GIGANTIC WATERWAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 178, 31 July 1933, Page 10

GIGANTIC WATERWAY

CHICAGO TO NEW ORLEANS. LINCOLN'S HOPE REALISED. Aii event of first importance to the United States of America was celebrated last month, when the Illinois Waterway, linking the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico, was opened by the United States Minister of War, Mr. G. H. Dem. With the arrival of the first tow of barges direct from New Orleans that long-deferred hope of Abraham Lincoln nas at last oecom. l reality. The new waterway is hailed as a factor likely to restore economic balanace in the nation and to place mid-west industry and business on a parity with seaboard States. The chief spectacle at the ceremony of dedication was the arrival of the barge flotilla, bringing (he first commercial cargo of spices, coffee and sugar from New Orleans a total distance of 1000 miles. With the completion of the Mississippi Valley system of water transportation, th? destiny of this great region becomes manifest. In this valley, so aptly termed the storehouse of tho nation, are, produced 70 per cent, of the country’s agricultural products, 50 per cent, of its manufactured goods, 60 per cent, of its exportable surplus, while within its giant embrace reposes 98 per cent, oi the country ’s iron ore deposits, 82 per cent, of its coal and 70 per cent, of its petroleum. Costing 102,000,000 dollars to con struct (£20,000,000 at par), the waterway extends 96 miles from Lake Michi gan, at Chicago, to the Illinois River at Utica, Illinois. Five locks, capable of lifting and lowering 30,000 tons of freight a day and separated by miles of virtual lakes, make possible, the operation of the channel, the two ends of which differ in elevation by 129 ft. When the present scheme to provide navigable water from the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic, by way of the St. Lawrence River, is completed, ft voyage as unique as any in the world, will become possible. Vessels will be able to enter the Great, Lakes by way of the St. Lawrence, passing tho famous Niagara Falls on route, and to con tinuc their voyage through the Illinois Waterway, down the Illinois River into the mighty "Mississippi and linal'e out into the (hilf of Mexico.