j
THi MISSISSIPPI Al MICHIGAN CANAL,
GT^XjXJEXD IFOia SHOieT
THE HENNEPIN CANAL.
To the Honorable
The Senate and House op Representatives
op the United States:
Oentlemen :
Your attention is most respectfully solicited to the following
synopsis of facts in favor of the construction of the Hennepin
Canal, many of which will more fully appear in documents here¬
tofore presented for your consideration :
I. It is a national work, for it connects, by a canal of only 74
miles long, many States through the great water-ways of the
continent—the Lakes—with the Mississippi.—See map.
II. Such authorities as Mr. Niramo and Mr. Fink, railway
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commissioner, have shown that the reduction of freights hy the
Lakes and the Erie Canal benefits all the States of the seaboard,
way down to Georgia.
in. The upper Mississippi States paid into the National Treas¬
ury on account of internal revenue, in 1884, $30,005,933. Illinois
alone paid $23,520,216. The bill for the Hennepin Canal, now
before you, appropriates only $300,000 towards its construction—
only one per cent, of what the States specially claiming your
attention to it paid into the Treasury. But it is certain that it
would also be equally beneficial to the whole country. Is not,
therefore, the demand of the people, east and west, for this canal
modest, reasonable, and entirely just?
IV. There is, and can be, no job in it, for it is proposed that it
be constructed by the engineers of the Government, under the
direction of the Secretary of War. The entire cost of the canal
complete is carefully estimated by Major Benyuard, U. S. Army,
at le.ss than $7,000,000. The money saved to the people in freights
caused by this canal, if then completed, on the crop of 1880, was
estimated at $3,482,667—enough to pay for the canal every two
years. But let us be more specific, and take the crop of 1884.
V. Official Government estimates for the crop of wheat in the
Upper Mississippi States for 1884 were—
Suppose only one-half is to be shipped eastward, for consump¬
tion there and export, and we have 502,961,500 bushels; if only
one cent per bushel were saved to the people by water transit, the
amount would be $5,029,615 ; at five cents per bushel, the fabu¬
lous sum of $25,148,055 would be left in the pockets of the
people.
But the mere movement of the two cereals eastward will not
furnish half the business of the canal. Barley, oats, animal pro¬
ducts, and other articles will swell the amount immensely; while
tlie coal and iron of Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, groceries
and other merchandise, will funiish a vast business from the
Bushels.
Wheat
Corii -
188,849,000
837,574,000
Total
1,025,923,000
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eastward—certainly enough to leave in the pockets of the people
more than the cost of the canal every year.
It is evident that this canal is a part, and a most essential part,
of the improvement of the Mississippi, on which vast sums are
spent every year, making directly available 600 miles of naviga¬
tion above Rock Island, and, say, 200 miles below ; thus giving
to the people along that great water-way of the continent access
to the cheaper Lake and Erie Canal lines to the seaboard. It
would be worth millions to them every year.
VI. Water transit for freights is the cheapest possible. As an
example : Coal was carried at an average charge for the season
from Erie and Buffalo to Chicago, about 1,000 miles, for 64 cents
per ton; thence to the Mississippi river, 200 miles, the charge
was $2.00; for the next 100 miles it mounts up to $4.00 per ton
from Chicago, and in Western Iowa and Minnesota it runs up¬
ward to a much higher figure.
Congress, by liberal appropriations, deepened the channel
through the St. Clair flats so that steamers with several barges
could be used. This put down the freight charges between Chi¬
cago and Buffalo six cents per bushel. Following the spirit of
the age, the Legislature of the State of New York wisely aboli.shed
the tolls on the Erie canal, and this reduced freights to New York
six cents more, so that the all-water transit between Chicago and
New York, instead of being 17 and 20 and even 25 cents, as a few
years ago, now rules at about six cents, sometimes a fraction above,
and occasionally a small fraction below that figure. In summer
the all-rail freiglits per bushel are generally a fraction above
that of water, depending upon competition and the demand for
export ; but in winter the prices range from 12 to 21 cents per
bushel. No comment is here needed.
Take another example. The freight on a bushel of wheat be¬
tween Northern Iowa and Chicago, some 400 miles, is and has
been for the season 10.8 to 16.8. From points in Nebraska and
Southern Minnesota 16.8 to 21 cents; the highest figure being
more than the cost of transporting a bushel of wheat in June last
from Chicago to Liverpool, about 4,500 miles—showing at least
4,000 miles, for the same price, in favor of water transit. So oppres¬
sive have been the enormous freight charges for some time past
that wheat was sold west of the Missouri river for 30 cents per
bushel, and corn for 12, making its value by the ton less than that
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of coal, so that producers have actually hurned it for fuel. It is,
therefore, plain, that if Congress does not want the vast fertile
West—the Upper Mississippi Valley—to go back to its primitive
desolation, they must provide cheap water transit for its cereal
and other products.
The water lines from New York by canal and lake now end at
Chicago. With the Hennepin canal they w^ould he extended to
St. Paul. Instead of the freight on a bushel of wheat between
Minnesota and Northern Iowa and Chicago being from 16 to 21
cents per bushel, Major Benyuard has shown that by river and
canal it would be only 6 cents. This would reduce the cost of
the bread on every table of the people of the seaboard States
from 12 to 20 per cent, for every day in the year. It would also
leave millions of money among the people of the Upper Missis¬
sippi States. Again it is asked, is not the Hennepin canal a most
important national work ?
VH. Nearly every intelligent man and body of men who ex¬
amine the project carefully, and without prejudice, cordially
indorse tlie measure. Memorials have been sent to Congress in
its favor by the Boards of Trade of Chicago, St. Paul, Minnea¬
polis, La Crosse, Duluth, Davenport, Rock Island, Buffalo, Syra¬
cuse, and New York. The National Board of Trade in W^ashing-
ton, and the industrial Congress, at its meeting in Chicago in 1884,
strongly urged the construction of the canal. The Legislature of
Iowa has indorsed the measure five times. The Legislature of
Illinois, and the State Senate of New York have also urged its
construction. The Produce Exchange of New York having some
3,000 members, the largest and probably the most conservative
body of commercial men in the country, have indorsed it strongly.
They say that—
Whereas, The completion of a water-way from the Mississippi
river to Lake Michigan by the construction of the Hennepin
canal promises to realize advantages of national importance; and
Whereas, There are insuperable obstacles in the way of hav¬
ing such improvement carried out by private enterprise; and
Whereas, The building of the Hennepin canal may justly he
regarded as part of the improvement of the Mississippi river ;
Therefore,
Resolved, That in the opinion of the New York Produce Ex¬
change the United States Government should undertake to build
the Hennepin canal and to maintain the same free for all tinae to
come ; and further,
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Resolved, That our Senators and Representatives be requested
to join the Representatives of other States in providing the neces¬
sary legislation for carrying out this plan.
That this canal will benefit the whole nation there cannot be a
particle of doubt. The vast grain-producing States of the North¬
west must have cheaper transit, if America is to retain her su¬
premacy in the markets of Europe. Russia, Hindostán, and
Australia, are striving earnestly to get the control of that market,
and would not its loss to us be a calamity to every State in the
Union ! !
Even the railways themselves it is believed would be benefited
by this improvement, for it would relieve them from the carriage
of heavy products, stimulate passenger travel almost indefinitely,
and vastly increase the amount of all kinds of merchandise which
the people would order by them, and consume. It would ward
off all hostile legislation and vindictive Granger movements, sure
to assume gigantic proportions if the present enormous freight
charges are stubbornly continued. The construction of this canal
would, therefore, be a great boon to the railways themselves.
While perhaps somewhat a competitor, it would really be their
best, their most enduring friend.
Enrich the people of the vast and immensely productive States
of the Upper Mississippi Valley, and you benefit and enrich the
entire Nation. In fact, connect by the Hennepin Canal the vast
water ways of the Mississippi Valley with the Great Lakes, and
you complete for this country the most needed—aye the most im¬
portant—commercial enterprise of the age !
In behalf of the fifty-one members of the Michigan and Missis¬
sippi Canal Commission.
Very truly, your obedient servant,
Wm. Bross,
Of Chicago.
Washington, January 28, 1885.