The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-27
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY. JANUARY 81 1901.

river on which they were situated would
be polluted. The c. n rary has been pro en-
TO be the fact by hundreds of tests. Not
only has the flow from the canal not IN
tured their waters but the enormous
quantity Of perfectly pure water which is
drawn from Lake Michigan and sent
through the canal has actually served to
increase the purity of the Mississippi. 1t
is difficult for the mind to comprehend the
vast volume of this pure water, drawn
from Lake Michigan; four and one-halt
million gallons per minute. This is four
times as great as the old normal flow OF
the Illinois river.
Another tremendous advantage which
has already come from the diversion OF
this great amount of water from Lake
Michigan is the increase in the distance
OF boat and barge navigation on the nv
ers Before the canal was opened the dis
lance which separated lake and river nav
igation for barges and steamboats, was
800 miles, practically. Now the flow OF
water has been greatly Increased
that by the removal OF a few dams, the
distance will be reduced to sixty-two
miles This is hard on the railroads but
If is pleasant for farmers and manufac-
turers. Steamboat transportation Is, or
course, much cheaper than railroad trans
portation In size this canal is greater
than any other canal in the world II IS
wider than any other, and in depth no
existing canal exceeds 1t and the only
nronosed canal which is planned to ex-
coed it, is the Panama canal. No other
existing artificial waterway can show a
depth at it's shallowest point OF thirty
five feet The canal is not affected by
tides as there are none on the Ored0
Lakes, and so this depth is permanent.
If it were desirable to increase this mini
mum depth, it could be done at small
= ,0 1lxy oh a
are in the soft earth cuttings. All I've
solid rock cuttings are forty-hve feet
deep. This makes them deeper than the
solid rock cuttings in any other canal In
the world.
New Methods to Overcome Obstacles
Marked progress in engineering methods
has been one result-of the construction
of the great canal. In fact without ne"
methods the project must have peeh
greatly delayed if not abandoned. 1t was
found shortly after the commencement
of the work that the estimates on the cost
of the rock excavations had been made
duate The project, indeed, for a time
seemed to be in peril In combination the
| contractors arranged to put the inventive
| minds of many men upon the task. the
result was what might have been expect
| ed of Americans who are determined 10
| accomplish something. Entirely new ana
| very much cheaper methods of SOLID rock
excavation were devised. Novel machin-
cry was constructed and the cost of sohd
| rock excavation was reduced for all time
| by 40 per cent. These new methods have
been considered in preparing the Mica
| ragua canal estimates and have appar-
| entity put that project at least, on prac-
| teal basis. The new methods OF rock ex-
| cavation have al least one other adVan-
tage besides their cheapness. Hitherto 1t
| has been impossible TO produce smooth
sides in rock cuttings. The sides of the
| Chicago canal are as smooth as they
would be If they had been cut in cheese
with a sharp knife. The gigantic public
work which was done by the lake metrop-
| oils was accomplished with a singular
| freedom from scandal and charges of cor
ruption. Public spirit and civic pride
seem to animate most of the men who
were concerned in il. Even the contrac-
| tors-and the American contractor has not
| an angelic eputaton-apparenty worked
| with some degree of unselfishness, and the
work was done welI within the appropria-
| tion which had been made for it's COM
| DlediOQ.