Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1907-09-11
Enough Coal to Fill a train
2,2S9 Miles in Length Pas
sed through Lakes.
WHEAT AND FLOUR SHIPMENTS
Report of the Tonnage of the Lakes
is Marvellous According to
Latest Rerort

Figures are fearsome things, but at
times they can be most interesting
Some government statistician with an
eye for the quaint has evolved a
weird array based on the amount OF
freight passing through the Sault Ste.
Marie canal during 1906 The COM
pilation proves in a most interesting
way the marvellous growth of lake
traffic, and shows the extent to which
water transportation has advanced.
During the last year enough coal
was transported north through the
Detroit river to fill a train 2,259 miles
in length According to the statisti-
cian, these figures are most conser-
Vative The total tonnage was 49,
100000, and he based his calculation
on 5O-ton cars, the largest coal car
used by any railroad. If the ordi-
nary common coal car Of smaller de-
sign and capacity had been utilized
the train might not have found room
in the United States to operate in.
unless il took the form Of the letter
IS"
Jumping from coal to wheat and
-four, the statistcian lets his pencil
jot down a remarkable set of figures.
Taking the amount of grain carried
last season, reducing it to flour and
adding the actual flour tonnage car
ried, he finds that there passed
through the canal an aggregate Of
42,936,6s3 barrels.
Going ahead another step in his cal
culations he discovers that this
amount will produce more than TO-
)oo,oOo,OoO loaves, figuring $50 loaves
IF one pound each to the barrel. This
vast amount of the staff OF life"
would feed 21,46s, ,s41 500 persons for
one day, if each consumed a half loaf. !
Or, since such stupendous figures
'tagger the imagination, it would
Seep one million adults alive for
period Of sixty years
The report of the tonnage Of the
axes is marvellous. as the statisti-
,ian's figures prove And yet, when
senator John Norvell, the first United /
States senator from Michigan, urged
n congress in 1913 that a grant OF /
public land for the building of this
anal be made by the federal govern
nent, he was laughed to scorn. The
brilliant Henry Clay scoffed at the
roject
The money might as we'll be vast
Ie for project in the moon,' he
aid.
Peculiarly enough, this attitude OF
was maintained by the
american people until very recently
he National Rivers and Harbors
ongress has labored for six years to
rouse the coutry from its lethargy,
mt only short time ago did this
'ork begin to bear fruit. Now
throughout the entire country pro-
cts are under way for the deepening
navigable streams and the build
lg of chains of canals to link rivers
r lakes. The congress is pledged to
o individual project OF improve
ent. 1t stands for a broad national
olicy and its members are shippers.
usiness men and communities all
yer the country The organization
seeking 70 stand before congress
the capitalization OF the sentiment
the country and demand that the
overnmet appropriate not less than
'o,ooo,ooO year for this needed
ork Of internal improvement
In the meantime, the activity of in
viduals is quickening along these
les every day. Only a short time
20 orders were placed with ship
rds by the Lackawanna Steel com
NY for eight vessels-three of 5000
ms capacity and the remainder OF
500 tons each. Such a fleet will
rry an aggregate Of $4,000 tons OF
eight each trip, a load that would
1000 cars, comprising so trains