The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-25
THE EAST COAST CANAL.
Inside Route From Jacksonville to
Kew West Practicable.


Additional Transportation Facilities
and Rich Swamp Lands Drained.
coast People Anxi Gus for Its Com
pletion.
st. Augustine, Fla, May 21.-With the
s allowing data, gathered while on the run
5ovrn the Florida Coast Line and Trans
nortation Company's canal, the SAvAN-
xIH NEWS will have given the only con-
cise description of the work performed by
the company in giving to Florida one of
the greatest artificial water ways south
4 At the chain of northern lakes, and one
] which must grow in Importance to the
commerce. of the country in proportion to
Il the demands of this coast, and will, neces-
sarily, become the highway for vessels of
small tonnage which find it necessary to
n take as much of an inside route as
nessible from the North Atlantic to the
Z West Indies.
The work done by the canal company
Il between Daytona and the head of the
Halifax, on examination, proves to be all
a that is at present demanded. From here
m through Smiths creek some four miles
of canal are cut through the marshes; ;
f1rther up clern cut is made through
cutting, and upon shore the crown land
n has been removed for nearly two miles.
n As this excavation is down TO tide-water
4 II will not be a difficult task to open
the route into Smiths creek when the
u dredges once renew work on the north
end namely, south end of the Matanzas
river where now there is a canal route
for about miles, Most of this
n latter cut has less than four feet of water
-L;I, ho Ysast of tho Sroitbfc ont
ting, although done several years ago, has
in no place less than 81 feet of water
4 Put at each end of this barrier one of the
new dredges building at New Smyrna,
and in twelve months the ST. Augustine
ties would be yelling 10 bridget" as
they passed under Knox & Beade's
bridge This was erected so that the
down to the canal and ship them by fiat
to OrmOnd.
At the north side of the divide, Capt
Bob Loder, with the little Carrie d.,
sails and poles up and down the canal !;
and this is the only kind of transporta-
ton that the growers of %, 900 boxes of
oranges have to reach the railroad at St.
Augustine. Capt. Loder says that 5000
boxes is all that he can get in the depot,
and the rest of the crop rots for the want
of proper transportation whereas, with
the canal opened, the growers would feel
encouraged, and the shipments would run
up to 80, 900 boxes
1t is not essential that the value of the
East Coast canal should be doomed" to
mariners and ''coast-combers, " for they
can appreciate any opportunity offered
them to escape the dangers of the deep;
yet the great advantage of the canal is
obvious to all thinking people, and
although the formation of Florida admits
ola much shorter inland passage from the
Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico than this
route affords, it can be attained only by
the expenditure of many millions of
dollars and by the aid of the general gov
eminent. 1t is now within the province
of the state legislature to encourage,
without any expense other than that of
the lands already donated for the East
COas, canal project, the finishing of a
waterway within a couple of years which
will be beneficial to both the state and it's
commerce. There is also a flattering
prospect of Internationally creating
safe way for the countless ships that will
take this route at least to the Florida
keys and which take the mariner hun
dreds of miles on his journey, thus es-
Gaping dangers encountered along the
Florida coast.
Another great desideratum to the well
fare of the states metropolis will be the
opening of the canal from St. Johns river
INFO the Matanzas river, via Julington
Creek-a work requiring less labor and
expense than the cutting of the canal
from the foot of the Matanzas into Smiths
creek. Your correspondent is unable to
state what amount of work is required to
cut the canal through from the head of
North river (the northern arm of the
Alatanzasl but one thing is sure-Jack-
sonville cannot afford to let the great
waterway pass them by way of Pablo
creek on to Mayport and leave the me-
tr0p0llS and the commerce of the lower
ST Johns in the cold. The people of
Duyal, Clay and Putnam are as greatly
lnteresed in the completion of the East
Coast canal as are the people of st. Johns
ana Nolusia, and, in fact, every county
having fronts along the route of the canal.
% far, jacksonville is the states mart
Tor commerce at the present; and can be
hereafter if her merchants will only see
the value of this canals finding its feeder
Oh the st. Johns south of Jacksonville.
Your correspondent had talks with
many men OF many opinions during the
TRIP with the legislative cammittee of in
VeStgation from New Smyrna to within
less than 2 miles from Lake Worth and
Dack TO the head of thecanal on Smiths
creek, and from this city to the Matanzas
cut, and the substance of every talk
was favorable to the continuing of the
olillC dShtu IOf OY Jno canal company.
several men advocated "that the lands go
pack to the state and be thrown open for
purchase by the people, to whom
the lands belong" but when asked,
would not that, were the lands to revert
10 the state, offer tempting opportunity
Tor corporations to buy them in and hold
mem, or for remote railway corporations
10 claim them under charters that give
IdhuS aggregating more acreage than the
state possesses" they concluded that
me canal people had ''already earned all
the good lands they can find adjacent to
lhe canal" Just so soon as another les
peclally railway corporation is men
uohed these men of mercenary notions ac-
cofd TO the canal people their just rights.
s. Inc people, as a whole, throughout the
me OF the canal fully appreciate the great
worm TO them of the project, and many
wondered how the company managed to
u9 so much work with so little prospect
ol us paying, for where there are 100acres
tldI would briug so an acre now, and will
on completion of the canal fetch 800,
vnere are thousands of acres that will not,
uuuer the most favorable conditions, COM
nidnd over 50 for many years to come, and
uuleSs one lives by his labor within the
ledeh OF either Henry NJ Elagler's rail
iodu or his new venture in the canal, 1t
TTouid be impossible to properly estimate
vie benefits TO be derived from them.
o. mere IS an impression existing among
.ne people of many communities on the