The record-union., 1898-12-01


that 1t would cost actually less o-haul
q loaded car from the Mississippi River
| to Chicago and discharge its lading
| there than it would to load a little canal
barge. tow it over the long stretch of
river and canal navigation, handle it in
1.-The long chain of locks of the Henepin
and Illinois River Canals, and finally
deliver its contents to the Chicago ele
vator. These locks, we may add, are
alone sufficient to make traffic through
the Hennepin Canal absurd as busi-
ness proposition.
| We need take no more space, how
ever, to prove that this enterprise has
long lost the little reason for existence
that it once had. The fact is that the
public has for years taken no inter-
est in, and has forgotten all about the
Hennepin Canal. Probably nine-tenths
of the members of the Chambers of
Commerce and Boards of Trade that
once adopted strong resolutions in its
! favor, would now be puzzled to tell
where it is. If Congress, in spasm
of wisdom, should decide to drop the
/ whole enterprise where it stands, and
refuse to throw good money after bad
any longer, we venture to say that no
protest would be heard except from the
few who hope to profit by the Govern
Hent's expenditure on the work.
| Returning. now to our general subject
of the transfer of traffic from the ca
mails to the railways, it is of interest
to note the experiences of Canada. The
Dominion has expended about $S0,0OO,-
OUD ON it's canals, and it's total revenues
therefrom are about $340G0O per an
mum. The interest on the original out
/ lay, most of which is still represented
By bonds, and the cost of maintenance
and operation form one of the heaviest
items in the Governments expenses, and
so far as the canals are benficial, the
benefit must be sought in the indirect
returns. Some of the canals along the
| ST. Lawrence and the Welland and
Sault canals have traffic enough TO
| justify their existence, but the branch
| canals, such as the Rideau and the
Trent, are admitted to be no longer
worth the cost of keeping them in re-
| pair and operating them. The Trent
| Canal is still under construction, but
| appropriations for it are made year
after year merely to give the district in
which it lies share Of the pie" not
because anyone believes in its CONNER
|
cost for maintenance, operation and in
| terest on it's cost about S2SO00O. The
total traffic which it carried was SO, 700
tons, most of it cordwood and lumber,
ard the tolls amounted to about $1,000
AS for the ST. Lawrence canals, they
are being enlarged to admit vessels of
| fourteen feet draft, to accommodate
| through traffic from the lakes to the
l .Lao t. Of 5ixrnr ,rr
a large volume Of the traffic which new
goes to United States ports. How far
| they will be successful remains to be
seen; but many believe that they will
never carry sufficient traffic to justify
| the millions that have been expended
upon them.
| In conclusion, 1t is of interest to note
what one of the ablest of American
| business men, Andrew Carnegie, has
recently said concerning the relative
economy of canal and rail transporta-
| tion. In his speech before the Pitts
| burg Chamber Of Commerce on No
vember 10th, Mr. Carnegie spoke of the
projected deep waterway from Lake
Erie to the Ohio River, as follows:
Touching the all-important matter
of transportation leads me to refer to
|
making Pittsburg a lake port by water
communication. It has been pointed
| out that I was the first to suggest in
| a speech to the Legislature that the
abandoned canal should be replaced by
deeper one which should lead the watt
ers of Lake Erie into the Ghio. Con
ditions, however, have changed Such
has been the progress of railway de-
xyo10 hot xxyoh ha7 10 y,o1 70
day from Lake Erie through the Ohio
Valley to Beaver, and it was opened
| free of toll like the Erie. Canal, we
could not afford to put boats. upon it. !
Il have never concealed ny opinion
that even if we had fifteen-foot- ship
canal, the large lake steamers would
not come to PittsburS.a sdt takes a
steamer carrying 1000 tons of ore to
live at present rates-withinsfive years,
the lake carriers will be of. 10000 tons,
and it will be much cheaper to transfer
its cargo at the lakes into smaller boats
than to attempt to send the monster
through the canal But more than this
1t is cheaper to-day to transfer the ore
to fifty-ton cars and bring it to our
works in Pittsburg over our railway
than it would be to bring it by canal
Il do not wish to appear even by 81
lcnce to be considered a party to any
attempt to entice private capital to in
| vest in building a canal between Pitts
burg and the lakes, because am con-
vinced that this capital would be en-
| tirely lost; If the canal were. completed,
r the existing railroads could and would
perform it's service cheaper and more
satisfactorily, because they can run all
| the year round"
Tt should be especially noticed that
the proposed Lake Erie and Ohio River
Canal, to which Mr.. Carnegie refers,
was not to be a small barge canal such
as we have discussed above, but a
| waterway of fifteen-foot depth. able
to carry good-sized steamers and
barges. We have ourselves felt that
there was at least a chance that such
| a waterway from Lake Erie to Pitts
| burg might prove financial success,
although we have seen small prospect Of
| its actual construction. If. Mr.. Car
negie is correct, however, and the fifty
ton freight car is a cheaper carrier than
the boats on such canal, then is it all
| the more certain that all the old-time
small barge canals are doomed to early
abandonment, no matter how much
money may be expended on them from
State or national treasures. ngineer-
| ing News.