The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1921-06-11

there is nothing in the plan or scope OF the ell
terprise which goes beyond well established en-
gineering precedent, or calls for, CONSTRUCTIONS
that are experimental. and regarding whose III
innate cost there Is any serious doubt; tnat 1e
opening of this great waterway by canal, canal
lied river. and ~deepened channel. thereby Ell
Aiding a deep-sea ship to load at Duluth and not
break open her matches until she reached HAM
burg, London or Marseilles, Is as certain or Delns
taken in hand ms 1t is that the sun will rise daily.
So it asks: "Why not todayT'
The project is an international one. CANADA
at its own expense (about $5O!OOO.OOO) Is recon
structing the Welland canal between Lakes Erie
and Ontario. in order to give ocean-going SHIPS
access to Lake Erie. Thanks to the enterprise OF
Canada, the problem broadly reduces itself 10
> submerging certain rapids lying in the lnterna-
tional waters of the st. Lawrence river between
Lake Ontario and ST. Regis, and then dealing ID
a similar way with that stretch Of the river ex'
tending from st. Regis to Montreal. The esu-
mated cost of the International river Improvement
is $50. OOO.O 600 and of the Canadian river, $5o.OU'-
600. The establishment of power plant SITES
would entail additional expense.
An argument brought forward for the projecr
is that it saves distance. From Duluth through
the Detroit river by deep-draft vessel the distance
Is 693 miles.
ment read into the Congressional Record by Rep
resentative John Nj. Nelson of Wisconsin:
With only two barriers removed, even the
present depth OF channels and harbors Of q feet
will enable large numbers Of ocean vessels to
steam directly to the ports of the Great Lakes.
The two barriers are the st. Lawrence river rapids
and the Niagara Falls. The barrier of the Niagara
Falls is already being overcome by the Canadians
In the reconstructed Welland canal. The differ
ence Of lake level will be overcome by seven locks
In the new Welland canal in a distance of rs
miles. These lock chambers will be 1000 feet
long. 50 feet wide. and will have lock stills sunk
to a depth Of 80 feet, that will permit the passage
of vessels Of % feet draft when the channels are
dredged to 80 feet. From the Welland canal to
the foot OF Lake Ontario there are 100 miles Of
straight sailing and then open navigation in the
wide st. Lawrence river. Out Of the total OF 162
miles to Montreal, there are 10 miles Of improved
channels, with at present 46 miles Of canal. With
this project, with dams and six locks of 300 feet
In length, 80 feet In breadth, and q possible depth
Of 10 feet with slack water, midstream navigation
would reduce the total canal and lock navigation
to 20 miles or less.
1.-The proposal is to build dams across the river
with locks In the dams. Vessels navigating the
river will not pass through narrow canals around
the rapids. as they do now In the present 14-foot
Canadian canals, but will sail majestically Gown
the center of the stream In slack water produced
nv the dams and pass from level to level through
the locks.
Assuming that an ocean vessel has passed
through the Lakes to Superior or Duluth and has
loaded q cargo Of western grain and is sailing
for Liverpool, the first leg Of the journey, the
length Of Lake Superior. will be 1888 miles Of open
navigation. Then comes the 81. Mary river. So
miles long. This is all open navigation, except 80
/, miles, which is improved river channel and a
canal 1.6 miles with one lockage. Past this re-
stricted channel the vessel will have 200 miles of
free sailing through the deep water Of Lake
X Huron. 1t will then pass n miles of open naviga-
tiop and IL miles OF restricted channel in tho St
Clair river. l3h miles Of open and 35 miles Of
restricted navigation in Lake st. Clair, and %
miles Of open and Q miles Of improved navigation
in the Detroit river. Again, 1t will have free nav