Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-05-10

cheaper transportation OF lIs prO0uCLs.
will not necessarily ''proVe detrimental
TO the commercial interest OF Ne" VI
leans.
Tt is well known to them, or should be.
that the inability Of that city to control
the trade Of the valley gave rise 70 the
numerous Northwestern railways engaged
in the valley trade. and that even with
the aid Of the jetties without which the
ship canal will be useless TO her :, she
does not promise seriously 10 endahgef
their profits. In view Of her great DIS
lance from the Atlantic. the cost OF break
ing bulk for reshipment, toTage through
the ietties. and canal fees prOportioned 10
forty or fifty millions dollars capital IN
vested. the ship canal does not promise
greatly to increase her competition with
these lines. In fact, the Northern ana
Canadian railways and canals could not
have enlisted a better ally than the lori
da ship canal in the work OF enaDIlhg
them to draw away the commerce OF New
Orleans. and after all. it may turn out
that their interests effected the reSuscl-
tatiOn OF what the country long regarded
as the defUnct ship Canal Company. II
would not have been difficult to persuade
them that the construction of the ship ca
nal would result in the abandonment OF the
barge canal project, and that the lmpossl-
bility Of the formers ever coming INTO
competition with the Northern IalI"a!s
would secure to them perpetual Immunl-
~ from the danger OF cheap water Trans
DOrtatiOn from the Mississippi to
the Atlantic ocean. The only hope
Of this advantage TO the East
depends upon the barge canal, which
competent engineers have shown could
be constructed from st. Mary's, on
the Atlantic. TO the mouth OF the Missls-
sippi river. a distance OF nearly seven ven
hundred miles. for less than $lO,V0.Ug,
while the ship canal has never been esti-
mated at less than forty mlillons, though
extending only across the narrow penln-
sula of Florida. 1t utilities none
of the Iaud-lOcked waters Of the
Gulf for the benefit Of numerous
towns and cities needing trade and trathc
for DEVELOPMENT. draws no trade from the
interior to the mouths of the numerous
rivers flowing into the Gulf east OF the
Mississippi, and offers in drainage nothing
to compare with the 100000 acres OF fer
tile lands to be given TO settlement and
agriculture in Okefn0kee and san Pedro
sWamps alone. to say nothing of the vast
timbered regions of fiat lands to be DRAIN
ed and brought into market by the barge
canal. While the latter has command
ing and safe harbor at St. Mary's on the
Atlantic. and also at ct. Marks
on the Gulf. the ship canal had no
safe or possible harbOr at either
terminus. until it recently decided
to adopt Fernandina on the Atlantic,
almost in sight Of the magnificent harbor
Of the barge canal, and even now it has
no harbOr on the Gulf, or any possibility
Of one short of an outlay Of several mil
lions Of dollars. ANY attempt to con-
struct a haTbOr at the mouth OF the
Suwannee river will prove a ridiculous
failure. it being well known to the United
States coast survey that no where along
that line Of the Gulf coast can the shore be
approached nearer than i've to seven
miles by vessels drawing over five feet Of
water. Furthermore, the crooked route
of the ship canal as now laid
down. passing from Fernandina into the
st. Johns southwark, thence westward to
the Suwannee river and thence southwark
to the Gulf, increases its length TO about
equal that Of the barge canal across the
peninsula. though the latter has its Allan
tic terminus farther to the north and its
Gulf terminus much farther TO the west.
The cost Of the barge canal from
St. Mary's to st. Marks, across the
peninsula. has never been estimated TO
exceed 1909, 900, so that, should it be-
come necessary by great increase Of trans
portatiOn, as already anticipated, TO dou-
bic its width and capacity, its total cost
would still remain less than One-siXth Of
the enormous cost of the ship canal.
In the statement Of Judge Fry that
the OkefinOkee summit level Of the barge
canal Is l07 feet above tidewater on the
st. Mary's, he inadvertently admits fact
as remarkable as it is fatal to the future
value of the ships canal. Actual survey
shows that there is scarcely ten miles be-
tween that summit level and tidewater,
while the ridge which surrounds OkefinO-
kee, at a VARYING distance of from two To
three miles from the swamp, has an ele-
walton of from fifteen to thirty feet only,
and nowhere more than three miles
wide between the bed of the lake or
swamp ana the Deu ol Tue o. Maj!
river.
These facts show that a short canal or
ditch OF three miles in length, from one to
thirty feet in depth, would actually drain
Okefnokee into the st. Mary's, furnish
ing water power Of 1O1 feet fall in dis
lance of ten miles, and endowing the en-
terprise with half million acres OF fertile
drained lands within the State Of GeOr-
gia alone without touching the vast ter
ritOry Of Florida with the dredging ma
chine. These lands could be Immediately
placed on the market, manufactures
erected to utilize this ineXhaustible wa
ter power and millions of feet Of fine
timber fioated to the tide level from the
drained forests of OkefnOkee. Here,
then, is capital in hand at the very be-
ginning Of the barge canal, more than
sufficient to complete it to the Gulf port
of st. Marks.
But these great advantages are extreme
lvdangerOus to the ship canal, and ifpublic
attention can be turned away from them
a great victory would result to the mo-
nOpoliZing railways now absolutely tax
ing at will the great and growing indus
tries of the Mississippi valley, debating
the terms Of prosperity to the Eastern
cities of the North, and starving out as
rapidly as their syndicates can effect ia
the commercial Importance Of the cities
of the South Atlantic. What, II TO secure
this prize they paid the cost Of twenty
or forty million dollars canal across the
remote peninsula of Florida! 1t would
be a mere trifle, partly refunded in Flori-
da lands, more than quadrupled by the
profits of a single grain crop from the
Northwestern valley, and if successful in
defeating the barge canal, would yield
perpetual harvest, at the small cost OF
keeping up a show of business and pro-
vidfng comfortable establishments for a
number of theoretically enterpTising gen.
tlemen.
1t is unnecessary to compare further
the merits Of the two enterprises in order
to show the strained measure of the resO-
buttons referred to, for that is apparent
upon their face, and should attract the at
tentiOn of the cities of the Atlantic and
the people of the East who are looking for
ward to cheap water transportation for
relief from undue railway taxation. But
further stress should be laid upon the fact
that, as the port of New Orleans is by no
means secure against desertiOn by the
river and consequent abandonment of the
jetties at its mouth, the steamboat and
barge canal promises the only sure relief
to the people Of the valley against the
northwestern railway monopolies, and the
only certainty of distribution of the pro-
ducts Of the valley among the ports Of the
Atlantic The ship canal would be who'll
~ pOwerless to support the commerce OF
New Orleans in the almost certain event
of the changing Of the current of the
Mississippi to the Atchafalaya, while
the barge canal would still conduct the
great bulk of the moving products of the
valley to her wharves. It's system of barge
transportation through shallow water has
already been demonstrated to be the only
successful competition it IS possible to
bring against the Northwestern railways
and the British steam lines, through
the Welland canal and the great lakes.
If it is cOntended that competition be-
tween the latter will reduce freights to
the minimum, we answer, first, that ulti-
mate profit would inure to the superior
British lines; second, that great mOnOpO-
lies, national or international, Will agree
on terms of mutual accommodation; and,
third, that in ten prosperous years from
this date, all the present existing
British and Northwestern railways
and canals combined, will not be
able to move one-half the surplus grain
and other crops in that portion OF