St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-10
Senator Davis Speaks Of It's
Importance to the Coun-
try's Commerce.
The Receipts and Shipments
Of Duluth Run to Enor-
nous Figures.
Nearly Twice as Much Busi-
ness Done Through the
500 as the SueZ.
Congress Urged to Make an
Appropri iation Of Five Mil
lions at Once.
Special to the Clone.

Special to the Clone.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9.-In the senate
to-day Mr.. Davis, of Minnesota, called
up for consideration the bill appropri
ating s.. 73S, 900 for the improvement Of
st. Mary's river, Michigan, and s1,6S4,
600 for the improvement of Hay lake
channel, Michigan. Mr. Davis made an
exhaustive speech upon the measure
and impressed upon the senate
the benefits which would accrue
to the business interests of the
West from the Improvement. Mr..
Davis said g Petitions have
been presented from the chambers Of
commerce of the cities of ST. Paul and
Duluth. The distance from the city Of
New York to Duluth, at the head of
Lake Superior, is 1.400 miles, of which
500 miles are deep water navigation, by
way Of the great lakes. The only outlet
from Lake Superior is the st. Mary's
river. which is seventy-five miles in
length. The fall in this distance is
twenty feet and four inches, and of this
eighteen feet and two inches are at the
falls. The only channel now navigable
is, for the first thirty-fve miles below
that place. so tortuous that passage
| through iT at night is unsafe and is not
attempted.
To FINISH THE WORK
at st. Mary's and Hay Lake channel
will require s.. 422, $50. The actual
freight tonnage for 1889 was 1916, OPP
tons. A few comparative statements
will illustrate the Importance of these
result . In 1888 the entries at and clear
ances from the port of New Orleans
were: Registered tons. entries, III, lbs
ons; clearances, 49, $50 tons; total,
AS, 64S tons.
During the same year the registered
tonnage locked through the st. Nary
canal was 6,411.423 tons. The United
States expended six and One-half mil
lions of dollars in deepening the channel
at the mouth of the Mississippi river
and in the gulf. In this it did wisely.
was delayed too long. The great man
10 whose genius this country owes the
deepening of the outlet of the Missis-
sippi river, was first thwarted and then
delayed. year after year, while COM
merce stood at anchor waiting for the
parSimoniouS WaStefulnesS of stingy
legislation. The total registered tom
mage entered and cleared in all the ports
of the United States from and to for
eign countries in 1888 was 1902, ,O07
tons. In the same year the registered
tonnage
THROUGH THIS LOCK
was (estimated) 6.2O0,000 tons, being
about 20 per cent of the amount of the
tonnage entered and cleared in that
year from all the ports of the United
SfQtpc in . hio
1l,230,S13 tons entered and cleared
at the port of New York-less than one
half more than the tonnage through
this lock during the same year.
Consider the commerce of single city
during the year 1SS9-the city of Du-
luth. The shipments of iron ore from
that point were S26,Sl4 tons as against
504, ITO tons in 1898, an increase of 320.-
600 tons in one year. The shipments in
1884, when export from the Minnesota
iron mines began, were only 62. 1872 tons.
This ore is of the finest quality. 1t is pro-
duced from the iron range of Minnesota.
The mines are ineXhaustible. Six years
ago that region was utterly uninhabited.
1t is now the seat of great mining oper-
ations which are rapidly increasing. 1t
is traverSed by railroads, ,and cities have
sprung up in the wilderness. The wheat
received and shipped from that port in
1850 was 3,021 ,S37 bushels. There were
received 17,3l0,605 bushels in 1882 The
shipments of flour in 1855 were S91 800
barrels. In 1889 there were 2,02O, ,953
barrels. Nearly all of this is the
product of the greatest Touring mills in
the world, those of Minneapolis, whose
output has been in six DAYS 1S1 $50
barrels, an average of 81, Us barrels
each day. The elevator capacity is
19,5O0.000 bushels. In 1888 the
COAL RECEIPTS AT DULUTH
tons in 1899. The arrivals and clear
aDces of vessels at this port in
1889 were 2,554 vessels, of registered
tonnage, 2,475, ,l95, as against 1,S0S YES
sells in 1888, of registered tonnage.
1,372,233 tons. In this period the aver
age registered capacity of the vessels
increased from 76l tons to 965 tons. In
the four years ending with 1899 that in
crease was 204 tons. The length of
dock line is 1921 miles; the length of
dock face is 1880 miles Railways having
a mileage of 16,455 miles reach Duluth.
The Suez canal cost nearly S100, ZOO, 900. 1t
is the highway of all nations. 1t revolu-
tionized all of the processes of inter
course between the East ann West. Its
political, military and commercial in
fiuence is of moie importance
than all the wars that have ever
been fought for the possession.
of the East-that highest prize of COM
merce. Yet its average daily tonnage
for the year 1888 was less than that :of
the SaulU ste. Marie canal. That aver
age for the SueZ canal was 1884 tons
daily, while the daily average OF the
Sault Ste. Marie canal during the 2l2
days in which it was open was 30,242
tons, and the value of the products for
that year thus transported was SS2, 159,-
019. Railway construction now in
progress will shorten the distance be-
tween
DULUTH AND PUGET SOUND
to 1.S00 miles, thus bringing that great
haven within that distance of the navi-
gable waters that flow into the Atlantic
ocean. This will place the city of New
York within 1O,50Q miles of Canton. By
the Suez canal it is now distant 20. 500
miles, and by the Cape of Good Hope
22,500 miles, while London by the Suez
route is 5000 miles from Canton.
submit these considerations because
they are cogent reasons why we should
act upon the pending subject with
promptness and liberality. The ten
dency of transportation is at present
over the east and west route by way of
the great lakes and the Canadian and
American canals. 1t ought to be gen
erously and speedily encouraged. 1t
draws these great commonwealth
closer to each other along their entire
length. The opening of another
route, whose tendency will be re-
puiSiya to pOlifloaI oud oon,D,aro;oI