Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-12-09
Great Lakes to the Hudson.

DULUTH, Dec. 5.-S. A. Thompson,
secretary of the Duluth chamber OF
commerce, and a high authority on rail.
road and water transportation, has taken
the first step towards bringing about an
organization or society of men, who will
undertake to impress upon congress the
great necessity for the speedy construc.
ton, by the national government, of a
deep water ship canal, through United
States territory, from the Great Lakes
to the Hudson river. An effort will be
made to hold a convention in Washing
ton City early in January, and perfect
an organization, sc that the attention of
congress may be directly and forcibly
called to the necessity for immediate
action, and the needed legislation may
be secured before the present congress
expires by limitation.
MI. Thompson has prepared and mailed
to the leading men in all parts of the
country, a circular letter, setting forth,
briefly, the great and good effect
a deep water ship canal would
have upon our national prosperity, as
well as the good results it would bring
to farmers of the West and Northwest.
Speaking of the present transportion
facilities, MI. Thompson says:
Existing facilities are entirely mad
equate for the prompt and economical
transportation of the enormous and con-
stantly increasing volume of traffic pro-
duced by the unparalleled development of
our country. Last year there were
more than n hundred grain-laden YES
sells delayed at one time in the outer
harbor of Buffalo, and in danger of
freezing up for the winter in an unfavor-
able position.
During the fall Just passed another
blockade existed, not quite 80 serious,
but one which resulted in more than
doubling the rates on grain from Buffalo
80 New York.
An indication of the tremendous
growth of the traffic of the lakeis found
in the fact that the freight passing
through the Sault canal this year will
be over II 200, 600 tons-2, O00, 900 tons
more than in any previous year, and
just about double the average tonnage of
the Suez canal for the past ten years.
The saving in the cost of transporta-
tion-both directly on the tonnage car
ried on the lakes and indirectly by the
effect of water competitor on railway
freight rates-is probably not less than
S40O. QUO, 900 per year.
Mr.. Thompson also points out the i'm
p%ortance of the proposed waterway as a
means of national defense and a safe
guard to the national honor. Canada
has awakened to the Importance of
maintaining a water course fourteen
feet deep through her own territory, all
the way from Lake Superior to the sea,
and in less than five years the work will
be finished and Canadian and English
vessels and commerce can then go un-
hindered out from the heart of the con-
tinent over all oceans to the markets of
the world, while there are more than
n hundred and fifty warships in the
English navy which a depth of fourteen
feet would suffice to bring into the lakes
from the sea. %
MI. Thompson believes the United
States should have as good or better
water transportation facilities as
Canada, and he hopes the work he has
just begun may be taken up promptly
and with enthusiasm by the people of
the United States and pushed to speedy