Evening star., 1950-12-17

BY Froneis
The st. Lawrence Seaway, first
considered by Congress IS years
ago, will be before Congress agair
in the coming session and veteran
supporters believe it has better
chance of success than ever before
The reason is twofold: Dwin-
ding iron ore reserves in the
Mesabi Range at the head OF
Lake Superior. Steadily mounting
dangers from Communist imperi-
alism, to use President Truman's
term.
American steel producers even
now are importing iron ores from
abroad-7.4 million tons last year
They are developing sources in
Venezuela and even across the
Atlantic in Liberia. Those sources
mean many perilous sea miles in
case of attack by a nation with
submarines.
The big source of the future is
expected to be Labrador. Cana
dian ore would be loaded in vessels
at Seven Islands, near the mouth
of the st. Lawrence River. With
the st. Lawrence Seaway COM
pleted the ships from Seven
Islands could deliver the ore to
the ports of the Great Lakes.
Alternatively the ore would 90
by ship to Baltimore and Phila-
delphia. But according to the
National Security Resources Board,
with the outbreak of hostilities it
would become Immediately i'm
perative to start construction Of
a route which would avoid that
1,400-mile sea haul.
Without the st. Lawrence Sea-
way completed the most practical
route in event of war, according
to the NSRB, would be by water
to Montreal. by the Canadian rail-
way to Kingston, on the Canadian
side of Lake Ontario, and thence
through the lakes.
This development would involve
the construction of unloaders at
Montreal and of dock facilities
for loading lake boats at Kingston.
Even with wartime priorities the
job would require 18 months or
more.
A seaway reaching 1900 miles
from the ocean to Duluth seems
a stupendous task. Blu: the ex-
traordinary part of the project is
how much has been done gradu-
ally in past years. The main prob
lem now is the bottleneck repre-
sented by the 114-mile stretch
from Ogdensburg, N. Y. to-
Montreal. From Montreal to the
sea there is a waterway 32.5 feet
deep.
Double. Barreled Project
One of the longtime supporters
of the project. Representative
Dingell, Democrat, of Michigan,
said he will present again to the
82d Congress a resolution to pro-
vide for carrying out the project.
He introduced one of several
measures for the purpose in the
present Congress.
The present crisis in Korea
makes the need of the seaway
more apparent than ever, accord
ing to Mr.. Dingell. /
II think there's a good chance
of it going through, but it's going
to take lot Of work. Mr.. Dingell
said. THE center of the problem
is the necessity of defense and
the decline in the iron ore at the
head of the lakes.
UNLESS the st. Lawrence Sea-
way is developed and there is a
steady flow of iron ore to feed
the NAV of the steel mills, some
of the Great Lakes cities are going
to become ghost towns"
Representative Dondero, Re-
publican, of Michigan, who intro
duced similar resolution in the
81st Congress, also said he would
present his measure again. Pros
poets of its adoption are brighter
than before, he said.
The project, of course, is a
double -barreled one of water
transportation and hydroelectric
power. The Army engineers have
estimated the whole job would in
volve an outlay of 5000 million
on the basis of 1948 costs; it would
be more now. The navigation IA
cilities would cost $429 million and
the power plants 1914 million. The
United States share of the total
would be $573 million, the Cana
dian share $3.50 million.
The power project would be
near Massena, N. Y, in the Inter-
national Rapids section of the st.
Lawrence. It would be the Sec
ond largest single-dam power
project in the world, exceeded in
size only by Grand Coulee Dam.
1t would produce almost 13 bill
lion kilowatt hours of electricity
q year.
The power would be distributed
thorugh New York and New
England with the exception of
Maine, in Northern New Jersey