Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-04-09
The Florida Peninsula and Mis-
sissippi Barge Canal

| This project, which has already at
! tracted so much attention since the re-
cent revival of it's discussion in the MORN
ING NEWS, was taken up and treated by
the New York San last week to a good
editorial. The Sun presents nothing on
the subject that we have not already
brought to the attention of the public, but
it has strong way of stating the facts
in the case, and we append its remarks
that our readers may see how the great
enterprise is viewed from a Northern
standpoint:
can important project for facilitating
transportation, which has been under con-
sNeratiOn, in one form or another. for
fully fifty years, is now likely to be actu-
ally carried out. 1t is that of digging a
canal across the Florida peninsula, so as
to join the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mex
leo.
''Two different methods of accomplish
ing the object have been advocated. The
first is known as the Florida Ship Canal,
to be run from the Suwanee river to the
st. Johns, and to form a waterway wide
enough and deep enough for the passage of
ships with full cargoes from the Gulf
across the peninsula. The second plan is
for barge canal merely; and this would
involve a far less cost.
"Between New Orleans and the Gulf
coast of Florida, there is series of in
let's and sounds through which Missis-
sippi river barges can be towed, and if a
waterway through Florida was opened
they could continue their way to the at.
lantic coast, from which their cargoes
could be shipped directly to Europe. The
great swamps of that State, it is contend
cd, furnish water level which renders a
canal easily practicable. The theory is
that they can be connected at compara-
lively small expense, and thus be made
to form continuous waterway suitable
for barge transportation from St. Marks
on the Gulf to st. Mary's on the Atlantic.
I'm fine, the project is to bring the
barges of the Mississippi and its tributa-
rles to an Atlantic port at the mouth of
the st. Mary's river, with the Georgia
town of the same name on the north, and
the Florida city of Fernandina on the
south. Here is good and safe harbor,
capable of improvement, so that it shall
always be deep enough for vessels of the
heaviest draught.
E'This route and this particular canal
were strongly favored by Gen. Gilmore
in a report to Congress on the subject
made in 1880. Such an unbrOken channel
of communication, he showed, would
make st. Mary's the maritime terminus of
10000 miles of rivers and waterways,
teeming with a commerce which was
recently valued at five hundred millions
annually.
''The cost of the whole work, according
to the estimates, would not exceed ten
millions of dollars, and probably would
not be more than seven millions; whereas
the ship canal proposed would involve an
expenditure of at least fifty millions. the
requirements of width and depth in barge
canal, of course, being much less than
in the other. The barge canal has an
other great merit besides comparative
cheapness. Its projectors ask nothing
ship canal could scarcely be carried
through without frequent and large raids
on the Treasury.
''The advantages of enabling the Mis-
sissippi barges to be t0Wed directly to an
Atlantic port would be many. The very
dangerous navigation through the Florida
reefs would be avoided. The loss of pro-
perty because of wrecks along the Florida
coast amounts to millions annually. A
saving of probably % per cent. would be
made in insurance on account of the new
and safer method of communication. The
money saving effected, it is anticipated,
would be sufficient to pay tolls great
enough to make the enterprise moderately
profitable, and yet leave a handsome re-
mainder for the shippers.
''Of course the railways which now
carry products of the Mississippi valley
are natural enemies of the canal project,
as they are of all water transportation,
and the success of this work, if it was
half as great as its advocates anticipate,
would be especially damaging to them
But the Southern and Western producer
would be a substantial gamer on account
of it. Competition between land and
water transportation would be increased,
and the shipper would benefit thereby.
''The Legislatures of both Florida and
Georgia have lately passed charters en-
powering the construction of this barge
canal, and it is now probable that the
work will be carried to completion by
private enterprise and private capital
If it is accomplished it will doubtless be
of enormous advantage to the region con-
tiguous to the canal, at whose eastern
terminus a great Atlantic port will proba-
bly, be built up. The whole country, too,
must profit by any important increase of
the facilities for bringing the products of
the West to the Atlantic coast for ship
ment.
''The Florida barge canal is therefore a
very interesting and significant enter
prise"