Evening journal., 1906-08-06
ACTIVE WORK BY
COMMISSIONERS
Canal Mn Back From Two
Days Inspection Of I've
Routes
Z FEARS LOSS


General Felix Asnus. chairman; Maj r
c. a. r. Flae4er United states Army,
and civn Engineer, r r. Chambers,
United States. Navy. comppis ng the new
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Commits
sion has returned from a two days in-
spectcn trip in the United STATS iteap,r
Sentinel. Captain Charles r. R.ehl. Gen-
eral Agnus and Lieutenant Chambers lot
Baltimore on the Sentinel az 6 o'c.ock
Friday morning and went throush the
Chesapeake and Delaware canal a;
Chesapeake City they took on board
Superintendent Thomas j. Cleaver, who
has been connected with the canal for s
years.
There was no stop until Delaware city
was seached. There Major Flaglor who
has charge Of the engineering work along
the Delaware river Joined his fellow COM
missioners, and careful inspection Ct
the canal vas made from its terminus at
Delaware city 10 Its beginning at Chesa-
pfake Csy. The. cofnm.ssioress had oil
the various maps and surNeys. and went
infinitely into figures and ccndit ons Mr.
Cleaver tod of his experiences in the
various problems encountered in keep ng
up the canal
After the inspection Of the canal the
river and creek approaches were exam
insd ard the Sentinel anchored for The
night at the mouth OF the sassafras. Yes
,erday morning was spent upon the sas-
safras. The Sentinel went TO the head cf
nayigaticn, at Fredericktown, and from
therc the commissioners took light
draft launch 30 Fox Hole They expressed
themselves AS greatly pleased with .h1;r
trip. Their work will he pushed vigorously
IN order that their report may 90 TO the
coming Cpngress
Hanbletons the bankers, in their
weekly Oh cular, which rs an authority
IN Baltimore says about the canal:
As. a national enterprise giving the
Government an inside passage for It's
ships OF war, such canal is not only
desirable, but essential. Whether or
not as a commercial enterprise it VIII
ray. or whether &c IS for the beneht Of
Baltimore. is a matter that should re-
qulre serious attention.
A canal betneen the Chesapeake and
Delaware Bays following the route
which is already occupied by the small
shallow SanaL ldunquestionably be
Of advantage 20 tbe bay trade origin.
ating IN the counties but whether IL
kwould be advantageous TO Balumore
is Questionable. Our bay trade is by
far the largest Of any OF our COM
nepcial Industries
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company
controls all the railroads running down
the peninsula between the Chesapeake
and Delaware Rays. This company
also owns nearly every steamboat that
plies upOn the waters Of the Chesa-
psake Bay and its tributaries. Natur-
ally Wilmington. Del. and Philadel.
phia are anxious for the building or
this ship canal along the present rout,
and It can readily be seen that II sucl
a canal should be built a large portio1
of the bay traffic which now comes q
Baltimore would go to the larger mar
ket of Philadelphia.
Board Of Trade Opposed.
The Board of Trade Of this city ha
placed itseN on record upon more thar
one occasion as being OF the opinion
that deep sea canal between tn
Chesapeake and Delaware Bays woul'
be OF little use to our foreign shipping
The chief reason given is that IL woul'
consume as much time to go througl
the upper waters of the bay AM
through the. canal and dqwn the Della
ware to the ocean as It would to g
round the capes Of the Chesapeake.
II the SKATE or Baltimore is to con
tribute to the expense OF building sue
a canal we think that our State an
city officials should see 10 10 that
route be selected far down the ba
which would really contribute 20 tn
attractions Of Baltimore as a seapor'
and az the same time would not max
il so very convenient for our bay trad
60 go 70 Wilmington and Philadel
phia
In the meantime the commission. q
which General Felix Agnus is chair
man. has been az work all the pas
week investigating the two route
particularly specified in the act {
Congress creating the commissiol
which routes are the two uppermost &
the several which have from time I
time been suggested, being tho preser
canal and the other. the sassafra
River route.