The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1915-01-02
Importance OF Panama Canal

We have dug the Panama Canal. but our business men talk less
and think less about it than do those of Canada and Great Britain,
says the New York Commercial At a recent meeting OF the Royal
Colonial Institute the effect the canal will probably have on the de-
velopment of western Canada was the chief topic under discussion.
One of the trade experts said that two-thirds of tho future products
of Canada are tributary to the Pacific Ocean and practically all of
this destined for European markets will go through the Panama
Canal
track running from the grain and cattle lands of Alberta and Sas-
|katchewan through the Rocky Mountains to Vancouver and two
more lines will soon be completed by other railroads farther north
Abundant coal fields and water power together with comparatively
easy grades make the transportation of grain to the Pacific Coast
much more economical than bringing it out across the continent to
the Atlantic seaboard. The Canadian Pacific Railway is preparing
to provide vessels for this traffic by way of the Panama Canal SO
it will have the long voyage instead of the long haul overland.
Canada's two western grain provinces can easily produce five times
as much grain as they are now doing, and they can reach this out
put in a very short space of time if the Panama Canal reduces
freight charges and adds to the profits of the farmers as much as is
expected. Alberta has under cultivation only three million acres
out of one hundred million acres of available fertile land.
Great Britain is also much interested in the Pacific Coast trade
of the United States, which is and will continue to be larger than
that of Canada. From Liverpool to Seattle by way of the Straits of
Magellan the distance is 1870 miles, and by way of the Panama
Canal it is 1854 miles, a saving by the latter route of $685. miles for
steamship traf6c Sailing ships seldom use the Straits of Magellan
because there is 80 little sea-room, but take the open course around
Cape Horn which adds another 1900 miles to the distance saved by
the Panama Canal.
Time and distance saved III not the only advantages of the
Panama route. Steamships voyaging by way of the Straits of Ma
|gellan have to replenish their supplies of coal at one or more ports
in the lower part of South America where it is very expensive.
Going through the Panama Canal they can get plenty of cheap coal
or fuel oil. and the competition will be keen, for there ar a hun
dred available coaing stations in the West Indies and along the
coasts of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The routes by
way of the Straits of Magellan or Cape Horn are stormy and dan
gerous, so the saving in marine insurance rates will be a consider
able item as soon as the Panama Canal is regarded as safe from
land slides
Some pessimists say that not more than a million tons of freight
a year is available for the Panama Canal. Whether it is true or
not matters little. It is the development of new trade that will be
the important fruit of building the canal Wheat from the Canad-
ian provinces alone will amount to more than a million tons a year
within the next five years The Suez Canal was a financial failure
for 20 years; now it is a bonanza for its stockholders and its rates
are lower than they we're when it was losing money. Immigrants
will 60 direct to the Pacific Coast where they are needed and the
development of the western part of North America alone will Justify
the building of the greatest engineering work in the world.