The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-10-08
INTERIOR WATER TRANSPORTA-
TION.

The Canal Committee of the New York
Board OF Trade and Transportation does
not look with favor on the proposition
for ship canal between the lakes and
the Atlantic>ocean. At a meeting held a
few days ago the scheme was character
lied as a visionary one, Impossible of at
tainment for many decades to come, IL
at all, and the agitation for 1t was said
to be calculated " not designed to defeat
the only feasible pan OF canal improve
ment' as embodied In the proposition
to be voted upon by the people at the
coming election. Believing 1t to be most
unfortunate that the people lack infcr-
nation on the merits OF the question.
the committee decided to distribute extern
slvey an article on the subject which
was prepared recently by ex-State En-
glneer Horatlo Seymour.
The principal points made In that let
ter are the following: The ocean vesse;
Is the cheapest known method of trans
portation because OF It's great size and
rapidity of movement. 1t draws from
70 10 80 feet OF water and carries in the
nelghborhood Of 1000 tons. II placed on
the lakes today that vessel could only be
loaded to one-half Its depth, and an in,
crease beyond q feet In the depth of
water would necessltate an entire change
In the plans OF the inter-lake channels.
Also the ocean-going vessel Is OF greater
strength than Is necessary to stand the
storms upon the great lakes, and the
useless weight not only would Increase
the cost but make It difficult to manage
the vessel In the narrow channels. on
the other hand, the largest lake vessels
are from 1000 to $500 tons burden ana
nave proved very economical but they
could not compete with an ocean built
steamer OF twice their size upon the
ocean For canal 100 feet wide at the
bottom and Is feet deep 100000 cubic feet
OF water would be required per minute,
ana TO noat ocean vessels the quantity
OF water must be much greater. The
present water supply OF the Erie Canar
Is only $1,000 cubic feet per minute. ANY
excess must come from Lake Erie. To
permit flow OF water continuously from
one end to the other the present Erie
canal would have to be elevated above
tne valley at Montezuma, the Jordan lev
el cut down, and the canal carried across
tne depression at Syracuse and the bed
Oh the Mohawk and from Utica to the
hudson, The difficulties to be encoun-
.ereu are very great, II not absolutely
insurmountable.
Tne loss OF time would be an important
Item OF cost In these days OF rapid transit
ana interest on the use of capital. The
ocean steamer runs as high as is knots
an hour and the lake vessels run IA The
passage OF the Suez canal is made Ar |
the rate of two miles and hour and thai
oc the short Weiand takes "a hours. a |
vessel hardly would move through such |
canal as Is contemplated for through |
such canal as Is contemplated FOR |
New York faster than three miles per |
hour loaded and five miles when light.
me cost OF transportatlng grain on |
this canal would be equal to twice the
cost OF transporting cargo from Chica- |
go to Buffalo, since the time consumed
Is measure OF the cost" /
The engineer quoted thinks the solution
OF the problem is a twenty-one foot chan
mel through the great lakes and a deeper
ana wider channel through the State of
New York, In which the grain can be
transported In barges built something
on the wha.ehack pan. This would les
sen the cost OF transportation for a sum
FAR Jess than the cost OF a shin canal
and be much less difficult to bring ahout
besides giving much more satisfactory
result In the end. 1t would be extraya-
giant TO use a lake steamer to traversins
a canal and waste OF capital TO con-
struct vessels to perform both the laAe
and the ocean voyage.