Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-04

the canal boat builders OF course they are
against the proposed lease. But Cumber-
land also has lots of citizens who want the
railroad. Outside of the counties bordering
on the canal, people generally favor rali,
road lease. Another drawback to that canai
is that as long as it is maintained 1t Will
suffer damage from every freshet' II was
built too close to the Potomac river, ana mas
suffered several times from floods"
THE TRANS-ALLEGHENY SCHEME.
I asked Governor jackson if he thought
the building of q mountain canal ano tqn-
mel from Cumberland to Morgantown, w:
Va, thus connecting the Chesapeake and
Ohio canal with the slack-watered Monon-
gahela, would offer commercial posslbllltles
enough to insure increased business Tor the
Chesapeake and Ohio ditch and induce the
State of MARYLAND to keep it open. In other
words. did he not think the present canal
and the single railroad communities, such as
are along the upper Potomac, were actually
dropping from the lack of just such con-
nection between the eastern and western
waterways.
~ received a letter from Pittsburg
gentleman few days ago., replied the
Governor, "giving me the outline OF a trans
Allegheny canal scheme such as you speak.
No. / think such a scheme is impracticable,
for, as / said before, the day of canals has
gone by. 1t would not help the Chesapeake
and Ohio canal any, for 1 don't see how
your new canal, with all the railroads
scaling the Alleghenies, could have any
more business than the Chesapeake and
Ohio canal now has.
THINKS IT WOULDN'T PAY.
1.-THE cost of building a canal over the
mountain SUBMITS would be enormous.
When it was finished the railroads would be
apt to meet it rates, and then it would have
no business. cannot see that Washington
would have any great use for such trans
Allegheny canal. Baltimore would not be
reached by the canal, nor does it need it,
having all the great railroad facilities and
coastwise steamers that she has. And 1
don't believe the railroads would ever let
the Pittsburgers ship East by a canal"
Governor jackson is right about Cumber-
land having some citizens who are tired OF
the canal and who want a railroad instead.
1 met Asa Wilson, Postmaster of Cumber-
land, before l came away. He is said to be
one of the incorporators of the new Wash
ington and Cumberland Railroad, which is
trying to get the canal bed, but be that as it
may, he SAYS the recent railroad connections
in the Cumberland coal field have taken the
canals business away from it largely, and
that for years past the canal has been
operated by the State
AT A HEAVY LOSS
Its bonds are still outstanding, and new
issue had to be made some years ago. He
believes a new railroad will relieve Cum
berland from depending entirely on the Bal
timore and Ohio Railroad. Hon. William
Walsh, of Cumberland, prefers the railroad,
because the old canal was too uncertain, and
because railroad shops would probably be
built at Cumberland.
Mr.. o. c. Gephart said recently: "The
advantage of each additional railroad to a
community can hardly be overestimated,
therefore am in favor of as many of these
arteries of trade as we can possibly secure.
The canal, think, is dead beyond all res
direction and must eventually be replaced
by a railroad, and the sooner this is accom-
phished, the better for our whole commu-
nifty, as well as the State at large"
SOME FIGURES GIVEN.
looked UP the statistics on Cumberland
coal outputs, and l find that, in 1883, the
year before the food, the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal carried its largest amount of
coal in five years. That was 286. 700 tons.
In the same year the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad carried from the Maryland region
2,669, 216 tons and the Pennsylvania Rail-
road 715, 151 tons. This, I find, was nearly
double the amount ever before carried by
the Pennsylvania Railroad in one year.
in 1875 the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
carried its largest tonnage in 40 years
S79, S38 tons. Since then its business has
gradually decreased, while the railroads
have increased in the same ratio.
L. E. SToFIEL.