Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1907-09-05

Many thousands OF years ago the
Great Lakes are supposed to have dis.
charged their waters through the
French river, Lake Nipissing and the
Mattawa, Ottawa and st. Lawrence
rivers into the Atlantic. This is the
very route that Champlain followed
when he reached the inland seas and
gazed over their vast expanse.
Over this route for centuries passed
all the traffic between the Canada OF
the early days and the western out.
posts OF the Hudson's Bay company.
and this Is to he the route of the
Georgian Bay canal. which Canada
now proposes to build and which will
be by far the shortest waterway be-
tween the lakes and the ocean.
The project has been in the air for
years, but not till now has II taken
definite shape. Many questions have
been involved and among them the
form the canal should take. Should II
be a l4.foot canal for canalboats of
large size, or a 20-foOt ship canal or a
30.fOot ocean steamer proposition, so
that great ocean %freighters might load
at lake ports and unload in Europe?
All the questions have now been an.
swered. For two years the Georgian
Bay Canal Commission of Canada has
been studying every phase of the en-
terprise and 1t is now preparing the
plans for the building Of the canal.
1t is to be a ship canal, providing a
continuous and easily navigable water.
way, with a minimum depth of 81 feet,
from Georgian Bay to tidewater. The
cost is estimated at about sos 600. 900.
The fact is, there is very little canal
to build. Some long stretches In the
rivers must be canalized at large ex.
penses and about thirty miles OF rocky
barrier and a few mud and sawdust
banks must be removed, but the whole
cost of connecting the lake ports with
the ocean will scarcely exceed the APP
preparation of New York state for the
Improvement of the Erie canal.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier is reported as
saying that as o o as the first install.
ment of money is provided he will
have the work begun at once.
This will be the nearest approach to
an air line water route between the
lakes and the Atlantic for which nat
ure has provided facilities. 1t will
make a water channel between the
500 canal and Montreal $50 miles
shorter than by way of the Welland
canal. the line Of least resistance be
tween the lakes and the ocean.
Not a dallor will have to be spen,
on the route from the 500 canal, the
great gateway into Lake Superior, tC
the mouth Of the French river. on the
shore OF Georgian bay. The route will.
hug the Canadian coast, passing
through the North Channel, handbook
ed because the long island of Great
Manitoulin is a bulwark against the
raves of Lake Huron. Thus n deer
and protected channel from one tc
fifteen miles wide is provided from the
500 to the French river, a distance OF
100 miles.
This river drains the waters OF Lake
Nipissing to Georgian Bay, the lake
forming the summit level 20 feet
above the bay. At low water the
French river carries some 5000 cubic
feet OF water a second out OF Lake
Nipissing and there will be 46 miles Of
canaliZation on this river, with three
short rock cuts through the rapids.
East of the lake Is the divide, which
is only about two miles wide aud
few feet above Nipissing. Then the de