Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-02
THE STATES WATER WAY.

THE STATES WATER WAY.
A Philadelphia cotemporary suggests
that if the money spent on canals had been
devoted to improving the rivers, there would
have been a splendid system of waterways
throughout the State. In that connection
it refers to an account of the trip Of steam
boat many years ago, which assembled the
Susquehanna as far as Binghamton, N.
Y. Or course, progress on the upper
waters of that stream was very slow; but
the fact that navigation in that early day
could be carried on as far as Southern New
York proves that the Central and Eastern
part of the State have been wasting splendid
opportunities in water navigation as we'll as
the Western. Indeed, the waste has been
greater there, because while all parts of the
State have an equal responsibility in letting
the waterways fall into disuse, the abandon
ment of the canals to the railways has been
on larger scale in Eastern Pennsylvania;
while Western Pennsylvania has preserved
to a certain degree of usefulness the naviga-
tion of the Ohio and the improvement of the
| Monongahela as far as the West Virginia
line.
But as the canal expenditure is a matter
of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers,
a more modern comparison can be made by
saying that if one-tenth of the capital ex-
pended in extending and improving the
railway system of Penns ylvania had been
used in improving both canals and rivers
we would have had a perfect and connected
system of water transportation all over the
State. 1t is the fashion to elevate the cor
porate nose at canal projects on account of
the inadequacy of the old canals. But the
railroads of that day were inadequate also;
and if a mere fraction of the money spent in
enlarging the capacity of the railroads had
been used to enlarge the capacity of the
canals and waterways, what a system of
water transportation we would have nowi
Put the supposition in another way, and
imagine that if percentage of the burden
of railway Determinations and combina-
ton charges on the coal, lumber, petro-
leum and iron of the State had been
taken in the form of taxes for improving the
natural waterways of the State and con-
Meeting them by modern canals, what a
perfect check on such abuses would long ago
have been established by this complete sys-
TEN of water transportation Even the old
and rudimentary canals transported coal,
iron and lumber cheaper than the railroads
do TO-DAY. 4 fortiori, how much cheaper
would modern and enlarged canals with
capacity for vessels of 500 to 1000 tons
do it?
1t is not worth while to waste many tears
over the mistakes of the past except as they
show us how to be wiser in the future. But |
this is exactly what is done in this instance. |
The State has its natural WAYS left. They !
are the only remnant of the old system of |
water transportation that railway trans
portation has been unable to wipe out. The
destruction of forests has rendered them liza
BILE to the alterations of drought and flood I; |
but it has lately been shown in THE DIS |
PATCH how the reservoir capacity of the |
streams can be made to at once mitigate |
those evils and furnish reliable waterways. |
Suppose the State should enter at once into |
the policy of improving its main rivers as
they might be improved. The Susque-
hanna would afford cheap transporta- |
ton to the anthracite region. the |
Allegheny would to the petroleum |
region, and the Youghiogheny to the coke |
region, as the Monongahela now does to its |
coal fields. The connection of the rivers |
with the lakes would give the system of
water transportation an indefinite extension |
in one direction, the Ohio river in another. |
Moreover, the connection OF the Eastern and |
Western systems of improved river trans
portatIon by canal, either from the Cone |
maugh to the Juniata, or by what might be |
the most feasible route, from the head waters |
of the Allegheny to the west branch of the |
Susquehanna, would furnish all parts of the |
State an outlet either to the ocean in one |
direction or to the lakes and rivers in the |
other
In previous articles we have urged the |
projects of water-w way construction as parts
OF grand National system. But here we
can see the opportunity of Pennsylvania to
take the leadership in the work, SO as to
secure not only the benefits of cheap trans
portation TO her local interests, but the great
gain of making the central way through her
territory. A rigorous policy of improving
her rivers and connecting them by modern
canals offers to the State greater prizes in
the way of development than any other
using the same amount OF money.