The Republican journal., 1898-03-10
The Commerce Of the Lakes.
Total Tonnage of the 500 Double That q
the SueZ Canal

| Total Tonnage of the 500 Double That of
the Suez Canal.
In the March St. Nicholas there is an art-
| Gle on "The Great Lakes by W. S. Har-
| wood. The author says:
J The commerce of the lakes is enormous.
| The outlet from Lake Superior to Lake
Huron had always been a serious obstacle
to commerce, in that it was not deep
enough to allow the larger freight and
passengers boats to pass comfortably
thro ugh. Locks have been built at
cover nment expense, at the cost of many
millions of dollars which now allow the
passage of large boats; and two more
locks are being built,-one by the Ca
nadians, and one by the Americans
which will still further increase commerce
The new lock on the American side is
larger than the old, and, when completed,
will be one of the most wonderful pieces
of masonry to be found in the country. 1t
will allow the passage of vessels draw
ing twenty-one feet of water. 1t has cost
several millions of dollars, and will not be
completed for year or two.
For many years the great Suez Canal
was looked upon as the most wonderful
piece of commercial engineering in the
world, carrying enormous cargoes through
its gateway from the East. But in this
newer land the commerce of the lakes has
dwarfed the Suez Canal. The total ton
mage of the 500 during the year 1897 was
| Ii, 800, 600. The tonnage of the Srez
Canal in 1896 was 1000, 600 This CON
mage of the 500 does not by any means
represent the entire commerce of the great
lakes; it is only a portion Of it. Hundreds
| of thousands of tons of merchandise and
supplies of all kinds are shipped annually
up from Lake Michigan points through
the Straits of Mackinac eastward, (Which
do not pass through the 500; and many
| thousands more go eastward from points
below the 500 on the other lakes, to be
exchanged for other supplies for points
also below the 500.
Year by year this immense traffic is
growing From the great West there
come, to the gateway of the 500, wheat
and -four and lumber apd iron ore-all
the products from vast area of country,
drawn to the lake route because it is so
much cheaper to move goods by water
| than by rail. In return, the East sends
the West vast quantities of manufactured
goods, and immense supplies of hard and
soft coal. The West furnishes raw mate
rials; the East manufactures these mate
rails and sends back the products of her
| factories and mills. There were received
at the ports of Duluth and Superior dur
ing the year 1S96-that is, during the lake
season., rs, 712 tons of coal.
On the margins of these lakes, particu-
larly on the shores of Superior, there are
ore bearing rocks containing iron, silver,
copper and gold. The iron ore is of re-
markable commercial value, and practi-
cally inexhaustible in amount. Immedi-
ately tributary to Lake Superior, in some
cases on its very banks, are iron mines
the output of which rivals that of any
mines in the world, and the supply in
''sight, as the miners say, will furnish
the world with iron for centuries to come
Some Of the lumber which goes east by
way Of the lakes is sent away on to South
American points without separation, tax
ing first journey of perhaps several hun
dred miles down the rivers to the mills,
then thousand miles more on the lakes
to the st. Lawrence, passing through the
Weland Canal to getto Ontario, and then
trying a few thousand miles of salt water
"a picturesque voyage indeed.