The times., 1901-04-29
BUILDING GREAT CANALS.
Plans Considered for the Utilization
of Lake SupcriOr

of Lake Superior.
Dwight F. Woodbridge writes an inter
esting account of how Francis II. Clergue,
of Bangor Me. expects to harness
Lake Superior. Mr. Clergue hopes in a
few years to be using every drop of water
that passes from that great inland sea
for industrial purposes.
One canal which furnishes 10000 horse
power has already been cut. another to
supply 5G000 horse power Is under way,
and third of nearly the capacity of the
second has just been started on the Cana
dian side. When all three are fully en-
ployed Lake Superior will be but mill
pond to store the power for Mr. Clergue' 5
great enterprises To prevent a perma-
nent lowering of the level Of the lake,
dams are being built at the head of the
rapids of the Sault Sainte Marie. and as
the flow through the canals increases the
dams will be raised TO shut off the flow
down the Saut.
Thus in a few years" Mr. Woodbridge
writes, when all the available water shall
pass through the canals, there will be no
rapids; and the traveller up the lakes. in
stead of haIting to watch the white water
rush down Jagged rocks. will see only the
dry bed of a vanished river"
face of nature is only q few years old.
Seven years ago MIR. Clergue set out in
search of a new field for development.
Realizing the possibilities of the Sault
Sainte Marie, he convinced his hackers, q
company was organized, and work begun.
Their first canal, cut through the sand
stone rim of Lake Superior on the Cana
dian side, gave them 20000 horse power.
When they sought customers for the pow
er they were not to be found. Mr.. Clergue
determined to become his own custo-
mer. Spruce stumpage was bought of the
Canadian Government for 10 cents a cord,
a great pulp mill was built and set to
work. Its output is $500, 900 worth a year.
This was only modest beginning to the
enterprises which have followed as a logi-
cal result
Sulphite pulp with it's long fibre. is
worth nearly twice as much for paper
making as ground pulp and Mr.. Clergue
determined to make it. For this he must
have sulphur. The supply from Sicily is
expensive at the seaboard and would cost
much more at the outlet of Lake Supe-
rior.
But a hundred miles to the eastward of
the Sault and easily accessible We're min
eral deposits whose ore was a combina-
tion Of sulphur, nickel, copper, and iron.
Could not the sulphur in this ore be util-
ized? laboratory was built and the
problem was soon solved.
Then a mine in the Sudbury country
was bought ana furnaces for roasting the
ore and a mill for making the pulp were
put up.
After roasting the ore there remained
a by-product rich in nickel. The chemists
were called upon to devise an electrical
method for separating and reducing it.
They succeeded, and long contracts were
made with the greatest of German steel
makers for the purchase of an electrically
smelted nickel steel product TO the
amount of 80 tons a day.
The ore at the Sudbury mine was found
too rich in nickel to make a hard steel.
On the Michipicoten River. 125 miles away
a gold seeker had found an outcrop of
hematite iron ore Mr.. Ciergue bought
the mine for $500.
The mine lay twelve miles back in the
mountains. In the summer Of 1893 work
was begun on a railroad, and in July. 1900
cars of fifty tons capacity drawn by 100
ton locomotives began hauling the ore to
the lakeside. Today blast furnaces for
making pig iron, open hearth steel fur
naces, electric furnaces for the ferro-
nickel making and rolling mills for rail
making are being built at the Sauit.
Ships We're needed, and four were
bought in England. These We're taken to
Lake Superior through the deep water
canal recently completed by the Canadian
Government, and after their seasons s
work were despatched again to England
loaded with IRON When they return four
other ships will have been completed in
the Clyde yards TO add 10 the route. and
line OF three passenger ships will be in
operation between Mr. Clergue's new rail-
way to the East and Michipicoten TO the
Northwest.
But greater schemes still are in view.
The Algoma Central Railroad pushing
north from the Sauit, will soon touch the
main line of the Canadian Pacific, and 200
miles farther on Will tap Hudson Bay.
Along this liue $4,000 colonfsts are to be
placed and the settlement atethe Sault
viii be their surplus market Mills TO
grind their surplus wheat viii be erected
starch works to use their surplus pota-
toes, and when they have cattle to market
Mr. Clergue viii erect slaughter houses
and cold storage warehouses.
When Mr.. Clergue began clearing away
the debris which had accumulated above
the mines of the Hudson Bay Company
near the village of Sault SaInte Marie he
uncovered the lock built by the fur trad
ers to get their boats around the rapids
two centuries ago.
Its existence had been forgotten. Mr.
Clergue carefully rebuilt it. Near the old
lock he found the rotted remains of
stOckade, surrounding a tumble-dOwn fort
A parapeted stone wall now replaces the
stockade, and the fort, repaired, IS now
Mr. Clergue's home