The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-07-18
FROM LAKES TO
GULF OF MEXICO
SHIPS WILL SOON BE RUNNING
ENTIRE DISTANCE.
GREAT SAVING IN FREIGHT.
Contract for Canal One Hundred
Miles Long to Connect Lake
Erie with abe Ohio River.
Boon to Shippers.

Washington, d. c., July 17.-Shipl
Of $500 tons burden in the near fu
ture will be enabled to load cotton
sugar, lumber and othe. supplies al
New Orleans, steam up the Mississip
pi and Ohio rivers to the Great Lakes
aai return laden with wheat and ore
and coal. This was made possible
this week when the national govern
ment issued charter to the Lake
Erie and Ohio River Ship Canal Co
The company is to build the canal by
private contract, but the operation Of
the waterway will be under certain
federal supervision.
The ship channel, as 1t name indi
Gates, is to connect Lake Erie witt
the Ohio river Its northern termi
nus, unless plans are modified OF
changed, is to be at Geneya-ol-the
Lake, some seven miles west of Ash
tabula, o. 1t will enter the Ohio
river by utilizing the Mahoning AID
Beaver river.
Canal to be 1903 Miles Long.
The distance covered by the canal
is 103 miles. The channel will be 16C
feet wide and II will have depth all
the way Of IL feet. 1t is estimated
tnat,y Qnceg completed, the canal will
have capacity of 100000 tons OF
freight annually. The cost viii ap.
proximate s5O,O00,OOO but if the earn.
ings Of foreign canals furnish any cri-
terion it win prove a highly remu1er-
alive investment, besides being a
boon to shippers and wonderful up
builder of the territory it traverses.
The saving this channel will effect
to shippers win be enormous. On an
average the cost of waterway trans
portation is one-sixtn that by rail.
At the last national convention of
the National Rivers and Harbors
Congress, its president, Congressman
Ransdell of Louisiana, advanced some
figures that showed clearly what
waterway development meant, not
only to the shipper but to the col-
sumner, who in the last analysis is the
one who feels the weight of heavy
transportation tolls in the advanced
cost Of the necessaries of life.
viii Effect Great Saving.
Mr.. Ransdell, il comparing rates,
pointed to the fact that the average
railroad charge is 7.6 mills per ton
per mile, and said:
There Is an immense commerce
on the Ohio river, and there the
freight charge is .76 of one mill per
ton per mile. The tremendous COM
merce on the lower Ohio and the Mis-
sissippi between Louisville and New
Orleans is carried at a freight charge
of 81 Of one mill per ton-less than
one-eleventh of the railroad charge.
There is a splendid commerce on the
Monoagahela river, and there the
freight charge is less than one
eleventh of the railroad charge.
WHAT would it amount to if in one
year we could carry all our freight by
water? Last year the commerce of
this country, which moved by rail,
was 1905, 100000 tons. II it could
have been carried by water the say
ing thereon would have been in one
year $S50,O0O,000. These figures are
SO vast that know they stagger ere l.
ulity, but they are absolutely true and
! defy any man to contradict them"
viii Increase Business.
The Lake Erie and Ohio River can
all will increase the business that
now is teemi1g on the Great Lakes
and the rivers Of the Ohio, Missouri
and Mississippi valleys. Heretofore
they have had no connection, one
with the other, but when linked, the
volume of the couatry's internal COM
meree is certain to make some re-
markable gains.
The National Rivers and Harbors
Congress is interested in the project,
but only for the reason that it shows
the gradual growth Of the sentiment
I'm favor Of a return TO waterway
transportation. The organization is
not pledged TO any individual scheme
of improvement, but is combining its
activities to arousiag the American
people and congress TO the necessity
for expending not less than $4,000
900 annually on this general work.