THE WATERWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES.
“The Erie Canal, conceived by the genius, and achieved
by the energy of De Witt Clinton, was, during the second
quarter of this century, the most potent influence of
American progress and civilisation. It developed the
north-west, by giving an outlet to the commerce of the
great lakes, and it made New York the Empire State, and
New York City the imperial mart of the New World.”
—_E. Sweet, in the Transactions of the American Society
of Civil Engineers for 1884._
A glance at a map of the United States will suffice to show that it has
unique natural facilities for water transport. Its great lakes, which
are inland seas of no inconsiderable dimensions, now connected together
by the Erie and St. Mary’s Falls Canals, its magnificent rivers, such
as the Mississippi and the Missouri, and the natural configuration of
the country, create an _ensemble_ for cheap transportation such as no
other country can surpass. Besides these resources, however, the United
States have now a railway system of over 160,000 miles.
The same favoured country has a large number of noble rivers, as well
as a magnificent system of lakes. Of these, the most important is
the Mississippi, which has a drainage area, estimated at 1,261,000
miles, and which, including its tributaries, has about 15,000 miles of
navigable waters. A large portion is, however, closed at low water.
From the source of its great tributary, the Missouri, to the Gulf of
Mexico, its outlet, the Mississippi has a length of 4194 miles. It may,
however, be maintained that the Mississippi is less a single river than
the outlet of a number of rivers, each of considerable importance. The
Missouri river has a drainage area of 518,000 square miles, and 3500
miles of navigable waters, while the Ohio river, which has the next
most important basin, drains an area of 214,000 square miles, and has
5000 miles of navigation. The smaller tributaries include the Arkansas
river, the Med river, the Yazoo, and the St. Francis. The navigation
of the Mississippi river has for a number of years past been under the
control of a special Government Commission, by whom the mouth of the
river has been dredged, training walls have been built, shifting
sandbars have been regulated, and dams thrown across to concentrate
the low-water flow in the main channel. On the Upper Mississippi, St.
Anthony’s Falls oppose a barrier which has been overcome by a canal
and locks.
In no country has there been a longer or more severe struggle between
canals and railroads than in the United States of North America. In
no country have both systems of transportation had a more eventful,
instructive, and interesting history. In no country have railroads and
canals been afforded equally free scope for development, and in no
country have transportation rates been cut so fine and reduced so low.
We may, therefore, by a consideration of the conditions of transport
in the United States, and especially by seeking to ascertain how far
the two great systems of internal communication have competed with each
other, learn something that will throw a good deal of light on this
problem.
Washington, himself, was one of the first to appreciate the importance
of canals. In his early life the father of his country was a land
surveyor, in which capacity he became very familiar with the
requirements of the region of the Potomac. Both in this employment,
and subsequently, when in 1754 he commanded a military expedition to
the Monongahela river, Washington was constantly seeking to improve
transportation facilities. He was especially eager to have a waterway
opened between the Chesapeake and the Ohio. The War of Independence
for a time diverted his ideas from this purpose, but when the war was
over he obtained a charter for a waterway between the great lakes and
the Hudson, and became the first President of the company formed for
its construction. Washington, therefore, stands, in relation to the
waterways of the United States, in the same position as the Duke of
Bridgwater does in regard to the canal system of our own country, Peter
the Great in reference to the canal system of Russia, and Louis XIV.
in relation to the canal system of France. It must be admitted that in
every case the system has had a worthy sponsor.
In 1792, an Act was passed by the Legislature of the State of New York,
incorporating two companies—one, the “Western Inland Lock Navigation
Company,” charged with the duty of constructing a canal, with locks,
between the upper waters of the Mohawk and those flowing into Lake
Ontario; the other, the “Northern Inland Lock Navigation Company,”
charged with the construction of a similar work from the Hudson to
Lake Champlain—between which there is a remarkable depression in the
general surface of the country. This Act, drawn up and mainly carried
through the exertions of General Schuyler, was the first and most
important step taken towards the construction of a general system of
public works for the country. The objective point aimed at by the
Western Company was Lake Ontario, at Oswego, by way of Wood’s Creek,
Oneida Lake, and the Oswego River. At that time, however, the great
enterprise which was to follow—a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie
was not dreamt of. The purposes of the promoters were as distant from
the ultimate result as those of Edward Pease and George Stephenson were
when they planned the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
In 1796, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company was formed in the
United States for the purpose of opening up some of their projected
inland waterways. This company constructed several small canals, but
its operations were unsuccessful, and in 1808 it surrendered all
its rights and property to the State for the sum of 140,000 dollars
(28,000_l._), which was only one quarter of their original cost.
During the existence of the company, freight designed for Lake Erie and
the West took the route of Lake Ontario to the mouth of Niagara river.
From that point to the head of the Falls was a portage of 28 miles. The
charge for transporting a bushel of salt for this distance, according
to the report made by Mr. Geddes in 1809, was 75 cents; and for a ton
of general merchandise 10 dollars. All that can be said of the works
of the Western Inland Navigation Company is, that they led the way to
the construction of the Erie Canal. They never held the route of any
considerable commerce. For a long time after their construction, the
farmers of Central and Western New York, for want of other means, sent
their produce to market down the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers in
arks, which were broken up when the destined market was reached. In
the meantime, the subject of a canal better adapted to the wants of
commerce than that of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company was
by no means lost sight of. In 1807, in a series of articles published
at Canandaigua in the Ontario _Messenger_, Jesse Hawley, their author,
urged the construction of a canal from Lake Erie, 100 feet wide and 10
feet deep, “to be laid on an _inclined plane_,” from Buffalo to Utica;
thence down the channel of the Mohawk; thence across the portage to
Albany—to be constructed at the expense of the National Government.
This plan of an inclined plane, strange as it may seem, was,
notwithstanding its gross absurdity, favourably received, and proved
for a long time, from the great difficulties it involved, a serious
obstacle to the early beginning of any work of the kind.
In February, 1808, Mr. Joshua Forman, a member of the Legislature
from Onondaga, and subsequently one of the efficient promoters of the
canal, proposed the appointment of a joint committee “to take into
consideration the propriety of exploring and causing an accurate survey
to be made of the most eligible and direct route for a canal to open
a communication between the tide-waters of the Hudson river and Lake
Erie.” On the 21st of March, 1808, Mr. Gold, of the committee, made
a report, enlarging upon the importance of the proposed work, “in
drawing together and preserving in political concord the distant parts
of a widely extended empire,” and closed with a resolution that the
Surveyor-General cause an accurate survey to be made of the rivers,
streams, and waters in the usual route of communication between the
Hudson river and the western waters, and such other contemplated routes
as he may deem proper. For such survey the sum of 600 dollars was
appropriated. The action under the resolution of Mr. Forman was the
first step taken by the Legislature with a view to the construction of
the Erie Canal. In 1810 commissioners were appointed to examine the
route of the proposed canal. In 1811 the commission reported in favour
of a canal, which, in order to produce the inclination of six inches
to the mile to Schenectady was to cross the Genesee river by a viaduct
83 feet above the water, and the outlet of Cuyaga Lake at an elevation
of 130 feet. In 1812 the commission made an estimate of the probable
tonnage that would come upon the canal, and of the tolls that would
accrue therefrom. They expressed their opinion that not improbably the
canal, in twenty years from that time, would bring down 200,000 tons of
traffic![110]
In 1817, the Act for the construction of the Erie Canal was finally
passed. The money was to be raised on the credit of the State. In
1825 the canal with its adjuncts was completed. The latter event was
signalised by a holiday, and unusual rejoicings. It was regarded as a
great thing that the news of the opening of the canal was conveyed to
New York from Buffalo, by a discharge of cannon, whose reverberations
were repeated along a line of 513 miles in one hour and twenty minutes.
The communication which the Erie Canal afforded between the vast inland
seas of the United States and the Atlantic Ocean was, indeed, the
greatest event in the history of transportation in that country up to
the end of the first quarter of our century.
The opening of the Erie Canal was followed by the initiation of many
other schemes of a similar kind. The real date of the era of canal
building in the United States was 1825-30. Pennsylvania, following
directly upon the heels of the Erie, constructed a work which was
partly railway, and partly canal, and upon which the State expended
no less a sum than 50 millions of dollars (10,000,000_l._).[111] This
line, however, was not successful. “The works, although of great local
use and value, never became factors of any importance in the general
commerce of the country.”[112]
The State which, next to New York, achieved the greatest success in
the construction of canals was Ohio. In 1832 two lines were opened
through that State—one from Cleveland to Portsmouth, on the Ohio,
the other from Toledo to Cincinnati. Their capacity did not allow
the passage of boats carrying cargoes exceeding thirty tons. At its
highest point, in 1857, their traffic reached 1,635,744 tons. The line
which separated the tonnage going north to the lakes, and that going
south to the river, passed east and west very near the centre of the
State—the tendency of breadstuffs, on the whole, being toward the
lakes, to seek their outlet through the Erie Canal; and of provisions
of all kinds to the river, to seek their outlet through New Orleans. Of
the exports of beef from Cincinnati in 1851, the year of the opening
of the Erie railroad, and twenty-seven years after the opening of the
Erie Canal, 97 per cent., went down the river to New Orleans, and only
2 per cent. northward to the lake. Of Indian corn, 96 per cent. went
down the river, and only 3 per cent. to the lake. Of flour, 97 per
cent. went down the river, only 1 per cent. to the lake. Of lard, 83
per cent. went down the river, and 9 per cent. to the lake. Of pork and
bacon, 79 per cent. went down the river, and 5 per cent. to the lake.
A very small amount of these articles went up the river to Pittsburgh,
the first great manufacturing city that grew up off the line of the
seaboard. Taking the whole State, two-thirds of its wheat went north,
seeking an outlet by the way of the Erie Canal. Of corn and provisions,
nineteen-twentieths went down the river to New Orleans. One reason,
probably, for the excess of the southward movement of provisions was,
that the animals were slaughtered in the autumn, too late to have
their products forwarded by canal. Corn was grown chiefly in the
southern part of the State. Live animals were never moved, either on
the Ohio or on the New York canals. The provision trade, which now
forms so enormous a traffic on the railroads running to tide-water,
is wholly the creation of these works. The canals of Ohio maintained
a considerable traffic until the construction of competing lines of
railroads, when it declined so rapidly that, in 1856, the expense of
their maintenance became greater than their revenues. They have long
since been practically abandoned as routes of transportation.
The State of Indiana, following the lead of Ohio, constructed, with the
aid of its creditors, a canal from the junction of the Miami Canal to
the city of Evansville, completing it in 1855. Only the upper portion
of this work came into considerable use. The whole system was abandoned
upon the construction of railroads along its line.
The State of Illinois constructed a canal from Lake Michigan to
Lasalle, at the head of navigation on the Illinois river, a distance
of 100 miles from Chicago. It was originally intended to make the cut
deep enough to feed the line from the lake. This project was abandoned
from the cost of its execution, to be subsequently carried out by the
city of Chicago for sanitary purposes. The canal had at the outset a
considerable traffic, which, however, was lost upon the introduction of
competing lines of railroads.
The preceding works include all the great water-lines constructed by
the States for the purpose of giving direction to the general commerce
of the country. Several considerable private works were executed,
the most important of which was the Delaware and Raritan Canal, to
connect the Delaware River with the harbour of New York, a work of
large capacity, which still retains an extensive traffic. Several
works of the kind were constructed, chiefly in Pennsylvania, for the
transportation of coal-works which, upon the construction of railroads,
lost all the importance they once enjoyed. The Chesapeake and Ohio,
and the James River and Kanawha Canals, upon which large sums were
expended, and for which great expectations were raised, were never
completed, and do not require particular remark. The canal system of
the country has now become so completely subordinate, that few are
aware of its magnitude previous to the construction of railroads which
caused a great part of it to be abandoned. At one time there were 5000
miles of canal lines in operation, built at a cost of 150,000,000
dollars, or 30,000,000_l._
The growth of the traffic on the waterways of the United States was
steady for a number of years. In 1837 it was nearly 1¼ million tons;
in 1847 it was nearly three millions; and in 1857 it was 3,344,000
tons. In the latter year the traffic of the canals as a whole was
772,000 tons less than in the previous year. This decline, which
occurred almost for the first time in the history of the system,
created considerable alarm—all the more so that it fell coincidently
with a large increase in the railway traffic. Up to 1851 the railways
had not had a free hand. Laws were enacted imposing canal tolls upon
railroad tonnage, and prohibiting any roads from carrying freight. The
State authorities looked upon the canals as a trust confided to their
keeping, and protected them against the railroads. But in 1851 these
laws were repealed, and from that date the railroads entered upon a
career of development such as they had not previously known.
From the first the struggle was vastly unequal. The railroads not only
offered a much higher rate of speed, but very low rates as well. They
entered into arrangements “with lines of propellers (steamers) on the
lakes, and steam and tow boats on the Hudson, forming connected lines
from the seaboard to Detroit, Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, and other
western ports, to divert all the freight possible from the canals over
their roads,” and practically “contracted to carry freight on the
propeller for nothing, for the sake of getting and securing the freight
of it upon their roads.”[113]
This is only a repetition of an experience that has been perfectly
familiar in the transportation annals of England and other countries.
But in no other country did the State take up an attitude of hostility
to one interest in order that the other might be advanced. The proposal
gravely made in the United States on behalf of the State was that
railroad tonnage should be specially taxed, in order that it might be
handicapped as against the canals. The Committee of Ways and Means did
not seem to entertain any doubt that this species of tyranny was within
their power. “The Legislature,” they said, “has the power to move them
(the railroads) in such form, and subject them to such charges and
restrictions, as it may deem it the interest of the State to require.”
And then followed the astounding _non sequitur_ that “the State has
the power to prohibit them altogether from the carriage of freight!”
The keen competition which had been going on between the canals and
the railroads had no doubt seriously affected the trade and revenue
of the canals, “and through them,” added the State engineer, “the
interest of every taxpayer in the State.” This was greatly deplored, as
the consequence of unnecessary rivalry. “The passenger travel belongs
exclusively to the railroads, while the transport of cheap and heavy
articles of freight belongs to the canals!”
It is not too much to say that if the report and recommendations of
this Committee had been acted upon in the spirit in which they were
made, there would have been a revolution in the United States compared
with which the Boston tea riots were a mere fleabite. As it was, no
such drastic remedies were adopted. The friends of the canals were
shortly found “clothed and in their right mind.” Instead of making
_ad misericordiam_ appeals for State intervention, they were soon
afterwards setting their house in order. Attention was given to the
increased use of steam as a propelling power, and the rates of toll
were gradually reduced, until the canals were carrying much more
cheaply than the railways, and in 1880 the canals were enfranchised and
tolls were altogether abolished, since which time they have been able
to compete with the railroads on still easier terms.
Judging by the ultimate quantities of traffic carried, there is only
one opinion possible concerning the issue of this memorable struggle.
The railroads have won all along the line. The total tonnage carried
on the railroads of the United States in 1880 was 290,897,000 tons;
the canals in the same year carried only 21,044,000 tons. The income
of the railroads in 1880 was 580½ million dollars; that of the canals
was only 4½ million dollars. The canals had only one-fourteenth part of
the traffic of the railroads, and scarcely more than 1/130 of the gross
income.
These results are very remarkable when the records of the charges
made under each of the two systems are examined. When the controversy
between them was raging most fiercely, the railroads were charging
about three cents per ton per mile, while the canals only charged ·799
of a cent.[114] It was not, therefore, on the ground of greater cheapness
that the railroads claimed or received the traffic. It was the same
with through as with local traffic. During the six years ending 1884,
the receipts of grain and flour at New York by lake, canal, and
Hudson River fell from 64 to 45 million bushels. In the same interval
the quantity carried by rail only declined from 85¼ to 83 million
bushels.[115] Between 1868 and 1884 the total traffic carried on the
New York State canals fell from about 6½ million to little more than
5½ million tons. On the competing railroads—the New York Central,
the New York, Lake Erie, and Western, and the Pennsylvania Railroad
division—it increased from 10,476,000 tons to 36,700,000 tons. On the
canals the traffic had decreased by over 15 per cent.; on the railways
it had increased by over 350 per cent. The comparison is, of course,
not strictly relevant and parallel, inasmuch as in the case of the
railways traffic was gathered and carried over a very much wider area,
and it was really only over a comparatively limited section of their
several routes that competition existed. But the figures all the same
serve to show “how the cat was jumping.”
The decline of canal traffic is almost the despair of economists in
view of the remarkably low range of rates charged on the canals over
this period. No better example of this movement could be given than
that of the rates charged for the transportation of wheat from Chicago
to New York. This is a through traffic, carried over 1000 miles,
without breaking bulk by either system, and therefore under conditions
exceedingly favourable to economical transport. In 1857, when the
State of New York, by the mouths of its chief executive officers,
was proposing to prohibit the railways from carrying heavy freight,
and suggesting the imposition of tolls on railway traffic by way of
assisting to keep the canals alive, the average rate charged for
transporting a bushel of wheat over this long route was a fraction over
26 cents. In 1868 the canal system was charging 24½ cents, as against
42½ charged by the railway for the same service. Ten years later still,
the lake and canal rate had fallen to 9·15 cents, and the railroad rate
to 17·9 cents. In 1884 the former amounted to 6·60 and the latter to
13 cents.[116] Throughout the whole period the railway-borne wheat has
paid almost twice as much as the water-borne. And yet the trade of the
canals declines, while that of the railroads increases. This is an
enigma for which we must now endeavour to find a solution.
The United States differ from Great Britain, and from most other
countries, in their economic circumstances. They have developed their
trade with a rapidity that is perhaps unexampled in the annals of
commerce. They have found such a demand for their produce, alike
at home and abroad, that they have not had time to take heed of
cheeseparing economies. The question with the agriculturists and the
manufacturers alike has been to secure the largest possible deliveries
in the shortest possible space of time. They found a practically
unlimited market for their agricultural produce in Europe, at prices
which, while they were working on a virgin soil, paid them sufficiently
well. Of that price, transport was no doubt an important element. When
the railways were receiving 30 to 40 cents per bushel for transporting
wheat from Chicago to New York, the sellers were receiving 40_s._ to
50_s._ per quarter in London. The railway transport was therefore only
one-fourth to one-fifth of the entire ultimate cost of the product.
If the ocean transport cost 15_s._ more, the total cost of transport
only absorbed about one-half of the price paid by the consumer, so
that 25_s._ was left to the grower, minus other charges, and at much
less than this price wheat could be profitably grown in the West. The
difference between 24½ cents by canal and lake and 42½ by railway was
not then of paramount importance. On the other hand the exporter had
the supreme advantage of quicker deliveries, the absence of equal risk
of having the material spoiled by damp, the certainty of being able
to meet his engagements “on the nail,” and entire independence of
the weather, which freezes up the canal and river navigation during
one-half of the year. For the same reasons that the grower and exporter
of wheat was willing to pay 9_d._ more per bushel to the railway in
1868, he has been willing to pay gradually diminishing differences
since, until he has now to pay the railway no more than 3½_d._ per
bushel in excess of the canal rate for more than a thousand miles of
transportation.
All this, however, can hardly be said to prove anything against canals,
although it undoubtedly proves that in the special circumstances of the
wheat trade, and of the Erie Canal, the American freighter of cereals
gives a preference to railroad transportation. In the case of heavier
traffic, the position would probably be reversed, and especially if
the navigation were open all the year round, as would be likely in a
temperate climate like that of England, instead of being liable, as in
the case of the Erie Canal, to be frozen up for one-half of the year.
Of the fifty canals that are now constructed in the United States,
thirteen were completed, or at any rate begun, between 1825 and 1830.
Some of the earlier canals were very expensive. The Erie Canal cost
90,000 dollars per mile, with a capacity for boats of over 250 tons.
The more recently constructed Illinois and Michigan Canal which admits
of the passage of boats of 2500 tons, from Chicago to the Mississippi
river, was only 55,355 dollars per mile. The locks on this canal are
now 350 feet long, and 75 feet wide, admitting twelve canal boats at a
time.
From the Report of the Tenth Census of the United States, we have
compiled the following details of the principal existing canals in that
country:—
STATEMENT showing the extent, character, and cost of
the principal canals in the United States.
──────────────────────┬──────┬───────┬──────┬─────┬──────────┬───────
│ │No. of │Length│Rise │ Cost of │Average
Canal. │Miles.│Locks. │ of │ and │Construct-│Cost /
│ │ │Locks.│Fall.│ ion. │ Mile.
──────────────────────┼──────┼───────┼──────┼─────┼──────────┼───────
│ │ │ feet │ feet│ dols. │ dols.
Erie │ 365 │ 72 │ 110 │ 656│51,609,000│141,394
Champlain │ 81 │ 33 │ 110 │ 179│ 2,378,000│ 29,358
Delaware and Hudson │ 83 │107 │ 100 │1,028│ 6,339,000│ 76,373
Raritan (ship) │ 44 │140 │ 220 │ 150│ 4,735,000│107,613
│ │ [117]│ │ │ │
Morris │ 103 │ 46 │ 88 │1,674│ 6,000,000│ 58,252
Schuylkill │ 58 │ 71 │ 110 │ 619│12,580,000│216,893
Union │ 84½ │ 93 │ 90 │ 501│ 5,907,000│148,946
Susquehanna │ 30 │ 43 │ 170 │ 230│ 4,930,000│164,333
Chesapeake and │ │ │ │ │ │
Delaware (ship) │ 14 │ 3 │ 220 │ 32│ 3,730,000│266,430
Chesapeake and Ohio │ 179½ │ 75 │ 100 │ 609│11,290,000│ 62,869
Illinois and Michigan │ │ │ │ │ │
(ship) │ 102 │ 15 │ 110 │ 141│ 6,557,000│ 64,284
Ohio Canal and feeders│ 323 │150 │ 90 │1,207│ 4,695,000│ 14,536
Miami and Erie │ 284 │ 93 │87—89 │ 907│ 7,144,000│ 25,155
──────────────────────┴──────┴───────┴──────┴─────┴──────────┴───────
The canal system of the United States now in actual operation extends
over 2926 miles, of which 411 miles are slack water. The cost of
constructing the whole system is officially stated at 170,028,636
dollars (34,005,727_l._). Disregarding the slack water, this
corresponds to an average of rather more than 13,500_l._ per mile,
or approximately 2000_l._ per mile more than the average cost of
the railways of the same country. The total gross income in 1880,
the latest year for which there are complete returns, was 4,538,620
dollars, and the total expenditure was 2,954,156 dollars, or 65 per
cent. of the gross income. This figure compares very unfavourably with
that shown for the American railroad system in the same year, the
working expenses having been only 39·2 per cent. of the gross earnings.
The net income of the United States canals in 1880 was 1,584,000
dollars, which is less than 1 per cent. on the total expenditure. The
commercial aspect of the canal system of the United States is not,
therefore, an encouraging one. Hadley, indeed, declares that after
1870 “it became a question whether the canal could pay expenses of
maintenance—a question which was finally decided in the negative.”[118]
Besides the canals actually being worked in the United States, there
are 1953 miles of canals that have been abandoned. The construction of
these canals cost 8,802,630_l._ The longest of the abandoned canals
is the Wabash and Erie, 379 miles in length, which was built between
1832 and 1851 for the purpose of connecting Evansville, Ind., with the
Ohio State lines, at a cost of about 6½ million dollars. The James
River and Kanawho is another important canal, 196½ miles long, which
was constructed at different dates between 1785 and 1851, at a cost of
close on 6¼ million dollars, and was abandoned in 1880, on account of
its inability to “pay its way.” The canal now belongs to the Richmond
and Allegheny Railway Company. The Erie canal and branches between
Bridgwater and Erie was built between 1833 and 1844 at a cost of about
6½ million dollars, and abandoned in 1871, and the Western Division of
the Pennsylvania Canal, between Johnstown and Pittsburg, a distance of
104 miles, commenced in 1830, and constructed at a cost of about 3¼
million dollars, was abandoned in 1863. In almost every instance the
reason assigned for abandonment has been the same—that the traffic has
been insufficient to meet the working expenses of the canal.[119]
_The Miami and Erie Canal._—This is the most important of the
existing canals in Ohio, both with regard to navigation and to use
for water-power. From Cincinnati it extends northerly, at a distance
ranging from 15 to 35 miles from the western boundary of the State, into
Defiance County, where it turns north-easterly and follows down the
Maumee river to Toledo. The main trunk has a length of about 246 miles.
It originally entered the Ohio river at Cincinnati, and the Maumee
river close to its mouth, several miles below Toledo; but these termini
have within recent years been cut off. The section traversed by the
canal is fertile, thickly settled, wealthy, enjoys abundant railroad
facilities, and has an established character as a manufacturing
district. The structures on the Miami and Erie Canal appear to be in
better condition than those on the Ohio Canal, and the hydraulic powers
are favoured by a generally copious supply of water, derived from the
Miami and Maumee rivers and from a system of large reservoirs in the
summit-region between their basins. The water-powers along the whole
line of the canal are generally taken up and in use. This is especially
true between Dayton and Cincinnati, and it has been stated that
probably no more power would be leased along that portion, from danger
of interfering with the interests of navigation. The manufacture of
flour is an important interest along the entire canal, and stands first
as regards the number of mills. The paper industry ranks next in this
respect, and has been most developed between Dayton and Cincinnati.
There are small woollen-mills also at various points, as well as
saw-mills, machine shops, agricultural implement factories, oil-mills,
and other works. The greatest utilisation of power is found among the
three counties of Hamilton, Butler, and Montgomery, and in the middle
and northern counties of Miami, Anglaize, and Lucas.
At Maumee city, some 8 miles above Toledo, the canal is 63 feet above
the level of the Maumee river and Lake Erie, and is connected with the
former by locks. From this point for 15½ miles, up to the head of the
rapids, where the Maumee is rendered tributary for feeding the levels
below, there is no lockage. When the canal was built the question of
water-power in connection with it was considered, and in the Sixth
Annual Report of the Board of Public Works (1843) it was stated that
“the capacity of this canal is such that from the head of the rapids
to Manhattan 18,000 cubic feet of water per minute can be passed and
used for hydraulic purposes without injury to the navigation. At Maumee
city the water can be used over a fall of 63 feet; at the locks above
Toledo the water can be used over a fall of 49 feet, and at Manhattan
over a fall of 15 feet; between these points the canal is so located
that the water can be used from it for hydraulic purposes with great
convenience, occupying all the fall between the canal and river.” A
large amount of power is now used from this portion of the canal by
several paper-mills and large flour mills.
From the pool above the rapids the succeeding 26 miles of canal, to
Independence, is supplied from the river by means of a dam at that
place, 9 feet high. From the long level below Independence, the report
already quoted from mentions an opportunity to utilise a fall of 23
feet to the river. The portion of canal now referred to was originally
known as the Wabash and Erie, being continuous with the Indiana canal
of that name. From its junction with the old Miami Canal in Paulding
County, to the outlet at Toledo, on the level of Lake Erie, a distance
of 64 miles, there is a total descent of 148 feet, effected through
19 locks. This section of the canal was constructed 60 feet wide at
the top water-line, and 6 feet deep. From Paulding County the canal
takes a quite direct southerly course, and thence to Dayton, 113 miles
below the junction, is utilised at frequent intervals for power by
flouring-mills, and occasionally by small woollen factories, saw-mills,
and other works.
A quantity of water is withdrawn from the Canal by the Cooper Hydraulic
Company and utilised under a fall of 12 feet around a lock, being
then returned to the canal. At a point below a certain amount is
again withdrawn from the canal, and after it has been employed for
power under a fall of 8 feet, is discharged into the Miami river. The
Hydraulic Company owns a part of the water, acquired by purchase,
and also leases from the State, at an annual rental of 1000 dollars,
all the surplus running to supply the levels below Dayton. On this
privilege a “run” is defined as 315 cubic feet of water per minute on
the “middle,” as it is called or 12 foot fall, and 400 cubic feet per
minute on the “lower,” or 8 foot fall. A run at the middle fall was
originally 300 cubic feet, but in consequence of slight backwater,
it was increased to 315 cubic feet The rates for both temporary and
permanent power vary from 150 dollars to 300 dollars per annum per
run, but the larger portion is leased at 200 dollars per annum in the
middle, and 150 dollars on the lower fall.
From the basin at Dayton to low water in the Ohio river at Cincinnati,
a distance of 66 miles, the canal descends about 300 feet, through
32 locks. Water for feeding the various levels south of Dayton is
introduced at that city, Mamesburg, and Middletown. The manufacturing
along this section is extensive, the paper and flouring industries
being especially prominent. For the former of these, as now developed,
however, the power furnished from the canal alone is not sufficiently
reliable, and the mills are generally filled with steam engines for use
when the water supply runs short.
From the upper plane of the city of Cincinnati the canal descended
formerly to the Ohio by means of ten locks, with a fall of 111 feet,
measured to low water in the river. This terminal portion, though
abandoned for navigation, is nevertheless utilised for power. Much of
the way, it is covered from view, and in part of its course the water
is divided between two separate channels. Water is used successively
from one level to another, and is finally discharged into the Eggleston
Avenue sewer.
_The Morris Canal_, New Jersey, of which a profile is given at p.
206, is one of the most important in the United States. It was built
originally to connect the Delaware River, with Newall. It was commenced
in 1825 and opened to Jersey City in 1836. The summit level is 51
miles from tide water at Newall, and 39 miles from the Delaware River,
being 914 feet above the former, and 760 feet above the latter. This
elevation is overcome by 23 inclined planes, and 23 lift-locks. In 1841
the dimensions of the lift-locks were enlarged to 98 feet by 12 feet.
_The Union Canal_, Pa., of which a section is shown on the next page,
was commenced in 1811, and completed, after a long stoppage caused
by the war of 1812, in 1832. The canal was intended to connect the
Schuylkill and Susquehanna rivers. There is a lockage of 501 feet, with
88 lift-locks 3 guard-locks, and 2 weigh-locks, making 93 locks in all.
The tonnage, which was 207,500 tons in 1858, fell to 29,800 tons in
1880. There were in the latter year 73 boats on the canal, averaging
100 tons.
_The Schuylkill Navigation_ (see profile, p. 206) Pa., was incorporated
in 1815, for the purpose of connecting the coal region of Mount Carbon
with the city of Philadelphia. The canal was completed in 1826, when
the depth of water was three feet, and the carrying capacity of the
boats employed was 25 tons. By 1847 the minimum depth of water was
made 6 feet, and the boats employed averaged 170 tons. In 1850, a
flood, which devastated the Schuylkill valley, swept away dams, locks,
tow-paths, and banks, so that hardly a trace of the canal existed for
many miles, but this damage was subsequently repaired. The locks on
the canal are 110 feet by 18 feet. The lockage on the main line of the
canal is 618½ feet. There are 47 waterways, two overflows, with 3300
feet in both, 121 bridges, 22 culverts, 31 dams, and 12 aqueducts. The
company has had a chequered career, and the canal was, in 1870, leased
to the Pa. and Reading Railroad Co., for 999 years, at a yearly rental
of 655,000 dollars.
[Illustration: PROFILE OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL.]
_The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal_, illustrated in profile, is one of the
most important works of its kind in the United States, connecting the
Potomac and Ohio rivers, piercing the Allegheny mountains by a tunnel
3118 feet in length, and having cost, on its completion in 1851, no
less than 11,071,000 dols., or 60,000 dols. (12,001_l._) per mile.
The canal has a depth of 6 feet throughout. For about 60 miles it is
60 feet wide at the top, and 42 feet at the bottom; for 47 miles its
surface width is 850 feet, and its bottom width, 32 feet; and for 77½
miles more the surface width is 54 feet, and the bottom width 38 feet.
The locks are 100 feet long and 15 feet wide in the clear; they are
capable of passing boats carrying 120 tons. There are 74 lift-locks and
a tide-lock. The water-supply is drawn entirely from the Potomac, seven
dams having been constructed across the river for this purpose.
[Illustration: PROFILE OF THE ERIE CANAL, N.Y.]
[Illustration: PROFILE OF THE OHIO CANAL.]
[Illustration: PROFILE OF THE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO CANAL.]
_The Ohio Canal._—This canal has a length of 309 miles, extending from
Cleveland on Lake Erie to Portsmouth on the Ohio river. From the former
city it ascends the valleys of the Cuyahoga and Little Cuyahoga rivers,
and reaches the north end of the summit-level at Akron, 38 miles from
Cleveland. This portion is fed mainly from the Cuyahoga and Little
Cuyahoga rivers, and has an ascent of 395½ feet, overcome by means of
44 locks. Of these, twenty-one are within 3 miles and sixteen within 1½
mile of the north end of the summit-level at Akron. Power is utilised
by a number of mills, principally at the last mentioned place.
The canal now enters the basin of the Tuscarawas river, and from
the south end of what is known as the Portage summit-level has an
uninterrupted descent to Welsport, following the Tuscarawas valley and
then that of the main Muskingum river. In this distance of 112 miles
there is a fall of 238·6 feet, effected by 29 locks. The low-level at
Welsport is also at the foot of a continuous descent from the Licking
summit, which lies to the westward, the surplus waters entering it from
either direction being discharged through a side cut into the Muskingum
river at Dresden. On the division extending from the Portage summit to
Welsport and Dresden, there are nearly a dozen flouring-mills, using
various powers, ranging usually between 15 and 50 horse-power, but in
two or three cases reaching 100 and 150.
From the low-level at Welsport the canal rises to the westward to the
Licking summit, making an ascent of 160 feet in the 42 miles by means
of nineteen locks. The water supply is derived from the Licking river
at the Narrows, from one or two forks of the main river, and from the
Licking reservoir. There are no returns indicating any present use
of power on this section of the canal. At Newark there is a fall of
18 feet from the feeder and from the main canal to the water-surface
in the north fork of the Licking river, but it is not utilised. In
years past the feeder had been employed at Newark for a small woollen
mill, a flouring-mill, and a sawmill, which did rather an extensive
business; but they have, one after another, abandoned the use of the
water power. The feeder at that point draws from the north fork, and
should take its entire low-flow, but the feeder-dam is reported as
leaky, and the canal has been allowed to silt up, thereby diminishing
its capacity, so that the available flow of the stream is not
utilised.
_The Sault St. Marie Canal._—One of the most remarkable canals in the
world is that known as the Sault St. Marie, or St. Mary’s Falls Canal,
in the State of Michigan, which connects the waters of Lake Superior
and Lake Huron, and thereby affords a means of communication between
some of the most important territories and centres of population in the
United States. The position of the canal is illustrated in the chapter
on “Canadian Waterways.”
The head of Lake Superior is 1400 miles from New York. Of this distance
some 880 miles are deep water navigation by the Lakes, the outlet of
which is St. Mary’s River. The St. Mary’s Strait is 75 miles long, and
in this distance there is a fall of 20 feet 4 inches, of which 18 feet
2 inches occur at the Sault, while the remainder of the descent, 2 feet
2 inches, is distributed over the first 35 miles below that point.
Hence the river is tortuous, and navigation is rendered unsafe by the
rapids, although from a point 50 miles below the foot of Lake Superior
navigation is good for the remainder of the distance of 25 miles to
Lake Huron.
In 1855 the St. Mary Falls Canal was built for the purpose of
overcoming the fall between the Lakes Superior and Huron. The length of
the canal is only about one mile, so that, as compared with the Suez
and other ship canals, its extent is unimportant. But so far as its
traffic is concerned, this is the most important canal in the world.
Commencing with an annual tonnage of only about 100,000 tons at the
time of its construction, the canal now disposes of an annual tonnage
of over six millions, thus exceeding the tonnage passed over the Suez
Canal by nearly a million of tons.
In 1855, two locks were built on the St. Mary’s Falls Canal, each 70
feet wide and 350 feet long between the gates. These locks could not
accommodate vessels drawing more than 11½ feet. But in 1880, when the
canal had been transferred by the State of Michigan to the United
States, as a work of national importance, the Government undertook the
construction of a new lock, which was opened in 1881, and which has
been described by competent engineers as the finest piece of hydraulic
engineering on the American continent. The lock is at the lower end,
and is 515 feet long between the gates and 80 feet wide in the chamber,
with 17 feet of water on the sills. The lift is 18 feet, more or less,
according to the fall in the rapids between Lake Superior and Lake
Huron. The gates are not set opposite to each other on the same axis,
but on parallel axes 20 feet apart, so that the width between the
gates is reduced to 60 feet, while in the chamber it is 80 feet, the
difference being met by reverse curves on either side.
Advantage is taken of the natural water power created by the lock to
establish by the side of it an accumulator for operating the gates and
valves by hydraulic pressure—in the same manner as at the London and
Liverpool docks—which works admirably.
The chamber is filled and emptied by culverts of large dimensions,
under the mitre sills, without producing any disturbance of the vessel,
because the tunnel or culvert runs the whole length of the chamber,
with openings at the top, which are so arranged as to distribute the
force of the inflowing current along the centre, entirely under the
vessel’s keel. In 1886, when the Canadian and Pacific Railway steamer
_Arthabaska_ passed through the lock, it took one minute and a half to
close the upper gates, seven minutes and a half to empty the lock, and
one minute and a half to open the lower gates. Altogether, from the
time of entering the lock to the time of going out of it again, the
passage was made in thirteen minutes, and there was no hurry about it.
It is only by the great initial pressure afforded by the accumulator,
about 600 lbs. to the square inch, that the valves and gates could be
commanded with so much ease and rapidity. This system has been seven
years in operation, and its efficiency proves the great care and skill
with which all the details of construction have been worked out. The
lock was six years in building, and cost, including the enlargement of
the canal, about three millions of dollars.
The two other locks, now called the “old locks,” built by the State of
Michigan, and first opened in 1855, are still in use. These old locks
are combined, having lifts of 9 feet each to overcome the whole fall of
18 feet. The gates are suspended from pillars seated on the coping of
the quoins, and the chambers are filled and emptied through the gates
in the old-fashioned way. The old canals and locks were assumed by the
United States Government in 1881. The shipping that goes through this
canal all passes free, both domestic and foreign. The staple articles
of the commerce using the canal are coal, copper, flour, grain, iron
ore, pig and manufactured iron, lumber, salt, silver ore, and building
stones. Before the opening of the canal the commerce here was nil.
It now threatens soon to exceed the capacity of both locks, in view
of which the United States Government has already commenced a second
enlargement, the estimated cost of which is nearly five millions of
dollars.
This new lock is to occupy the site of the old combined locks, and is
to surpass all other locks in the grandeur of its dimensions. It will
have a chamber 800 feet long between the gates, the width, both in the
chamber and at the gates, will be 100 feet throughout, and the depth on
the sills will be 21 feet. Of course there are no vessels on the upper
lakes large enough to fill such a lock as this, but it is designed to
pass a fleet through at a single lockage, including tug-boats, with
their flotilla of barges. The canal is to be uniformly 20 feet in depth.
Previous to the construction of the St. Mary’s Falls Canal, all the
outside supplies for the upper lake had to be unloaded at the foot of
the rapids, transferred over a portage road to the head of the rapids,
and reshipped at great expense. Even the vessels which were sailing on
Lake Superior had been handed out and dragged around the rapids in the
same way. The transfer and supply business became the great industry,
and as the mining fever developed, and the Lake Superior district
began to boast of its few scattered but permanent settlements, it
seemed as if Sault Ste Marie was destined to be the central and chief
city of this region. The portage trade, in the very nature of things,
could not last. The demands of Lake Superior were too urgent to admit
of the delay and harassment incident to this method of transfer, and
the construction of a ship canal around the rapids became a practical
problem which demanded a speedy solution. Governor Mason in 1837, in
his first message, advised the building of such a canal, and during the
same year a survey was made for that purpose. In 1838 an appropriation
bill was passed by the Legislature, and in the following year the
contractors commenced the work. Much to their surprise, the military
authorities considered the work an infringement upon the rights of
the General Government, and an armed force from Fort Brady drove the
contractors off the ground. This put a quietus to the work for several
years, although the advocates of the measure did not cease to urge it
upon the attention of the State Legislature and Congress. In 1852,
however, the latter passed a Bill appropriating 750,000 acres of
land to aid in the construction of a canal. In 1853 the Legislature
authorised the commencement of the work. The contract was let to
construct two consecutive locks, each 350 feet long, 70 feet wide, with
a depth of 13 feet of water, and proper canal approaches.
These were the old State locks, now about to be removed and replaced
by a single lock which, as already stated, will in its dimensions and
capacity, be the largest in the world. This canal has resulted in
adding Lake Superior to that system of waterways which is the pride and
the chief commercial feature of the northern border.
The commerce of the great American lakes has enormously increased
within recent years, as the statistics of the St. Mary’s Falls Canal
sufficiently prove. In 1872 the registered tonnage that passed through
the canal was under a million tons; in 1880 it was only 1,734,000 tons;
and in 1886 it had increased to 4,219,000 tons. The growth of the
trade continues. The navigation, it will be remembered, is only open
for about seven months of the year, usually commencing about the first
week of May, and closing in the first week of December. If it were open
all the year round, like that of the Suez Canal, the difference of
business, in favour of the St. Mary’s Falls Canal, as compared with the
Suez and other great canals, would be much more marked than it is. The
tonnage carried through the canal in 1886 was made up of—
Coal 1,009,000 tons.
Iron ore 2,089,000 ”
Copper 39,000 ”
Salt 159,000 ”
Iron and steel 115,000 ”
Wheat 18,991,000 bushels.
Flour 1,759,000 barrels.
On the St. Mary’s Falls Canal in 1888 there were carried no less than
6,411,000 net tons (2000 lbs.) of freight and 25,558 passengers,
the freight including nearly 19 million bushels of wheat, over 2½
million tons of lumber (timber), about 2¼ million tons of coal, and
2,190,000 barrels of flour. The total number of vessels that used
the canal in that year was 7803, of which 5305 were steamers. The
average cargo carried by each vessel, large and small, was about 822
tons, being an increase of 40 per cent. on that of the previous year.
This is a development that can hardly be paralleled in the history of
transportation. Taking the navigation season at seven months, it means
an average of 916,000 tons per month passing through the canal, or at
the rate of about 11 million tons a year, which is roughly about double
the tonnage that makes use of the Suez Canal.
On the first blush, it is by no means apparent that the St. Mary’s
Falls Canal can do much to advance the maritime intercourse of the
United States with the nations of the East. And yet it may become
an important factor in this direction; so much so, that there are
those who hold that New York is likely thereby to become the great
distributing centre for the produce of India and China, not on the
American continent only, but throughout European and African Atlantic
ports as well. This conclusion is based upon circumstances that appear
to be only imperfectly understood in Europe. The tunnelling of the
Cascade Mountains, now in progress in Washington Territory, will bring
Duluth within 1800 miles of Paget Sound, thus bringing the waters
of the Pacific Ocean within 1800 miles of navigable waters flowing
directly into the Atlantic Ocean, through Lake Superior, the Sault, and
the Erie Canal. By this means New York will, it is claimed, be brought
within 10,500 miles of Canton, while the distance between that city
and London, Liverpool, or Antwerp is 17,000 to 18,000 miles. Between
New York and Canton, _viâ_ the Isthmus of Suez, the distance is 20,500
miles, and by the Cape of Good Hope it is 22,500 miles. The future is
therefore likely to work some changes in the balance of Eastern trade,
although it may not happen that the St. Mary’s Fall Canal will, as some
enthusiasts suppose, become the most important rival of the Suez Canal,
and “one of the greatest factors in bringing about tremendous changes
in the commerce of the world.”
In order to give some idea of the remarkable key-like location of
the “Sault” or “Soo,” and the character of the locks, which are the
prominent feature of the canal, we have reproduced, in the following
chapter (that on Canada) from a recently published work on that
locality, a sketch-map, showing the railway and waterway communications
that are concentrated at this point (p. 226).
PROJECTED CANALS.
_The Florida Ship Canal._—In 1869 the Board of Trade of Mobile
memorialised the Congress of the United States for an appropriation
for a survey for a ship canal, to open ship communication between
the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, through the
Florida peninsula. The proposed canal, it was pointed out, might
commence at Tamper Bay, on the Gulf side of Florida. At this point
there is a naturally well-protected harbour, with ample depth of water
for ships drawing 20 feet, and the channel could be permanently
deepened. East of Tamper Bay, in a distance of 125 miles across the
peninsula of Florida at its narrowest part, with one exception, the
maps show on the Atlantic coast depths of 27 feet to 28 feet of water
quite close to the shore, and thence to the broad expanse of the
Atlantic a free and unobstructed way for vessels. It is believed by
competent authorities that a very efficient ship canal, with adequate
depth of water, could be made here without great cost. The land is
level across the proposed route, with only a few feet elevation
above tide-water. The importance of such a canal would no doubt be
considerable. The passage around the southern point of Florida is
narrow, is subject to tornadoes, and is beset with concealed reefs,
upon which a rapid current tends to throw ships, besides which the long
passage round the peninsula would be obviated.
_Delaware and Chesapeake Canal._—Notwithstanding the comparative
disuse of a great part of the existing American canal system, a
proposal has been put forward quite recently to construct a waterway to
connect Delaware and Chesapeake Bays. This canal, if it were carried
out, would be about 17 miles in length, and it is estimated to cost
8,500,000 dols. (1,700,000_l._). It is proposed to adopt the following
dimensions:—width, 100 feet; depth at low-water, 26 feet; side slopes,
1½ to 1 foot.
TRANSPORTATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
The transportation problem continues to exercise the minds of the
people of the United States in a way that the people of Great Britain
can but imperfectly appreciate. The cost of conveying traffic from
Chicago to New York has already been brought down to an average of 6·6
cents per bushel for water, and 10 to 12 cents for rail transport.
In other words, the cost of transporting a ton of goods between the
two greatest commercial cities of the New World has been brought down
to ·09_d._ by water, and 0·11_d._ by land. So notable an achievement
ought, one would naturally suppose, to satisfy the insatiable appetite
of our American friends for cheap transportation, but so far from
this being the case, they are now considering how far it is possible
to reduce the 6·6 cent water-rate to five or even four cents, and the
possibility is hinted at of reducing the rates to three cents per
bushel,[120] which would be a fraction over 0·04_d._ per ton per mile.
This would mean, if actually accomplished, that a ton of goods might be
carried between London and Edinburgh—a distance of over 400 miles—for
16_d._, or, to put the matter in a way that may be readily appreciated,
the cost of the transport of the 2,463,000 tons of coal conveyed by sea
from Newcastle to London in 1888 would be reduced to 1_s._ per ton,
and the inhabitants of London might thus reckon on having their coal
supplies almost as cheaply as if they lived within thirty miles of the
mines.
In order, however, to bring about the contemplated further reduction
of the cost of transport between Chicago and New York, it is proposed
to construct a New Erie Canal. The cost would be stupendous. It has
been calculated at about 150 millions of dollars, but it would probably
involve a still larger expenditure, inasmuch as ship canals seldom come
within their estimates. A remarkable calculation has been made, by
way of justifying this large outlay. It is reckoned that if one cent
alone can be saved on the cost of transporting a bushel of wheat over
this route, it would mean a total saving of about nineteen million of
dollars on the products of the forest, the field, and the mine, which
are tributary to the great American lakes.
The American Society of Civil Engineers were recently called upon
to consider a project for “the widening, deepening, and necessary
rectification of the worst curvatures of the present Erie Canal, from
Buffalo to Newark, about 130 miles; the construction of a new canal
from Newark to Utica, about 115 miles; the canalisation of the Mohawk
River from Utica to Troy, about 110 miles; and the improvement of the
Hudson river from Troy to Four Mile Point, in Coxsackie, a distance of
about thirty miles.”
The adoption of this programme would make the Erie Canal the most
important artificial waterway in the world, the tonnage that would make
use of it, when thus improved, being calculated at 20 to 25 millions
a year. The cost of the undertaking (estimated at 25,000,000_l._ to
30,000,000_l._), although a large sum, is not deemed to be too much for
a great artificial river more than 300 miles long, 18 feet deep, 100
feet wide at the bottom, and having locks 450 feet long and 60 feet
wide. These dimensions would enable the canal to float the largest
vessels that navigate the great lakes from Lake Erie to the deep waters
of the Hudson.
FOOTNOTES:
[110] In 1880, the Erie canal carried 4,608,651 tons of traffic and
earned 1,120,691 dols. of income.
[111] The main line of this canal was sold in 1857 to the
Pennsylvania Railway Company for 7½ million dollars, and the branches
were sold to various private companies for five million dollars more.
[112] Poor’s ‘Manual of the Railroads of the United States,’ 1881.
[113] Report of the Committee of Ways and Means.
[114] Poor’s Manual for 1881, p. xxxviii.
[115] Including in the latter year nearly 1½ million bushels of beans
and oatmeal.
[116] ‘Annual Report on the Commerce and Navigation of the United
States’ for 1884, p. xlxi.
[117] Consisting of 23 inclined planes and 23 lift locks.
[118] ‘Railroad Transportation,’ p. 31.
[119] ‘Report of the Tenth Census,’ vol. iv. pp. 29-31.
[120] ‘Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers,’ vol
xiv. p. 99.