Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-10

from the Black sea with 1000 tons OF Indian
corn, the sailing vessel Miltiades from San
Francisco with IL 600 quarters of barley
and wheat and Ciampa OF Tacoma with
$500 tons of wheat from our great north
west.
The traffic of the canal Is steadily grow
ing. Within the last six months the reve-
nue. has increased 10 the amount of $125, 900
and there has been a steady growth in the
business since the beginning. The traffic
Of the present year will probably exceed
5000, 900 tons and will be greater than that
Of any year Of the past.
In my ride up the canal l passed cotton
ships from America and from Egypt. The
American imports up to the middle Of last
April were almost 400. 900 bales and the
Egyptian about one-fourth that number. At
the lumber docks l saw a ship from Mobile
unloading a cargo of pitch pine and at the
same wharf was one similarly loaded from
Pensacola. There were great tank steamers
from the Russian oil fields at the Russian
oil tanks on the right bank Of the canal
and on the left other tank steamers dis
charging American petroleum. / passed the
freezing works where the New Zealand
ships land their frozen mutton in my sail
en- the Duke OF Leinster and also the great
cattle sheds and abattoirs belonging to the
Manchester cooperation, Of which l may
speak further In another letter.
Some Wonders OF the Canal.
The ride down the canal was one of great
est interest. The canal company owns
much OF the land along the way and this Is
OF such a nature that there could be an al
most continuous dock from one end of II to
the other. Leaving Manchester you sail by
the great warehouses and factories on the
canals bank. Now you are passing through
nelds as rich as any in old England. They
are bounded by hedges and upon the green
grass fat cattle are feeding. Cheshire county
on your left is one Of the richest dairy coun-
ties OF the United Kingdom, and Lancashire
on your right is the busiest manufacturing
county Of the whole world. We saw large
manufacturing towns at every few miles
and often passed other steamers coming up
to the city. The locks were easily and
quickly gone through; the sluice gates open
and shut automatically and the steamer
drops twelve feet within less than half as
many minutes.
We steamed under great railroad bridges
so high above the canal that the masts Of
the ships do not touch them as they pass
on below. These bridges were erected at
an immense cost by the canal company. The
SSAAPahANo OPPOESa v tic en-
t~erprise, as they thought IL would cut down
their trafie between Liverpool and Man
chester, so they forced the canal people to
not only build the bridges, but to raise the
railroads for several miles on each side Of
the canal, so that the slope OF the road
crossing the canal might not be steep.
The most surprising bridge on the canal,
however. is one where the B~ridgewater canal
crosses the Manchester ship canal. The
Bridgewater canal has for years lone a
large business between Manchester and
Liverpool. 1t was bought by the Manchester
company at the time they began the ship
canal and II was then making a profit of
something like $1,000 900 a year. 1t is still
in use and 1t carries considerable freight.
The line Of this canal was right across the
route necessary to the Manchester ship
canal, and at first 1t seemed as though the
construction Of the latter would necessitate
its destruction.
This was objected to. and the engineers
solved the problem by making a swinging
aqdeduct bridge at the crossing. This
bridge can be closed with the water, and
even with the boats in II, and by machinery
so moved around to the side that the ships
can pass through In the greater canal below.
When they have paesed the bridge moves
back into place and the water flows on un-
disturbed. The a%queduct, with the water
in It, weighs 400 tons, and 1t is moved as
easily as though It weighed less than four
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