Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-08-17
GIN. BAKERS SPEECH
IN ELOQUENT PLEA FOR IMPROVED
WATER WAYS.
The Proposed Red River and Lake Super
iOr Canal Project-The Whole Subject
Reviewed and Ats Feasibility Asserted
Interesting Facts and Figures.

Gentlemen of the Convention
If England may contend with army
and navy for an open canal to India,
surely we may strive, in methods of peace,
for open waterways to that great zone Of
wheat which is the worlds surest supply
of bread for century to come. The
great lakes are the highways which the
Almighty has prepared for developing the
interior resources of a mighty continent.
Corporations cannot own or control them.
They are, as the oceans, free highways.
They. seem to have been formed with re-
ference, to great commercial necessities,
and with but few remaining improve
ments in the great lakes, ocean naviga-
tiLn practically reaches to the city where
the map, and consider the practicability
of carrying that lacustral waterway still
further into the continent. Think of
an unbroken water connection from the
far sources of the Saskatchewan and
Assinabolne to the sea. There is no
other public improvement which con-
templates so grand scheme. That the
stately ebb and flow of old ocean
should be made to reach three thou.
sand miles into the heart of the Republic,
re-echoing to the very base of the Rock
les, hlls the imagination with the highest
conception of the power of man over the
forces of nature. The unexpected rapid
Ity with which the entire Northwest is
being settled, and the luxuriant fertility
of the soil, presses the case upon our at
tention. That vast area is being occupied
as if some Alexander had come, with his
hosts, to build cities and erect an empire
at one imperial movement. The railways
are striving, like athletes, to occupy the
ground. The locomotive is at home in
the land of the buffalo. Greeley's famous
mandate to young men has lost its signifi-
canoe. The "West" has gone beyond the
mountains into the depths of the sea.
In so great an enterprise as that of
uniting the Red River of the North with
the waters of Lake Superior, by COM
plete and ample waterway for naviga-
ton, the first step is to cansider
ITS FEASIBILITY.
If we contrast it with other schemes
now seriously entertained by the govern
ment, it is equally practicable. We have
the Fox and Wisconsin river improve
ment, from the Mississippi river to
Green Bay, involving the connection of
the sources of streams, by canal and lock-
age, which will cost, If ever completed,
not less than fourteen million of dollars.
The obstacles in the case are quite as
great as in the other. and yet the results
to be obtained are In no wise proportion
ate. The project here submitted is SIM
ply the Fox and Wisconsin improvement
moved north, to q larger field and for
vastly grander purposes, with greater
probability of practical success. The
Rock Island and Hennepin canal, pro-
posing to connect the Mississippi with
the shallow sources of the Illinois river,
and thence sluggishly to Lake Michigan,
is not so inviting project as the one we
are considering. The estimates of the
government engineers for the Hennepin
canal are $4,000, 900.
There is also the great reservoir system
of the upper Mississippi with its seven
great dams. This project, at best,
is but tentative. 1t is simply
a trial, with no possible proofs as
to results. These designs are now re-
ceiving the fostering and expensive care
of the government by means of large ap-
preparations. The project we are debat-
ing is eminently worthy to be placed on
an equal footing with any of these, not
only because of Its feasibility but because
of the vastly superior results to be OBJ
tanned by its completion.
But is this great water line feasible
Those who entertain the notion that it Is
not do not understand the character and
features Of the country through which
this waterway is to be opened. That re-
gion is mostly an area of natural water
ways. Once having made the lift from
the level of Lake Superior to Knife Falls
you will have reached region filled with
great stretches of lakes, which are in
themselves great canals, capable Of float
ing the largest vessels. The supply of
water on the highest elevation is illimit-
able. In that regard there is no section
of the United States to be compared
with it.
So far as my observation extends, the
greatest obstacle lies in making the lift
from Fond du Lac, the extreme head of
Lake Superior, to the level above Knife
Falls, in all about 600 feet. Most OF the
route beyond that, to the Red River of
the North, comprises the simpler forms
of engineering. From the Floodwood
river to the Swan tout of the st. Louis
river to the Mississippi) the country is a
fiat tamarac swamp, filled with marsh
and lake, and easily convertible into a
canal with abundant water. This canal
would be fifteen miles long The obsta-
Gle presented by the delles of the St.
Louis might be surmounted, other than
by that of lockage, on the principle as
serted by the distinguished American en-
gineer, Eads, who proposes to transport
the largest ocean vessels by means Of a
railway across the isthmus at Tehaunte-
pee. He might experiment with his
principle in Carrv' e barges loaded with
grain on trucks On railway from Fond
du Lac to Knife Falls. If his principle
served well in the less, it might then be
carried to the greater design at Tehaunte-
pee.
Let us follow the track of this first pro-
posed route On the map. Leaving the st
Louis river one and half miles above
the mouth of the Floodwood river, pass
ing through tamarac swamp fifteen
miles wide (by every condition of it feas-
lble for canal brings us to the southern
bend of the Swan river; thence along that
river four miles, into the Mississippi
river, at point due north of Sandy lake;
thence up the channel of the Mississippi
to Pokegama falls, continuing up the
river to and through Lake Winnibigosh-
ish, till you reach Cass lake; through
this lake to the mouth OF the Turtle
river, which brings us to the chain of
lakes called Turtle Lake chain, which
are on the summit of the land. 1t is
claimed that the dam now being erected
at Lake Winnibigoshish by the govern
ment, on the reservoir system, will raise
head of water even to Turtle lakes.
These lakes bring us to Red Lake river
and into Red lake, which Is an inland
sea. Out Of this lake we pass into Grand
Forks river and down Red Lake river
into the Red River of the North. The
whole distance is $50 miles, including
forty miles of estimated canal. This is
the route which has been most frequent
ly considered and the one recommended
bxx< Arn l,,k1. 81 1f