New-York tribune., 1918-04-18
Erie and State System To
Be Operated by the
Government
New Barge Lines
To Aid Railroads
More Inland Waterways
Will Be Communicated
in Few Weeks

WASHINGTON, April 17.-Directo1
General McAdoo tonight ordered that
the Erie and New York State Barge
Canal system be taken over by the rail-
road administration and that fleet of
barges be constructed Immediately and
operated there under the direction of
q. A. Tomlinson. of Duluth, Minn.. to
relieve freight traffic.
This is the first inland waterway
whose operation under the railroad ad-
ministration has been definitely de-
clded upon as a result of the extensive
investigation made by the Committee
on Inland Waterways of the railroad
administration. Within a few weeks,
however, the Director General is ex-
pected to order several other canal sys-
tens and navigable rivers, including
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. the
Black Warrior River in Alabama and
several Atlantic coast waterways used
actively by the railroad administration
to relieve traffic on the rail lines. Con-
struction of barges within two or three
months and their intensive use, in the
late sumner and fall is planned. In
vestigation now is being made of the
practlcablllty of concrete barges which.
it is said, can be built quickly and
cheaply.
The Director General announced that
"he had decided to construct as quickly
as possible and put into operation a
line of barges to be operated by the
government on the Erie Canal"
THE barges," the announcement
tt1rYtu ka of
struction of the most improved type
and will be operated in conjunction
with and as part of the general rail-
road and waterways transportation sys-
tenn OF the country under the control of
the Director General of Railroads.
This will insure the complete co0rdina-
tion of the Erie Canal facilities with
the railroad facilities, and it is hoped
will greatly enlarge the available
transportation facilities throughout
Eastern territory.
&c. A. Tomlinson, of Duluth, Minn.,
man of large practical experience in
lake navigation, has been appointed
general manager of the Erie Canal op-
erations, including the construction Of
the barges and general equipment.
roads and the canal there can be
diverted to the canal all of the traffic
that can be handled to the best ad-
vantage by water, and the canal be
made in the highest degree serviceable
in the present situation"
Several hundred steel barges of
about 700 tons each will be ordered i'm
mediately from construction companies
on the Great Lakes, and the first of
these probably can be completed in five
or six weeks. Each will cost about
100000. Most of the old equipment
will not be used to any great extent.
The canal system, running from Buff
falo to Waterford, near Troy, on the
Hudson River, is capable of carrying
about 100000 tons of freight sea-
son, and probably half of that amount
will be hauled this year. Grain from
Buffalo and coal from Ithaca and Wat
kins, N. Y, will be the principal COM
modities transported. Grain will move
through the canal and down the Hud-
son River to New York, where it will
be taken largely by the food admin
istration's grain corporation for stor-
age. and transshipment to Europe.
Coal will be carried from Troy and
other upper Hudson terminals by rail
to New England