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Gaylord Bros.
Makers
Syracuse, N Y.
PAT. JAN. 21. 1908
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Reprint from " The New Science Rcvi<n\" July, lHhh.
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( THE CAKALS OF COMMERCE. )
By Prof. Lewis M. Haupt,
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Consulting Engineer, the Trades League of Philadelphia,
The life of trade is limited by the facilities which exist
for the interchange of commodities, while these facilities are
in turn restricted by the physical obstructions to transit.
It is readily understood that transportation upon water is
much cheaper than that over land, and hence it is possible to
ship goods to much more distant points over the former than
over the latter medium, at the same cost.
Although the continents are intersected by and enclosed
within water-ways, yet their configuration is such that long
detours are often required between the commercial termini,
which frequently doubles the time in transit and reduces cor¬
respondingly the prospective revenue of the carrier, consignor,
and consignee. As a stimulus to commerce, manufactures,
agriculture, and allied industries, it is of great economic value
to determine how to reduce the time required for a vessel to
make her trip without too large an outlay of c&pital. The
problem is most readily solved by reducing distances, where
possible,by means of canals through the isthmuses connecting
the countries to be circumnavigated.
The carrying trade of the world has grown so rapidly, and
has attained such magnificent dimensions, as to have justified
the outlav of hundreds of millions of dollars for the construe-
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tion of existing ship canals like those of Suez, Corinth, Man¬
chester, Sault Ste Marie, anji others.
That canal best fulfills the requirements of commerce which
saves the greatest percentage of distance in proportion to its
length, and is at the same time so constructed as to permit
vessels to navigate it in the least time. In this respect the
. H Ef 38 j
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2 The Canals of Commerce.
Nicaraguan route is pre-eminent, as, with but 26.8 miles of
canal proper and 142.6 of river and lake navigation (total,
169.4), a distance of 10,000 miles around Cape Horn may be
saved to the commerce of the world on each interoceanic trip.
The traffic through this canal shbuld far exceed that through
the Suez Canal, which is now over eight million tons; yet
at the low estimate of only five million tons, at $2 per ton
for freights and tolls, the revenue would be $10,000,000, or
10 per cent, on the estimated cost of $100,000,000. The
engineer's estimate was, however, less than $70,000,000,
which should be sufficient to cover all construction expenses.
The experience of Suez would fully justify this undertaking,
as being one of the best financial projects in the engineering
world. The Suez Canal is one hundred miles long, cost about
$1,000,000 per mile, and was built under great physical and
financial difficulties, yet it is carrying a large traffic; its
shares are held at over $500, par being $100, and they have
paid 23 per cent, dividends.
Another canal, which may not have attracted much atten¬
tion in the foreign market, but which is carrying the largest
tonnage of any artificial channel in the world, is the link con¬
necting the waters of Lake Superior with those of the Saint
Mary's River. There is but one lift-lock built to overcome
the twenty-two feet fall of the rapids of the " Sault," yet this
lock has been enlarged several times, and a third and still
larger lock is now under contract, while the depths of the
water-way is being increased from sixteen to twenty feet. The
tonnage last year approximated eleven million, while that
passing through the Detroit River, which included the traffic
of Lakes Michigan and Huron, was estimated to be nearly
forty million tons. Most of this is transhipped at the lower
lake terminals to the railroads, although a large portion of
the grain passes to the Atlantic sea-board via the Erie Canal,
which is but a shallow seven-feet water-way, carrying in some
seasons as much as four million tons.
On the other side of the border, the Dominion Government
is just about completing another large lock on its own terri¬
tory, to surmount the " Soo " rapids into Lake Superior, and
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The Canals of Commerce.
8
it has expended over $54,000,000 in the enlargement of its
canals connecting Lake Erie with the ocean, so as to secure
a fourteen-feet channel through the picturesque valley of the
St. Lawrence River. As this is double the draught now
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available via the Erie Canal, the commercial value of the
Canadian water-way should be eight times that of its Ameri¬
can competitor.
THE INTRA-COASTAL SYSTEM.
Probably nowhere in the world do there exist so great
physical possibilities or so imperative commercial necessities
for a deep-water canal as along the Atlantic sea-board of the
United States. This coast-line, from Cape Cod to Florida
Reefs, is a succession of sand-bars, dunes, and islands, inclos¬
ing large bays, sounds, and navigable streams, and having
comparatively few inlets where deep-draught vessels may
safely penetrate this enciente of sand, and find a safe refuge
from storms. The great risks to maritime property are
shown by the reports of the Life-Saving Service, which state
that for the year ending June 30, 1893, the value of the ves¬
sels risked between Capes Cod and Hatteras was $2,825,765,
while their cargoes aggregated $962,375, making a total of
$3,788,140. The number of disasters during the year was
two hundred and fourteen, and the value of the property de¬
stroyed was $1,146,395, while that saved was valued at
$2,641,745—so that 29 per cent, of the property risked was
lost. The greatest number of disasters (sixty-six) occurred
that year in the Second District, which embraces the coast
of Massachusetts, and the next largest number was on the
coast of Few Jersey, where there were forty-seven wrecks.
From Few York Bay to the Delaware Capes, one hundred
and seventy miles, there are no harbors of refuge, and even
the Delaware Breakwater is no longer available for deep-
draught vessels, while to the coasters it has proven very dis¬
astrous, for within a period of eighteen months no less than
fifty vessels have been wrecked within its shelter.
This is but one of many good reasons for the immediate
opening of a capacious interior water-way along this coast.
4
The Canals of Commerce.
A more convincing and practical one, however, is the econ¬
omy which would he effected by the great reduction in dis¬
tance between our populous centres of industry. Thus the
Cape Cod Canal, which is projected to connect the waters of
Buzzard's Bay with Cape Cod Bay, at Sandwich, and is about
nine miles long, will reduce the distance between Boston and
New York from three hundred and ninety-eight to two hun¬
dred and fifty miles, a saving of one hundred and forty miles,
or 35 per cent. The canal across New Jersey, from the
Raritan Bay to the Delaware River, thirty-four miles long,
would reduce the distance from two hundred and seventy-
three to about ninety miles, effecting an economy of one
hundred and eighty-three miles, or over 67 per cent.; while
the enlargement of the present Chesapeake and Delaware
Canal, with a ten-feet draught and a length of fourteen miles,
would reduce the distance by water between Philadelphia
and Baltimore from four hundred and thirty to one hundred
and twelve miles, a saving of three hundred and eighteen
miles, or 74 per cent.
Thus it will appear that by the reconstruction or enlarge¬
ment of fifty-seven miles of canals, the present outside dis¬
tances between these populous centres could be reduced from
one thousand one hundred and one to four hundred and
fifty-two miles, a saving of 60 per cent. This in itself would
be an ample justification for the expenditure of a very large
amount of capital to secure the result, but the physical con¬
ditions of the country which would be traversed by these
canals is such that the actual cost of construction would be
comparatively small. The estimated cost of the New Jersey
link is $12,500,000, while the Delaware enlargement could
be completed to tide level for $5,000,000, with the improved
machinery now available.
As the tonnage now afloat on the waters from Long Island
Sound to Chesapeake Bay amounts to over 70,000,000, of
which a large percentage would be greatly benefited by the
creation of these connecting links, there would seem to be no
question as to their financial success; and the dense popula¬
tion, tributary to this highway of commerce, is a sufficient
The Canals of Commerce.
5
guarantee to the statistician of an ample revenue from the
existing and rapidly-increasing traffic of this canal.
Another great canal which is now under construction is
the one connecting Lake Michigan with the Illinois River at
La Salle, for the double purpose of providing an outlet
through Chicago to the commerce of the Mississippi Valley,
and for purifying the water supply. This water-way is to be
one hundred and sixty feet wide at bottom and twenty-two
feet deep, and is estimated to cost over $25,000,000.
Surveys have been completed also for a ship canal from the
Ohio River near Beaver to Lake Erie, to provide a cheaper
line of transportation for the ores and coal of western Penn¬
sylvania, Ohio and vicinity, to the territory of the upper lake
region.
Among the later canals of Europe, mention should he
made of the iNorth Sea and Baltic, sixty-one miles long,
eighty-five feet wide at bottom, one hundred and ninety-six
at top, twenty-eight feet deep, and estimated to cost $40,000-
000. Of this sum Russia is to pay one-third and Germany
the balance, and the economy to be effected is the saving of
about two hundred and seventy miles and the losses inci¬
dental to a dangerous coast. Although the deepest cutting
was ninety-eight and one-half feet, the average cost per mile
was estimated at only $660,000.
The Amsterdam, built to replace the Horth Holland
Canal, is but fifteen and one-half miles long, eighty-eight
and one-half feet wide at bottom, and twenty-three feet deep.
The total cost was $15,000,000, and its effect in stimulating
the commerce of the city was pronounced.
It has been proposed to make Berlin a seaport by the con¬
struction of a ship canal, and a similar suggestion is under
consideration with reference to Paris, while numerous canals
of lesser proportions are projected to complete the internal
water-ways of the "old country."
The attention being given to these cheaper lines of traffic,
and their beneficent effects upon humanity, certainly augurs
well for the future as a stimulus to increased industrial ac¬
tivities.