Evening star., 1927-08-30
ST. LOUIS BECOMES
PORT OF MIDWEST
Great Grain Vessels to Use
Mississippi as Route to
Foreign Center.
BY j. C. ROYIE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, August 30.-One Of
the greatest export ports of America
will be formally opened within the
next few days at st. Louis, almost in
the geographical center of the United
States, when the first shipment of
IL. 900 tons of northern wheat arrives
from Minneapolis and st. Paul.
This means the starting of a tre-
mendous flow of trade from the
Western and Central sections Of the
country to the South and to foreign
nations. as a result Of the opening or
navigation between st. Paul and New
Orleans by the service Of the Federal
Barge Line on the Mississippi, operat-
ed by the Indian Waterways Corpo-
ration.
A million bushels Of wheat are
waiting at the Twin Cities for export
to Germany and North European
ports by way Of the Mississippi and
New Orleans. 1t is conservatively
estimated that the cost in freight
will save shippers S150,000 on these
exports. Huge volumes of grain also
will be carried from the Northwest
to the cattle raising and feeding CEN
ters of the Southwest by this route.
Becomes Midwest Port.
This shipment marks the recru-
descence of ST. Louis as one Of the
focal ports Of the world. 1t formerly
occupied that position when the steam
boats on the Mississippi and the Mis-
souri, dominated the trade Of the new.
ly opened Western frontier territory.
With the new line st. Louis, to all IN
tents and purposes, becomes an ocean
port for the Middle West.
Transportation men foresee a re-
markable system Of water transporta-
ton which will extend from st. Louis
UP the Ohio to Pittsburgh and West
Virginia points; up the Illinois River
to Chicago, and thence by Great
Lakes vessels to Canada and the East;
up the Missouri to Kansas City, tap
ping the Southwest and intermountain
West, and down to New Orleans,
whence shipments to the entire world
can be made direct or by way Of the
Panama Canal.
be carrying 1000 tons Of grain week
from the Northwest for the 36 weeks
Of the navigating season. according
to Gen. T. Q. Ashburn, head Of the
Government service. Twelve cities
along the river are building or prepar-
ing to build river terminals to handle
this traffic. Hundreds of tons of freight
are now awaiting the next trip of the
barge line upstream to Northwestern
points.
Many of the more enterprising
steel and oil companies have prepared
for this development and have built
barges capable Of transporting huge
quantities Of raw and manufactured
products.
Lake Shipments Heavy.
The development has not affected
the activity Of Great Lakes shipping
this season. Shipments of coal and
ore have been far above those for the
corresponding period of 1926. Coal
shipments up to this month totaled
nearly 20.000.000 tons. but ore ship
ments to Lake Erie ports are not eX-
pected to top those Of 1925. since ore
on hand totals around 1881 900 tons,
as compared with approximately 26,-
100000 tons at this time last year.
Movements of limestone are keeping
pace with those Of ore, since each Is
used in the making of iron and steel.
The grain movement is expected to
keep the fleet busy until the close of
navigation. The movement OF miscel-
laneous freight is Of fair volume.
Shipping interests on the lakes are
commencing to realize on their invest
ments In new tonnage. Four Of the
six big lake freighters laid down in
1926 are in service and two more will
be commissioned within month.
There are four oil tankers under con-
tract at the Lorain yards Of the Amer
ican Shipbuilding Co. 1t is rumored
that one of these is for Standard OIL
Of Indiana and one for the Dutch
Shell interests which are competing
with the Standard companies through
subsidiary. the Roxana Petroleum
Co.