Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-12
THE BALTlC-BLACk SEA CANAL.
The Cars Vast Engineering Project
An Outlet for Russians ships.
From he New York (hsarver

The Cars Vast Engineering Project
An Outlet for Russians ships.
From the New York Observer.
The Siberian railroad is not the only vast
project which Russia has on hand for the
development of her resources. The young
car is ambitious, and has set his hand to
a work which will do much to revolution
lie the trade of the western half of his
dom!nions. / allude to the project for unit
ing the waters Of the Baltic with those of
the Black sea by means of a canal. A
glance at the map of western Russia will
show that the head waters of the Dwina
flowing into the Baltic. and those Of the
Dnieper flowing into the Euxine, approach
within measurable distance of each other.
1t is proposed to unite them, and the con-
figuration of the land renders this quite
possible.
The Baltic end Of the canal will be at
Riga, and its course will be up this river as
far as the city of Dunaburg. From Duna-
burg artificial excavations will be made
for 125 miles as far as Lepel on the Bere-
sina, and as Beresina is on the Dnieper,
there is thus compete waterway to Kher-
son on the Black sea The entire distance
from Riga to Kherson will be about 600
miles. The beds of the Dwina, Beresina
and Dnieper will be deepened so that the
surface breadth of the canal will be 216la
feet and it's bottom breadth ICY The
depth of water in average seasons will be
twenty-eight feet, SO that ships of heavy
draught will find no difficulty in steaming
along the whole length of the canal
hear that all the preliminary surveys have
been finished, and that the work can be
commenced in the spring of this year.
The Russian engineers compute that the
entire cost of the undertaking will not ex-
coed $25, 600 600, and that the time required
for its completion will be under ten years.
Both from the commercial and strategic
point of view the Baltic-Black sea canal
will be of the first Importance. Seventeen
towns and cities of considerable population
will be touched by the canal and brought
into direct communication with the sea.
The chief of these are Kieff, krementchug
Dunaberg, Ekaterinslav, Alexandrovsk
and Nikopol, all of them immense grain
emporiums, Grain, therefore, and the other
staple products Of southern and central
Russia will be shipped from these districts
to the north and west of Europe in one
half the time and at less than one-half the
present cost.
But 1T is, perhaps, from the strategical
point of view that Russia will REAP the
finest benefit from the completion of this
vast undertaking. At the present time the
Russian Black sea fleet is locked up; not
single warsh.o can pass through the OAR
danelles without the consent of Turkey, or
without raising a storm among the powers
which signed the treaty of Paris With
the Baltic-Black sea canal in working or
der the powerful ships in the harbors of
Sebastapol and Nicoaieff could reach the
Baltic in four days, or the Baltic fleet could
be sent down to the Euxine within the
same time. 1t is said that the car is care
fully going into every particular himself.
and is determined to make his canal a sue
cess.