The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-29
BUILDING GREAT CANALS.
Plans Considered for the Utilization
of LIKE SUpcriOr


Dwight f. Woodbridge writes an inter
estfng account of how Francis H. Clergue
of Bangor, Me. expects to harness
Lake Superior. Mr.. Clergue hopes in
few years to be using every drop of water
that passes from that great inland seS
for industrial purposes.
| One canal which furnishes 10000 horse
power has already been cut. another tC
supply 5000 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's
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 Sault.
Thus in few years. Mr. Woodbridge
writes when all the available water shall
| pass through the canals, there will be nc
rapids; and the traveller up the lakes in
stead of halting to watch the white water
rush down Jagged rocks. will see only the
| dry bed of a vanished river"
| Tine enterprise destined thus to alter the
face of nature is only few years old.
! Seven years ago Mr.. Clergue set out in
| search of a new field for development.
| Realizing the possibilities of the Sault
Sainte Marie, he convinced his hackers, a
| 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 1900 horse power.
When they sought customers for the pow
er they were not to be found. Mr.. Clargue
determined to become his own custo-
mer. Spruce stumpage was bought of the
Canadian Government for 10 cents a cord,
great pulp mill was built and set to
work. Its output is $4,000 worth year
This was only modest beginning to the
enterprises which have followed as a logi-
cal result.
Sulphite pulp, with its 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 hundred miles to the eastward of
the Sault and easily accessible were min
erai deposits whose ore was a combina-
ton Of sulphur, nickel, copper, and iron.
Could not the sulphur in this ore be util-
lied? laboratory was built and the
problem was soon solved.
Then a mine in the Sudbury country
was bought and 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 al 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.. Clergue bought
the mine for $500
The mine lay twelve miles back in the
mountains. In the summer of 1899 work
was begun on 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 Sault.
Ships were 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
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 TO the route and
4 line OF three passenger ships will be in
operation between Mr. Clergue's new rail
way to the East and Michipicoten 10 the
But greater schemes still are in view
The Algoma Central Railroad, pushing
north from the Sault, will soon touch the
miles farther on will tap Hudson Bay.
Along this line $1,000 colonists are to be
placed, and the settlement atrthe Sault
will be their surplus market. Mills 10
grind their surplus wheat will 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..
CIergue carefully rebuilt IL. Near the old
lock he found the rotted remains of a
stockade surrounding tumble-down fort.
A parapeted stone wall now replaces the
stockade, and the fort, repaired, is now
Mr. Clergues home.