The Savannah morning news., 1904-11-13
New York Is

,,,..- men began to girdle the earth
...s always. they began also to look
- mon the old methods of trans
.a-4o1 which had served their IA
- and forefathers. Among the
80 despised were canals. In many
- oId-tine canals that had car
80 merchandise for generations were
,.amad dry and their beds utilized for
~ LAYING Of railroad tracks.
prt the canal is coming to it's own
al, Men are discovering more and
80 that it has it place in the econ
-, Of commerce. place which rail-
avs cannot entirely fill.
r,a digging of great canals ranks
IL he foremost works and prof.
tL l.s If many leading nations at the
ec time. The world is getting to
snt M with canals all over its
surface. and before the end of
! ~ ,rasant century the canal mileage
e IN his globe is likely to be nearly
otuo,orica is undertaking the two big
.ost canal schemes at present pro-
ssnotad the Panama canal ana the
.bousand-tOn barge CaIldl.
:, the Days Before Railways.
raw countries have given more at
-, tn canals and canal schemes
Nm rbe United States did in the days
nc, nc the railways. OF the many ca
p'is constructed in that era, the most
;r,nortant was the Erie canal through
. .i,p state of New York, connecting the
uudson river with Lake Erie.
In the words of a distinguished eX-
,ert This canal, although originally
bnnt of small size, played a very I'M
rortant part in the settlement of the
p Pat West. or what was then the
eres+ West. by furnishing route in
Connection with the Great Lakes by
'bicb the products of the new West
orn country could reach the markets
oiono the seaboard, and by which in
urn If could get it's supplies of cloth
mo fools. groceries, etc, at an eco
ron,ical rate of transportation 1t is
certain that the settlement and devel-
onnent of the New York and New
TngIand hinterland were enormously
exnedited by the Erie canal"
stood hallway Opposition.
This canal has managed to with
stand the opposition of the railways,
although the country around it is
absolutely gridironed with them. I'm
doubtedlv it has had much of do with
the Development of New York city
and New York state. Along its
banks there has been built uD what
has been called "the most important
chain of cities in the country'-Al-
banv. Troy, Cohoes, Schenectady,
Little Fails, Utica, Rome, Syracuse,
Rochester Lockport and Buffalo.
But this great canal and it's subsi-
diary branches, the Oswege and Cham
plain canals, are now palpably made
quate for the work they are called
upon to do. The Erie canal can only
accommodate boats carrying 240 tons
Of freight Agitation for the enlarge
ment Of the canal has been going on
for many years, and at last New York
state has decided to spend $101, 000,-
coo to enlarge the Erie canal to a
capacity that will enable it to be used
by thousand-ton barges. A similar
enlargement of the Oswego and
Champlain branches is to be made.
This great work, which is now be-
ing commenced, has attracted COM
paratiyely little notice outside of New
York state. but it is declared by lead
ing authorities to be by far the great
est public work ever undertaken by
any state of the Union.
In magnitude the work that New
York has undertaken exceeds the
work at Panama. More each and
rock must be eXcavated, more ma
sorry used, and more dams built. The
cost per unit is not nearly so high
as at Panama. because the work will
be done in the temperate zone, where
Iaoor, tools and materials are abund-
ant and reasonably cheap
In the complexity of the engineer
ing questions involved, the Erie is