for the assumed
practical results OF barge freighting down
the Mississippi, the natural suggestion
being the extension of that system
through Florida to the Atlantic coast.
A ship canal to be n bnsimes; Success must
be n tideWater canal, and must not cost
too much money.
In review of the different surveys
which have been made for a ship canal
writer in the Jacksonville inion shows
that the general impression that the
Florida peninsula is a fiat plain only
few feet above the level Of the ocean is
erroneous. The survey for a canal from
the st. Johns River via the Santa re
across to the Gulf of Mexico gives eleva-
tions OF from i2j to 237 feet; from the
St. Johns via the Wekiwa TO Tampa bay
ia feet summit level from the mouth
Of st. Mary's River, through Okefenokee
swamp down the valley OF the Suwanee
River TO st. Marks, l2G feet. The lowest
depression for canal route from the
mouth Of the St. Johns is via the Ock-
lawaha and Withacoochie Rivers, pas
sing through lakes Eustis, Harris and
Panasoifkee, the greatest elevation TO be
overcome being 81 feet. This route,
however, is crcuitous, and its length
about 300 miles The latest project for
ship canal is from the lower end of Char
lotte harbor, commencing at Punta Rassa
up the Caloosahatchie River through
Lake Okechobce to the mouth Of 81 Lucie
River, distance Of about 100 miles.
Even with this route the distance fro..
the Gull ports TO the North Atlantic, II
is claimed, would not be shortened more
than 200 miles. The writer TO whom
reference has been made concludes, after
fully considering the data supplied by
these surveys, that q tidewater ship canal
across the peninsula will be impractical
bic rs business paying investment, and
that its cost cannot be less than 5000, 900
600. On the other hand, he regards the
projected barge canal rs the true solution
of the problem. BY utilizing the differ
ent inland passages adjacent to the Gulf
lie states, and connecting them by Sc
rics of canals and by canal across the
Florida peninsula, barges can be taken
direct from the Mississippi to the Allan
tic, the route being, as he holds, practi-
cally but an elongation of the Mississip.
pi The line would pass via Lake Borgne
or Lake Pontchartrain, through Missis-
sippi Sound, Mobile Bay, Pensacola Bay,
Choctawhatchee and st. Andrews Bays,
the Appalachicola River; thence to st.
Marks to the valley of the Suwanee and
st. Marys Rivers, and finally entering
the ST. Johns. The total number Of
miles of canals required on this route
would be less than 200, and the distance
from New Orleans TO the mouth Of the
st. Johns being less than 700 miles, the
distance saved between New Orleans and
Atlantic ports or Europe would be 600
miles. This route would also save the
expensive port charges at New Orleans
and the cost of towing in and out the
Mississippi. The distance from the
mouth of the Mississippi to New Orleans
is 1875 miles, the cost of towing in and
out $l.26 ton, making the cost on a
2,000-ton vessel $4,000, or more than six
times the cost from st. Louis to New
Orleans, l 1850 miles, by the barge system.
The cost by barges from st. Louis to
New Orleans is II! cent per ton, by
steamboat 40l cents. The cost of deliv-
ering freight by the barge system, the
barges being propelled By tugboats the
same as on the Mississippi from New
Orleans to the mouth Of the St. Johns,
will be less than the present cost per ton
from New Orleans to the mouth of the
Mississippi, and allow reasonable tolls to
pay the interest on the cost of construc-
tion and allow for repairs. With all the
conditions of safety as to ,cargoes from
injurious climatic effects, as wellias from
the ordinary dangers of coasting with
sbarges granted, this project would no
doubt be more practicable in business
way than any ship canal that could be
constructed. 1t would at the same time
pluck some of the budding laurels from
the Crescent City and transfer much Of
the impetua which has revived that busy
metropolis to other Gulf and South At
'lantic ports, to say nothing ofthe develop
ment, particularly in the Florida lumber
business, on the route. The Florida
canal problem is, to say the least, an in
teresting one.