Evening journal., 1914-07-01

south along the Atlantic seaboard,
more than century ago called atten-
tion TO the value of canals connecting
the larger bays and avoiding the very
great danger of outside navigation.
Canals connecting the Chesapeake
bay and Delaware bay, and the Della
ware bay and the waters surrounding
the harbor of New York we're con-
structed and extensively used, but
have been allowed to fall into COM
paratve disuse because of the i'm
mense growth of the facilities for
transportation by rail. The INSULT
cheney Of this service, by reason Of
the enormous demands made upon
1t, have brought US back to a new
use and further development of these
canals. One of the greatest of these
connecting waterways was the Chesa-
peake and Delaware canal connecting
the Chesapeake and Delaware bays
by canal approximately about 13
miles long, OF which 10 miles lie in
the state of Delaware and miles In
the state Of Maryland The distance
from the port of Baltimore to the
port of Philadelphia by the outside
passage is 800 miles, while the dis
IHIldUHIOUlA
through the canal is only 1876 miles.
a saving in distance of 1S4 miles. The
saving in hours by steamer over the
same route is about 16 hours; not by
any means an inconsiderable saving.
The canal as Il now exists has a
depth of only z IT. through the lock.
and in consequence its usefulness is
limited; but even with such restricted
he
the canal has averaged for the past
five years 1854 tons, upon which
the average toll collected was twenty
two and three-quarters cent per ton.
These facts supported by great
number of additional ones, not neces-
sary in a brief article of this kind.
have pointed out the advantages that
Will accrue by deepening and widen
ing this canal. The known tonnage
passing north and south that could
with profit make use of a deeper and
wider Chesapeake and Delaware
canal is estimated by the government
en-, leers to b, about 2,576,322 tons
of an aggregate estimated value of
S14.170 .239. II is rather interesting
TO note that this traffic is about
evenly divided beween the north
11O7,414 and the south-bound at
1430,20S tons.
National Interest.
At the time of the original con-
struction OF this canal, its Importance
was considered of national interest
and value to such an extent that the
government appropriated the sum of
S450,000 toward its construction, and
N utn hnI 20 I..N
The canal was completed and put in
use on the fourth day of July, 1929,
and from that time until the present
has been in operation, serving in a
limited way a traffic that has, by rea-
son of the increased size and draught
of vessels engaged in transportation,
wholly outgrown It BY reason Of
this the value of tide water canal
between these bays able to accommo-
date the largest vessels carrying car
goes between the north and south, has
been of constant agitation for many
years. That the government should
take over the Chesapeake and Della
ware canal either by condemnation
or purchase, has been just as persis-
tently urged and apparently with sue
cess, for In the report of the chief
of engineers Of the United States
army, made in 1912, the acquisition
Of this canal by the government and
an immediate increase In it's depth
to 12 #. was advocated. An increase
in depth TO 10 It, for this canal must
not, however, be accepted as a
measure of its prospective value to
commerce, nor indeed, as accommo-
dating the present traffic. A depth OF
at least 25 it., corresponding in some
reasonable degree to the depth Of
channel in the Chesapeake bay and
the Delaware river, must be secured;
this, however, will ultimately follow
the acquisition by the government,
and an initial depth of 12 It.