New-York tribune., 1905-06-12
p1TrsBURgs PROPOSED CANAL.

A company has just been formed for the pur-
pose of digging and using a canal between
Lake Erie and Pittsburg. The men who have
organized it intend to cut passage sufficiently
broad and deep to accommodate steamships dis
placing 1000 tons. According to AConstruc-
tion," the preliminary surveys have already be-
gun, and it is hoped that the contracts for ex-
cavation may be let early next year In that
event, it is predicted that the work will be
finished by 1910 Such an estimate is far from
being extravagant. The canal will probably
not be more than 1o5 or 40 miles long, and no
speciaI difficulties of an engineering nature are
looked for
The advsability Of providing less preten-
tious artificial waterway in that region was con-
sidered by George Washington soon after the
close of the Revolution. His familiarity with
the topography of the country around Fort Du-
quesne dated back to time considerably an
tedating the War for Independence. and his
later inspection Of 1t led him to take favora-
BILE view of the practicability of the project
The United States and Pennsylvania authorities
both made careful surveys In 1924, which estab-
lshed the correctness Of Washington's belief
and which led to the construction OF canal
under State auspices not long afterward. There
was never more than four or five feet Of water
In it. and the canal was bought by railroad
company in 1869 and its bed devoted to an
other use Yet for about forty years 1t did
remunerative business and made possible the
TRANSFORMATION of freight for one-third the cost
Of similar service by rail.
The original waterway from Lake Erie to
Pittsburg of course designed mainly for
the shipment Of merchandise for short dis
tances The new one is intended for q differ
ent purpose. It is meant primarily to enable
ore carrying vessels to come all the way from
ok at ybiP
to the very doors of the blast furnaces that will
use their cargoes. At present all freight for
Pittsburg from the upper lakes must be trans
ferred to q railway near the end of Its Jour
ney. Thus to the cost of transportation two
additions are made-one by the labor required
for that operation and the other growing out
Of the fact that it is more expensive to move
freight on land than it is on the water. Buff
faIo Cleveland and other cities which are sit
uated directly on the lake shore and which have
large iron furnaces and steel mills enjoy dis
tinct advantage over Pittsburg in this respect
theoretically, at least-but the conditions will
be eoualzed when the proposed canal is fin
ished.
To make pig iron it is necessary to have iron
ore and fuel Most of the ore used IN this
country comes from either the north shore or
the south shore OF Lake Superior. If there
were coal in that vicinity, smelling would I'M
doubtedly be conducted In the neighborhood of
the mines As it is, either the necessary fuel
must be carried to the region that produces the
ore-the Mesaba range for lnstance-or else the
ore must be taken to the vicinity of the coal
deposits 1t is because Illinois and Ohio have
fairly good soft coal that the iron and steel in
dustries have been able to attain their present
development in Chicago and Cleveland. Pitts
hure enjoys an advantage in its close proxim-
itv to Connellsville, the quality Of whose coke
has long been celebrated. On that account, and
In consequence Of particularly progressive meth
DDS of manufacture, it has been. able to main
tain fits honorable ascendency as a producer Of
iron and steel, in spite Of It's greater distance
from Lake Superior Still, the appearance Of
new rivals, among which Buffalo is the latest
and nerhaps the most formidable, forces Pitts
burg TO keep alert to every opportunity for
strengthening its position; and It Is probably IN
TINT spirit that its canal to Lake Erie has been
undertaken.