The morning call., 1891-08-02
WATERWAYS AND LANDwAYs.

The four-masted ship Shenandoah, which
is believed 10 be the largest wooden ship in
the world, sailed from this port yesterday
for Havre with 562S tons Of wheat. 1t has
rarely happened that so large quantity of
produce has been moved in single vehicle
1t is Ieckoned that ton of wheat will feed
six persons for year. This single vessel
is thus carrying to France food enough to
supply 50, 76S Frenchmen with food for a
tWelye-month.
These figures impart some humor TO the
schemes of the people who talk about NOV
ing the wheat crop by rail. A freight-car
Will hold ten tons of wheat. Some large
ca rs hold more, but ten tons is a fair aver
age. An ordinary locomotive can haul ten
loaded cars over the Sierras and the Rock
les. Thus it would have required 800 cars,
or IS trains Of 10 cars each, to convey the
wheat which this single ship is carrying to
Havre, and so large an addition to the or
binary freight service of the railroad could
not have been distributed over less period
than ten days. Horace Greeley once dem
onstTated that if the Erie Canal was per-
manently blockaded New York and its sub
urbs would run some risk of suffering from
famine, for all the railroads centering in
that city could not carry food enough to
feed its people even if they neglected all
other business. Yet the New York Central
locomotives haul forty cars on level.
The fact is complete answer to those
who expect railroads to supersede water
transportation. Railroads can never COM
pete with rivers OF the ocean for the move
ment of bulky and heavy goods. They can
not carry wheat or coal or lumber in oppo-
sition TO waterways. They can beat steam
ers IN the passenger business and in the
transportation of light freights, but when
II comes to the great necessaries of life,
food and fuel, the railroad is nowhere. II
Is hard TO say what would happen to man.
kind If by any CONFUSION of nature the
navigation of the waters which traverse
and encircle the inhabited portions of the
globe should happen to cease.
The subject may be looked at from prac-
teal as well as speculative point of view
In many portions of the world the rivers
are shoaling owing TO diminution of their
sources Of supply. That is the case with
the San Joaquin and the Sacramento, ia
this State, and more couspicuously still
with the Arkansas and the Rio Grande, Cd
the other side Of the divide. On both these
aforementioned rivers the mark of ancient
beach lines indicates what mighty streams
they once were, and tells the tale of their
gradual drying up. Some rivers seem to
maintain their volume. There is no sign
of any diminution in the flow of the St.
Lawrence or the Columbia or the Snake or
the Colorado. Bat no one can inspect the dry
arroyOs which furrOw the face of Southern
California and Arizona without being con-
WINGED that there were once great rivers in
that region which gradually dried up from
evaporation and the neglect of their sources
Of emu ,1rr 'hn til.
Arizona prove that the ella must once have
been one Of the great rivers of the world
and have RECEIVED in its bosom the waters
of large affiuents. 1t is not excessive heat
which has dried up these rive rs, for there is
no diminution in the volume of the Amazon
or the Congo. 1t is simply the denudation
Of the soil where their sources lie and the
want of little care in outstanding their
| waters.
The profits of ship-building guarantee the
world against falling off in ocean naviga-
! ton. So long as ship-owners make money
| they will always go on improving on their
| models and keeping the ocean waterways
| open. But the prospects of inland naviga-
ton call for public attention. 1t is matter
| OF national Importance that our rivers
| should not be suffered to dry up and fertile
! regions be forced to depend on railroads for
! an outlet. In connection with this matter
one-haf of the topics which engross the
time OF Congress are Of trivial consequence
when compared with the maintenance of
| the waterways which enable Suites to sup
| port their population. The history of many
portions of the world, including North
| America, is a record of popular migrations,
| compelled by alternate foundations and
periods of desiccation. There were in all
| probability at one time a considerable popu-
lation in Arizona, and they were driven out,
not by the foreign foe, but by the gradual
| diminution of their water supply. What
has happened once may happen again.