The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1894-07-04
Seaports Of
the Northwest
nontinned from Yesterday.l

the Baltimore anu UNIV a.
Garrett. in 1873 attempted to secure
commercial supremacy for Baltimore. A
channel had been made in the Patapsco
ptvo,. and The bay, north Of Seven Foot
Knoll. A second and more duraple
channel was made south OF THIS Knoll
liberal appropriations were made by
-convress which, in order to expedite the
work. were supplemented by the Guy
~ baltimore under the wise mead Oh
corrett and others. The commerce OF
,.hs nort was improved somewhat put
MT TO any great extent. AS a peen
uoted. the Baltimore and ONO roac III
toot secured OF the Chicago shipments
only PSI. 2s7 bushels Of wheat, as against
90 o7e 100 bushels that went to New YORK
and Boston. Since 1873. the Baltimore
and Ohio road, although having aireaus
,aoohed deep water at Baltimore mas
coached cast Philadelphia, also q deep
water port, to New York city at the sea
coast. II has built a great prldse o'e'
.ha K,,von-Kuil, and is making extern
~ ,ar,ninaIs on New York Harpor at
a...o, leland. This is the second trio-
ITO N the value of a seacoast iocatlon
=. oreat commercial city, as distin-
u,,,shed from q mere shipping point
Montreai has over 6@ miles OF miami
route. and is directly In contacN WIN
boats of greater draught than those Vi
NV other route, with another water
ro,,ta reaching to the very heart OF the
nroducine country. If this is not pene-
trating to the producer, It Is doing more
towards It than any other seaport does
IN the theory Of the supremacy OF an
leland mort. Montreal should control the
commerce Of the whole north. II shouiu
he able to paralyze the OIL al
The seacoast ports. But MONTREAL Sc
cures only 81 per cent of the total
wheat exported from the ports OF MOI
treal, Boston, New York, Phiiadeiphia
and Baltimore.
New Orleans Is not in reality an In
land seaport. The ocean vessel does not
get inland in going there. All that II
nasses in coming to New orleans Is a
n~rotrusIon of delta mud into the ulf'
IA c~ontrasted with these expensive IN
land experiments. we find the great IN
land channel Of the Hudson stahoihs
totally unused by ocean vessels TO ior-
e,pn ports. and by almost no coastlng
yeaaels. II has from IS to 200 feet depth
Of water 100 miles inland. The river ~
broad, without great currents OF hish
GOODS. or tendencies to deposit Sill
In ira channels. A coast port at lts
mouth has reduced Its usefulness 70
zero. as a deepwater inland route TOT
ocean vessels. It is difficult to see why
The limited States government should
create another, though less easy, useless
channel on the Pacific coast, artihciaiiy
and at great cost. Experience Is worth
vastly more than any amount OF theor-
etical "law'' making as to what ocean
vessels will do about coming inland past
n good port provided with railways The
railways, by their freedom In going
anywhere, almost, have released COM
merce from its thralldom to water
routes, and enabled It to put It's great
centres at their natural location on the
coast.
These leading seaports of America
have been developed by a stream of tom
mage TO the coast which has no counter
r in Europe, There finished pro-
ducts are exported, and local tonnage
being OF such high grade, has greater
W in drawing the ports to the areas
producing and exporting such tonnage
In America the tonnage Is already en-
route from far inland.
We find, in America, great streams OF
raw materials from u producing n
exporting regions to the consuming re-
gions Of Europe. In each continent,
such exporting areas exist where the
continents broaden into their greatest
fertile areas under a climate most
adapted 70 great energy in mon, result
ing In the greatest amount OF surplus
for exchange and export, The greatest
flow OF products and interchange of
them will apparently always be In this
northern temperate belt. England and
New York, both centrally located in
these streams Of tonnage, promise TO
maintain their hold on the commerce OF
the Atlantic. A smaller tonnage stream
goes down the Mississippi, but disad-
yantageously nearly at right angles to
its desired course, before turning to
Europe. Another small stream flows
eastward from Texas. seeking outlet at
Galveston, bat at present forced on-
ward to better harbor at New Orleans.
In South America the continent mar
rows under the temperate zone, les
senlng the Importance Of that continent
as TO commerce.
IN the Pacific southwest, no great
fertile area offers large exports of pro-
duets, except narrow California.
In the Pacific Northwest. are vast
productive areas in Northern oregon.
washington. and Idaho. They are capa-
BILE Of furnishing an immense export Of
grain, cattle and wool. This tonnage
Is 80 much nearer the coast than on the
Atlantic seaboard, and has so much less
mileage TO the coast to pay freight
Upon. that Il can AFFORD shipment by
ocean to Europe. When the Nicaragua
canal Is opened. Il may even compete
with some areas now shipping TO the
Atlantic, In the Atlantic oas markets.
In this tonnage stream we find the
Columbia route centrally located. with