AMERICAN CANALS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 412, 22 January 1909, Page 5

AMERICAN CANALS.

GIGANTIC SCHPE. ■ FROM EAST COAST TO MIDDLE WEST. A DECADE'S WORK. (BY TET.EOEAPII—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPIEIOnT.) New ; York,-January "20. ..- The United States; Government'is planning' a ; gigantic, extension'^the'.'iuternal ( yator-| ways system," to cost; a,■hundred/'niillioris, sterling.: , '■ ■\'- : . i ''".'i''" : '.:'>'-- Tj -'- : \..' : " ! ' ; ' : Tho work will be 'spread'' nextdecade, and will be followed by an -annual; vote of ten millions for an indefinite period. Tbo undertaking is considered necessary becauso the demands for transportation aro .increasing quicker than the railways. It is proposed to link up'ithe/East and'the. Middle/West by a\circular waterway: routp five thousand miles V |?n|i^tapping^' comprising l,3oo,ooo:'square,;mjfcs.£'';;. '£?.] : ,'■ DETAILS OF THE GREAT WATERWAY. . FAILUBE OP-THE'EAILWATS. J , --'- The water transportation.aue'sti.on;has.b|oome; one of the most important questions ot tne day in the United States,/because the railway service of that country-has "practically, broken, down. While the railway development ot the United States has' astonished the world, and while the States have to-day: more .than half the railway mileage of the world, yet that maoninery has proved inadequate to meet the demands of the production of the country.j. ■■-.- ..--..•..■.,...>■. Germany's Example. .'.'•'■' .•""■• ./ .'■"" ' v Tears ago the railways were competing;with the waterwaj'S, and practically drove them out of business. But the 'eiforts of HieTJaWays to monopolise the carriage of cheap natural products; carried in other-countries by water, has resulted in .congestion .of.' _ttaffic,'.anii'-'a virtual breaking down of the entire transportation system;.and it is deemed essential that im-j mediate steps shall be taken'to supplement , therailway system ty a oompleie system of waterway transportation. Everywhere"., else / jn,, the., world, it is arguod, Wa.ter"transportation is;an' important factor, in both "domestic and -foreign , commerce.' Germany.has perhaps the most important system of transportation-iini.the..world,. Her rivers have beon artificialised from; sourco, to mouth, and they aTe supplemen'ted/by.a:system of canal, rail,, and ocean transportation, : which combined give tKat country a tfahsportation machinery unequalled anywhere in , tne development of domestic and: foreign commerce. Great Britain is waking up to the subject, and a Royal Commission: is inquiring into canals and inland navigations. ~ .-../ ~ ../■.. :.. ,-. Correlated Activities. In'the United ,States v they.-are .not, going to do the thing by halves.' In the consideration of. tlie inland waterways are included the related questions ■ preservation; and restoration, the irrigation: fit arid lands, the reclamation of swamp lands, bank.protention, clarification, of streams, -and kindred .niiulers.. The Engineer Corps of the Army, tlieTieclaination Service,, the Forestry Service, and. the Bureau of Soils have /all been called in. to' assist in tHe consideration of: ihe waterways problem. Forests conserve and. distribute moisture, while denudation leads to destructive floods. Irrigation is both a regulating and ti feeding agont in.its relation- to- rivers. ?:• Soilwaste monns not only; loss'.of /the'"soil"; valued but the building' up lof' river obstructions.' Closely related to. tho.prevention of soil-waste is the matter of the clarification of .streams; for every grain/of sand, in these rivers isi a tool of destruction when, directed against the river's banks! while clear-.water cuts the.banks but' little. The '-Yellowstone, as its name: indicates, is pouring into the .Missouri'immense' volumes of sand, and the,'llTss6im 'is^pourins ' into' the vast quantities' bf alluvial deposits, every grnin of • .vria-h. is both a tool for the de.=irnction: jjf CtJicJbiinks iind ,'an 'struotion to navigation when deposited in shoals and sandbars.' . .'.'■■:;:•;■ *»y■■",';' ;.i:;i. Boston, via the Gulf, to r Gr.eat|,La,kes.^ A i -,v ■■', Projects spoken; of., are' tlie connection-by-canal of. the Ohio and'lake Erie, o'f the Mississippi and lake Michigan,, and so on. . It is proposed ,io. conneot tne tentire: Mississippi' ValCoast, •'-and-the Atlantio I Coast .with each other-by. a. system .'o'f ■.sheltered''waterways along the ,Gulf Jand-.theAtlantic Coasts" consisting of bays, .soundv'^rid.r,rivers ltd' be connected with-each other by canals, siioh-as" the contemplated canal, across .''Florida connecting' the Gulf with rhe : Atkntjc Coast.'the canal' connecting Carolina'--Sounds;,with' Chesapeake Bay, the canal oonnectinslChesapeake Bar with' tho Delaware River, the canal connecting Delaware River with the Raritan,'. and•■ theft cnnal across Cape Cod, tlius'giving :&; sheltered waterway from the mouth of the-Mississippi- -.to Maine, upon which >it would bepossibk tfat boats of standard, drWt ttoulipass from Boston down the.Atlantic Coastj-acrossiFloricia to the Gulf Coast, .and'/up,,U>6 Mississippi Eiver to the Great' Lakes.- .■■'•'*.■« • .. •.■.... ■It is proposed to establish.an.initiaVfund-of 50 million, dollars, and Sq: , give the 'President power ito as .-required,"' for another 50 million dollars. -It-is possible, - therefore,' that the figures in-tte { cablegrani._should_be. dollars, not sterling. .;. , . .. .;. ..