The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-10
RECOGNITION OF INLAND
WATEIsW

A little while ago Marshal Parks and
a few progressive spirits in E4s.ern
North Carolina were discussing The
value of tho inland waterway TO Eas.-
ern North Carolina, When Co.
Harry Skinner went 10 Congress lie
asked an appropriation and got noth-
ing. When Mr.. Sinai entered con-
gress eight years ago he began tho
study OF the waterway and introduced
a bill for an appropriation. He soon
saw that as a State or local PROPOSE
ton, the project would not appeal
soon 10 Congress and that the enter
prise was n Of national importance.
He began first to show the commercial
interests Of Baltimore, Norfolk. Jack :
sonville and other points on the out
Atlantic coast the great value of this
inland waterway. Conventions ana
conference were held and after much
agitation there was approval of the
waterway in half a dozen States. but
no impression was made apparently
in Congress-, because the Speaker hap
pened to jump to the conclusion that
it was a local matter and put his
foot down on it. But Mr.. Small and
the Others who with the vision of the
statesman saw the advantages were
not deferred. The last Congress APP
p~ropriated half a million TO begin
the work in North Carolina.
The Interest felt in the water
way from jacksonville to Boston has
attracted public attention ana the
great meeting at Philadelphia gave 1t
a mighty impetus. Golfers Weekly
devotes a leader to its consideration
and says:
THE great scheme of a Lakes to
the Gulf waterway, which is exciting
so mucn enthusiasm in the West. has
it's counterpart in the East. where del
egates from the Atlantic seaboard
States in convention at Philadelph1a
have formed a permanent organization
to work for a coast ship n from
Boston TO the ports of North Carolina,
With an extension to Key West. Ma
ture has already done most of the
work on this great enterprise, and
what remains for man to do is sim
pie, easy, n comparatively cheap.
Long Island Sound, the Delaware
River, Chesapeake Bay, Albemarle
and Pamlico Sounds, furnish sheltered
thoroughfares in peace and war. All
that is needed to make n continuous
waterway from the cotton fields
of the South to the mills of New
England is to cut four low necks
of land, or rather to cut one
and enlarge existing cuts across the
other three. The four distractions
are Cape Cod, New Jersey between
the Raritan River and the Delaware,
the little space between Delaware
and Chesapeake bays. and the stretch
in Virginia and North Carolina now
traversed by the Dismal Swamp
Canal. The total length of cutting re-
n111r6G tO COn nlptp a rnnTinlIniJG wa
terway Of eight or nine hundred miles
long is only ~sixty-siX miles. and the
cost with the Florida extension is es-
timated at only $4,000. 900. or about
a third o. the Pennsylvania terminal
improvements in New York City.
In the opinion of Mr.. Charles He
Der Clark. one of the speakers at the
Philadelphia Convention mot five
times since man first stood on the
earth has an opportunity offered for
creating so important an avenue for
commerce" And commerce Is not the
only national interest that would be
promoted by the Atlantic waterway.
It's whole cost could be paid by the
price Of the battle ships it would save.
With a perfectly sheltered base over
eight hundred miles long, from which
they could emerge at points as far
apart as Black Island and Beaufort,
North Carolina, our warships would
be absolutely immune from blockade.
no matter what navy might try 10 seal
them up. And no enemy woul ven
ture to blockade our ports, for he
could not observe more than one Of
them at & time without exposing a di-
Vided force to the sallieS of a united
defending fleet.
THE enormous advantages of this
thoroughfare were recognized in the
infancy of the Nation. Some of its
links were planned. and companies to
construct them were chartered, in
the eighteenth century. The Govern
ment took the matter UP q hundred
years ago. 1t stands now almost where
Gallatin left it. Three of the four can
ais needed have been dug in a small
way and a private company is now
digging the fourth. across Cape 90
But the Philadelphia conference
thinks that private interests should be
entirely eliminated and the whole wa
terway made purely a Government
enterprise"