Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-11-10
STATE PLANS A
BIG UNDERTAKING
Continued from Page u.

lakes, and this alone would be con-
siderable saving, for yearly many yes
sells go on the rocks III this trip around
the lower peninsula.
By making it a deep waterway, az
proposed, the lake steamers could pass
through this, and thereby avoid the
necessity of reloading any cargoes.
This would afford cheap outlet for
the grains of the middle western
states and by passing through the
Grand-Saginaw valleys canal, down
through Lake Erie and the Erie canal
TO the Hudson and New York, boats
would have practically straight
course from Chicago to New York and
would be able to deliver grain in New
York at a cost less than one-third of
the present railroad freight rate from
Chicago to New York.
This is not all, for it would assure
transportation where now the rail
roads are unable to handle the
freight in rush season in the mid
die west. 1t would also afford a con-
tinuous passage from the eastern
section of Canada, through the canal
and the lakes to the gulf waterway to
the GULL Oh MEXICO l.SelI.
No figures have been definitely OBJ
tanned as to the cost of this canal, but
after the meeting held next week at
Saginaw plans will be formulated and
work commenced on the preliminary
surveys in order to. determine this
cost. The most available geological
surveys show that the highest point
which the canal will have to go over
will be 70 feet above Lake Michigan.
This will necessitate several locks
along the canal Already the govern.
ment has expended several hundred
thousand dollars in dredging out a
lake level canal from Grand Rapids
to Lake Michigan and from Saginaw
to Saginaw bay, all of which work
could be utilized in the new canal.
In Michigan the effect would be very
marked, as 1t would give the cities
along the route practically a lake
frontage, SO far as transportation Is
concerned.
The industrial, commercial and agri-
cultural growth of the United States
has merely begun. Already the
states of New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin
are. in action collecting data, securing
surveys, creating public opinion as to
the conditions and relations which
exist and may be developed between
their business interests and the great
lakes, the Mississippi and the Ohio
rivers, when lateral deep waterways
are built through their respective ter
ritories and those great trunk line
channels.
twenty-five years hence those com
monwealths will have the advantage
OF all-water freight rates from near
ly every point within their borders to
any other point in the great lakes dis
trict and in the valleys Of the Missts-
sippi, the Ohio, the Missouri and the
Red rivers--that is to say, they will If
the people of Michigan awaken to a
realization Of their opportunity.
| If the Grand-Saginaw Valleys Deep
Waterways association fails to prove
that which is believed to be true in the
matter, then the cities of Saginaw,
Owosso, Lansing, Jackson, Battle.
Creek, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and
all intervening industrial and CONNER
cial centers will be under the ban OF
a business handicap which will pre-.
vent them from competing with such
centers in the other states that are
more farseeing than Michigan.
If the present object Of the as
ISOLATION is successfully carried out
the freight handicap may be abolish
ed-and it is the cost of transporting
raw materials and finished products
that says what the profit in any In
dustrial or commercial enterprise is tc
be-cheap electrical power generated
by the water powers developed by the
canal will be abundant; thousands up
on thousands of useless worthless LAND
will be reclaimed and placed upoI
the states tax list; millions Of tons
| of high-grade coking coal and othel
millions OF tons of high-grade salt may
/ be mined and marketed, whereas to
day these deposits are waiting only
for cheap power and cheap transpor
| tation. Then, too, Michigan's annua
loss of millions, by the destruction o
property and the interruption of bust
ness, by floods, will be prevented.
1t is to bring about these desirable
results through cooperative effor
toward the development of the nation
al system of internal deep water
ways that the GrandSaginaw Valleys
Deep Waterway association has begun
it's campaign of securing, compiling
and publishing authentic information
on the subject. 1t is an effort whicl
requires courage, determination, skill
and high-grade public spirit and it i
an effort which means much to tn
future welfare Of our state
SUNDAY1SMS.