Cañon City record., 1906-09-06
Steamships Of the Future viii
Make Those Of To-day Look
Ike Tnas.

lAAA--N AtsAhB %
w enough to spend its honeymoon.
or to incur the disagreeable
necessity OF escaping the attentions OF
process servers, ii will travel on steam
ships which will make those of to-day
seem like tugs To be more SPECIFIC, not
later than forty-two years hence the
largest twenty steamships in existence
will have these average dimensions
Length, 1000 feet; breadth, 100 feet;
draught. 80 feet: gross tonnage, 10000.
As thS Average dimensions OF the pres
ent largest twenty are, length, o+o,
breadth $50 draught Sal, and gross
tonnage I7,Isr, it will be seen that the
steamships will have to do some tab
growing.
These confident predictions arc made
by Elmer Lawrence Corthell, b. A, NJ.
A, DR.. Sc, Of New York and Chicago.
As Mr.. CorthcIl is not professional
prophet, but an engineer who has done
A notable part OF the worlds work IN
the past. and is still engaged in some
grea, undertakings. his predictions re-
parding the future of the worlds COM
merce are of the liveliest interest.
Z. L. Corthell played an important
part in convincing Congress in 1874 OF
the wisdom of authorizing the cons;rue-
ton of the famous Eads jetiies at the
mouth of the Mississippi, and was cngi-
peer in charge of the construction OF
the jc,tics, which increased the depth
of water in the South Pass from nine
fee, to more than thirty feet He made
surveys for the Tchuantepec Ship Kali
way in 1885, and subsequently. by means
Of A number of notable addresses de
livcred in the principal cities OF the
limited States. attracted the worlds at
,en,ion to the project. He built bridges
over the Mississippi river at Hannibal,
La, and St. Louis, Mo, and at New
Orleans. lie planned and executed the
harbor improvements at TaInpieo, which
increased the depth OF water from eight
feet to ,wenty-six feet and made that
city the second port in Mexico. He re-
duccd the ncbulous idea Of the Chicago
Worlds Fair TO a tangible proposition
BY solving the engineering problems oil
that great undertaking. and Subsequently
carried out some important works that
were instrumental in making the FAR
success. He was also one of the leading
spirits in organizing the International
halI during the
Fair. Ten years ago the works OF vari-
o,s kinds constructed under Mr.. Cort-
helIs supervision footed up an aggregate
valuc of SIooyoooooo. In 1893 he repre-
sentcd the United States government at
the international Congress of Naviga-
ton at BRUSSELS. He was also at the
Paris Congress in 1000 and at the Milan
Congress in 1905. AT present he. is
president and chief engineer 'of the com
pany which is making important I'M
provements in the harbor of Rio Grandc
Do Sui, Brazil, the difficulties OF which
have bafiled some of the worlds fore
most engineers, He is member OF
something like score of scientific So
cietics in America and Europe.
In 1853, when Mr.. Corthell's first pre-
diction was made, the number OF s,eam-
ships in existence was II,27r, having a
total tonnage of I7SSooo6. He predicted
that in FIVE years this number would
increase to Iaooa, with an aggregate
tonnage of ao,Sor ,2os. The actual num-
her in existence in 1908 was 1881, rep
resenting tonnage of ao,Iss,35s. The
average tonnage of steamships in 1893
was 1857. Mr.. Corthell predicted that
this average would increase to 1904 by
1908. In reality the average at the end
of FIVE years proved to be I,oss tons
The average dimensions Of the largest
twenty steamships in 1893 were: Length,
SAL feet; breadth. q feet; draught. ao