The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1891-02-05

been perfected and adopted, the cost
being estimated at So, 600, 356.
In this project boats are taken from
the river at "Big Eddy" at the foot Of
the Dalles rapids, and are returned to
the river at the head of Cello Falls, be
ing transported over the intermediates
distance on a railway a little more thar
eight miles in length, the entire opera
ton occupying only about ninety min
utes. The capacity of the work is es-
timated for forty boats each way in
twenty-f0ur hours. But it may be
doubled by the construction of an addi-
tional lift at each terminus, by length
ening the turn outs, and by necessary
additions to the rolling stock. The
! track need not be duplicated or disturbed.
Whether the third American ship rail-
way is to be on Canadian soil, to connect
Lake Ontario with Georgian Bay, or over
the lower Michigan peninsula to connect
Lake Erie with the waters OF Lake Mich
igan opposite Chicago, depends upon the
vigor and enterprise of the promoters.
Both projects are under discussion, and
the natural suggestions of canals have in
each case been agtated at intervals for
| the last sixty years.
! Both these schemes are put forward in
/ the interest of Chicago. The one in
wolves the navigation of the entire
length of Lake Michigan, the Straits of
Mackinac, Georgian Bay, Lake Ontario,
and the ST Lawrence River to the sea,
avoiding all Lake Erie ports unless via
the Welland Canal. The other is by a
straight cut, ITO miles, across the pc
ninsula of Michigan direct to Toledo,
Dunkirk, and Buffalo. The one is es-
sentially a summer route, being closed to
navigation from four to five months
every year, the other is at the extreme
southern line of the great lakes, and is
virtually open the year round. In view
of the rapidly increasing volume OF trail
fc thronging the Sault Ste. Marie canals,
the Straits of Mackinac, the ST. Clair
River, the flats, and the ship canal, both
these projects should be rapidly pushed
to completion. But the one is purely d
Canadian enterprise, the other is as pure
| ly American, and is essentially in the in
terests of Chicago and all our lake ports,
| from Duluth to Buffalo.
1t must be remembered that in the
suggestions we have to consider the
handling of greater volume Of tonnage
and commerce than passes any other
given point in the United States, if not
in the world, not excepting Gibraltar or
the Suez Canal.
The following table will show the re-
duction of distance to be effected by the
cut proposed direct from Chicago and the
Lake Erie ports:
Chicago to Toledo us miles, reduced to-. 225
Chicago to Detroit, CTS miles, reduced to- .26C
| Chicago TO Sandusky, 755 miles, reduced to. .265
Chicago to Erie, Pa, 875 miles, reduced to. 1886
Chicago to Dunkirk, $50 miles, reduced to. 400
Chicago to Buffalo, 975 miles, reduced to. 49,
Chicago is already the great distribu-
tive port for all north and west of it.
The canals already projected to the Mis-
sissippi and across the upper peninsula
of Michigan will vastly augment this
traffic and swell the demand for the
most direct and rapid egress east and
south. 1t is simply absurd to suppose
that this vast tide of commerce will be
much longer content to percolate the de-
vious ice-bound and rocky channels
through which the first havigators OF
these inland seas CROPPED their way from
the Niagara to the Gulf.
But shall the relief come by ship rail-
ways or ship canals? 1t would seem
rather late in the day to enter upon a
discussion Of the relative merits of these.
The great waterways, the great prairies,
the great crops, the great cities, and tho