St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-31
Enthusiastic Delegates Talk
Earnestly to Legislators
in It's Behalf.
Gen. Poe Furnishes Figures
Touching the Cost of the
Improvement.
Secretary Thompson, of Du-
luth, Enlightens the So
Ions on Many Points.
Effect Of Waterways on Rates,
and What President Hill
Has to Say.

Has TO Say.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30.-A large dele
CATION OF representatives of the deep
waterway convention held in Detroit in
December last was given hearing to-
day before the house committee on
rivers and harbors and the senate COM
mittee on commerce in joint session,
these committees having i'll charge the
preparation of the regular river and
harbor appropriation bill. The purpose
OF the delegation was to urge the con-
StructiOn and maintenance of twenty
one-foot channel from the head Of Lake
Superior through the various connect
ing links between the great lakes and
the Erie canal to the sea.
George A. Ely, of Cleveland, opened
proceedings with the reading of the
published memorial OF the convention
on the subject. Senator Frye interrupt
ed the reading and said: "You people
of the Northwest are willing to admit
that we did ample justice to you last
congress in providing for the improve
ment of st. Mary's river and authoriz-
ing the engineers to make contracts for
the completion of the work?''
Mr.. Eiy-We are entirely satisfied
with the action of both com mittees in
the last river and harbor bill. and ask
that the same policy adopted then as to
st. Mary's river shall be adopted now
in respect to the connecting channels of
the lakes.
Gen. Poe Explains.
Gen. Poe, the army engineer, in
answer to an inquiry, said the original
estimate for the improvement of st.
Mary's river was S2,60O,OOO. Suisse
quently it had been increased to IS, 1OO,-
600, but he was able now to state that by
adopting the contract system the work
would be completed within the amount
or the original estimate.
Senator Frye-We saved million dol
lars there, and we save a million dollars
in Philadelphia by the same system.
Mr.. Ely said the principal object was
to secure authorization of contracts for
twenty-one feet of water from Duluth
to Buffalo. The estimated cost was
only s3,394,0 900. 1t would take four to
six years to do the work, and the
cost would run through that period.
There were SIX places at which i'm
provements were necessary, viz: Round
Island at the head of st. Mary's river,
Sailors encampment, ST. Clair flats and
the mouth of the Detroit river, at the
foot of Lake Huron. The work was all
mud dredging. The work on the 500
canal would be completed in the spring
of 1896, and the question was should
that improvement be continued through
all the connecting links so as to give
tWenty-one feet throughout? The
Effect of Water Rates
over the lakes was to greatly reduce
railway rates throughout the country.
The average cost of transportation from
Duluth to Buffalo by water, a distance
of 800 miles, was l $40 mills per ton per
mile, against an average of 9 mills on
all the railways, and the lowest rate on
the Pennsylvania road of AZ mills per
ton per mile. An additional depth of
water would still further greatly reduce
the water rate.
5. a. Thompson, secretary Of the Du
luth chamber of commerce, then had
the attention Of the committee for an
hour. He was thorough master of his
subject, and the committee soon realized
it. Some ten or twelve years ago,
two railway presidents meeting,
one of them said to the other
and river boats out of the business,
and that soon the lake steamers would
go the same way and leave the trans
pOrtation business to the railways,
Since that time railways had reduced
the rate of transportation of bushel of
wheat from Chicago to New York from
42 cents to IA cents, and the water rate
had been reduced from % cents to
4 55-100 cents. The.rate on the Fri ecanal
was about 2-10 of cent a ton per
mile. The lowest average railway rate
was AZ mills, and the actual cost on the
Lake Shore was mills and the Grand
Trunk 5 mills. On the Iron Colder
canal, the best operated of all canals by
system of steam tOwage, the canal
cost had been reduced to 1-64 cent per
mile, including return of empty cars.
From Duluth to Buffalo 81 OH the lakes
would do in the matter of transportation
what it took 500 to do on the best man
aged railway.
What Jim Hill Said.
The president of railway, who was
also interested in steamships, said to
him not long ago: 1.-The government
engineers are at work OH twenty foot
waterway through the lakes. We will
accept and use twenty-foot waterway
when it is given US, but when guaran-
teed eighteen feet of water, we will run
5000 ton vessels instead of 5000 tons
and cut the,rate in two" That man was
James j. Hill, president of the Great
Northern railroad.
The total expenditures in improve
10 lob hol
than S30,O00,0O0. The saving in the last
year due to lake transportation was
one hundred and fifty million dollars
more than the cost of Improvement. All
that had been accomplished in the past
by giving sixteen feet of water would
not only be duplicated, but enhanced
ten-fold by the expenditure of something
over $3,000,000 to secure a depth of
twenty feet. Canada had spent almost
sixty million dollars upon her water
ways, and inside of five years there
would be clear waterway of fourteen
feet through Canadian soil from the
head of Lake Superior to the Atlantic.
When Canada had fourteen-foot water
way and the United States only six feet
through the Erie canal, we could no
more compete with her than a wheel
barrow with a freight train.
Farmers Need 1t.
The farmers of the West would haYd
to compete with men of their own race,
or soil as fertile, and with climate no
more rigorous, and they needed as good
transportation facilities. There was
n0f enough SantimaDt in trade tO send