Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-12-01
'MAGEE SUGGESTS
REHABILITATION
OF COAL CANALS
Urges That State Make Investi-
CATION in Hope of Reducing
Rates ON Fuel


/ Public Service Commissioner Will
liam A, Magee. of Pittsburgh. who was
formerly chairman of the Lake Erie
and Ohio Ship Canal board, to-day
told the State commission to probe the
increase in anthracite coal taxes that
In his opinion the Legislature should
name commission to see whether it
would not be worth while to revive
the canal systems OF Eastern Pennsyl-
vania so that coal could be carried at
cheaper rates from the mines to Phila-
delphia. AS an alternative Mr.. Magee
suggested that the rivers could be so
handled by means of dams and slack
water that they could be used for
transportation of coal at cheaper rates
than are now charged or which may
be charged by the railroads. The re-
suit, he said, would make Philadelphia
the great coal shipping center of the
Atlantic coast
Mr.. Magee embodied his views in a
| letter to the commission some time
ago and to-day was accorded q hear
ing Tor the purpose of going into them
In detail and of being questioned by
counsel for the commission and coal
and railroad companies.
In the course of his description of
what could be done in the way of
cheaper coal for Philadelphia and
other Eastern Pennsylvania places
| MIR. Magee said that if it was found
that the revival of the canals was
feasible and the railroads or other
companies holding what remains of
them would not sell, the public service
law offered n means of either requiring
their use or of withdrawing the fran.
chises.
Mr.. Magee said that he did not think
| that the revival of the waterways for
coal would cost the railroads as much
as they feared and expressed the
| ha oh
ing or rates for other commodities.
Mr.. Magee said:
| Mr. WARMERS statements to this
commission that the suggestion of
/ transporting anthracite coal from the
mines to Philadelphia by water is
ridiculous and out of the question was,
believe. made fnconsiderately. The
carriage of 100000 tons of bitumi-
nous coal annually on the Mononga-
hela, slack-watered stream, nine feet
deep. in 600-ton barges, at q cost of
not more than l mill per ton mile,
Justifies a full investigation of the
| possibilities of canal or canalized river
transportation in the valleys of the
| Schuylkill and the Lehigh- Delaware
! rivers of the / 5000, 900 tons of anthra-
cite shipped yearly to Philadelphia.
Such transportation might be linn
tied to only eight months in the year,
rs Mr.. Warriner says, and there may
probably be an irregularity of stream
flow that would necessitate impound-
ing reservoirs such as the Hinkley dam
on the barge canal in the state of New
York. Also it must be conceded that
tolls should be imposed large enough
to pay the expenses of operation, taxes,
depreciation and fair return upon
the capital invested, whether the i'm
provements are effected out of private
or public funds. Furthermore, it must
not be forgotten that a short rail haul
/ from the collieries to the canalboats
and terminal handling in the city
would add other expenses to the op-
Grafton.
Railroad and Canal
The lowest railroad rate upon an
thracite for prepared sizes to Phila-
delphia is $40. This is from points
In the Schuylkill region. From more
remote districts the rate is as high as
S2.10 per ton. I would advance. ten
tatively. the following probable maxi
mum water costs for comparison:
Rail haul from colliery to -
canal an average distance
of 20 miles, l cent per ton
per mile ............... 20 cents
Boat haul to Philadelphia.
120 miles, 1 mill per ton
per mile ............,.. IL cents
Tolls on canal ......... 80 cents
City terminal expense ..... cents
Total 20 cents
Il do not wish it to be understood
that i infer saving of 81 on every
ton of coal shipped, because 1 con-
fess my ignorance of the relative guam
titles of pea coal and lesser sizes
shipped out of the Schuylkill region at
rates less than $1.70 and on the other
hand of the quantity of prepared sizes
from the other regions at much higher
rates than $40. And I do not wish
hound In 10 CT No alxrci ic 70
computation of water costs, which are
all higher and more liberal than the
actual figures, taken from like op-
erations in similar traffic movements
elsewhere. My purpose here is merely
to suggest an engineering investigation.
Two Canals
l. You have two large streams
Itraversing the entire distance between
the Schuylkill district and Philadel-
phia and on the banks of each of these
streams is an antiquated canal. The
| Schuylkill Navigation Company is
owned by the Reading Company and
the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com
pany is the owner of n very large rail-
road mileage in the anthracite district.
These two canals are very shallow and
of little width. The barges operating
on them have capacity of not ex-
ceeding 100 tons. An examination
should be made of the feasibility and
advisability of their enlargement, in
cluding an estimate of the cost of the
Improvement and of operating them.
1t would be necessary not only to widen
and deepen them, but to enlarge their
locks. probably lengthen their pool
locate overhead bridges. provide i'm
locate overhead ridges, provide i'm
proved modern terminals. prepare for
connection with intersecting railroads,
etc.
"On the assumption that the narrow
space on the river banks would not
permit of the modernizing of these
canals, a parallel investigation should
be made with view to canalizing the
riYers themselXes. and the cost of