Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-14
MIDWEST TURNING
/. TO WATER! \ TRAFFIC
Move Begun by Steel Men
to CanaIize Mahoning
and Beaver Rivers.
BY GEORGE Z. REIss.

sGpSS.2I correspondent OF ISS star.
YOUNG ToWN, Ohio, July 13.--The
rats systems of waterway transportation
ard adopted the new-fangle6 tcy-the
railroad-scores Of years ego. IS turning
back to the rivers and canals for trans
pcrtation.
Trafnc on the Ohio and Mississippi
and other big rivers in the Middle West
hassdoubled and even trtpled In the 10
CT IS years
Now the big steel producers In the
Mehoning Valley, known IS the ''Euhr
Valley Of America" has just begun 2
movement to canalize the M2honing
ard Beaver Rivers to give the valley
q direct water outlet to ths Ohio River
70 permit the big steel producers to
meet the competition Of the Pittsburgh
district steel makers.
There was g time, IS or 100 years ago,
whsn nearly every Ohio city was on q
naWgable river or on e canal, or on q
proposed canal Old-faShioned river
steamers carried merchandise UP and
down the Ohio and Mississippi while
horse-draWn canal boats hauled mer-
chandtse up and down the canals.
Canals Finally Abandoned.
There are still many Of the old canals
II the State Of Ohio Sometimes they
serve as railroad roadbeds and some Of
them are just weed-srovn pools.
After the coming Of the railroad traf-
Ac on the rivers and canals began to
decline and the costly canals were
finally abandoned But railroad freight
rates began going up rapidly and many
shippers again began turning to the
waterways. The shippers found that a
modern steel barge can carry the same
amount Of load as IS railroad cars, with
the railroads hauling 2 ton of equip
rasnt for each ten Of freight The
barge equipment weighs only about 500
pounds for each ton Of freight
Great fleets Of steel barges loaded with
heavy tonnage Of freight for the South
and Southwest now daily 60 down the
rivers behind towboats And these cheap
water freight rates have given the river
cities-Pittsburgh Cincinnati, Louis
vile and st. Louis-such e decided ad-
vantage over cities not on waterways
that business in the inland cities has
suffered
The War Department has already
been asked to make q survey Of the Ma
honing and Beaver Rivers to determine
the advisability OF opening the barge
canal from the Ohio River. More than
20 big steel plants In the Mahoning
Valley have already indicated they
would ship huge tonnage OF steel and
import huge coal tonnages over the
CSt11! Oh ~ - OpCIlcO.
Cost Figured at IS Million.
The youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.,
third largest Independent steel producer,
alone imports about 100000 tons Of
coal from its mines in Pennsylvania and
West Virginia each year.
The canalize ton Of the two rivers, 1t
Is estimated, would cost approximately
&25,ooo,o0o, but result In tremendous
savings In freight charges to valley mills
and to consumers al over the country.
A movement was started some years
ago to build q canal about 10 miles
long from Lake Erie to the Ohio River,
using the Beaver the Mahoning and
the Mosquito Greek. The route has al
ready been found feasible by the War
Department engineers, who have report
ed TO Congress that this route IS pre-
tsrred to other arteries between the
Great Lakes and the Ohio River.
The engineers failed, however, to
make recommendations as to the ability
Of the route to finance itself. The
whole lake-rtver canal would involve
an expenditure Of between 500 600, 900
and 100000 The old survey
which established about u locks
between Youngstown and the junction
Of the Beaver and the Mahoning would
serve for the new canal plant.
(Cory:!Eht 1897