Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-10-04
A Waterway From Great Lakds to
ocean via. Lake Champlain.

The following are the details of pro-
connecting the great lakes, through
Lake Champlain, with the Hudson river.
They are taken from a carefully pre-.
pared article in the Boston Transc ript
The canal as projected will extend
from the mouth of the Welland Canal on
Lake Erie, utilizing portion of the
canal, descend, by pair of locks set
tandem, into the Niagara river at point
about opposite Lewiston, utilize and en-
large the present Canadian canal system
along the St. Lawrence river as far rs
Lake St Francis, and there fork in two
directions; one arm will reach by new
canal to Montreal. and thence by the St.
Lawrence river to the sea, while anOtL er
will extend from Lake St. Francis to
Lake Champlain, reverse the current of
that lake. and reach from the lower end
of Champlain to Waterford on The Hud.
son river. 1t will involve only about 90
miles of artiTicifl canals, and afterwards
10 miles ii this will be cut out by the
construction of new canal from Lewis
ton, on the Niagara river, to a point
above the Falls on the American side.
The canals will, when fully completed,
be in reality small artificial rivers. 300
feet wide on the bottom, 42O feet or
wider at the surface. and exceeding 30
febGin depth. This will enable the lar
gest freight steamers to- pass freely, and
average as high speed between ButfalJ,
and Chicago and Duluth. The locks OF
course will be OF proportiOnate size; and
since they are So few in number, it will
be practical economy to be build them to
= size adequate tor the expected tariff.
The preliminary work will be the con-
structiOn of new Weland canal. This
will require the construction of a new
aqueduct over the Chippewa or Welland
river, and an entirely new canal from
ThorUld, eight miles long, to Queens
town, opposite Lewiston, on the Niagara
river. Two lifts of 1C0 feet each, set tan
dem. will let traffic down to the head of
navigation on the lower Niagara. The
cost of this work will be about $l0,GC0,-
600, and will open navigation from the
farthest end of Superior to Cornwall, on
the ST. Lawrence. 1t is computed that
the present traffic, which would pass
naturally through the new canal will put
the company on dividend-paying basis.
The construction of a new canal and
lock at Cornwall will open navigation to
Lake st. Francis, with an expenditure
of about $1,000 600. The canal from
Lake st. Francis to Lake Champlain will
require about S1500O000. This will
leave something like $70,O00,C00 with
which to reach Montreal and build the
canal from Champlain to the Hudson
The latter is really the only heavy work
involved, and will probably cost up
wards of $50, 0,0000C0.
The enterprise under view does not,
however, stop with the construction of
what will be unquestiOnably the greatest
and most important canal in the world
1t boldly proposes to divert portion of
the waters of the st. Lawrence into Lake
Champlain. reverse the current of that
lake, and turn it into the Hudson, de
veloping at Waterford, N. Y, the point
of discharge, an immense water power,
equivalent to perhaps one-third the en-
ergy of Niagara.