The Ottawa free trader., 1883-07-28


the waters OF the Parana and Amazon ar
near each other, aud 1t is said connection
can be made at moderate cost Hence
perhaps, il Illinois awake,, the time ma.
not be far distant when boats viii! pass an'
repass laden with freight to and IRON
our towns aud cities, throughout the Orr
nocO and Amazonlan systems, ana on u
the tar south where the great rivers bcyOn'
the Amazon unite with the La Plata neal
Bucnos Ayers.
Few realize the vastneSs Of the resource
OF South America or how fully ITS future
Is lu,erlocked with the true development
of inland navigation in North and Sou.l
America or the extent Of those rivers
named, reaching rs they do double Tic
distance from Lake Superior to the Gun
north and south, and east and west from
the Andes To- the Atlantic, or nearly twice
the distance from Chicago to New York,
Nor ls 1t possible TO oyeres'imatc thc no"
urgent and critica, crisis as to the Illinois
work, and thence to the Gulf, IN the great
economy of the whole and the best inter
ests oi all, rs well as to the interests OF this
interior, and the rery dtrect interests 10
Gated on the highway from milwaukee,
and Chicago to New Orleans and the Gulf.
Nor can we easily realize the importance
"a, nd tn
also to be derived by all the people OF this
hemisphere and the world from the canal
at Darien, now well begun by the noble
De Lesseps which it is our duty to aid
and which will bring our ports into new
and far better position for profitable COM
merce with the whole world tar beyond
what seems to have been realized by our
people or public men.
So 1t will be seen that while the import
ance of this work from the lake to the gull
via the Illinois and Michigan canal and
the Illinois and Mississippi rivers is be
yond computation with reference to the
cities and states of this interior III all their
home interests, 1t Is also the pathway tor
the greatest and best extension of foreign
commerce that 1t Is possible to conceive OF.
The best relief that Is possible as TO floods
ia rivers, must come from a reasonable
clearance Of Meir channeIs correspondent
pith nature, as has been shown and as
events have so wonderfully verified.
In the article in your paper of March
10th, pointed out especially the great op
structIons near st. LOUIS and below, and
the danger thcrcfrom, and The flood IN
June was more disastrous by far along the
great "Amcrlcan bottom" than any yet
known. Had the channel of the river been
cleared 1t would not have been
for the flood level to have reached
AS high point by several feet; even two
feet would have turned the scale, and the
homes and property behind those levccs
would have been saved. The papers in
form US that in Madison county, Illinois,
alone, besides the destruction of all their
crops and much other property. six thous-
sand head of cattle were drowned This
one item will give "A faint idea Of the awful
havoc, loss and far reaching distress. And
the dead bodies of such vast numbers Of
animal as must be strewn along
thc whole river and its bottoms almost to
the gulf in midsummer, Is certainly a
very serious matter "a to safe sanitary con.
litions at any time, and especially at this
time and in the future, The work on
The whole line from the guilt to the
lake is interlocked as to navigation, floods
and sanitary conditions, and to delay
longer this reasonable clearance and suit
able connection, when such dangers exist
md such benefits are TO be won, Is not
only inexcusable, but 1t Is criminal Be.
fore congress assemblies the public should
act unitedly and demand the whole work
and when 1t does meet capable Board
should be established at once on some such
OASIS as the Light House Board, to go on
and d. tie ,o0rk, utilizing therefor the Gu
erprise, appliances, energy, labor and
capital through which the work can be
accomplished.
Tie work must be accomplished and
maintained in correspondence with nature
md the physics Of these localities ana
aud the natural Office fulfilled
,y bars and bends IN rivers. We cannot
leny now-and when the manifold fulfill
pent is reached, the world will admIt-the
,ast significance anG great and manifold
OF that peculiar expression of
IN ancient prophetic poem, which declares
hat "Thc gates of the rivers shall be
,pcned." All the mystic meaning IN this
nj corrclativc passages we cannot and
Iccd not know. Reason, experience,
ommon sense, science, duty and Interest
like require that we go forward and do!
ur part and accomplish the work needed
rom lake 10 gulf, as written in nature and
,rpssCd upon us by great necessities and
hangers, and invited by great duties and
40 ,,raat aud snlpDiIi rewards fD nil pur