The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-10-15
SHIP CANAL ACROSS FLORIDA

Canal, out merely for q lzfoot canal.
II we understand it correctly the
object of the Mississippi to Atlantic
Inland Waterway Association" is to
construct a canal from Boston to
Brownsville. Texas, connecting all the
rivers and valleys tributary to the At
lantic and the Gulf
On this head we quote the letter Of
Mr.. Leland J. Henderson of Apalach-
icola, secretary of the association, to
Mr.. r. L. Martin of this city, who in
turn quotes from a letter, as will be
seen, from the first vice president of
the association:
Apalachicola, Fla, Oct 2. 1909.
r. L. Martin, Esq, Ocala, Fla:
Dear Sir-I quote you part of a let
ter from Henri L. Gueydan, first vice
president interstate Inland Waterway
Association, relative to cost OF dredg-
ing mentioned in Senator Fletcher's
letter to you:
at occurs to me that a continuous
intercoastal canal along the Atlantic
and Gulf, reaching from Boston to
Brownsville, thereby connecting all
rivers and valleys tributary to those
seas. is undoubtedly a project of ma
tional scope. And of all the inland
waterway projects il is the easiest
and cheapest of accomplishment, for
most of the dredging will be through
marshy lands "a contract for part of
which has already been let by the
United States through the southern
part Of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, at
z rs cents cubic yard, probably the
cheapest digging ever done by the
United States) with the minimum
number of locks"
Please send me a copy Of your arti-
Gle in the Banner dated September
%. Yours very truly.
LELAND J. HENDERSON,,
Secretary.
Senator Fletcher says that the
scheme is by no means a visionary
one, and he hopes that the people of
Marion county will awake to lis i'm
portance and take some interest in
the matter Senator Fletcher writes
to Mr.. r. L. Martin as follows:
Jacksonville, Fla, Oct. s, 1909.
r. L. Martin, Esq, Ocala, Fla:
Dear Sir-Yours of October 9th has |
been received. l will see Capt Spald- |
ing about the Silver Springs and Blue |
Springs route and ask him to consider |
that. do not know just how far the |
work has progressed as yet, but 'hey |
have by no means concluded it.
wish you could get the Ocala people |
and Marion county people aroused SO
as TO show some interest in this mat
ter. and ii would greatly help us who !
are trying to get the canal across the
state 1t is purely a public work. end /
1t is discouraging when the people re-
fuse TO feel any concern about il. I
think they have an idea that the whole
matter is visionary, but they are
greatly mistaken.
Yours very truly,
d. U. FLETCHER.
Senator Fletcher incloses Mr.. Mar
tin a letter from Mr. Geo. R. Spald-
ing, the government engineer, which
explains itself. and which we quote
entire:
Jacksonville. Fla. Oct. 9. 1909.
Hon. d. L. Fletcher. United States
Senator, Jacksonville. Fla:
My Dear Senator Fletcher have
the honor to acknowledge receipt of
your letter of the Sth instant, inclos-
ing one from Mr.. X. l. Martin of
Ocala, relative to a possible line for
the canal across the state of Florida,
via Blue and Silver Springs. This
route was not laid out as one of those
to be surveyed by the board of engi-
neers having the work in charge, and,
therefore, no examination of the line
has been made.
In accordance with your request l
will. however, make an examination of |
the line. and if il appears to be a de-
sirable route for the canal proposed,
namely, a 12-foot canal. the matter
will be taken up with the board with
view to securing authorization of a
survey.
While Mr.. Martin may be entirely
right in believing this line to be the
best available for a 40-foot canal ex-
cavated to gulf-St. Johns river levels
yet ii may be an impracticable
route. or at least a very expensive one
for a 12-foot lock canal.
You, of course, and l am sure Mr..
Martin viii. appreciate the fact that
in a 12-foot canal project our cheap
est line may be one which has good
water supply at a point as near the
top of our highest divide as possible,
i'm order to eliminate heavy cutting.
while in a gulf level canal We might
select a line which had no water sup
ply along il, depending entirely on in
flow from the gulf and St. Johns riv-
er.
Ii is difficult to enter into a discus
sion OF unit prices when the material
to be removed is questionable. If
rock is encountered. which it would
be in a sea level route, it would be I'M
safe to estimate rock removal at thir-
ty-three cents. For light earth mate
rial removal by dredging, the cost
would probably not be over ten cents.
but the clay would cost more. l should
say that Mr. Martins unit price of SO
Is cents is probably conservative.
The low excavation quoted was
probably in a contract where the dis