The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-14

me next extension is to Winyah
Pay, the harbor of Georgetown. South
1afollna, which constitutes the sixth
INK. Ihls line can be easily construct
81 ana natural waters can be utilized
Tor much of the ength. From Win
yah Bay southvardly along the tide
Water sections of South Carolina and
Georgia, and as far as Jacksonville.
tlor1da, there is z contiuous inside
passage with a minimum depth Of
ABOUT SIX feet, which only needs dredg-
ing 70 the required depth, and this
NAV be termed the seventh link. This
would pass the larger cities of Charles
ton. savannah, Brunswick. Fernandina
and Jacksonville, and onn with
numerous smaller towns and = large
industrial section.
Along the east coast of Florida a
canal is under construction by private
capital, which might be utilized, or
a new route selected, and this is the
last Link.
While it is a separate project. am
constrained to refer to the very i'm
portant canal projected across the
peninsula Of Florida, and intended to
connect the Atlantic with the Gulf
and the Mississippi, and thereby save
q long and dangerous passage around
Florida Keys.
Several OF these links, notably the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and the Nor
folk-Beaufort links, and the natural
route from WInyah Bay to Jackson
vile. have been surveyed more than
once under the authority of Congress
and satisfactory routes selected and
the cost estimated. AS to the Nor
folkBeaufort link, a project has been
by Congress, and an initial
appropriation made, and the work Of
construction is now in progress.
The query has been proposed by
some who live in other sections Of our
/ (n gy " tr1 oc ~
terror waterway paralelling the Allan
tic ocean. This is not an unreason-
able inquiry from a person unac-
quainted with the conformation of the
Atlantic coast line, and With the perils
OF coastWlse navigation. Not only are
there frequent and sever storms, par
tlcularly along the middle and north
Atlantic with harbors sometimes
widely separated, but there is scarcely
another coast line which contains SO
many dangerous capes, rocky lodges
and sands constituting
fearful menaceS to safe NAVIGATION.
The marine disasters upon this coast
for even a decade to involve an enor-
nous loss Of shipping and sacrifice
OF the lives of many helpless sea
men. This condition practically limits
navigation to very large ships and
prohibits altogether barge transporta-
ton between Northern and Southern
ports. The necessary result is the
curtailment of coastWise m
There Is another reason. The nunler-
Gus inland sounds and bays and wide
rivers near the coast have caused
lines of railroads to be constructed
some distance from the coast; leaving
a large territory not provided with
facilities for interstate transportation.
These two facts are alone sufficient
to answer the inquiry and to justify
the construction of this intra-coastal
waterway.
/ have shown that this continuous
waterway offered no engineering diff
flculties, that it could be economically
constructed and was entirely feasible,
but waterways are to be utilized for
traffic and transportation, and unless
there is sufficient commerce, present
and prospective, to justify the expen-
diture as a judicious investment, it
ought not to command consideration
BY this test, this waterway is one Of
the most, if not the most, meritorious
internal waterway in the United
States. 1t passes through the oldest
and best developed States of the Union.
1t will be the commercial highway fol
more than thirty million people. 1t
Will offer transport to a great indus
trial territory, whose product of soil.
forest, mines and factories, will rival
any similar area in the world. 1t will
also reach out and invite the move
ment of traffic from h great Mis-
sisSippi Valley, much of whose pro-
duce must seek a market or find an
outlet along the Atlantic seaboard.
COMPARISONS are not always agreeable,
but if m is to be the criterion
of merit, this intra-coaStal waterway
will submit it's claims both in the
forum of public opinion and before
the National Congress.
The mere consideration of the terri
tory Immediately intersected by this
trunk line waterway does not by any
means include all of the traffic which
it would attract. The enumeration Of
the larger cities of Boston. New York,
Philadelphia, Wilmington, Della ware,
Baltimore, Norfolk, Wilmington, North
Carolina; Georgetown, Charleston, Sa-
,annah Brunswick and Jacksonville