Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-12
New Welland
Canal Viewedby
American Party
Members Deeply Impressed
By Extent of Work on
Great Lakes.St. Law.
renee Waterway.
By VICTOR B. SMITH.

St. Catharines, Ont, July H.
Especial Telegram. )-American busi-
ness men, engineers and public Off
cials comprising the Great Lakes
St. Lawrence waterways expedition
saw today the steps Canada is al
ready taking to handle the Atlantic
export shipping from middle western
states. They travelled by trolley, train
and foot along and through the new
Welland canal. being built by the
Canadian government at an expense
of $l00,000,000.
The canal probably is the biggest
engineering job now being carried
out on the North American conti-
nent. When it is complete the Great
Lakes, from Duluth on Lake Su-
perior to Kingston at the eastern end
of Lake Ontario, will be open to
ships 800 feet long. instead of being
limited to boats of 240 feet or less
as now. The canals and locks con-
Meeting the lakes will then accom-
n1odate all ocean vessels save the
very largest, but there will still re-
main the deepening and canalizing
of the St. Lawrence river to make it
possible for these ships to travel from
the ocean to Ontario.
Chicago Ocean Port.
When that is done, the Atlantic
ocean will have been moved 1,500
miles inland and Chicago, instead of
New York, will be the ocean port of
Nebraska.
To-day, when we ship the three
carloads of corn from Iowa to New
York City the railroads take two car
loads for freight and we have one
left" is the exact way which the situ-
alton was expressed by Ex-Governor
Harding of Iowa. 1--WE want big
ger part of that for final sale. The
way to get it is by water transporta-
tion."
Members of the American party
showed great interest in the extent
of the work involved in the new
canal. At one point a cut IS feet
deep has been blasted through solid
rock. Nearby lie great piles OF
crushed stone, manufactured from
the rock blasted out of the cut, for
the engineers are using the blasted
rock for all the concrete walls which
are to line the big ditch.
Americas great engineering task.
the building of the Panama canal.
involving lifting ships to a height
of 80 feet through three locks. The
new Welland canal is to lift them
$40 feet through seven locks.
Receive Many Courtesies.
Aside from the inspection of the
canal, the American party was the
recipient of many courtesies today
from their Canadian hosts. A par
ticularly interesting incident was
that at Thorold, a little town on
the canal not far from Lake Erie.
Here is monument erected by Ca
nadians years ago to mark the rest
ing place of American soldiers who
died in battle in the war of 1872
when, for the last time, America
and Canada were at war with each
other instead of standing side by
side. Representatives of the Canadi-
an patriotic society, Daughters of
the Empire, placed a wreath upon
the monument today while Amer
leans and Canadians stood around.
Official welcome to the Americans
were spoken by Sir Robert Borden,
former premier of Canada, at a
luncheon at / on board the steam-
ship Cape Eternity.
"No two nations i'll the world have
such resources as the United States
and Canada" he said, but no two
nations in the world have been so
wasteful in developing their re-
sources. Here about us we have
almost incomprehensible water pow
er possibility and water power never
burns out, never is exhausted. 1t is
one form of energy that will be with
us as far as we can see into the
future"
Senators Townsend of Michigan
and Randall of Louisiana, Governor
Allen of Kansas and Governor Lake
of Connecticut responded.
Nelson B. Updike of Omaha joined
the party today as Nebraska's Off
cial representative. Governor Allen
of Kansas and Governor McMasters
of South Dakota were other late
arrivals.