Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-04
COME TO THINK OF 1T,
A Canal From Pittsburg to Lake Erie
Isn't Very Vast Project,
AND 1T MIGHT OVERTURN
ali Projects of Ambitious Manufacturing
Rivals Everywhere.
SUGGESTIONS OF METHODS AND COST

"where there's a will there's a way" they
say, and some people who have been studying
the problem of how to get canal to Lake Erie
have decided in advance of the report of the
commission appointed to survey, that the
project is feasible and even within the means
OF some Pittsburg ten-millionaires They have
further decided that If Pittsburg is to maintain
her supremacy as empress of the iron and glass
industries she must hump herself, as her star
of empire is no longer pointing southwark as il
old once and westward she must have for her
heavy freighting something cheaper than rail.
way transportation.
Among those who have been figuring is Mr..
c. Kimberland. His project is to dig canal
with sufficient draft of water to accommodate
barges Of considerable tonnage, the canal to be
200 feet WIDE with sufficient lifts to reach the
top of the watershed if necessary, on each
side of the divide. While he thinks it might be
well for the National Government to either do
it or assist, yet il ought to be done, anyhow,
and the great Northwest is almost as much in
terested as this section. MIR. KImberland has
SIDE Ra1 on eacS SSS siSe Gae of sn ancS csnai @
from the mouth of the Beaver to the lake
at cost of g, Is, 900. and that the whole
cost would be little greater than the building
of a railroad. By directing the streams to be
found along the line into the ditch the cost
of excavation would be much reduced. as the
water would scour the bottom of the channel
In most places to the depth required, the earth
being allowed to pass through the locks to
lower levels.
SOME MEASUREMENTS.
Mr.. ]. H. McRoberts. civil engineer gives
Some heights above sea level that are of inter-
est in this connection: The belt course on the
west face of the Union station in this city, is
745 feet above sea level. The level of the Ohio
river at Beaver is 666 feet above, and that of
b. Etrio fe nd
Ravenna LOGS feet above sea level, while
Youngstown, o., is S63 feet above.
These elevations give an idea of vast num-
Der Of lifts necessary to reach the top Of the
divide, but it is thought that much Of the diff
Guilty might be obviated by following winding
course, and in water navigation distance does
not count for SO much as in rallroading. 1t
isn't thought necessary to follow the policy of
the builders Of the Ohio and Pennsylvania
Canal. as they wound around to accommodate
the agricultural interest of 90 odd years ago
largely, whereas in the present case the object
Is to get to the lake by the best possible route
regardless of wayside interests. There isn't
any doubt of the possibility of making the
canal, it simply resolving itself into matter
of dollars and cents, with reference to
outlay and return. Mr.. KimDerland suggests
that it will pay even if the mouth OF the Mus
kingum must be taken instead of that of the
Beaver There is no such lifting as was neces-
sary to get the Pennsylvania Central over the
Allegheny Mountains, and the resources at
command are infinitely greater, as also the in
terests involved than those in that project.
BY piling the sides the objection to steam
navigation on canals would be obviated, as the
banks would not wash, no matter what the
swell, and tugs drawing eight feet of water
would push as much cargo as could be passed
around bends in the canal.
COST COMPARISONS.
Alabama is now turning out much cheaper
iron than is made in Pittsburg To bring 1900
feet Of lumber from Chicago to this city by
rail costs S44, while the cost of shipment of
the same by rail from Alabama to Pittsburg is
Is per cent more than the cost of the lumber.
Water carriage costs one-sixth of that by
rail. The cost of shipment of a car of yellow
pine lumber from Richmond, Va, to this city
Is Just equal TO the cost of the lumber in that
city and it is estimated that ore could be
brought from Lake Erie to this city by canal
FOR is cents per ton.
All the lake cities want Pittsburg coal and
coke, and had we a canal to Lake Erie. we
might load pair of big iron barges with L6OO
tons of COAL take them to THE Zenith City of
the unsalted seas" and return with LOGO tons
of ore.
- There is nothing chimerical about this
project, but some people think that those most
interested should make the most exertion to
secure It.