The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-15
FROM THE LAKES TO TIE OCEAN.
a Proposition for Opening a Channel
for Deep Draft Ships.

a Proposition for Opening a Channel
for Deep Draft Ships.
TICoNDERoGA, N. Y. April 13-In our
last letter brief description was given Of
the "whaleback" method Of construction,
purely American conception. To get
these vessels to. tide water it is necessary TO
pass through Canadian territory, via Well
land canal aud the river st. Lawrence.
Furthermore, the Welland canal. though a
system Of vast extsnt and cost, is limited
In its capacity, the locks being
capable to float nothing in ex-
cess OF IA feet draft. The
United States is, therefore, in q position of
being the originator and owner OF vessels of
both old style and new, the "whaleback"
pattern, which, up to a certain size, cannot
be taken out of the lakes without passing
through an artificial waterway owned and
controlled by another government; and
when vessels are in excess Of this limit they
cannot be taken out at all. 1t is very much
like merchant who, without proper fore
thought, puts together package OF goods
and then finds the doors out OF his establish
ment 600 small to allow him to remove the
package after being made ready for ship
ment. He would either have to pull down
his store front or pull his package to pieces
1t was i'll the year 1854 that the United
agitate the subject OF making door out Of
the lakes, large enough to remove the
package of mechandise. For many reasons
1t Is fortunate that the work was not begun
hundred years ago, for in those days, five
or six feet draft represented a vessel OK con-
siderable sizs aud Importance. To-day,
veSse s drawing four times as much are
quite usual Some Of the steamers on the
great lakes carry cargoes as large as the
average ocean steamer, and are in every way
models OF advanced ideas IN ship-building.
People not familiar with the subject have
little conception of the magnitude of the
traffic. In 1889, 10000, 600 tons of freight
passed through the st. Clair river, and Of
this, nearly half was iron ore. At
one time last year the Sault
Ste. Marie canal was closed for repairs about
one week, and the loss incurred by vessels
| compelled to wait was over 81, QUO .000
There were nearly 200 steamers, etc, wait
ing to get through when the canal was
opened. This canal is on American terri
tory, Is government enterprise, and hand
les only traffic between Lake Superior aud
| the other lakes; does rot in any way carry
traffic between Chicago and Lake Michigan
ports, ana other lakes than Superior. Still
the traffic handled by the Sault Ste Marie
| canal iE greater than the entire tonnage
| through the Suez canal. The Sault Ste
Mariefcanal is free of toll aud the locks and
II,
to any similar work in the world.
Though Canada has use of the Sault
Ste. Marie canal free of toll she is deter
mined to build her own canal. Sic is also
| agitating the connection of Lake Huron
and the Georgian bay with the Ottawa
river via Lake Nipissig, which involves
about twenty-six miles of canal work. By
this it will be seen that the Canadian gov
eminent is determined to have the lakes
connected, and handle her vessels inde-
| pendent of any canals controlled by the
American government; and as she has
shown her faith by the expenditure Of over
| $50 COO, 600 on the Welland and st. Law
renee river canals, she will, undoubtedly,
in time, carry out the project. She is,
furthermore, making a strong bid for the
handling Of vessels loaded in Chicago and
other western ports having En- 0pean ports
for their destination.
Tho American government has taken up
with great vigor the two enterprises, the
Sault Ste Marie canal and the canal
through the st. Clair flats; but over 100
years she has talked about canal around
Niagara, but has done nothing. She brings
| her b le of merchandise from Lake Supe-
rior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron into
Lake Erie, and she finds the only means of
| exit from her territory is through q neigh
| boris property, and that neighbor much
smaller and less able to supply this outlet
than herself.
| We would suggest to our readers. If they
| are interested in the subject, that they take
a map of the lake regions aud examine into
these facts as stated. In our May letter We
will endeavOr to give in q few words, the
result of different surveys and projects for
taking a canal around Niagara, wholly
within the territory OF the United States.
r HANTnRn