The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-13
THE TRAFFIC OF CANALS.

The federal treasury bureau of sta
tistics has just issued a bulletin, set
ting forth the value of the principal
waterways of the world, not only to
commerce, but to their promoters. The
volume of the worlds traffic which
passes through the Suez, the Kaiser
Wilhelm, the st. Mary's Falls, the Wei
land, and the New York canals, is
something enormous.
The Suez canal is ninety-two miles
long and cost $1O2 75O, 900. 1t shows a
net tonnage of 6,576 tons in 1869, its
first year; 1876, 6O9 in 1870, more than a
million in 1872, more than two millions
in 1875, and a steady increase until 1891,
when the figures reache $685. III. Since
that time there has been comparative
ly little change, the figures for 1897 be-
ing slightly below those of 1896, but
more than three times those of 1877.
In 1898 it yielded $1S, 124, 900 in dues
To give an idea of the diversity of
business in one average year, the YES
sels passing through were as follows:
English, 2,4O5; German, 272; French,
100; Dutch, Us; Austro- Hungarian, II;
Italian, 81; Norwegian, so; Ottoman, "a;
/ Spanish, 20; Russian, "a; Portuguese,
| 10; Egyptian, 5; American, 8; Belgian,
I; Brazilian, 1; Japanese, l. Of the
gross traffic carried that year through
the Suez canal, England bore 75.11 per
cent; Germany, 7.26; France, 6.O2; Hol-
land, 4.27; Austria, 21S; Italy, LIS;
Norway, Lie; Spain, O.S2; with the ball
!
The Manchester canal was opened to
! commerce in 1894 Its cost was $75, OOO,-
GOO. 1t extends from the Cheshire
shore of the Mersey to the city of Man
chester. No data is at hand as to the
amount of business transacted through
| this canal.
The Kaiser Wilhelm is another canal
years. The tonnage passing through it
the first year after its opening was l.
505.9S3. and that of the fiscal year end
ing March 81. 1898, 2,469, 795.
Lake Superior is connected with the
! lower lakes by the st. Marys Falls
canal. It shows a more rapid gain in
business than even the Suez. The
freight tonnage in 1881 is given at l.
/ 567, 741, reaching 100000 tons in 1885,
100000 tons in 1887, 100000 in 1889.
5000, 600 in 1890, 13, 600, OO0 in 1894, and 49,
OO0,O 600 in 1897. The freight tonnage
passing through the Detroit river,
which connects Lakes Superior, Michi-
gan and Huron with Erie and Ontario.
| is shown to have increased from 9,000,-
600 tons in 1873 to q, 900 600 in 1896, an
increase in that time of 200 per cent,
while the increase in the registered
tonnage through st. Mary's Falls canal
alone in that time is from 1,2O4, 446 to
17,619,9SS.
According to the bulletin, there has
been a steady decrease in the tons of
merchandise carried to tide-water
through the New York canals, a decline
which has been going on since 1880. In
that year the number of tons of freight
was 4,o67, 4o2; in 1890, S,O24,765, and in
1897, 1875, 218. The reduction of freight
rates, especially on the great lakes and
by rail, in competition with the lakes
and their canals, has been notable. The
reduction in freight carried by the all
water route Of lake and canals is great
er than in cases where part or all of
the transportation is by rail.
Nearly all farm produce and mer-
chandise is loaded onto the cars in the
first place, and the matters of time and
convenience enter largely into trans
portation calculations. This operates
in favor Of the railways in the interior,
but, between oceans, canals are the
great savers of time and labor.
It is estimated that an isthmian ca
nal would pay for itself in ten or fifteen
years. It's chief value, however, would
be, not in the property itself, but in
the convenience. in the impetus it would
give to commerce, in the reduction in
the cost of transportation, and in the
lessening of time required to go from
one market to another.