St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-18
WILL COST MANY MILLIONS.
Compared With This the Mic
aragua Scheme Seems to
Be DWarfed.
PNEUMATIC BALANCE LOCKS
Cow Scientific Engineering
Expects TO solve the Prob
lem Of Lifts.


in the brain of a daring ana IN
genious engineer, and for the real
ization of which the Maritime Canal
Company of North America seeks
incorporation by the state legisiat-
IRE at Albany. 1t is to have cap
ital of S15O,O00,O0O, says the New
York Herald.
1t is proposed to connect the great
lakes with the Atlantic by a snip
canal, beginning at the mouth OF
the Welland canal, on Lake Erie
and utilizing and connecting Lake
Erie and Lake Ontario, the st. Law
renee river, Lake Champlaln anu
the Hudson. 1t involves the con-
struction of a canal capable OF re-
ceiving vessels of ocean draught
from a point near Albany, on the
Hudson, to Lake Champlain, the
deepening of that lake, a canal from
the head of Champlain to Lake st.
Francis, on the st. Lawrence river,
the broadening and deepening OF the
present Canadian canal system
along the ST. Lawrence, and the con-
struction of a practically new canal
from Ontario to Erie across the
Welland peninsula.
1t is difficult to give close estl-
mate of the cost of this stupendous
project, but it may be roughly stated
as somewhere in the neighborhood
of the proposed capitalization of the
&c to mn OOO
It is not easy to grasp at glance
the far-reaching consequences Which
would follow the construction of this
mammoth canal. 1t would give New
York an open water route Of COM
munication with the heart of the
continent. 1t would make such
cities as Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago
and Duluth practically seaports. 1t
would immensely cheaper bread
stuffs, coal and other products
which have to be brought from the
West under heavy freight charges.
1t would make possible the compe-
tition of Eastern manufacturers
with those of the Middle West. 1t
would put New York in touch with
the most important water COM
merce of the Western hemisphere.
Beside this great enterprise the
Panama and Nicaragua canals
dWindle in Importance, and SueZ be-
comes a matter for minor mention.
TONNAGE ON THE LAKES.
Already fiie commerce Of thu Great
lakes exceeds in tonnage all the for
eign shipping from all ports Of this
country.
Already the tonnage passing the
locks of the Sault Ste. Marie each
year exceeds that passing Port Said.
And this in the face of the fact that
Suez is a ship canal and the Great
Lakes have for an outlet only an
eight-foot barge canal.
These comparisons merely indicate
what a prodigious commerce must
one day arise when the great inland
seas of the Northwest have a prac-
tically open roadway to the Atlantic
and it will be possible to sail or
steam in an almost uninterrupted
voyage from Chicago and Duluth to
Liverpool, to Port Said and the ports
of the Black sea.
One hundred and thirty-foIlr de-
grees of longitude intervene between
Poti, at the eastern extremity of the
Black sea, and Duluth, at the west
ern end of Lake Superior. More
than one-third of the circumference
of tho oorfIo ic commas Sad bxy n Ji,o
drawn through the Atlantic ocean
between these terminals Of the Medi-
terraneans of both hemispheres. Be
tween these two points is by far the
larger part Of the wealth. the COM
merce, the industry and the civiliza-
ton Of the world.
With the construction Of this pro-
posed ship canal it will be possible
for an ocean vessel to traverse this
broad waterway from the heart of
the Western to the heart of the
Eastern continent.
An open way to the heart of North
America has been the dream of far.
sighted and sagacious statesmen
ever since the days of Colbert. AS
far back as 1897 the English and The
French fought naval battles upor
Hudson Bay, thinking from this
point of vantage they would obtai-
a foothold for the conquest Of the
continent. Later, when the drift OF
population followed lines further tt
the south, it was the Great Lakes
which became the scene of naya'
struggles. AS far hack as the wa,
of 1872 American statesmen recog.
n1zed the strategic Importance al
these inland seas.
NEW LOCK INVENTED.
The Erie canal, the Welland canal
the works at Sault Ste. Marie anj
the countless millions spent at vari
Gus other points represent The per
slstent efforts made by both The
Canadian and United States govern
ments to open these great water
ways to ocean commerce But one
great obstacle has intervened. Tha
is the tremendous droD of 326 fee
from the level of Lake Erie to tn,
level of Lake Ontario. a series O
tWenty-four locks are at present re
CURED to compass this difference i,
altitude. They have peen construct
ed at enormous cost, and they ar
practically nothing more than barg
locks. The cost Of a lock system O
the prevalent type suitable for a shi
canal would be simply prohihitive.
1t has remained for an Amer,
can engineer to solve the probler
by the invention of a new pneumati
balance lock, operated by com
pressed air and built Of steel.
will be possible to build these lock
at least four times as high as th
greatest lock now in existence. TIL
latter is the single lock on the Mar
chester ship canal, forty-five fee
high. Two locks, each 100 high. wi
replace the twenty-four locks no,
required along the Welland cana
istead of thirty-five or forty lock