The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-05-07
The 900" CANAL.
rne Great Commercial Importance OF
This waterway.

TE0 Grent commercial importance OF
This waterway.
AL the commerce of Lake Superior
that is sent To or from it must pass
through the Sault Ste. Marie canal, un-
til the Canadians finish the parallel
waterway, which they are. building in
order to be in all respects Independent
of MS. Nature makes the waters of Su-
perior to flow into Huron by means of
the Ste. Marie river but in doing 30
they drop to Huron's level, which is
somewhat lower than that of the king
of lakes. They make eighteen feet Of
the descent suddenly by the rapids
which give to the artificial waterway
built to avoid them the name of the
Sault. Ste. Marie canal. $500" and
800 Saint Mary" or ''Susan Mary" as
it is often called, are western forms
| the words take. Comm ercially speak
| ing, this canal added Superior to the
great lake system or route, connected
it directly with the Atlantic and the
| world at large, and shortened very
greatly the railroad carriage of ore and
grain to the east, and of coal and gem
| eral merchandise to the far west. The
canal accommodates an amount of traf-
| fic which for years has been greater
than that of the Suez canal In 1886
| freighting through the great African
canal amounted to gross tonnage of
| S,1S3. 313 tons, but it has decreased, If |
am not mistaken, while the tonnage
| that passed ''the 500 in 1890 was 0,041,-
! 3l3. 1t is interesting to note that of
! this sum the proportion of freight car
| ried by Canadian vessels was only six
| per cent. in 1888, and four per cent. in
| 1882 1t is also worth while to ne 9
| that of the nine millions of tons float,
| through the canal in 1890, about 4,50G
| 900 were cast-bound and 1900, 900 were
west-bound.
| But the canal is inefficient; wofully so
| in the opinion of the extra energetic
| shippers at the Lake Superior ports,
who assert that its inability to pass the
largest vessels fully laden operates to
| the adva ltage of their great rival, Chi
cago The depth of water in the canal
in 1890 ran from fourteen feet and nine
! inches to fifteen feet and three inches,
| and during the first half of 1891 it va
ried between thirteen feet and ten
inches to fourteen feet five inches. Such
vessels as are now being added to the
lake service draw sixteen and hall
feet, and in view of the present depth OF
water in the canal it will be seen that
they lose several hundreds of tons a
trip by carrying only partial loads. The
government is awake to the situation,
and the new lock which is now building,
at cost of four millions of dollars, will
be 100 feet in width, II feet deep and
1000 feet long.
The fact that the canal does more
business in seven months than the Suez
canal effects in a year does not give sc
clear an idea of it's Importance as is
gained from the consequence of a slight
accident to the lock year before last
This necessitated closing the canal tenn
porarily, but it cost the men and com
panies who use the canal loss of about
one million dollars. There were at thai
time one hundred and eighty-three yes
sells waiting to pass out of Superior, ant
nearly as many going in the other direc
tion.-Julian Ralph, in Harpers Maga
| zine