The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1913-09-26
|NTRAC0AsTAL
CANAL ALONG
GULF. STATES
TO CONNECT VARIOUS INLAND
WATERWAYS FLOWING
10 SEA.
PENINSULA TO RIO GRANDE
Intended to Give a Safe Route to
! Steamboats, That Could Not
Dare Open Sea.

Much interest has been exhibited
in the states along the coast of the
/ Gulf of Mexico in a canal which has
been partly constructed inside, but
| following the coast line, and connect
ling the various inland waterways
/ flowing to the sea and furnishing a
safe water route for steamboats, for
freight and passenger transportation.
I This canal will extend around the
coast line from the Peninsula Of
/ Florida to the Rio Grande, which is
the boundary between Texas and
Mexico and it is intended to give
safe route to steamboats, which could
i not dare the open sea. This intra-
coastal water route will give trans
portation to numerous productive
plantations, which cannot easily b
approached by railroads on account
of the numerous lakes, bayous and
|inlets from the sea which interscct
that region at numerous places,
whereas in addition to the canal the
variots intersecting waterways viii
add greatly to the facilities fof traffic.
One Of these days i snip canal
will be cut through the Peninsula Of
Florida and it will connect with a
canal which is being projected and
has been partly finished along the
Atlantic coast down into the south
erO extremes Of Georgia.
The first section is the canal
which is now nearly completed
through the narrow shank Of Cape
Cod, giving route through Long
Island Sound, from New York to
Boston, shortening into 264 miles
the present dangerous sea route Of
337 miles. 1t will be large enough
for vessels Of very considerable ton
mage,
The continuation will be from
New York Bay along the coast south
ward. The Delaware River and the
long reaches of Chesapeake Bay,
Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound
already afford several hundred miles
Unprotected, waterway, far removed
from the coast line, which, if con-
nected by canals, would constitute a
continues interior route, protected
alike. against the shoals and heavy
gales of the Atlantic and against at
tacks by the ships of a hostile navy.
As result of several years of
earnest work on the part Of the va
rious commercial interests, shipping
and otherwise, Congress authorized
the army engIpeers to make surveys
and estimates'ta determine the feasi-
bilty Of the scheme,s considered as
an engineering: proposition; the pros
poets of a sufficient large amount of
traffic to warrant the cost of its con-
struction;. the naval and military ad-
vantages of the canal in the event of
war, and the best size and type of
canal TO meet all the conditions.
present and future.
Provision was made by the United
States Congress in. the river and
llarbo- sact of March 3, 1905, for a
survey by the Engineer Corps of
the. United States Army, "for the
construction Of a continuous water
way, Inland where practicable, from
Boston, Mass.y,.:*sa* to Beau
fortq N. FOR the purpose Of ascer-
tanning the cost Of a channel with a
maximum depth q. twenty-five feet.
or muth lesser depths along anv
section as NAV be fo,,nd
to be sufficient for commercial, naval
or military purposes. .
1t was estimated that a tweIve-
foot canal over the route proposed
would cost $50, 900. 600. and that
was believed to be sufhcient for the
needs Of transportation, both n nfines
tQoosinued on Last fsesl