The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-07-31
0 Fl. CHANNEL WANTED
ON WITHLACOOCHfERIVER

q Complied by the DunneIIon
Board. Of Trade and Submitted to
Major w. .. Ladue, and Congress
man sparkman Showing the Neces-
sity for This Needed Improvement.
Dear Sir: For your information as
~ the benefit to be derived from such
!. project, and the commerce it would
reel. we submit the following data
N your consideration:
phosphate Rock-The opening up
81 this portion of the river would give
"a outlet to the phosphate mines of
lis section without having to haul
81 cir tonnage to Fernandina or Tam
= nv rail. the annual tonnage shipp-
"a from this immediate district
mounts to the neighborhood of $685.
0OO tons. of this amount only 100000
Ems goes via the Withlacoochee river,
IA. the rock from Dunnellon Phos-
nate Company's mines, and that only
rom Inglis by water on account OF
<heir not being able to use the river
IN navigation above that point.
With the opening up of the river be-
fween the points above mentioned
mere is no reason why the balance
IA the tonnage of this district should
4ot go by this route instead of by
all to other ports as at present, as
LIE majority of mines are located
either right on the river or within a
hort distance of it, and the differ
fnce in freight between water haul
Ind rail haul will amount to thous
ands of dollars saved in years bust
ness. the river is the natural chan
nel for this tonnage to move by.
Furthermore, there are deposits on
HE upper portion of the river that
cannot be mined on account of lack
IF transportation, and the assurance
BIZ a project as above would furnish
The opportunity desired for the devel-
opment of the property.
q cosI-We have an annual move
ment of coal to this point of $4,000
IONS Part of this tonnage comes via
Port Inglis, but on account of the lack
of water up the river only small
portion of it comes in by that port, as
Il has to be towed from the outside
TO Inglis and then transported by rail
to Dunnellon; however expensive that
Is, it is cheaper than the all rail haul.
The water rate is never above S1.50
per ton of 2240 pounds against the all
rail rate of $3.15 or 1925 per ton of
1000 lbs. with the additional expense
Of loss of weight in transit.
Crushed Rock---In the territory af-
fected by this improvement, there are
available thousands of tons of rock
suitable for concrete, road building,
etc. All within reach of the river and
ready for water transportation, but
miles from any railroad. The demand
for this material in the state of Flor
ida alone is greater than the present
supply.
Acid Phosphate-The factory at
4nglis ships $4,000 tons season. and
with water shipping at their doors
can double this output and have bust
mess waiting for them.
Fish and lce-The town of Dunnell-
|on uses over 10 tons of fish annually
and the quantity shipped through
here is calculated at ten times that
amount, but although within a few
miles of the Gulf, this tonnage has to
come to us by rail, while the river
runs past our very doors without our
being able to make use of it for even
|lnis purpose. Dunnellon being the in
|terchange point, all fish and oyster
shipments from Crystal River, Ho-
mosassa, Inglis and Port Inglis have
70 come to Dunnellon before they can
|De despatched direct to destination,
whereas the river open for traffic this
tonnage would come direct to Dun
Mellon and be unloaded from the boats
Within a few yards of both express
offices and railway depots. Ice is
shipped in proportion to the tonnage
OF fsh handled and even with the
present handicap the tonnage used is
increasing yearly.
Lumber and Hardwood-Twenty
billion feet of lumber and hardwood
Is given as conservative estimate of
the quantity. that would be made
available for commercial purposes
We're the river open for trade. In
conilrmation of this we might state
'llat New York firm already is in
tue territory and have located in the