Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-08-30
The FIoridlN Nhip Cannl.

Jacksonville lFla.l Times Union, Is.
The report Of General Stone to the
Directors of the Florida Ship Canal
and Transit Company. giving his con-
illusions from his recent survey and
furnishing carefully prepared esti-
mates of the cost of the great work
now shortly to be undertaken will be
found on our FIRST page. 1t is impos-
sible that the now assured construc-
ton of a tide~water ship canal across
the peninsula will not materially of.
feet the interest Of nearly every bust
ness man in Florida, and the report
will therefore naturally excite general
attention.
1t is many years since there was
FIRST talk Of such canal. Many men
have permitted the scheme to engage
their time and attention; the govern.
ment has dallied with il and consider
able sums have been expended in
various surveys, but the war, the bad
condition of American shipping, the
uncertainty of what railroads might
not accomplish to the injury of the
gulf ports, the influence of the great
West in drawing away the attention
Of capitalists and the disturbed condi.
ton Of Southern affairs and Southern
finances, have combined to prevent
the construction of what engineers
have always declared practicable and,
as an Investment, profitable, Flerida
ship canal.
General Stone assures the directors
in his character as their professional
adviser and in the most positive terms,
that there is no serious engineering
difficulty TO be encountered in the
canals construction. He has said
that the highest elevation through
which it must pass is less than alti.
tudes cut through by the Suez canal,
and the builders Of the Florida canal
will profit by what the cutting Of the
Suez canal has taught in many ways,
and BY the inventions in labor saving
appliances which the various neceSsi
ties of that famous work produced.
General Stone shows very briefly
what will be the commercial advan-
tages Of the Florida canal, but to get
. clearer idea Of that We must consult
the statistics of the various gulf ports,
the number OF vessels sailing to and
from them, the total annual tonnage
thereof, the value Of commodities
shipped, and add to it, colossal as it
is, an estimated increase Of ocean
freights 10 and from those ports, which
will result not only from present
causes, but from the reduced risk,
quicker transit and improved facilities
presented by the new route through
the Florida canal.
The estimates are far below what we
anticipated, far less than what, it is
we'll known, we'll informed capitalists
are willing to risk in it. General
Stone is, however, especially we'll
qualified to compute the cost, for, Il
addition to the assistance Of so able
and accomplished an engineer as Mr..
Hill, General Stone, himself distiu>
guished engineer, has made close
personal study of the construction of
the Suck canal, near which, as a
General in the Egyptian army, he re.
sided.
That which at present seems chiefly
to interest Ploridians is, Where will
be the exact line of the canal2" Of
course, until the exact line is estab-
lished, and the plats Of it filed at the
State Land Office, the Company will
not diVulge matter which would
expose them 10 bogus surveys Of snide
companies hurrie6ly formed to secure
conflicting franchises and other like
obstacles. General Stone has disclosed
that it will not run south of st. Aug
Justine, on the ocean, nor south Of
Cedar Key on the gulf that it will
pass very near Jacksonville we think
there is reason for confidence.