Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-09
Encouraging Reports Presented al
the Meeting of the State Com
misSiOnerS Yesterday.
RECORDS TO BE OUT SOON.
The Beaver River Route Favored and Its
Advantages Over the French Greek
as Waterway.
BOTH MAY BE CHANNELS OF COMMERCE.
Many New Points Brought Out About the Nsturs
Drainage of the Route.

Canal are practically finished, and the State
will be ask ed to complete the canal. 1t is
only question OF a short time now until
the energetic Commissioners will be ready
to report TO the Government. They have
compiled data about the benefits and advan-
tages that a ship canal would afford the vast
producing regions abounding the proposed
route, and will present this in connection
with the reports of surveys.
The commission held its monthly meet
ing at the Office of the Monongahela Navi-
CATION Company yesterday morning, and
heard the reports OF surveys made by Mr..
Goodwin. The reports showed that surveys
over the French creek route have been COM
pleted, and that the work of surveying the
Beaver river route had been finished down
to the mouth of that stream. All that re-
mains for the commission to do now is to
make the final surveys from Davis Island
dam to the Beaver river, a distance Of 20
miles, and TO make its estimate of the cost
of the great undertaking.
ONLY TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS.
The commission as body have not as yet
given any figures as TO what it would cost
to build the canal, but as individuals they
have admitted it would cost as much, if not
more, than the Welland Canal, which con-
meets Lake Huron and Michigan. The cost
TO the Canadian Government for this great
waterway was something like SIS, 600, 600,
and several members of the Canal Com
mission have figured that it will surely re-
qulre this amount TO construct it at the
lowest figures.
At its previous meeting the Commission
discussed the merits of the Welland Canal,
a visit having been made to Canada by
several engineers and figures on the
amount OF tonnage yearly on the above
canal were secured. The commission figured
from this that the tonnage on the proposed
waterway to Lake Erie would be many
millions greater annually, estimating the
carrying capacity of vessels in use on the
Canada canal and those that are to be used
OF the proposed Pennsylvania ship canal.
Tie Commissions reports will furnish
all the information which they have col
lected about both the French creek and
Beaver river routes. They will not make
any recommendation to adopt either of the
two routes, which are perfectly feasible, but
will present what data they have secured on
both of them.
1t is understood that the Commission
favors the Beaver river route, for the reason
that the territory in that section
is more densely populated, and sew
eral large manufacturing towns will
be in close proximity to the canal. Of the
places near it are Beaver, New Brighton,
Beaver Falls, New Castle, Sharon, Sharps-
vile and numerous other places that have
great prominence from the fact that they
are all iron-prOdueing places. In view of
this the &C umissioners generally favor the
route in preference to French creek.
Colonel T. p. Roberts was delegated to col
lect for the commission all the data concern
ing the latter route.
Colonel Roberts spent some time on the
work, and his report showed that the coun-
try was undeveloped and thinly populated
for many miles, and, while the outlook for
builoing up towns along the route is good,
be thought the Beaver river is the best
His report showed that the territory
abounded in mineral wealth and had great
future before it. In an interview yesterday
he said he thought it would be only mat
ter of a few years, if the Beaver river route
was adopted, until the French creek line
would be opened up to the lakes, giving us
two waterways. Colonel Roberts was seen
yesterday afternoon. He said:
REPORT WILL BE ISSUED SOON.
1--WE are progressing very rapidly and
our report will be forthcoming shortly. 1t
will embrace all general information about
the benefits to be derived from the canal.
The longer l am connected with the work
the probabilities of the waterway magnify a
hundredfold.
" 1t is stated that the ship canal will be
detrimental to the lake railroads, but 1
claim that it will not. Instead, it Will be
beneficial to the railroads. The only bust
ness that the canal will detract from the
railways is the heavy traffic in iron ore, iron
and coal, but the increase in passage travel,
in proportion to the increase in population
In the towns along the canal, will counter
balance the decrease in freight tonnage.
''The assertion has been made that if the
Beaver river is selected as the route for the
canal ii will not benefit Pittsburg, but will
boom the towns on the Beaver river. This
impression is decidedly erroneous, and
firmly believe it will be
the greatest thing ever done for
Pittsburg when the Legislature authorizes
the building of this canal. We have every
thing in practicable shape now. The neces-
sarv profiles have been made and the water
way will have but 40 locks, where the old
Erie canal required 133. This canal was
saving millions of dollars at the time it was
abandoned. 1t has been said that a shin
canal could not be built by the Beaver
river route on account of the insufficient
water supply, but this is absurd
Conneaut lake and several smaller
bodies of water empty into the
summit, u miles from Lake Erie, which
will give a height OF 80 ieet of water at all
times. To Otain this locks will be built on
the Beaver, which has an elevation of 315
feet above the Pittsburg harbor level at a
point y miles from Lake Erie. On the
other side OF this there is a tall of 442 feet,
or 137 feet lower than the Ohio at New
Brighton"