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Old Colony and Interior Canol Company
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MASSACHUSETTS.
January, 18Ö-4.
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THE
Old Colony and Interior Canal Company
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January, 1894.
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CHARTER
OF TITE
Old Colony and Interior Canal Gompany
OF
BOSTON, MASS.
Acts of 1893, Chapter 463. Approved June 9, 1893.
AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE OLD COLONY AND INTERIOR CANAL
COMPANY.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
Section 1. James L. Anthony, James D. Leary, Warren Rose-
velt, William G. Bussey, Henry O. Mills, Benjamin W. Gilbert,.
Elijah H. Austin, Thomas N. Hart, Charles H. Allen, William H.
Lincoln, Edward Kemble, Norman W. Dodge, William J. Hunt,
Willard Howland, their associates and successors, are hereby made
a corporation by the name of the Old Colony and Interior Canaî
Company, and as such shall have perpetual succession, and by
that name may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in law
and equity, and purchase, receive, hold and convey real and
personal estate, and the same retain to themselves, their successors
and assigns, so far as it shall be necessary for their accommoda¬
tion and convenience in the transaction of their business ; with all
the privileges, and subject to all the duties, restrictions and liabil¬
ities set forth in all general laws which now are or may hereafter
be in force relating to railway corporations, so far as they may be
applicable, except as hereinafter provided.
Section 2. The capital stock of said corporation shall be severe
and a half million dollars, divided into shares of one hundred
dollars ; and said corporation may issue coupon or registered
bonds to an amount which does not exceed in the aggregate the
capital stock of said corporation actually paid in at the time. Said
corporation may issue stock and bonds in payment for labor
performed and material furnished in the construction of a canal as
hereinafter provided, and of property acquired for that purpose,
and to provide means for funding its floating debt, or for the
payment of money borrowed for any lawful purpose.
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Section 3. Said corporation may, upon being authorized by a
majority of the votes at any regular meeting called for the
purpose, issue bonds in accordance with sections sixty-two to
seventy-three, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and twelve of the
Public Statutes, so far as the same can be applied to said
corporation, and may secure the same by a mortgage.
Section 4. Said corporation may locate, construct, maintain and
operate a ship canal, either beginning at some convenient point
in Buzzard's Bay, and running through the towns of Bourne and
Sandwich, or either of them, to some convenient point in Barn¬
stable Bay, or beginning at some convenient point in Nantucket
Sound, near the point where Bass River, so called, in the towns of
Dennis and Yarmouth, empties into said Nantucket Sound, and
extending thence to some convenient point in Massachusetts Bay
or Cape Cod Bay, following the bed of said Bass River during so
much of its course as may be deemed advantageous to said corpo¬
ration ; may locate, construct and maintain all such wharves,
docks, and other structures and works as may be necessary for
the convenient using of said canal, together with the highways
provided for by this act ; and may maintain and operate steam
and other vessels for transportation, and steam tugs, or use any
other means or methods for assisting vessels in their approach to
and passage through and from the canal. Said canal, when
constructed, shall have a depth of not less than twenty-three feet
at mean low water, shall be of a width of not less than ninety feet
at the bottom, and not less than three hundred feet at the top.
The material excavated from the waters in Buzzard's Bay and
Barnstable Bay, or in Cape Cod Bay, Bass River or Nantucket
Sound shall be so disposed of, under the direction of the harbor
and land commissioners, as not to unnecessarily interfere with the
fishing interests ; and material excavated shall be deposited within
the limits of the location of the canal, so far as practicable.
Section 5. Said corporation may lay out and have the location
of its canal, not exceeding one thousand feet wide, and may,
subject to the approval of the board of harbor and land commis¬
sioners, take the fee of land outside of said limits for the purpose
of disposing of the materials excavated from said canal, and shall
file the location thereof with the county commissioners for the
County of Barnstable, defining the courses, distances and bounda¬
ries thereof in the manner provided for filing railroad locations.
Section 6. Said corporation may purchase or otherwise take the
land or materials which have been bought or taken by the Cape
Cod Ship Canal Company, or any part thereof, and any other land
or materials necessary for making and securing its canal, break¬
waters, basins, docks, wharves, gates, highways, or other struct-
5
"ares and works referred to in the preceding section, in the manner
in which land or materials are taken for the construction of
railroads.
Section 7. Said corporation shall pay all damages occasioned by
laying out, making and maintaining its canal, or by taking land or
materials therefor, or to the Old Colony Railroad Company, by
any change of its road required under this act ; and such damages,
on the application of either party, shall be estimated by the county
commissioners for the county of Barnstable, in the manner and
subject to the rules of law provided for determining the damages
for taking land in laying out of railroads. Either party dissatis¬
fied with the estimate of the county commissioners may, at any
time within one year after it is completed and returned, apply by
petition to the Superior court for the county of Barnstable for a
jury to assess the damages, and like proceedings shall be had
thereon as in proceedings for damages for laying out of railroads ;
but all,damages sustained by the Cape Cod Ship Canal Company,
under the provisions of this act, shall be ascertained and deter¬
mined as provided in Section 6 of this act.
Section 8. The Old Colony and Interior Canal Company, within
four months from the passage of this act, may apply to the
boards of railroad commissioners, and of the harbor and land
commissioners, who, for the purposes hereinafter stated, are
constituted a joint board to determine at what point or points the
Old Colony Railroad Company shall cross said canal, by a com¬
bined public highway and railroad bridge or bridges. Said joint
board thereupon, after notice to the Old Colony Railroad Company,
and to all other parties interested, which notice shall be given in
such form as said joint board shall direct, shall determine said
questions, and the decision of a majority of said joint board shall
be final. Said canal company shall construct its canal with 3uch
structures and appliances for its protection and use as said joint
board may order, together with a highway bridge at Back River,
provided the said canal company adopts the Back River route, so
called, and such bridge or bridges, ferries and changes of high¬
ways, under the supervision of said joint board, as shall be
in accordance with plans approved by them, and in conformity
with such orders as they may make.
Section 9. The board of railroad commissioners and the county
commissioners for the county of Barnstable, after due notice to
all parties interested, and hearing of all who shall appear, shall
determine and prescribe, in writing, the time when and the
manner in which the Old Colony Railroad shall alter its location
so as to cross said canal at such point or points as may be deter¬
mined upon by the joint board hereinbefore provided ; and in
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making suck alterations said railroad corporation shall have all the
powers and privileges, and be subject to all the duties, restrictions
and liabilities set forth in all general laws relating to railroads,
except that the damages of land owners shall be assessed only
against and shall be paid by said canal company. The Old
Colony and Interior Canal Company may proceed to build the
railroad upon the new location, and complete the same in such
manner as may be prescribed by the railroad commissioners, and
to their satisfaction, in case the parties do not agree upon the
same ; and shall pay all damages caused by the construction of
said railroad upon such new location, and shall be liable for such
damages as in the case of the construction of railroads. Until
the completion of the new location said canal company shall not
enter upon the old location of said railroad, except for making
surveys, or by consent of the Old Colony Railroad Company, or of
the railroad commissioners. Damages occasioned to the railroad
company by its compliance with the requirements of this act, may
be recovered by it of the canal company in the manner provided
by law for the recovery of damages caused by the location
and construction of railroads.
Section 10. The Old Colony Railroad Company shall have its
location, not exceeding five rods in width, upon any land owned
or located upon by said canal company, up to the said bridge
on each side thereof, provided that all reasonable use of said
location by the said canal company for the purpose of operating
its canal and for highway purposes, and under the direction of
the railroad commissioners, shall be permitted by the railroad
company without payment of rent.
Section 11. The Old Colony Railroad Company, upon the com¬
pletion and acceptance by the board of railroad commissioners of
the newly-constructed railroad and bridge or bridges, as above
provided, may, at its oj)tion, take such iron and other materials as
may remain upon that portion of the line of said railroad which is
to be given up, and shall allow or pay to the Old Colony and
Interior Canal Company the value thereof, such value to be deter¬
mined by the board of railroad commissioners and the county
commissioners of the county of Barnstable in case the parties do
not agree upon the same. The title of the Old Colony Railroad
Company to the land upon the old location of .the Old Colony
Railroad Company shall, upon the completion and acceptance by
the board of railroad commissioners and the county commission¬
ers of the county of Barnstable, of the newly constructed railroad,
become the property of said canal company.
Section 12. Whoever unnecessarily opens, shuts, or obstructs
the draw without the consent of the superintendent, or without
7
such consent makes fast, or moors to, or being in charge thereof
refuses to unloose or unmoor any scow, raft, or other vessel to or
from any of said bridges within wake of the draw, shall pay a fine
of not less than three dollars nor more than fifty dollars.
Section 13. Whoever wilfully injures or damages said bridges,
wharves or piers, or wilfully disturbs or hinders the superintend¬
ent or his assistants in the discharge of their duties, shall forfeit
for each offense a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, and be
further liable in damages to the Old Colony and Interior Canal
Company.
Section 11. The provisions relating to drawbridges contained
in sections one hundred and forty-eight to one hundred and fifty-
five, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and twelve of the Public
Statutes, shall extend to said bridge or bridges, so far as applica¬
ble, except that a railroad train shall be allowed five minutes to
cross said draw, instead of fifteen minutes, as provided in section
one hundred and fifty of said chapter, and except that said draw¬
bridge or bridges may be kept open at all times except when closed
for the actual passage of trains. And the same penalties and for¬
feitures provided in section one hundred and fifty-four of said
chapter, except as said section is hereby changed, shall also be in
force, and may be recovered of the Old Colony Railroad Company,
or any engineer or any superintendent of said bridge, in like man¬
ner as therein provided for the violation of any of the provisions
of sections one hundred and fifty-one and one hundred and fifty-
three of said chapter.
Section 15. The said canal company shall provide and main¬
tain at Bourne, Bournedale and Sagamore, or at Dennis and Yar¬
mouth, according to the location adopted by said canal company
for their said canal, as hereinbefore provided, at such points as
may be designated by the county commissioners, suitable ferries
across the canal for passengers and teams, to be operated free
from tolls, under reasonable rules to be established by the county
commissioners, except that it shall not be required to maintain a
ferry if a highway bridge or tunnel shall be built at or near any
of said places. Said canal company shall forfeit fifty dollars to
said town of Bourne, or to said towns of Dennis and Yarmouth, as
the case may be, for each day after any of said highways is cut
away, in which it shall fail to provide and maintain a ferry or other
means of crossing at that point, to be recovered upon complaint
or indictment in the county of Barnstable, to the use of said town
of Bourne, or of said towns of Dennis and Yarmouth, as the case
may be.
Section 16. The said canal company shall also construct such
highways to connect with the bridge or bridges, tunnel or tunnels,
8
and ferries herein provided for, and such other highways as may
be necessary to replace the highways destroyed by the construc¬
tion of said canal, in such manner and at such times as the county
commissioners for the county of Barnstable shall prescribe, upon
each side of said canal. After the completion of such highways
and their acceptance by the said county commissioners, the said
canal company shall not be responsible in any manner for the
further maintenance of the same, except upon the location of said
canal company.
Section 17. The said canal company shall also make such suit¬
able provision for the continuance of the herring fishery in Monu¬
ment River and Herring pond, or in Bass River and the waters
tributary thereto, as the commissioners on inland fisheries may
prescribe ; and in case of injury to any fishery, including oyster
fisheries, shall pay to the owner thereof such damages as shall,
upon the application of either party, be estimated by said commis¬
sioners on inland fisheries, in a manner similar, so far as may be,
to that provided in laying out highways, and with a similar right
to appeal to a jury by proceedings like those provided for in sec¬
tion seven of this act.
Section 18. The said canal company may establish for its sole
benefit a toll upon all vessels or water craft of whatever descrip¬
tion which may use its canal, at such charges as the directors
thereof may determine ; and may, except as aforesaid, from time
to time regulate such use in all respects as the directors may deter¬
mine. Said corporation may also furnish towage through said
canal for all vessels or water craft which require it, for which
service it may establish, subject to the aforesaid restrictions, a rate
for its sole benefit at such charges as tbe directors thereof may
determine.
Section 19. Whoever fraudulently evades or attempts to evade
the payment of any toll lawfully established under section eight¬
een of this act, either by misrepresenting the register or draught
of any vessel, or otherwise, shall pay a fine of not less than five
nor more than five hundred dollars, and such offense shall be pun¬
ishable in any county in the Commonwealth.
Section 20. Whoever wilfully and maliciously obstructs the
passing of any vessel or steam tug or other water craft in said
canal, or obstructs the approaches to said canal, within two thou¬
sand feet of either extremity thereof, or in any way injures said
canal or its banks, bridge or bridges, breakwaters, docks, wharves,
locks, gates, or other structures or works, lights, buoys, signals,
or anything appertaining thereto, or any materials or implements
for the construction or use thereof, or aids or abets in such tres¬
pass or injuries, shall forfeit to the use of the corporation, for
9
each offense, treble the amount of damages proved to have been
sustained thereby, to be recovered in an action of tort, in the
name of the corporation ; and may further be punished by a fine
not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term
not exceeding one year.
Section 21. Said corporation shall pay to the secretary of the
Commonwealth, on receiving the certificate of incorporation, the
sum of fifty dollars ; and shall also pay to the treasurer of the
Commonwealth such sum of money as shall be fixed by the gov¬
ernor and council, as compensation for the services and expenses
of the boards of railroad commissioners and harbor and land com¬
missioners, and the special board constituted under the provisions
of section thirty for performing the duties imposed on them under
the provisions of this act. Said allowance for expenses shall in¬
clude the compensation for such expert engineers as may be
employed by said boards.
Section 22. To defray the expenses and recompense the county
commissioners for services rendered under this act, it shall be the
duty of said canal company to pay each of said commissioners the
sum of six dollars per day for the time actually consumed in dis¬
charging their duties ; provided, however, that said canal company
shall not be required to pay either of said commissioners for more
than fifty days' service in one year.
Section 23. Everything in chapters two hundred and fifty-nine
of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-three, two
hundred and seventy-four of the acts of the year eighteen hundred
and eighty-four, two hundred and twenty-two of the acts of the
year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and three hundred and
ninety-seven of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-
one, and all other acts relating to the construction of a canal from
Buzzard's Bay to Barnstable Bay, inconsistent herewith or which
might be construed in derogation of the rights, privileges and
powers herein created and conferred, are hereby repealed.
Section 24. Said corporation shall not be required to pay any
taxes to the Commonwealth until the canal shall have been opened
for use for three years.
Section 25. The construction of the approaches to said canal
from the present line of high water upon the shore seaward, at
either end thereof, shall be subject to the provisions of chapter
nineteen of the Public Statutes, and said canal, when completed,
shall be under the jurisdiction of the harbor and land commis¬
sioners.
Section 26. Any corporation organized under the laws of this
Commonwealth may, upon a vote of a majority of its stockholders
present and voting at any meeting called for that purpose, sub-
10
scribe for the stock or bonds of said canal company and pay for the
same a sum not exceeding five per cent, of the capital stock of
such corporation, or may guarantee the payment of the bonds of
said canal company, to an amount not exceeding five per cent, of
the capital stock of such corporation.
Section 27. Said canal company shall, within four months after
the filing of the certificate provided for in section thirty of this
act, deposit with the treasurer of the Commonwealth one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars in cash or in United States government
bonds, as security for the payment of all damages occasioned by
the laying out and construction of said canal, or of taking land or
materials therefor ; one hundred thousand dollars of said one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars shall, subject to the foregoing
liabilities, be forfeited to the town of Bourne or Dennis or Yar¬
mouth, on the first day of June in the year eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight, unless before that date at least seventy-five per cent,
of the trunk of said canal shall have been excavated.
Section 28. Said corporation shall, within five years from the
passage of this act, construct or otherwise complete said canal
through the towns of Sandwich^and Bourne, or through the
towns of Dennis and Yarmouth, but shall not begin to construct
said canal until it shall have filed the location for its said canal
with the county commissioners for the county of Barnstable, as
hereinbefore provided. And if said corporation shall fail to fulfil
any of the obligations of this act, said corporation shall thereupon
cease to exist ; and all rights of way, buildings, machinery or
other property outstanding in the name of said corporation shall
become the property of the Commonwealth.
Section 29. The provisions of this act shall be null and void
unless the aforesaid corporation shall deposit with the treasurer
of the Commonwealth the sum of fifty thousand dollars within
ninety days after the filing of the certificate provided for in sec¬
tion thirty of this act, which sum of money shall be forfeited to
the Commonwealth unless the work of construction is commenced
within one year of the passage of this act. Said sum of fifty
thousand dollars shall be refunded to said corporation when said
canal is in operation.
Section 30. No capital stock or bonds shall be issued under
this act until the terms of such issue and the purposes to which
the proceeds thereof are to be applied shall have been submitted
to and approved by a special board of three commissioners, to be
appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of
the council. Any such commissioner may at any time be removed
by the governor for such cause as he shall in writing assign, and
all vacancies caused by resignation, death or otherwise, shall be
11
filled by the governor, with the advice and consent of the council.
And if they approve the terms of such issue and the proposed ap¬
plication of such proceeds, a certificate setting forth such approval
shall be executed by said board and filed by said company in the
office of the secretary of the Commonwealth. If such certificate
shall not be filed on or before the first day of Januai'y, eighteen
hundred and ninety-four, this act shall be null and void.
Section 31. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
[Approved June 9, 1S93.]
HISTORY IN BRIEF.
As early as the year 1627, the Plymouth colonists had already a
trading post on the location of the canal and had transported,
partly by land and partly by water, their goods across the isth¬
mus to avoid the dangerous navigation around Cape Cod. But
the first project on record in regard to the canal is from the diary
of Mr. Samuel Jewell, of October 26, 1676. On October 26,
1697, the Massachusetts Legislature appointed a Committee to
examine into the practicability of building a canal at this place.
The following is a verbatim copy of a letter written in 1776:
New York, June 10th, 1776.
Sir
Congress having requested my attendance in Philadelphia, I
was in that City, when your letter of the 11th ultimo came to
this place. This day's post affords me the first opportunity of
acknowledging the receipt of it.
I am hopeful that you have applied to Gen "Ward, and have
received all the assistance Mr Machin could give, in determining
upon the practicability of cutting a canal between Barnstable and
Buzzard's Bay ere this, as the great demand we have for Engineers
in this department (Canada Etc) has obliged me to order Mr.
Machin hither, to assist in that branch of business. I thank you
most heartily for your kind Congratulations on the departure of
the troops from Boston and am with very great esteem Sir
Your Most Obedient Servant
Geo. Washington
Hon. James Bowdoin, Boston.
In the year 1825 the general government caused the isthmus to
be surveyed, with this object in view ; but although the report of
the engineers was favorable, and plans, etc., were made, no action
was taken until 1860, when the State of Massachusetts again
caused the isthmus to be surveyed, and the war interrupted the
carrying out of the recommendations of its committees. Many
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surveys have since been made. The undivided opinion of all
prominent engineers has been favorable to the enterprise, its
practicability, and utility.
It is believed that the commercial interests of this country will
be largely benefited by the construction of a ship canal across
the peninsular of Cape Cod, that it will have a tendency to infuse
new life into our now languishing commerce, and that it is essen¬
tial if our government wishes to retain even the present volume
of commerce, that it should aid by constructing the approaches to
the can^l. The importance of this undertaking will be better
understood from the following facts which present its leading
features, as well as the great advantages that the construction of
the canal will offer to constantly growing trade between New
York and Boston.
CONSIDERATIONS SUGGESTED FROM THE REPORTS
OF ENGINEERS, OFFICIAL STATISTICS
AND OTHER INFORMATION.
THE CANAL,
When completed, will connect Barnstable and Buzzard's Bays
across the Isthmus of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
The Trunk of the canal will be an open water-way about
miles long—300 feet wide at the top, 90 feet at the bottom, and
23 feet deep at low water—which is wider than the present Suez
Canal, and ample for the largest ocean or sound steamers to pass
readily.
ADVANTAGES.
The canal will be for all time a natural monopoly, as there is
no other location on the Cape where a water-way could reason¬
ably be built.
It will effect a saving of one-quarter to one-third the usual sail¬
ing distance between Boston and New York (or an average of
more than 100 miles).
It cuts off that section of the New Eugland coast (Vineyard
Sound, Nantucket Shoals, and the exposed sea voyage around the
Cape) most dangerous and expensive to navigation on account of
fogs, narrow channels, adverse currents, shifting sands, and con¬
trary winds, where delays are constant and serious, and wrecks
frequent, causing each year a loss of many lives and hundreds of
thousands of dollars in vessels and cargoes.
During the winter and stormy months this part of the coast is
13
more dreaded by sailors than Hatteras or the Banks of New¬
foundland.
It will largely reduce rates of insurance.
It will be available at all seasons of the year.
It will enable coasters to make three round trips between New
York or Philadelphia and Eastern ports in all weather, where now
they can only make two, in pleasant weather.
By insuring comparatively prompt deliveries it will command
the preference of shippers as well as vessel owners.
By shortening the time (which affects wages, maintenance, in¬
terest on plant, etc.), and reducing insurance for each voyage, of
either steam or sailing vessels, correspondingly lower carrying
charges are possible, and consequent increased volume of tonnage.
Although any vessel afloat can use the canal, by this route sea¬
going vessels are not required,—thereby considerably reducing
their first cost and largely increasing their carrying capacity.
It will also radically change the method of an important class
of coastwise transportation, by enabling heavily laden barges to
be safely towed from Philadelphia and New York to Eastern ports,
at a cost of not over one-half present rates for water-freight and
insurance, a saving of many millions each year to the commerce
of the country.
It opens a safe inland water-way between Boston and the
Great Lakes.
The Cape Cod Canal would practically serve as an extension to
Boston of the Erie, Lehigh Valley, Delaware & Raritan, and
Morris & Essex Canals, as well as to all railways carrying
through freights to or from Boston and vicinity (cars of the latter
being easily carried, at least sixteen cars to one steamboat, and
delivered at destination without discharging). Boats loaded with
grain, lumber, or other produce from any point along these or
other water-ways, or passing through them into New York Bay,
can, without discharging cargo, or breaking bulk, be at once for¬
warded in tows to Boston or beyond, and vice versa, which means
an incalculable saving in time, convenience and actual outlay
over any system now possible.
COAL.
By this route coal (of which it is estimated over 6,000,000 tons
annually are now sent East by water) can be landed at Boston
and other New England ports at 25 to 35 cents per ton less than
at present, thus encouraging materially increased consumption
throughout the extensive manufacturing districts of the New
England States.
u
RIGHTS OF WAY
For the canal have been provided, under the provisions of the
company's charter, together with considerable extra territory for
additional dumping grounds, and for such other purposes as may
prove valuable to the canal company in its future operations.
TIDES AND CURRENT THROUGH CANAL.
Owing to the three hours difference of tides between Barnstable
and Buzzard's Bays, the utmost current through the canal at any
time cannot much exceed four miles per hour, and that only for a
short time twice each twenty-four hours, not more than sufficient
to help keep the channel clear of ice, etc.
EFFECT OF WINTER ON THE CANAL.
The winter seasons at Cape Cod are never sufficiently severe to
close either Barnstable or Buzzard's Bays. A small sloop ran
constantly between Sandwich and Boston for nearly fifty years
with scarcely the interruption of a trip from ice. Long exper¬
ience during the winter months gives full assurance that the con¬
struction and operation of the canal is as feasible from December
to April as at any other season of the year.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
It is proposed to light the canal and its approaches by elec¬
tricity, so that prompt service can be given vessels at all hours of
the night as well as day.
BREAKWATERS.
The breakwaters intended under present specifications are
considered ample to protect the mouths and approaches to the
canal from the action of the sea and formation of shoals, and
sufficient to control the currents. Eventually, extensive harbors
of safety at both ends of the canal may be constructed by the
canal company, with or without assistance from the Government,
which could undoubtedly be obtained. These would be of much
value and convenience to shipping and in operating the canal, but
are by no means essential to its safe and prompt service mean¬
while.
PRELIMINARY WORK
Has been conducted on a liberal scale, such as thoroughly test¬
ing the character of the soil, ascertaining the action of the tides
and currents on the banks of the canal and approaches, etc. The
results of all of this work being exceedingly satisfactory and
clearly demonstrating that, with sufficient working facilities, the
15
canal of full size and depth could be opened to public use within
eighteen months, and earning an ample revenue.
Borings at short intervals the entire length of the canal, and
fullest detailed examinations disclose only mud, sand, gravel and
clay, or a mixture of them. No quicksand or rock formation (ex¬
cept occasional surface boulders) appearing anywhere.
No engineering difficulties are encountered on any part of the
work, though probably no enterprise of similar size and impor¬
tance has ever been so thoroughly studied and reported upon by an
equal number of disinterested engineers of recognized authority
whose opinions so closely agree as to the feasibility and economy
of the undertaking.
OF WORK TO BE DONE.
The estimates and specifications of the company's chief engineer
report about 11,000,000 cubic yards of material to be excavated
from the trunk of the canal and approaches, and deposited on the
banks at distances required to make solid filling, and the ground
along the sides of the water-way valuable for future business
purposes.
One railroad and highway drawbridge with two spans, each at
least 100 feet in the clear, worked by steam pivot from central
pier, and the bridge approaches.
About five miles of railroad changes (complete).
Dredges and other plant to be supplied.
Two (possibly three) ferries constructed and equipped.
Highways, fisheries, piers, docks, warehouses, etc., to be
provided.
About 4,000 lineal feet of breakwaters, to protect mouths of
canal.
Engineering and incidental expenses.
All of which will be fully covered by the details and specifica¬
tions of the contracts made by the canal company with Alexander
McGaw, of Philadelphia, under which the canal will be completed
and open for public use for such securities (or proceeds from the
sale of same) as the company are legally authorized to issue.
PROBABLE VOLUME OF TRAFFIC.
The statistics of water traffic and costs have been taken directly
from official sources, such as the Customs and Light House
reports of Massachusetts and New York, shipping lists, Board of
Trade circulars, and Government returns, the Coal Registers, etc.,
and can be fully verified.
From most reliable information it is estimated that considerably
over one hundred thousand vessels go around the Cape annually,
16
or more than an equivalent of 60,000,000 tons, vide the following
letter from the very highest authority :
LIGHT-HOUSE ESTABLISHMENT,
Office of the Light-house Inspector, Second District, )
Boston, Mass., Sept. 12, 1893. [
Gen. Charles C. Dodge :
Dear Sir—Mr. Samuel Fessenden called at my office to see if
I had retained a copy of the letter that I had written in reference
to the Cape Cod Ship Canal, to a former officer of that corpora¬
tion. Unfortunately, I had not done so, but being professionally
interested in the scheme, which I regard as of the utmost stra¬
tegical importance, to say nothing of its inestimable commercial
value, I can readily express my opinion. I do not think it a
question of theory at all, but of so palpable a necessity, that it is
surprising to me that capitalists do not put their money into it,
for the income from the capital invested is assured beyond the
shadow of a doubt. I only regret that I cannot become finan¬
cially,, as well as professionally, interested in the matter. The
tonnage, now passing around Cape Cod, would surely be diverted
through the canal. Not only time, but great wear and tear, inci¬
dent to the passage around the Cape, involving much greate
expense than canal tolls, would be avoided. The moment vessels
enter Vineyard Sound, strong, variable and dangerous cross-cur¬
rents of great strength are encountered, to say nothing of tem¬
pestuous weather. The two combined make it about as dangerous
navigation as can be found anywhere. All this would be avoided
by going up Buzzard's Bay, where there is deep water, no shoals,
and where the tidal currents run directly up and down the bay,
and not across, making the navigation perfectly simple and secure
from danger. This route can be followed, no matter what the
prevailing weather conditions may be at the time, whereas, if the
outside or Cape Cod route is taken, vessels cannot fight against
adverse winds and currents, and are frequently delayed days at
anchor. This means much loss of time and money. At least
60,000,000 tons now pass over this dangerous ground, and more
or less of it would surely pass through the canal. Scarcely a week
passes that vessels are not wrecked upon the treacherous shoals
of Nantucket and Vineyard Sound. Insurance rates would be
much lessened were the canal established. In fact, there is, in
my opinion, based upon knowledge of the dangers and require¬
ments, every reason why the canal should be established, and
none why it should not. I am entirely disinterested in a pecu¬
niary or financial way, but hope to live to see the canal a fait
accompli; and it would be a wise move if the Government itself
bore half the expense of establishing it, purely in the interests of
strategical defense.
Very truly, Geo. F. F. Wilde,
Comdr. U. S. JV.,
Lt. Ho. Inspector.
17
AGAIN.
Between New York and Eastern ports the canal will make pos¬
sible a change in the method of coal and other transportation
(from sailing vessels and steamers to steam barges and fleets of
barges drawn by steam barges or tugs), by which from one-third
to one-half of the present freight cost can be saved, or three to five
times the canal toll (a saving wholly independent of, and in addi¬
tion to, the advantages this route would offer to ordinary ship¬
ping), thus compelling such traffic to use the canal.
The present established lines of steamers, coastwise and
through the Sound, must use this short, safe, and certain route,
or others will, and the former lose their trade. These, therefore,
can reasonably be counted for the canal.
We may safely estimate, then, coal
that would now naturally come
through the canal, with constantly
increasing tonnage, as 6,000,000 tons
Say one-half the coal vessels return
loaded with lumber, granite, ice,
and other coarse freight, we
have 3,000,000
The other half in ballast, at half
price, would equal, say 1,500,000
10,500,000 tons
Add to these the outside lines of
steamers from Boston—the Met¬
ropolitan to New York, and lines
to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
Savannah ; also the Main Line of
regular steamers from New York
to Portland and Bangor, and
all other craft, etc., equivalent
to, say 15,000,000 tons
Allowing for all Sound steamers,
each way daily, and drawing
through freight from the present
Fall River, Stonington, Norwich,
New London, and Providence
lines (the steamers of the Old
Colony Steamboat Co. alone reg¬
ister a very large tonnage),
would give for 300 days, say 5,000,000 tons
Making
30,500,000 tous yearly.
18
Note.—Through the single lock now in use (at St. Mary's)
there passed (from April to December) mi 1892 12,580 vessels,
carrying 11,214,333 tons of freight (being more than three times
the number of vessels which passed through the Suez canal, and
the freight was greater by more than three million tons).
The coal traffic, for the same period, was 2,904,266 tons.
The average toll for the years 1890, 1891, 1892, from the an¬
thracite regions to tide water, was $1.70, or about 40% of the
wholesale price ; while it is found that 76t4ïï5ô-% of the total dis¬
tribution of coal goes to New England and the Middle States. It
is stated that for a series of years coal from New York to Boston
has paid, during the winter months, from 73 to 78 cents per ton
more than the coal sent to Providence, and that the average freight
to Boston per year had been about $1.32, and for the four winter
months about $1.53 per ton by water. Mr. Clemens Herschel's
table shows for ten years the average difference for that period
from Philadelphia to Boston to have been forty-two (42) cents,
and from New York to Boston fifty-five (55) cents, as compared
with the ports on Long Island Sound, and he concludes " That
sailing vessels would pay from ten to fifteen cents per ton freight,
and steamers nearly if not quite the same for privilege of going
through the canal d It will therefore be readily seen that by hav¬
ing an open market all the year round, and a uniform rate of
freight, the advantages to the purchaser, as well as to the shipper
and miner must be incalculable.
It is the intention of the canal company later on to build or
lease coal-carrying steamers, with a capacity of about 4,000 tons
each (which, except as to first cost, can be run as cheaply as
steamers carrying 2,000 tons), and to have the power and equip¬
ment necessary for each steamer to tow one or two barges of
equal capacity, as is done by the wlialebacks on the lakes, thus
reducing coal-carrying charges to a minimum to all New England
points.
The above estimate makes no account of the saving in passen¬
ger traffic to the steamboats, and is exclusive of the vast amount
of transient and irregular shipping which can safely be reckoned
for as much more. The steamers paying the railroads one dollar
in winter and one dollar and a half in summer per passenger to
and from Boston, the number of passengers so carried per annum
being difficult to estimate accurately, all or nearly all of which
would be so much clear gain to steamers using the canal route.
Thus it seems clear that if the low estimate of 50% or less of
the shipping around the Cape should avail itself of the canal,
there would be a volume of yearly traffic exceeding 30,000,000 of
tons.
19
Besides this, there is a railway business in and out of Boston
of many million tons of freight, and many million passengers
yearly, from which the canal business should be largely increased.
It must not be forgotten that all these estimates are based not
on business to be gradually built up and waited for, but on the
average yearly traffic noto existing ready to avail itself of the
canal as soon as completed, and that must become more and more
dependent upon the facilities the canal will supply and for which
it can afford to pay the canal company liberally.
ESTIMATE OF REVENUE.
The average actual cost of going around the Cape is estimated
at 25 to 40 cents per ton (of the $1.05 average freight rate per
ton between New York and Boston by water).—Herschel's de¬
tailed calculations and tables of coal freights.
If one-half of this cost be charged for
going through the canal, including tow¬
age, we should have a toll of not less
than 10 cents per ton. Say 50% of the
estimated shipping around the Cape goes
through the canal, or 30,000,000 tons, at
10 cents, we have each year $3,000,000
Annual interest on $7,500,000 first mort¬
gage bonds, at 5% $375,000
Annual expenses of operating canal and ad¬
ministration charges 250,000
For Sinking Fund, contingencies, improve¬
ments 250,000
10% interest on stock 750,000
1,625,000
Surplus $1,375,000
Should only one quarter of the estimated shipping around the
Cape go through the canal it would pay 5% on the bonds, $250,000
for operating expenses and administration, $250,000 for Sinking-
Fund, improvements, etc., and leave $625,000 net balance, or
about 9% on the stock.
It is confidently believed that the traffic from the coal trade
alone will ultimately support the canal, that is, will pay all operat¬
ing expenses and interest on the Canal Company^s securities, with
an ample surplus for Sinking Fund or other purposes.
It is evident however, that 90 per cent, of the Eastern coasting
traffic must eventually make use of the canal and thus provide a
proportionally increased revenue to the company.
20
ENDORSED BY BUSINESS MEN WHO WOULD
USE THE CANAL.
As a few vessel owners, whose present interests are opposed to
the canal, claim that it would not be used if constructed, it seemed
desirable to obtain some expression of opinion from prominent
manufacturers and shippers of merchandise and raw materials
relative to traffic for the proposed canal. The following circular
was signed in less than two days by leading houses in their seve¬
ral lines in Boston, representing capital approximating
$150,000,000 and doing a volume of business annually estimated
at considerably more than $300,000,000, ample evidence being
developed that this class of endorsement could be secured in
New England and New York to almost any extent from the best
and largest shippers in the country.
" Boston, Mass.
" We, the undersigned, hereb}7 certify that it is our firm belief
that the Cape Cod Ship Canal, once made an open water-way of
dimensions sufficient to allow the easj7 and safe passage of ship¬
ping. would be of very great value to the coastwise commerce of
the United States, and of general value to all the commerce of the
country, and of especial importance to all shippers by water in
New England. And such a canal, wisely managed, we should cer¬
tainly use, and for the using be willing to pay reasonable tolls."
Signed, etc.
ENGINEERING.
Probably no work ever contemplated or executed in this
country or elsewhere has had the amount and quality of engi¬
neering study that this work has had, it having been investigated
from time to time through a period of more than 100 years by
the most eminent engineers of their day, private, State and gene¬
ral government, such as Machin, called from this particular work
by General Washington in 1776, for service in the Revolution,
and since by Hills, Baldwin, Sullivan, Perault, Abert, Blake,
Wilkinson, Davis, Professors Mitchell and Bache, Generals
Bernard, Totten, Foster and Warren, and later Herschel, Ray¬
mond, Greene, Morrison, Corthell, Justin Dirks, and others; all
men of national reputation in connection with important public
works.
The studies of many of these engineers are matters of record
in voluminous reports and maps and charts, and the opinions of
all, without exception, may be summed up fairly in the words of
General Foster, in his report to the Chief of Engineers, in 1870
who said ;
In conclusion, I desire to briefly recapitulate ; that I con¬
sider the construction of a ship canal across the Isthmus, from
21
Buzzard's to Barnstable Bay, as perfectly practicable ; that the
proposed location is admirably chosen, all the physical features
being favorable ; that the canal may be made deep and wide
enough for the heaviest vessels to pass through in either direc¬
tion ; that it may and should be made an open canal, without
locks, in order to accommodate the greatest number of vessels
that may present themselves for passage, and at the same time
keep the canal free from ice ; that the canal is a necessity to navi¬
gation, in order to avoid the dangers and disasters around the
Cape ; that it will be of great commercial value, from the saving
in time, insurance, and interest that it will make ; that the canal
will be of great military importance in time of war ; and that a
breakwater at the Eastern terminus is necessary as a protection
to the mouth of the canal, and important as a harbor of refuge
for vessels navigating the bay.
[Signed] J. G. Foster,
Brevt. Major-Gen. U. S. A.
Lieut. Col. Engineers.
These conclusions have been amply verified by the present
canal company, and its very elaborate and extensive surveys, bor¬
ings, and preliminary excavations, show no serious engineering
difficulty anywhere, and in this connection the following Con¬
gressional report, made in 1884, ma}r be of interest :
48th Congress,) HOUSE OF ( Report
1st Session, j REPRESENTATIVES. [No. 2040.
CAPE COD SHIP CANAL.
July 2, 1884.—-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
state of the Union and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Hoblitzell, from the Committee on Railways and Canals,
submitted the following
REPORT:
[To accompany bill H. R. 6320.]
The Committee on Railways and Canals, to whom was referred
the bill (H. R. 6320) making an appropriation for the con¬
struction of a breakwater and harbor of refuge at the northern
end of the Ca,pe Cod Ship Canal, having carefully considered
the same, respectf ully submit the following report :
The Cape Cod Ship Canal Company has a history coeval with
the planting of the colony at Plymouth, and to recite it would
exceed the limits of an ordinary report.
22
In October, 1697, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay-
appointed a committee and ordered a survey of the proposed
canal. On the first of May, upon the very threshold of the Revo¬
lutionary war, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay said,
a Whereas it is represented to this Court that a navigable canal
may without much difficulty be cut through the isthmus which
separates Buzzard's Bay and Barnstable Bay, whereby the haz¬
ardous navigation round Cape Cod, both on account of the shoals
and enemy, may be prevented and a safe communication between
the colony and the southern colonies be so far secured," resolved
to appoint a committee to examine the location, with power to
employ surveyors and assistants for that purpose. This com¬
mittee employed Thomas Macliin, then in the service of the
Continental Congress, as chief engineer.
In 1870 Bvt. Maj. Gen. J. G. Foster, lieutenant-colonel of
engineers, in an elaborate report forwarded to the Forty-first
Congress, third session, said " that a breakwater at the eastern
terminus is necessary a3 a protection to the mouth of the canal,
and important as a harbor of refuge for vessels navigating the
bay." Maj. Gen. G. K. Warren, lieutenant-colonel of engineers,
in his report, which Secretary Lincoln forwarded to the Forty-
seventh Congress, first session, emphasized the importance of
breakwaters for the eastern, or Barnstable Bay, entrance of the
canal.
In addition to the fact that a breakwater is indispensable, and
that all the enginers who have surveyed the route of the canal
have earnestly recommended the breakwater to be constructed by
the Government, there is still another argument in its favor. A
breakwater on the Barnstable Bay end of the canal would furnish
the only safe and available harbor of refuge for shipping passing
around Cape Cod.
And this leads your committee to call attention to the danger
of Cape Cod. The number of marine disasters occurring in the
vicinity of Cape Cod in a period of seventeen years, from 1843 to
1859, inclusive, was 827, of which there is a record, to wit, four
steamers, 40 ships, 71 barques, 191 brigs, 492 schooners, and 29
sloops. The character of these losses may be classified as fol¬
lows : Total loss, 500 ; partial, 327. The aggregate money loss in
the 108 cases was reported to have been $1,835,500.
Assuming this list to be a fair average of the 500 reported as
having suffered a total loss, the amount of loss for the 500 vessels
would be within a fraction of $8,500,000, showing an annual loss
in this class of shipments of a half million of dollars. For a
period of ten years, from 1859 to 1869, there were lost 13
steamers, 23 ships, 32 barques, 100 brigs, 446 schooners, and 3
sloops. Total, 617 wrecks ; total losses, 211 ; partial losses, 406.
Without, therefore, following a record of losses for the last fifteen
years, or speculating upon the number of vessels wwecked of
which there is no record, your committee call attention to the loss
of the steamer the City of Columbus, which went down upon the
rocks of Gay Head. All these disasters occurred on a length of
steamer line of only 160 miles, all of which dangerous wrater-way
will be cut off by the Cape Cod Ship Canal.
The dangers of the Cape once avoided by the canal your com-
23
mittee are impressed by the immense benefits that will accrue to
commerce. The Cape Cod Ship Canal, wdiile it may appear to be
local in its character, will prove far-reaching and beneficent in its
results. The canal will reach out into the fertile and golden
harvest fields of the Northwest, and the cotton and cane fields of
the South. It will touch and quicken the pulse of every in¬
dustry, and become the direct, safe, and certain highway for the
commerce of the country ; the grain and timber, the ore and
fuel of the West, passing through the great chain of lakes, into
the Chicago and Detroit Rivers, thence into the Erie Canal and
Hudson River, may be sent hence by way of the Sound through
the Cape Cod Ship Canal to Boston without rehandling. Boston
is 180 miles nearer to Liverpool than New York, and why not
give New England this outlet for manufactures'?
There is now invested in manufactures in Massachusetts a capit¬
al of something more than $300,000,000. The products of these
manufactures in 1882 amounted to $631,000,000. The success of
manufacturing and this wonderful business depends upon the
motive power to a very great extent supplied by fuel. In 1883
there were about 3,000,000 tons of coal imported into Boston.
The competition of the canal, it is confidently believed, will re¬
duce the cost of coal from 25 to 50 cents per ton, because the cost
of transportation will be largely reduced. The canal will reduce
a loss of life to a minimum, cheapen the rates of marine insur¬
ance, give the sixty thousand vessels that pass the Cape annually
{and that are now fog-bound and tempest-tossed for from six
hours to thirty days), direct and safe passage coming and going.
Your committee would call attention to the fact that the com¬
pletion of the Cape Cod Ship Canal will save seven hours and one-
quarter of time between Boston and New York, and reduce the
distance one-fourth, or say from 93 to 110 miles of travel.
General George Washington, at the very dawn of the Revolu¬
tionary War, saw the value of such a canal as a military defense,
and General Foster, of the engineer corps, in his report upon
this subject says :
" In fact, the military advantages of the proposed canal, in time
of war, will fully equal its commercial value in time of peace, as
by its inner and shorter lines it will enable our vessels of war to
anticipate and baffle the operations of an enemy's fleet, operating
on the outside around the Capes. We will thus secure, in
addition to the interior line of operations, the element of time,
which is as important in naval as in military operations."
Your committee say in conclusion, that an enterprise so
national in its scope, so beneficent in its character, deserves and
should receive immediate and substantial aid from the Govern¬
ment for the construction of this breakwater and harbor of
refuge.
The committee recommend the passage of the bill with the
accompanying amendments.
The great improvements within the past few years in machinery
for automatic excavating and disposing of material do away
almost entirely with manual labor and vastly simplify the whole
subject of canal construction.
24
In these times, when all questions relating to labor are so
serious that capitalists hesitate to become connected with enter¬
prises requiring the work of large numbers of men, the fact that
the construction and operation of this canal are comparatively
free from this element of difficulty and danger, makes it unique
among the great undertakings of the day.
The use of automatic dredges and towing facilities, which de¬
pend almost entirely upon steam rather than manual labor, leave
but few men ever necessary on the canal.
Fast lines of triple-screw propellers (Sound steamers) can leave
their piers in upper New York as late as eleven o'clock each even¬
ing and, by the canal route, land passengers and freight at
Boston (or vice versa) by nine o'clock the next morning, without
the disturbance or inconvenience now necessary for transfer at
unseasonable hours of freight, etc., to railroad trains at the New
England Sound ports, which seriously interferes with the rest and
comfort of passengers, and adds to the fatigue while detracting
much from the pleasure of the present journey by boat. Not¬
withstanding these disadvantages, the popularity of the water
route during at least seven or eight months of the year has long
since been amply demonstrated, and it is often difficult, days in
advance, to secure state-rooms during the busy season, though
accommodations are considerably increased each year.
What patronage would lines have which could insure a quiet,
unbroken voyage through from one city to the other ? And at a
reduction of fares, too, commensurate with the saving of present
railroad charges to Boston from New London, Stonington, Provi¬
dence, Newport, Fall Biver, etc.
The actual cost to steamboats continuing right through the
canal to Boston (or the reverse) when steam is up and crews, etc.,
on board, would not be half what it costs now to bank fires and
merely put freight, etc., on to the trains, to say nothing of what
must be paid the railroads for transportation.
It is also contemplated later on to add day lines of steamers,
leaving New York and Boston in the morning, making connec¬
tions with the night trains.
As to the proportion of coastwise traffic that would probably go
through the canal, the distance-Mithis route being only j[58 miles,
as against J|28 by rail.
Taking into account the saving of distance, an average of over
100 miles bv water.
Of Time—From 8 to 12 hours for steamers, and 12 to 48 hours
for sailing vessels, which means not only great economies for
maintenance and operation, but 3 round trips for every two that
are now possible.
25
From 15 to 20 hours over the present fast rail freight alone, and
a large saving over steamer and rail combined.
And of Insurance—a large item for vessels and cargoes by the
present outside route ; remembering also that shippers in select¬
ing vessels will consider these conditions as fully as vessel owners
or captains.
The question arises : Can coasters who for any reason might be
disposed to go round the Cape, successfully compete in securing
freights and in making freight rates, etc., with those who take
advantage of the short, safe passage through the canal ?
It does not seem possible. Hence we believe that instead of
depending upon a traffic each year of only 30,000,000 tons, which
has been the basis of all estimates so far, the canal company
would soon have to provide for 40,000,000 tons (of the more than
60,000,000 tons now yearly going round the Cape), with corres¬
ponding revenue resulting therefrom.
LEG-AL STATUS.
The organization and all the proceedings of the Old Colony
and Interior Canal Company have been under the constant advice
and guidance of eminent corporation attorneys and counsel of
New England and New York, whose course in the above connec¬
tion has been reviewed and approved and repeatedly confirmed by
the Legislature and highest Courts of the State of Massachusetts
and the State Commissioners establishing in the strongest terms
the special charter and status of the company in all its present
and future rights and privileges, and the validity of its contracts,
every condition so far required to permanently insure the same
having been fully complied with by the present company.
PAYMENTS ONLY FOB COMPLETED WORK.
No money or securities are payable except as per the following
resolution of the board and the certificate issued by the State
Commissioners.
" Hesolvecl : That this company do prepare ready for issue, en¬
graved certificates of the capital stock of the company, in con¬
formity with Section 2 of the Act of Incorporation, and also pre¬
pare in conformity with the provisions of said Sectio^ and of
Section 3, ready for issue engraved coupon or registered bonds
to an amount not exceeding in the aggregate the amount of the
capital stock. Said bonds to be secured by a first mortgage
covering all the rights, franchises and property of the company
now owned or hereafter to be acquired, and to bear interest not to
exceed five per cent., payable semi-annually, January and July
26
1st, each year, and the principal thereof to be due 50 years from
January 1, 1894, principal and interest payable in gold coin.
" -Resolved: That said entire capital stock and bonds be en¬
graved and deposited with the Old Colony Trust Company of
Boston, Mass., to be held by said company as trustee, and to be
paid out by them solely for the purposes named in said Act, to wit :
For labor performed and materials furnished in the construction
of the canal, and for property acquired for the purposes of the
canal, and to provide means for funding the floating debt of the
company, or for the payment of money borrowed for any lawful
purpose.
"Resolved : That any contract or contracts for the construction
of the canal, where payment is made either wholly or in part in
securities, be submitted primarily to the Commissioners for their
approval before execution.
" Resolved : That the President of this company be directed to
forward forthwith a copy of the above Resolutions to the Board
of Commissioners mentioned in Section 30 of the Act of Incor¬
poration, in order that the company may be in position to con¬
clude any contract or contracts proper for the completion of the
canal under the terms of its charter."
" I, Benjamin W. Gilbert, Clerk of the Old Colony and Interior
Canal Company, hereby certify that the above is a full and true
copy of a resolution passed December 20, 1893, by the Board of
Directors of this company.
"Benjamin W. Gilbert,
" Cleric, Old Colony and Interior Canal Col
"CERTIFICATE OF CAPE COD CANAL COMMISSIONERS.
"Whereas, the Old Colony and Interior Canal Company, a corpor¬
ation duly organized under the provisions of Chapter 463 of the
Acts of the year 1893, have submitted to us a resolution adopted
and recorded by said corporation at a meeting held December 20,
1893, duly called for the purpose, setting forth the terms of the
proposed issue of their capital stock and bonds, for the purposes
named in said Act,
" Now therefore, this is to certify that we, as special Commis¬
sioners duly appointed under the provisions of Chapter 463 of the
Acts of the year 1893, by virtue and in pursuance of the authority
therein conferred upon us and of all other power and authority
us hereto enabling, do hereby approve of the preparation for issue
of seven and one-half million dollars divided into shares of $100
as the capital stock of said corporation, and also the preparation
27
for issue of seven and one-half million coupon or registered
bonds. Said bonds may be secured by a first mortgage in the
manner authorized by Section 3 of said Act, covering all the
rights, franchises and property of the company now owned or
hereafter to be acquired, and shall bear interest not to exceed
five per cent. ¡3er annum, payable semi-annually on the first days
of January and July of each year, the principal thereof to be due
and payable 50 years from January 1, 1894 ; the principal and in¬
terest of said bonds to be payable in gold coin.
" The entire amount of capital stock and bonds is to be deposited
with the Old Colony Trust Company of Boston, and is to be used
by the said Old Colony and Interior Canal Company solely for the
purposes set forth in said Chapter 463 of the Acts of the year
1893, and is to bo issued by said Old Colony Trust Company only
with our approval in writing.
[Signed] " Clement K. Fay,
" George T. McLaughlin,
" Alpheus H. Hardy.
"December 23, 1893."
Commissioners appointed under Section 30 of Chapter 463 of
the Acts of the year 1893.
" Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
" Office of the Secretary,
" Boston, December 30, 1893.
" The foregoing is a true copy of a certificate filed in this office
on the thirtieth day of December, in the year eighteen hundred
and ninety-three, by the Old Colony and Interior Canal Company.
" Witness the seal of the Commonwealth.
[seal] "Wm. M. Olin,
" Secretary of the Commonwealth.
THE CANAL AGE.
According to the published calculations arid estimates of well-
known American, English and European statisticians and writers
on political economy as relating to commerce, the actual cost for
freight carriage by railroad as compared to xoater transportation is
given as three to one in favor of the latter.
A growing appreciation of this fact by mercantile communities
within the past few years has directed constantly increasing-
attention to the opening up of new water-ways and the develop¬
ment and extension of present water facilities all over the world.
Not only individuals and corporations, but governments, have
devoted much time and money, with the ablest engineering talent
28
available, to the consideration of possible routes, estimates of
work and costs, gathering of data as to tonnage, revenues, etc.,
with a corresponding investigation of and stimulation to the
invention and construction of various kinds of machinery and
appliances best adapted to this purpose. The results have been
remarkable and widespread in enterprises already completed or
projected.
Satisfactory evidence of this we find in the large financial and
commercial successes of the Suez canal ; the great canal from
Amsterdam to the North Sea, and many others through Holland
and Belgium ; the Potiloff, from Cronstadt to Petersburg, in
Russia ; the Grecian canal, across the Corinthian Isthmus ; the
famous canals of China; the Weiland and others in Canada ; the
Erie, Lehigh Valley, Delaware and Raritan, Morris and Essex,
Dismal Swamp, Mississippi and Lake Bourne, Sault Ste. Marie,
etc., of our own country—all paying well and of great advantage
to the public, though in their operation and general management
full justice has as yet been done to but few of them in comparison
with their possible service, especially in the United States, where
they have always suffered from the powerful opposition of the
railroad interests.
There are proposed, and more or less under way, the Panama,
the Nicaraguan, the Birmingham and Gloucester, and the Man¬
chester canals (the latter just completed) ; the Ship canal from
the Bay of Biscay to the Gulf of Lyons, and in Germany from
the Eider to Kiel Bay (both of these latter being guaranteed by
Government funds) ; the Russian canals connecting the Caspian
and Black Seas, the Baltic and White Seas, the Baltic and Sea of
Azof; that from Paris to Rouen, from Marseilles to the River
Rhone, from Bordeaux to Narbonne, from Marseilles to the
English Channel, from Brussels to the Atlantic, the Sardinian
canal, etc.
In America the Chesapeake and Delaware, the Atlantic and
Mexican Gulf, or Okefonokee Swamp canal, seventy-four miles
across the Peninsula of Florida ; the Hennepin, and others in the
interior States or connecting the lakes, etc.—all grand undertak¬
ings, and sure of being carried out in the near future as necessary
channels for the natural tide of business, whose rapid growth is
demanding every facility possible for its quickest, safest and
cheapest transit.
The whole subject of this canal invites the most exhaustive
investigation as to the facility and cost of its construction, main¬
tenance and operation, its relations to commerce and the great
coastwise carrying trade already existing between New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston, with the many other impor¬
tant ports east of Cape Cod.
29
This traffic is bound to go on increasing almost without limit
from growth of population and development of manufactures and
general business throughout the New England States, with corre¬
sponding reciprocal relations to the commerce of the whole
country, which traffic, compelled by natural laws, must always
largely use this short, safe water route.
From the Review of Reviews, November, 1893.
INLAND WATER-WAYS FOR THE NORTHWEST.
BY EMORY R. JOHNSON.
Cheapness and uniformity of rates of transportation have be¬
come a vital requisite of industrial development, and especially is
this true in the United States. The ores of Michigan and Wis¬
consin are hundreds of miles from the coal by which they are
smelted. The forests of the upper Mississippi Valley and of the
vast region drained by the Columbia River and its tributaries are
the chief sources of the lumber which must be distributed over
the United States. The products of the farms of the North, the
South and the far West must travel thousands of miles to reach
the manufacturing centres of the Atlantic seaboard and the
markets of Europe. When such facts as these are taken into ac¬
count, it is no wonder that the United States should have the
greatest domestic commerce of any nation in the world. The figures
are so large that but little conception of the real magnitude of the
transportation business by rail in this country is formed by the
statement that the railroads of the United States are 171,363 miles
long, that they carried nearly 700,000,000 tons of freight during
the year ending June 30, 1891, and that the number of tons
freight moved one mile—i. e., the total ton mileage—was over
eighty billion ton miles. The statement that so slight a reduc¬
tion in tariffs on railroad rates as a mill per ton per mile means a
saving of nearly one hundred million dollars a year to the gen¬
eral public doubtless teaches more concerning the magnitude of
our traffic by rail and the importance of its being carried on at
cheap rates.
The development of our inland water-ways has been slower than
the progress of the railroad. From the panic of 1837 until after
the Civil War the improvement of inland navigation received but
little attention, while the railroad, especially after 1850, spread
with phenomenal rapidity into all parts of the United States. *
THE HISTORY OF OUR WATER WAYS.
The water-way has had a different history. Following the de¬
feat which the small, ill-equipped canal and the unimproved natu¬
ral water-ways of the first third of this century naturally enough
sustained in their attempt to compete with the railroads in the gen-
30
eral carrying business and in both local and distance traffic, came
a period during which the public was apathetic toward water¬
ways. In the meantime a profound change has taken place in
the industrial organization of society, a change that has revolu-
tioned the entire transportation business. Great cities have
grown up and manufactures have concentrated in them. The
West has been pouring forth her vast stores of raw materials that
cannot find a market without being shipped long distances. Huge
trunk lines and transcontinental roads have arisen to meet the
new conditions of the carrying trade. The part "which the water¬
way, and especially the canal, must play in commerce to-day dif¬
fers from its rôle of sixty years go. This fact seems to be self-
evident ; but it has not been generally recognized.
A REVIVAL OE INTEREST.
A renaissance of general interest in the water-way is in jmogress.
Its functions, as an agent of commerce, are being studied to de¬
termine to what extent its extension and larger use can reduce
the costs of transportation. The International Congress on In¬
land Navigation, which meets biennially in different parts of
Europe, is doing much to promote the technical improvement of
the water-way and to throw light on the economic aspects of the
question of water transportation, and numerous conventions in
the interest of water-ways have met in the United States during
the last three years. * * *
SOME SUGGESTIVE STATISTICS.
The public is no longer apathetic concerning the extension and
wider use of inland water-ways. The steadily increasing demand
for cheap rates has led shippers to increase the volume of water
traffic, and the liberal policy which Congress has pursued in the
improvement of natural water routes has made possible the rapid
growth of this inland commerce. The statistics of the traffic on
our more important natural water-ways show this in a striking way.
During the census year, 1889, the Ohio River above Cincinnati,
including its branches, had a fleet of 5,214 boats and barges, by
means of wThich 10,744,063 tons of freight, mostly coal, were car¬
ried. The ton mileage of this freight was over two billion ton
miles, or two and seven-tenths per cent, of the ton mileage of the
rail traffic of the entire United States during the year ending 1890.
The freight on the rivers of the Mississippi Valley in 1890 was
placed at 31,050,058 tons. This is about five per cent, of the ton¬
nage of the railroads for the same year, and is probably less than
the amount actually transported. The freight traffic on the Hud¬
son River, during the same year, was 15,000,000 tons, or, includ¬
ing the 3,500,000 tons that it received from the State canals of
New York and floated to tidewater, 18,500,000 tons—a sum nearly
31
equal to three per cent, of the total rail freight. The Great Lakes
are, of course, not only our greatest waterway, but the most im¬
portant inland highway of commerce in the world. The traffic is
enormous. During the year ending June 30, 1892, 10,107,603
tons of freight passed St. Mary's lock, between Lake Superior and
Lake Huron, en route for such distant ports as Chicago, Cleve¬
land, Buffalo and Liverpool. The tonnage of the Great Lakes is
equal to ten per cent, of that carried by all our railroads, while
the ton mileage of this lake freight is fully twenty-five per cent, of
that of the railroads.
TRAFFIC ON INLAND WATER-WAYS.
The magnitude of the traffic on the important inland water-ways
of the United States is well illustrated by the following compari¬
son : The Pennsylvania Railroad, on the 459 miles of its main line,
the world's greatest freight carrier, had a traffic of 69,036,245 tons
in 1890, a sum a little larger than the freight on the Great Lakes
and New York canals. The Reading's main line, 327 miles in
length, had a traffic of 15,625,482 tons, nearly the same as the
Hudson River. The New York Central and Hudson River Rail¬
road carried on the 849 miles of its roads 29,473,879 tons, practi¬
cally the equivalent of the traffic on the Mississippi River and its
tributaries. The total tonnage on these three trunk lines, whose
combined length is 1,605 miles, was 114,135,558 tons ; the four
water-ways named carried very nearly the same amount—
112,916,233 tons. But this is comparing tonnage ; were the ton
mileage of each contrasted the water-ways would make a much
larger showing than the railroads.
THE PROBLEM NEEDS THOROUGH STUDY.
The problems involved in considering the position which water¬
ways should occupy in the transportation business of the United
States are many and by no means simple. The prerequisite of
progress toward a solution of the questions of transportation is a
study of the economic and commercial conditions of the various
parts of the United States and of the country as a whole. The
surest way to promote a particular enterprise * * * is to
instruct the public generally—and according to the recent testi¬
mony of a member of Congress, this instruction ought not to be
denied congressmen—concerning the industrial conditions and
economic needs of the East and the West, and the relation which
each section bears to the other. The industrial statistics are
fairly complete for the purposes of this study ; but the data col¬
lected concerning inland navigation are fragmentary and insuffi¬
cient. The census collects no statistics of traffic on canals, and
neglects all but the most important natural water-ways. The an¬
nual report of the Chief of Engineers contains a large amount of
32
information regarding many water-ways, but this material, in its
present unclassified form, is of little instructional value. When
shall we follow the example of France and collect and classify full
statistics of inland navigation ?
The commercial functions of rivers and canals call for separate
study. The two differ from each other, and the services of each,
both as independent routes of traffic and as agents of commerce
operating conjointly with the railroads as complementary parts of
a general system of transportation, should be separately investi¬
gated. Only with this information in hand can the questions—in
what cases the levy of tolls on waterways is justifiable and desir¬
able ; to what extent the construction and improvement of navi¬
gable routes should devolve upon corporations ; and, what share
of these works should be governmental enterprises—be easily and
reliably settled. " Knowledge is easy unto him that understand-
eth," but " a little learning is a dangerous thing."
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WATER-WAYS AND
RAILROADS.
Attention may here be directed to the most vital one of these
problems : The relationship which should exist between water-ways
and railroads in the business of transportation. There is need of
some means of efficient control of the tariff charges of the rail¬
roads. The very central position which they occupy in the indus¬
trial organization of society places in the keeping of the railroads
the weal or woe of trade. Competition, one with another, cannot
be relied on to prevent rates from being either exorbitantly high,
or, what is equally to be deprecated, to keep them from being
forced at times to a ruinously low point. It should be recognized,
once for all, that consolidation and monopoly, and not competi¬
tion, is the natural law of railway operation ; the law which ought
to, and does most largely, control the relations of railroads with
each other. The history of railroads and their present tendencies
are a verification of this statement. The more important lines
have tended constantly to absorb the weaker ones ; and, at present,
the leading roads are rapidly consolidating under the management
of a few gigantic corporations. It may be urged that strong com¬
petition exists among these great companies for both passenger
and freight traffic, that wars and rumors of wars are frequent ;
nevertheless, nothing is better established than that the direct
competition is necessarily limited to the comparatively few places
which are terminal points or way cities whose freight has the
choice of two parallel roads. Competition is by no means always
present where its existence is possible ; nor does it always operate
as a blessing. The maintenance of two competitive roads, where
one is capable of doing the business, is assuredly no economy ;
33
and the normal effect of excessive rate cutting is either to prevent
the best possible improvement of equipment, or to cause the road,
when possible, to follow up the war with increased tariffs to pay
the cost of the conflict. In other words, competition among rail¬
roads is of limited extent, and does not furnish an economical law
of railway management.
THE WAY TO SECURE CHEAP RATES.
The surest and best way to secure cheap rates is to develop
independent water-ways. In the first place, the independent water¬
way whose size, character of construction and equipment make
possible the use of steam traction, of large barges or modern lake
and river boats, is an efficient regulator of the tariffs of competing
railroads. Concerning this point the testimony is so abundant, so
unanimous and so commonly known that it is not necessary to
reiterate the statistics which might be cited to show the influence
exerted by the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes, the Erie Canal
and other of our water-ways. Steam traction has become a neces¬
sary condition of a large development of inland navigation. The
towpath is no longer the path of progress. The phenomenal
growth of commerce on the Great Lakes, the Hudson and Ohio
rivers and other large water courses, where improvements have
been possible in navigation, corresponding in part, at least, to the
development of the railroad, shows that these classes of water¬
ways meet the conditions of commerce. This, however, is not
true of the inland barge canal. The Amsterdam, the Suez, the
Manchester and the Corinth canals are highly efficient agents of
transportation. The reason is a simple one ; their dimensions and
construction are such as to allow the commerce of the water-way
with which they connect—in this case the ocean—to pass freely
in and out of them. It may be said that in most cases the barge
canal ought to be navigable for the unrigged craft, the river boats
or the lake vessels of the natural water-way whose course the
canal is built to improve or to extend. There is also a limited
field for the profitable use of the purely barge canal ; as, for in¬
stance, the connection of a large interior coal mine, forest or gran¬
ary of agricultural products with important distant centres of con¬
sumption or distribution. In these cases, however, the volume of
freight must be large ; the banks of the canal protected against
destruction incident to the use of steam traction—or of electricity
should that prove a better power—and the barges used be of
good size. The German engineer, Ewald Bellingrath, has put the
minimum load of the canal barge at 500 tons, which would be over
twice the capacity of the barges used on the Erie Canal and about
three times the average load—181.67 tons—of the freight trains
of the United States.
34
WATER COMPETITION A HELP TO RAILROADS.
The second fact which is of importance concerning the relation
of the water-way and the railroad is that water competition is not
only an efficient regulator of rail tariffs, but is also a help to the
railroad. The competing water-way does more than compete, it
aids and complements the railroad. This is a fact that is gener¬
ally entirely overlooked, and yet what a striking demonstration of
its truth is afforded by that portion of the North which lies imme¬
diately about the Great Lakes ! Here the greatest of all inland
water-ways is surrounded by a network of the most important rail¬
roads of the world. The water-way and the railroads have each
contributed to the growth of Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwau¬
kee, Chicago, Duluth and the other large lake ports, and the rapid
development of these cities has in turn brought the railroads a
constantly increasing volume of freight and passenger traffic. The
improvement in 188G of the Main River, Germany, between the
cities of Mayence and Frankfort, resulted in a large traffic by
water ; but this increase was fully equaled by the growth in
the freight by rail. In the Rhine Valley the percentages of an¬
nual increase in the freight carried by rail and in the traffic on the
water-way run about parallel.
The water-way can add to the net revenues of the competing
railroad, and for reasons not far to seek. Most of the freight
carried by the w7ater- way is of the kind on which the railroads realize
a very small net revenue. Operating expenses often include
ninety per cent, of the freight receipts from coal, ore and stone.
To the extent that the railroads are relieved of this bulkv freight,
c O '
does it become possible for them to develop their fast freight and
passenger business, and to use their plant more largely in carrying-
on this profitable traffic. The natural influence of the water-way
is to increase travel and add to the volume of high-grade freight,
by promoting manufacturing, developing trade, and stimulating
the growth of large cities. Thus, competition between the two
means of transportation does not mean antagonism. They ought
to be co-ordinated, and transhipment from one to the other made
as convenient as possible. The railroad by its numerous lines is
the chief distributor of manufactured products ; the primary
function of the waterway is to cheapen the materials that enter
into manufacture. The two ways are complements of each other
and attain their greatest usefulness only when closely co¬
ordinated. * * *
PROSPECTIVE CANAL ROUTES.
The importance of a lake ship canal from Pittsburgh to Lake
Erie is not generally appreciated. It would not be of only local
significance, but would benefit the entire North from Pittsburgh
to the Rocky Mountains. There is at present a rail traffic of
35
about two million tons of coal and five million tons of ore between
Lake Erie and the region about Pittsburgh. A commission
appointed by the State of Pennsylvania has already reported the
construction of the canal to be feasible. The Senate passed a bill
directing the United States engineers to make a preliminary sur¬
vey of a route for the water-way; but the House did not concur,
and the project still remains an unsettled question.
The connection of the Great Lakes with the American seaboard
is a project which can be only tentatively discussed until surveys
of possible routes have been made and estimates of cost have been
submitted. Concerning two points, however, one can speak with
assurance: one of these is, that the canal, once completed, would
be of very great commercial and industrial importance ; the im¬
petus which the Erie Canal gave the agricultural development of
the old Northwest Territory and the commerce and growth of
New York was great; but this would pale into insignificance in
comparison with the important and far-reaching effects which a
lake ship canal from the Great Lakes to the sea would exert upon
the present varied and complex industrial activities of the vast and
rapidly developing region of the great Canadian and American
Northwest. The steel steamers now being launched on the lakes
are larger and stronger than many of the steamships that ply the
ocean. The average capacity of the lake ship ranges from 1,750
to 3,000 tons ; some have a total displacement of 4,800 tons; and
cargoes have been carried as large as 3,737 net tons.
THE SHIPS OF THE GREAT LAKES.
The use of the sailing vessel for carrying bulky freight lias been
well nigh displaced from the Lakes by the screw steamer. The
loaded steamer usually tows two schooner-rigged consorts. Five
years ago the largest steamers engaged in the transportation of
coal and ore carried about 1,200 tons on fifteen feet of water, and
towed two schooner-rigged consorts, each having a load of 1,600
tons; the total load of the three ships being 4,400 tons. Since
then the total load has been nearly doubled. Visitors to the
World's Fair have become familiar with the new form of lake
steamer, the " whaleback," invented by Mr. Ira Harris, of West
Superior, Wis. The first whaleback steamer built, the "Colgate
Hoyt," carries 2,400 tons with a draft of fifteen feet of water, and
tows two consorts each bearing 2,650 tons, making the total load
transported 7,700 tons. The superiority of the whaleback over
the old form of steamers is so great as to promise a revolution in
water transportation, not only on the lakes but on the ocean as
well.
These are the conditions that exist with a possible draft of six¬
teen and sixteen and a half feet of water. The channels will soon
36
allow a twenty-foot draft. A canal large enough to float the ships
soon to be used on the lakes would also be a water-way for ocean
vessels. It is a fact of great significance in this connection that
ninety-five per cent, of the ocean freight is carried in ships draw¬
ing twenty feet or less of water, and ninety per cent, in vessels
of not more than eighteen-foot draft. The tonnage on a twenty
or twenty-one foot water-way between the Great Lakes and the
ocean would surely be larger than on any artificial water-way that
has yet been constructed. The Suez Canal opened a highway for
the commerce with India ; but what is that in comparison with
the present and possible future traffic, east and west, between the
American and Canadian Northwest and the Atlantic States and
Europe !
ADVANTAGES OF A NEW YORK TERMINUS.
The second point, concerning which there ought to be no
doubt, is that, as far as the interests of the United States are
concerned, the water-way from the Great Lakes to the ocean
should pass through our own territory, should terminate in New
York. The St. Lawrence route is of great importance to Canada ;
by it she hopes to join her eastern and western domains with the
strong ties of commercial intercourse. It would be of great ad¬
vantage to her, also, to divert the products of our Northwest from
the lines they now follow to the Atlantic States and Europe.
Canada's interests, however, are not ours. Our chief concern is
to connect the Northwest with the great cities of the Eastern
States ; they are our chief markets. With us domestic commerce
ranks first ; foreign trade second; and our domestic commerce
has little love for Canadian waters. * * *
ETHICAL ASPECTS OF TRANSPORTATION.
Throughout this discussion attention has apparently been di¬
rected solely to the material aspects of cheap transportation, but
in considering this question the fact is not to be overlooked that
industrial conditions merely constitute the setting in which the
real life of individuals and society is placed. He is not moved by
material motives alone who strives to cheapen the cost of trans¬
portation and thus to vary and amplify the industrial activities of
society. The work is also ethical. While it is true that the pri¬
mary forces by which social progress is secured must be those
that so touch the inner life of men as to change their intellectual
and moral nature, still these forces can be efficient in a large de¬
gree only when the objective conditions of the economic environ¬
ment of men make possible the elevation of their standard of life.
Social and industrial progress cannot be separated. Cheap trans¬
portation is essential to both.
Canal route
Present Steam Ship routes
Sailing directions
Railroads.
t'nslma
Bournedule
Nine thousand feet to one inch.
Plymouth
idieboro
MerehaTn
Barnstable
UVbEl
Bridge por
0 SOLOJ^D
ship cajuhi Route
BOSTON and NEW YORK
BETWEEN
The Coast lines on this map aro copied frotn the 0. S.
Post Route map, and the shoals and sailing directions are
taken from the U. S. Coast Survey Charts
GEO. H. TITCOMB, Engineer.
Scale : Eighteen miles to one Inch
BOSTON TO NEW YORK.
By Canal route 258 mile»
• Vineyard Sound route 334 « dif. 76 miles,
o Outside route 398 » n Î40 n