Evening star., 1959-06-22
Ocean Ships to Bring Boom to Chicago;
Queens Visit Will Mark New Era
Continued From First Page

Continued From First Page
low ships that busily ply the
Great Lakes channels-needed
an outlet to the sea, past Nj
agara Falls and the churning
rapids Of the upper st. Law
renee River. Where the river
meets the ocean. the giant de-
posits lie.
Midwesterners carried their
plea for the Seaway to Con-
gress. In 1854 Congress said
yes.
Now. five years later. the
Midwest faces the future with
all the confidence Of q prospec-
tor who has struck a mother
lode. Bethlehem Steel, for ex-
ample. which had built a giant
mill near Baltimore to process
Venezuelan ore, reassessed its
position in the Midwest. The
result: Bethlehem has acquired
$500 acres near Chicago. pre-
sumably for construction Of an
other new mill.
Elsewhere in the area. United
States Steel is expanding and
modernizing. And throughout
the Great Lakes basin, other
titans of the industry-Inland.
Republic. Youngstown and
Great Lakes Steel-are plan
ming and executing major ex-
pansion programs.
These developments will Gre
ate heavier and heavier Seaway
trafflc. Even In the next five
years. before the Canadian
sources are fully tapped. orel
from Quebec and Labrador will |
amount to about 10 million tons
annually - 80 per cent of all
Seaway tonnage. Within 10
years. that figure is expected
to reach 20 million tons a year,
about 40 per cent Of the Sea-
way total.
To handle a sizeable portion
Of that traffic. Chicago has
built a big new port on the
shores Of Lake Calumet. six
miles up the Calumet River
from Lake Michigan. From the
air. the compact harbor looks
like an irregular crossword
puzzle with an ink blot in the
middle. /
Dissected by docks, rail yards,
superhighways and grain ele-
vators, the port contains $25
million in new facilities - a
sum that will be doubled next
year. An additional $4 million
is being spent by the city on
its Navy Pier in Lake Michigan.
Five years ago, there were no
takers for that land on Lake
Calumet, then a moSquito-laden
swamp.
Now" says one Official.
Everybody wants it,"
Population Boom Predicted
Oficials Of Chicago's new
port predict that it win become
one of the Nations largest
within 10 years. 1t can count on
an established transportation
complex - rails. highways. air
lines and canals-to link the
Windy City with the entire
Midwest. L
Some Chicagoans say that
within a decade the metropolis
tan AREA will gain 3.5 million
persons-half the present pop1-
lation-aS > result Of the Sea-
way.
Other effects are being felt
already. Manufacturers have
delightedly discovered they can
save UP to so per cent on GER
tain shipments to Europe via
the Seaway. Midwestern con-
sumers. too. will pay much less
for certain imported products
such as German toys (which
can be shipped for "a per cent
less) and Rotterdam wines (30
per cent lesD.
Isolationism Vanishing
Such effects are being felt
all the way from Buffalo to
Denver. The impact will grow
as Seaway trafflc increases. !
Trade centers and seaports /
such as Duluth, Toledo. Cleve-
land and Detroit also expect TO
capitalize on this swelling tide |
of commerce. and are preparing
for 1t in a big way.
Milwaukee, for example, is
spending Sill million on its
harbor. and can boast of 80
separate ocean services this
year as compared to three in
1946.
Even social attitudes are
changing. In Chicago. where
isolationism once flourished in
the editorial columns Of The
Tribune, people are talking
about Bremerhaven almost as
familiarly as Waukegan. To
Senator Douglas Of Illinois. this
Is a heartening change.
THE Seaway win open new
horizons in the Midwest" he