The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-12-03
NINE EGREATCANALS
THE ARTIFICIAL SHIP CHANNELS OF
WORLD IMPORTANCE.
interest Therein is Particularly Keen at
the Present Time Because Of the
Panama Agltat lon Enormous Sum o
Money Expended In Their construc.
tiOn-Suez the Most Important.

Washington, Dec. 2.--The renewed
attention being given to the proposed
isthmian canal at this time lends es-
pecial interest to discussion of the
great canals Of the world, presented by
the departmeF osssmmerce and labor
through its bureau of statistics.
The Suez canal is usually considered
the most important example of ship
canals, though the number of vessels
passing through it annually does not
equal that passing through the canals
connecting Lake Superior with the
chain of great lakes at the south. In
length, however, it exceeds any Of the
other great ship canals, its total length
being 80 miles. The original cost was
$95, 900, 900, and for the canal in its
present form slightly in excess of $780,
100000. The revenue of the canal is
apparently large in proportion to its
cost, the Statesman's Yearbook for
1901 giving the net profits of 1899 at
54, 1853, 500 francs, and the total
amount distributed among the share
holders 81 ,53S, ,02S francs, or about 10
per cent of the estimated cost of $780,
600, 900.
The canal connecting the Bay of
Cronstadt with St. Petersburg is des-
cribed as work of great strategic and
commercial importance to Russia.
The canal and sailing course in the
Bay of Constadt are about 10 miles
long, the canal proper being about six
miles and the bay channel about ten
miles, and they together extend from
Cronstadt, on the gulf of Finland, to
st. Petersburg. The canal was opened
in 1890. The total cost is estimated at
about $lO,0O0,OOO.
The next of the great ship canals
connecting bodies of salt water III the
order of date of construction is the
Corinth canal, which connects the gulf
of Corinth with the gulf of Aegina.
The canal reduces the distance from
adriatic ports about 175 miles and
from Mediterranean ports about 100
miles. Its length is about four miles.
There are no locks, as is also the case
in both the Suez and Cronstadt canals.
The work was begun in 1884 and COM
pleted in 1898 at cost of about $5,-
100000
The Manchester ship canal, which
connects Manchester, England, with
the Mersey river, Liverpool, and the
Atlantic ocean was opened for traffic
January 1884. The length of the
canal is 35k miles, the total rise from
othe water level to Manchester being
go feet, which is divided between four
sets of locks, The total cost of the
canal is given at $75,OO0,OO0. The
revenue in 1901. according to the
Statesman's Yearbook, was 62l, 1913
pounds, and the working expenses,
4S3, 267 pounds.
Two canals connect the Baltic and
North seas through Germany, the
first, known as the Kaiser Wilhelm
canal, and having been completed in
1895 and constructed largely for mill
tary and naval purposes, but proving
also of great value to general mercan-
tile traffic. Work upon the Kaiser
Wilhelm canal was begun in 1887 and
completed as above indicated, in 1895.
The lentgh of the canal is 81 miles, the
terminus in the Baltic sea being at
Kiel. The total excavation amounted
to about 100, 900, 900 cubic yards, and
the cost to about $40, 100000.
The Welland canal connects Lake
Ontario and Lake Erie on the Canadian
side of the river. 1t was constructed
in 1888 and enlarged in 1871 and again
in 1900. The length of the canal is q
miles, the number of locks %, the total
rise of lockage 32S feet, and the total
cost about $25, 100000 The annual
collection Of tolls on freight, passen-
gers and vessels averages about $225,-
900, and the canal is open on an aver
age about 240 days in a year.
The canals of Sault Ste. Marie,
Mich, and Ontario, are located ada
cent to the falls of the st. Mary's river,
which connects Lake Superior with
Lake Huron and lower or raise vassels
from one level to the other, height of
IL to 20 feet. The canal belonging to
the United States was begun in 1853
by the state of Michigan and opened in
1856, the length Of the canal being g.
674 feet, and provided with two tandem
locks, the original cost being $l,000,-
by consent of the state, began in 1870
to enlarge the canal, and by 1881 had
increased its length to lie miles. The
state relinquished all control of the
canal in March, 1882. In 1887 the
government further enlarged the canal.
The Canadian canal, l Il miles long,
was built on the north side of the river
during the years sSs to 1895.