The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-10
CANADIAN GRAIN SHIPPERS.
The Reason why Their wheat Goes to Error,
by Vow Hork Insteaa OF NanntrenI.

QUEBEC, Oct. 0.-The great bulk OF the Cana,
dian wheat crop now goes to Europe via Buffalo
and New York. The Government at OTTAWA.
the railroad and steamship companies running
10 81. Lawrence ports and the Boards of Trade
of Montreal and Quebec arc discussing means to
recover this lost trade, but apparently without
avail.
There is now a l7la.foot channel all the way
from Fort William and Duluth to Buffalo and
within a year there will be n 2o-goot channel
On the other hand there is not much moro than
eleven feet of water in parts OF tho Canadian
channel, though SOS, 900, 900 has already been
spent on the Sault, Wclland and st. Lawrence
canals, and by the time n uniform depth of four
teen feet is obtained between Lake Erie and
Montreal, the cost will not be much below S7be
O0O. 900.
Tho commercial marine on the lakes con.
sists in tho main Of steamers altogether
too large to make use of the welinnd
Canal, and the tendency is to increase their
size. Small vessels are being driven out Of
the business, and as the Canadian vessels are
for the most part small. they are disappearing.
In fact, Canada's marine is only about gig per
cent. of the vast tonnage employed. One day
last week the Rosednle, one OF the largest OF the
Canadian boats. left Fort William with 5000
bushels of wheat for Montreal. Her canal inad
Is only about $4,000 bushels. When she arrived
at Port CoilOurne; therefore, i would he ncccs-
80 y 81 h'Si o'p . 10 IOIn lnt NtsStlI 10
rc.oad them. When the Roscdale got to pres
and placed on barges to allow of It being carried
through the lower canals. On tho same day tho
with 100000 bushels for Buffalo. which would
be reached without n stop in n good deal less
Kingston. Hence rates + from aS' Fort Vivian William To- %
Bun no are exceedingly low. Some time ago an
Of iss. so St ousheis; OF spS wheat fhsnh' from sf Fort W ! IDaa
TO Bnilalo. The other day the A~ppomattox.
son'O i"sS' S SSTFo Of N 5000 200 5'I Sus Rsis.o or T " 900 8
tons; These large craft can of course carry
much Ssa chesper than ,m J. ones: A. Buffalo the
yyeyed to New York by special wheat trains.
The New York Central engines haul sixty
Bushels, 10000 bushels in ali, in a single
train over, its Level roadbed. Reckoning the
grain to have been raised at an average Of
twenty bushels to the acre. each Central train
contains the product of 5000 acres. The Apo
mattox in the trip above referred to carried tho
product OF "a. 900 acres, 1t goes without saying
that the Canadian canals. even when deepened
vessels of this size. 1t would BIO
necessary to deepen them TO twenty feet, or
crease in the tonnage and capacity Of upperlake
s!eamers. to twenty.fvs feet, and that would
rates " from F Fort %' William no 10 ,Sf B .fis soh RaTo r .hS
fr9m ~ to 2i9 cents per bushel:
lantic seaboard. but what it costs to lay ii down
a Liyyerpfo9l, and this is stu far cheaper via
hAAHaha NN' ~ ACpSS Nv
season for shipment TO Buffalo is almost a
month longer than that to Montreal. and an
other advantage in favor OF the Buffalo route
i that 1t takes less time to land the wheat at
New York than at Montreal. Ordinarily a
cargo from Fort William is on board the ocean
steamer at New York in seven days, whereas it
usually t kos from ten to fourteen days to get
II on board the steamer at Montreal, partly be-
cause OF the longer sailing distance and the de-
lay in going through the canals, ana partly be-
cause STEAMERS are no. always in readiness in
Montreal. Ocean rates from Montreal average
much higher than from New York, because the
vessels sailing from the former port are SO very
small cargoes. while their coal consumption
differs but little from that of the immense
freight boats stcnminR from New York.
II is partly with the object of remedyinR this
evil that the Canadians are calling for an i'm
proved Atlantic steamship service. but tho
bcrs OF The Government insist upon esta blishing
the new line will prevent it taking much part in
the grain-carrying trade. They arc aiming at
fast passenger and mail boats combining IA
large freight capacity, on the old-fnshioned
principle of mixed railway trains. Moreover
there are comDaratively few men in Montreal
who are prepared 10 handlc large blocks of
stagger most OF them. Nor is there the same
elevator and storage accommodation at Mon
trcal as at New York.
For all these reasons Canadian shippers admit
that it IL impossible for the ST. Lawrence route,
under either present o. contemplated conditions.
to successfully compete with that via Buffalo
and New York for the carrying trade Of tho
great West, and. that the increase in the grain
shipments by this last mentioned route must
more than keep pace with the increased yield Of
the whea: fields of Manitoba and the North
western territories of the Dominion Of Canada.