The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-19
DEEP WATERWAY COMMISSION
SUBMITS A FAVORABLE REPORT
ON THE PROJECT.
GREAT LAKES TO THE SEA.
NAVIGATION ON ANY SCALE DE.
SIRED ONLY A MATTER OF
EXPENDITURE.
SUCH A SYSTEM FULLY JUSTIFIED.
Possible to Develop the Work So
That Benefits VIII Be Immediate
for Each Section.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1S.-The con-
clusions reached by the deep-waterway
commission, whose report was submit
ted to the house today by the presi-
dent, are as follows:
That it is entirely feasible to construct such
canals and develop such channels as will be
adequate for any scale of navigation that
may be desired between the great lakes and
the seaboard and to conduct through the
same, domestic and foreign commerce, and
it will be wise to provide for securing a can
mel of navigable depth of not less than
twenty feet.
That, starting from the heads of Lakes
Michigan and Superior, the most eligible route
is through the several great lakes and their
immediate channels and the proposed Nj
agara ship canal CTonawanda to OlcotD to
Lake Ontario; and that the Canadian sea-
board may be reached from Lake Ontario by
the way of the St. Lawrence river, and the
American Seaboard may be reached from
Lake Ontario by way of the St. Lawrence and
Lake Champlain, and the Hudson river or by
the way of the Oswego- Oneida Mohawk valley
and the Hudson river.
That the alternative routes from Lake On
tarlo to the Hudson river require complete
surveys and full development of economic
considerations to determine their relative
availability.
That a moderate control of the level of
Lake Erie and of the Niagara river above Ton
awanda may be justified in connection with
the Niagara ship canal the determination in
this matter to rest a full examination of
the physical conditions.
That the policy should contemplate the ul-
innate attainment of the largest successful
capacity and that all works should be planned
on this basis, and that the acual execution
should conform thereto, in so far as the
works may, without prejudice, be progress
lively developed with the actual demands of
commerce.
That it is practicable to develop the work
IN separate sections and the several Sec
tions in part by degrees each step having it's
economic justification so that the benefits
should follow closely on expenditure with
out awaiting the completion of the system
as a whole.
That the completion of the entire system
as quickly as proper projects can be ma
tured and economically executed is fully JUS
titled.
That the Niagara ship canal should be
first undertaken and incidentally the broad
ening and further deepening of the inter
mediate channels Of the lakes, the same be-
ing in the logical order of development and
also requiring the least time for consideration.
The commission adds: AS collateral to the
main questions and in view of the magnitude
ofathe interests involved, consideration of all
physical conditions that may determine the
effects of proposed work or influence the
character or features of a design, should be
concluded, but this need not delay the in
ception of plans or the beginning of work,
but is likely to bear upon the manner of their
consideration 1t is usually practicable to
supply sufficient elasticity in design to meet
any margin of uncertainty involved in these
considerations. In view of the international
character and relation of a part at least of
the works that will be required and Of ripa-