PART FIVE

GREAT CANALS OF THE WORLD

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GREAT CANALS OF THE WORLD.

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THE SUEZ CANAL.

The Suez Canal is usually considered the most important example of ship canals, though the number of vessels passing through it annually does not equal that passing through the canals connecting Lake Superior with the chain of Great Lakes at the south. In length, however, it exceeds any of the other great ship canals, its total length being 90 miles, of which about two-thirds is through shallow lakes. The material excavated was usually sand, though in some cases strata of solid rock from 2 to 3 feet in thickness were encountered. The total excavation was about 80,000,000 cubic yards under the original plan, which gave a depth of 25 feet. In 1895 the canal was so enlarged as to give a depth of 31 feet, a width at the bottom of 108 feet and at the surface of 420 feet. The original cost was $95,000,000, and for the canal in its present form slightly in excess of $100,000,000. The number of vessels passing through the canal in 1870 was 486, with a gross tonnage of 654,915 tons; in 1875, 1,494 vessels, gross tonnage 2,940,708 tons; in 1880, 2,026 vessels, gross tonnage 4,344,519 tons; in 1890, 3,389 vessels, gross tonnage 9,749,129 tons; in 1895, 3,434 vessels, gross tonnage 11,833,637 tons; in 1900 3,441 vessels, with a gross tonnage of 13,699,237 tons, and in 1903, 3,761 vessels, with a gross tonnage of 16,615,309 tons. The revenue of the canal is apparently large in proportion to its cost, the latest report of the company for 1903 giving the net profits for that year at 65,579,347 francs, and the total amount distributed among the shareholders 64,565,634 francs, or over 12 per cent of the estimated cost of $100,000,000. The following statement regarding the condition of the capital account is from the Statesman's Year Book of 1901:

The state of the capital account as regards bonds in circulation and redeemed was as follows on December 31, 1899:

There were, besides, 100,000 founders' shares, with right to participate in surplus profit under certain conditions. In 1903 the net profits amounted to 65,579,347 francs, and the total amount distributed among the shareholders was 64,565,634 francs.

The canal is without locks, being at the sea level the entire distance. The length of time occupied in passing through the canal averages about eighteen hours. By the use of electric lights throughout the entire length of the canal passages are made at night with nearly equal facility to that of the day. Tolls charged are 8.50 francs per ton net register, "Danube measurement," which amounts to about $2 per ton United States net measurement. Steam vessels passing through the canal are propelled by their own power.

THE CRONSTADT AND ST. PETERSBURG CANAL.

The canal connecting the Bay of Cronstadt with St. Petersburg is described as a work of great strategic and commercial importance to Russia. The canal and sailing course in the Bay of Cronstadt are about 16 miles long, the canal proper being about 6 miles and the bay channel about 10 miles, and they together extend from Cronstadt, on the Gulf of Finland, to St. Petersburg. The canal was opened in 1890 with a navigable depth of 20 1/2 feet, the original depth having been about 9 feet; the width ranges from 220 to 350 feet. The total cost is estimated at about $10,000,000.

THE CORINTH CANAL.

The next of the great ship canals connecting bodies of salt water in the order of date of construction is the Corinth Canal, which connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Gulf of Ægina. The canal reduces the distance from Adriatic ports about 175 miles and from Mediterranean ports about 100 miles. Its length is about 4 miles, a part of which was cut through granitic soft rock and the remainder through soil. There are no locks, as is also the case in both the Suez and Cronstadt canals, already described. The width of the canal is 72 feet at bottom and the depth 26 1/4 feet. The work was begun in 1884 and completed in 1893 at a cost of about $5,000,000. The average tolls are 18 cents per ton and 20 cents per passenger.

THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL.

The Manchester ship canal, which connects Manchester, England, with the Mersey River, Liverpool, and the Atlantic Ocean, was opened for traffic January 1, 1894. The length of the canal is 35 1/2 miles, the total rise from the water level to Manchester being 60 feet, which is divided between four sets of locks, giving an average to each of 15 feet. The minimum depth is 26 feet, and the time required for navigating the canal from five to eight hours. The total amount of excavation in the canal and docks was about 45,000,000 cubic yards, of which about one-fourth was sandstone rock. The lock gates are operated by hydraulic power; railways and bridges crossing the route of the canal have been raised to give a height of 75 feet to vessels traversing the canal, and an ordinary canal whose route it crosses is carried across by a springing aqueduct composed of an iron caisson resting upon a pivot pier. The total cost of the canal is given at $75,000,000. The revenue in 1902, according to the Statesman's Yearbook, was £358,491, and the working expenses, £217,537. For the year ending June 30, 1903, the canal yielded £55,105 toward paying the £225,000 of interest which the city of Manchester has to pay on the capital invested in the enterprise.

THE KAISER WILHELM CANAL.

Two canals connect the Baltic and North seas through Germany, the first, known as the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, having been completed in 1895 and constructed largely for military and naval purposes, but proving also of great value to general mercantile traffic. Work upon the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal was begun in 1887, and completed, as above indicated, in 1895. The length of the canal is 61 miles, the terminus in the Baltic Sea being at the harbor of Kiel. The depth is 29 1/2 feet, the width at the bottom 72 feet, and the minimum width at the surface 190 feet. The route lies chiefly through marshes and shallow lakes and along river valleys. The total excavation amounted to about 100,000,000 cubic yards, and the cost to about $40,000,000. The number of vessels passing through the canal in 1903-4 was 32,038, with a tonnage of 4,990,287, and the dues collected amounted to 2,414,499 marks.

THE ELBE AND TRAVE CANAL.

A smaller canal, with a length of 41 miles and a depth of about 10 feet was opened in 1900, known as the Elbe and Trave Canal, and is described by the International Yearbook, 1900, as follows:

"The Elbe and Trave Canal, in Germany, was opened by the Emperor of Germany on June 16, 1900. It has been under construction for five years, and has cost about $5,831,000, of which Prussia contributed $1,785,000 and the old Hanse town of Lubeck $4,046,000. The length of the new canal is about 41 miles, and is the second to join the North Sea and the Baltic, following the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal (or Kiel Canal), built about five years ago at a cost of $37,128,000. The breadth of the new canal is 72 feet; breadth of the locks, 46 feet; length of locks, 261 feet; depth of locks, 8 feet 2 inches. It is crossed by 29 bridges, erected at a cost of $1,000,000. There are seven locks, five being between Lubeck and the Mollner See (the summit point of the canal) and two between Mollner See and Fauenberg-on-the-Elbe. At this point it may be noted that the Germans began experiments during 1900 with electric towing on the Finow canal between Berlin and Stettin. A track of 1-meter gauge was laid along the bank of the canal, having one 9-pound and one 18-pound rail laid partly on cross-ties and partly on concrete blocks. The larger rail serves for the return current, and has bolted to it a rack which gears with a spur wheel on the locomotive. The locomotive is 6 feet 10 inches by 4 feet 10 inches, mounted on four wheels, with a wheel base of 3 feet 6 inches, and weighing 2 tons. It is fitted with a 12-horsepower motor, current for which is furnished by a 9-kilowatt dynamo, driven by a 15-horsepower engine. The current is 500 volts, and is transmitted by a wire carried on wooden poles 23 feet high and about 120 feet apart. The boats are 132 feet long and 15 feet 6 inches beam, and carry from 150 to 175 tons on a draft of 4 feet 9 inches. During 1900 the Stettin-Swinemund Canal, with a length of 35 miles, has been dredged throughout, and is now open to steamers drawing 22 feet of water. Swinemund is on the Baltic Sea. Among the various projects for European canals may be mentioned one connecting the Danube a little below Vienna, Austria, with the Adriatic Sea at Trieste, a distance of about 319 miles. Herr Wagenfahrer, of Vienna, is said to have the concession for this canal, the construction of which will cost some $120,000,000. Late in 1900 a canal from Liege to Antwerp, in Belgium, was being seriously discussed, in order to connect the prosperous city of Liege with the sea, and make it, like the city of Manchester, England, a seaport. The original promoter of the scheme was Mr. Joseph Redonti, who is now dead. Mr. Redonti's plans have recently been put in practical shape by Louis Hubin and Gaston Delville, who propose a canal 84 miles long, 200 feet wide, and 23 feet deep from Antwerp to Liege, with locks at Liege, Hasselt, Herenthals, and Antwerp. The difference in level to be overcome by locks would be 175 feet, and it is thought that thirteen single locks and one double lock would be sufficient. The total estimated cost of the work is $25,200,000."

CANALS PROJECTED IN PRUSSIA.

According to a recent report of the United States Consul-General Geunther, of Frankfort, Germany, the committee on canals of the Prussian Diet has reported, with a favorable recommendation, a bill providing for the following construction:

The entire cost of the projects named is placed at 334,575,000 marks ($79,628,850).

The construction of these works is to be commenced only if, before July 1, 1906, the provinces and municipalities or other political divisions have obligated themselves to pay their share of the cost, the interest thereon, and the deficit which may not be met by tolls. The shares of the cost of construction, and interest thereon, is fixed as follows: Rhine-Herne Canal, 24,300,000 marks ($5,783,400); interest 3 per cent. Bevergern-Hanover Canal, 37,350 marks ($8,889,300); interest 1 per cent, the first five years, 2 per cent the second five years, and 3 per cent from and after the eleventh year. Branch canals of the Lippe, 14,870,000 marks ($3,539,600); interest, 3 per cent. Deep waterway Berlin-Stettin, 6,300,000 marks ($1,499,400); interest same as with the Bevergern-Hanover Canal. Canalization of the river Oder 5,100,000 marks ($1,213,800); interest same as with the Bevergern-Hanover Canal.

INTERIOR WATERWAYS OF NORTHWEST EUROPE.

[Report by Consul Henry C. Morris in "Highways of Commerce," issued by Bureau of

Foreign Commerce of the State Department, 1899.]

FRANCE.

France is certainly the country where the Government has intervened most liberally in favor of interior navigation. The works executed upon navigable waterways since 1880 have cost the sum of $87,000,000, and the relinquishment of the tolls represents also an annual sacrifice of several millions. It is interesting to note that the French Government has not done anything except to transform and improve the existing waterways. Of the 7,660 miles of navigable waterways which France possesses at present, there are scarcely 70 miles of canals recently constructed. Among them, however, we must mention the canal from the Oise to the Aisne, which greatly facilitates the relations between eastern France and Alsace-Lorraine, on the one hand, and northern France and Dunkirk on the other. The commercial importance of the various navigable ways is far from equal; indeed, 3,500 miles of the so-called principal water courses absorb more than 90 per cent of the total mileage traffic.

CANALIZATION OF THE SEINE.

The most considerable work of all this period has been the canalization of the lower Seine from Paris to Rouen, which has cost in round figures $11,600,000. This great work has only recently been completed by the construction of the canal from Tancarville to Havre, which has cost $3,860,000. The object has been to obtain at all times a depth of 10 1/2 feet, affording shipping an available draft of 9 feet 11 inches, while establishing the necessary arrangements for active and easy navigation.

The character of the boats and their means of propulsion have likewise been transformed. Besides the ordinary canal boats, which carry, at the maximum, 300 tons, specially large barges up to 1,000 tons in size have been constructed. Steam is exclusively employed for navigation; it alone operates the very complete output of towboats, using chains and magnetic adherent cables, as well as the tugs and coasting boats, which are in regular communication with London.

One remarkable feature of the lower Seine navigation is the regularity and swiftness of transportation. In this respect there are boats between Paris and Rouen which compete with the railway.

The price of freight between Rouen and Paris was, in 1890, upstream, 71 1/2 cents per ton, and downstream, 51 1/2 cents per ton.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE RHONE.

The improvement of the Rhone from the junction of the Saone at Lyon to the sea has been undertaken with an entirely different idea. Over a distance of 205 miles the improvement of the open river has been accomplished by a series of works wisely conceived and accurately executed. Before the works were commenced, in 1880, the minimum low-water mark was 15 3/4 inches. During the 182 days of the year only did the available draft exceed 63 inches, within which time there were included 101 days during which it was more than 78.7 inches.

After twelve years of persevering efforts and an expenditure of $9,000,000 the following results have been obtained: The channel has been corrected; the falls have been lengthened, lessening the impetuosity of the rapids; dangerous rocks have been removed; the minimum draft now measures 55 inches, and there is an available draft of 63 inches during at least 354 days, and more than 78.7 inches during 310 days of the year. The only obstacle which the Rhone still presents to navigation arises from the violence of the current. It is hoped to remedy this by establishing a series of relays, fitted out with special tugs, drawn upstream by cables, to be wound around fixed drums operated by steam power. These cables would unwind for boats going downstream, and would allow an easy traction power, from which the best results are expected. The day, therefore, is soon coming when the Rhone, which seemed unconquerable, will be easily navigable, and will have an immense traffic.

The navigation of the Rhone is destined to immediately serve very important local interests. It is, moreover, impossible to estimate the importance of this route for international traffic. The Rhone, suitably connected on the one hand with Marseille by a direct canal, and on the other with the navigable water courses of France, Belgium and Germany, may be destined to become the principal commercial artery of northwestern Continental Europe for connection with the countries of the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and the Far East.

DEVELOPMENT OF FRENCH CANALS.

The works executed upon the French canals, being almost exclusively in the line of improvement, appear comparatively modest alongside of the great improvement of the Seine and Rhone. The change accomplished in the last fifteen years, however, is not less considerable, and is in proportion with the hundreds of millions which have been devoted to that purpose. The object has been to reduce all canals of general importance to one single type, so as to render them practicable for the largest boats in use on French canals. The type of boat which predominates is the Flemish pinnace, or Walloon boat, of 300 tons. Its dimensions are: Length, 126 feet; width, 16 1/4 feet; draft, loaded, 5 1/4 feet. Boats of this type figure for 80 or 90 per cent of the total upon the northern and eastern canals. To permit the passage of these boats the sluices measure in available space: Length, 126 feet; width, 17 feet. The legal dimensions of the great French canals are not less that 32 2/3 feet in width at the bottom, 52 1/2 in width on the water surface, and 6 1/2 feet draft.

In 1878 only 288 miles of canals satisfied these conditions. In 1893 there were 1,353 miles. Such were especially all the canals of northern and eastern France. For a great many canals, moreover, these measurements have been increased, by reason of the importance of their traffic. Thus the canal from the Oise to the Aisne has a width of 32 2/3 feet at the bottom and a draft of 7 1/5 feet. The Scheldt Canal has a width of 36 feet at the bottom and a draft of 7 1/5 feet. The St. Quentin Canal, whose depth is the same, has a width of 39 1/3 feet. Upon certain canals the traffic is enormous. There pass, for instance, over the St. Quentin Canal, on an annual average, 3,500,000 tons of merchandise, and in some parts exceptionally frequented as much as 3,800,000 tons. The total annual traffic, therefore, for this single canal amounts to about 300,000,000 mile-tons, which is equal to almost half of the total traffic on all the Belgian waterways united. The traffic per mile is about 5,000,000 tons. The St. Quentin Canal has a length of 58 miles and 35 locks. At its summit-level pond, there are two subterraneous passages, 3,609 and 18,700 feet in length. There is, moreover, a series of narrow passages in cuttings, with curves of short radius and great angular development. In order to meet the exigencies of such an important traffic upon canals where navigation is very difficult, the authorities have established a series of intelligent and practical regulations. Upon the northern and eastern canals and canalized rivers towage by hand power is prohibited for loaded boats, and tolerated for empty boats only on condition that it be done by men of the crew. Towage on canals is mostly done by horses. On certain canals, as on the canal parallel to the Oise, private companies are established which furnish horses at a fixed price and by contract. On other canals, as on the St. Quentin Canal, the authorities have organized the towage along the canal and let it out to contractors upon certain stipulated conditions and by public adjudication. Finally, public authority itself operates the mechanical traction in use upon certain summit-level ponds which present exceptional difficulties for navigation. In this manner chain towage is operated on the summit-level pond of the St. Quentin Canal, on that of the canal connecting the Marne with the Rhine, in the tunnel of Ham, situated on a branch of the canalized Marne; and on the middle scarp in the Douai passage. The Government is about to establish the system of funicular towage invented by Maurice Levy upon the Aisne-Marne canal in the Mount Billy tunnel near Reims. Last year it inaugurated, with remarkable success, electric towage - Pouilly system - upon the summit-level lake of the Bourgogne Canal, which includes a tunnel 10,928 feet in length.

Let us not forget the abolition of tolls voted in 1880; then the full importance of the works and useful measures decreed by the French Government in favor of the development of interior navigation will be easily understood. The latter has already largely profited by the favors which have been granted it.

From 1,247,095,000 mile-tons, which represented in 1880 the transportation movement upon French navigable waterways, the figures have risen to 2,117,400,000 mile-tons in 1891, while the price of freight per ton and per mile has dropped to three-tenths of a cent, and even less for long distance.

HOLLAND.

Interior navigation has not so great an importance in any other country as in Holland. There the boat is the predominant factor in transportation. Besides the admirable network of rivers which pass through the country, innumerable artificial navigable ways thread it. The system of canals for navigation has alone a development of 2,244 miles, while all the railway lines have only a total length of 1,511 miles.

It is, however, to be remarked that this system of navigable ways branches out very slightly into other countries. Its connections do not extend beyond such communications are as established by the Rhine, the lower Scheldt, and the Bois le Duc-Maestricht Canal. The last, indeed, only supplements the navigation of the Meuse.

To maintain an influential commercial situation and to consolidate the sources of native activity, the country has applied a large portion of its means to the development of its shipping and seaports. Rotterdam and Amsterdam claim to handle almost exclusively the important maritime trade originating in the rich industrial regions adjacent to the valley of the Rhine. The improvement of navigation toward and upon the Rhine forms an essential part of the programme; the present situation has been attained only after long and laborious work.

NAVIGATION FROM ROTTERDAM TO THE RHINE.

The Rhine, coming from Germany, crosses the Dutch frontier near Lobitts. About 6 miles lower down it divides into two branches, of which the more important in respect to navigation, the Wahal, passing by Nimeguen and Eich, mingles with the Meuse at Wondrichsem, 58 miles from the frontier. From their point of junction at the Wahal and the Meuse continue, under the name of Meerwede, to Hardinxveld, several miles lower down, where there is another separation of their waters. The lower Meerwede flows on to Dordrecht, and from there to Rotterdam under the name of the Old Meuse and the "North;" the new Meerwede serves only as a great artificial drainage way to conduct the waters toward the Hollandsch Diep, where they pass under the well-known bridge of Moerdyk.

The course of the Rhine, including the Wahal and the Meerwede, has undergone important transformations. Instead of an irregular water course - strewn with islets and sand banks, presenting a series of shoals and deceptive channels, very often affording at low water only a depth of 1 meter or less - there now exists one of the most beautiful navigable waterways to be seen. Its normal width is 1,180 to 1,312 feet, and the depth at low water, which will be increased everywhere to at least 9 feet 10 inches, is already 8 feet 10 inches, even when the depth registered on the bank at Cologne is only 5 feet, an event which occurs on the average, not more than ten days in the year. The width of the navigable channel is 328 to 492 feet. The Meerwede has to-day a depth of 9 feet 8 inches or more to Dordrecht, and beyond the depth continues to increase to Rotterdam.

The works of improvement projected are chiefly the fixing of a minor bed by means of submerged piles and dredgings for the establishment of the channel. These improvements have cost, for the Upper Rhine, $569,871.10; for the Wahal, $5,028,788.70; for the Meerwede, $4,786,400, and for the Old Meuse, the North, the Mollegat, and the Spree, $1,002,152, which make a total sum of nearly $11,500,000. Other expenses are still to be incurred for finishing and consolidating the improvements heretofore made. Important dredgings and supplementary works at St. Andre are especially in view. In order to prevent any mixture of the waters of the Meuse with those of the Wahal, there is projected a new drainage course destined to carry off the water of the Meuse into Hollandsch Diep. In this manner navigation from Rotterdam to the Rhine will not be influenced by changes in the Meuse. The ice floes which come down at the breaking up of this river will likewise be diverted from Rotterdam. From this description it is seen that the Dutch are not neglecting any means of increasing the advantages and facilities of navigation between Rotterdam and the German ports of the Rhine.

NEW CANAL OF THE MEERWEDE.

Amsterdam, which has made for its port as many sacrifices as Rotterdam, has for a long time good communication with the Rhine by the Cologne Canal. This navigable way, formed by a series of special canals, the last of which was constructed in 1825, placed Amsterdam in communication with the Lek and the Meerwede. Its total length was 52 miles; the width at the bottom measured 42 1/2 feet, and the depth was 8 feet. It was practicable for Rhine boats measuring 220 feet in length, 24 1/2 feet in width, and having a draft of 6 feet 10 inches.

For several years past, as is well known, the dimensions of the Rhine boats have been increasing. They now frequently reach 266 feet in length and 34 1/2 feet in width, with a draft of 8 1/5 feet, their tonnage being 1,500 metric tons. A barge has recently been constructed at Slikkeveer which is 285 1/2 feet in length and 35 3/4 feet in width, with 8 1/2 draft and a carrying capacity of 1,750 metric tons.

In these conditions the Cologne Canal was considered insufficient, and has been replaced by the new canal from Amsterdam to the Meerwede. The greater part of the canal - from Amsterdam to the Lek, over a distance of 29 miles, is entirely new. On the other hand, the portion between the Lek and the Meerwede is a transformation of the former Cologne Canal. By the new canal the distance from Amsterdam to the Meerwede has been reduced to 44 miles. In certain portions of the canal the level is variable, but it offers always at the least a draft of 10 feet. The width at the bottom is at least 65 1/2 feet. The locks at Utrecht, Vreeslyk, Vianen, Heenenhoek, and the Meerwede are 393 3/4 feet long and 39 1/3 feet wide. The twin locks of Amsterdam are 46 feet wide. This superb canal cost $8,106,000; it was opened for traffic May 1, 1893.

DEVELOPMENT OF TRAFFIC.

The daily increasing importance of navigation between the Dutch maritime ports and the German ports of the Rhine amply justifies the considerable sacrifices which Holland is making to improve its communications with this latter river.

According to observations made at the German frontier station of Emmerich, the total trade with Holland and Belgium showed a movement, in 1881, of 26,803 boats, of which 17,894 were under the Dutch flag; in 1892, of 38,024 boats, of which 30,964 bore the Dutch flag. The 38,024 boats of 1892 represented an available tonnage of 11,975,389 cubic yards.

The traffic by the Rhine between Germany and Holland alone included a movement of 4,654,370 tons of merchandise in 1890 and of 5,423,418 tons of merchandise in 1893, an increase of 769,043 tons.

During the same years the traffic by water between Germany and Belgium amounted to 1,165,456 tons of merchandise in 1890 and 1,310,033 tons of merchandise in 1893, being an increase of only 144,577 tons of merchandise.

GERMANY.

THE GERMAN RHINE.

The Rhine is probably the most important interior waterway of Germany. Considering the relations with Dutch and Belgian ports, the total traffic of the Rhine attained in 1892 the figure of 20,793,000 tons of merchandise, of which total 16,480,000 tons represented interior transportation alone. In 1882 the total traffic was only 10,150,000 tons. The traffic therefore doubled in ten years.

In Germany the public works for the improvement of the Rhine are aiming to obtain between Mannheim and St. Goar an available depth of 6 feet 6 1/2 inches; between St. Goar and Cologne, a depth of 8 feet 2 1/2 inches, and below the last-mentioned city a depth of 9 feet 10 inches at the time when low water marks there only 4 feet 11 inches. Above Mannheim up to Strasburg there is only an available depth of 4 feet 4 1/2 inches to 4 feet 11 inches, and sometimes, at low water, even less. Rhine boats are now frequently running with partial cargoes up to Strasburg. In this case they still carry from 300 to 600 tons of merchandise. With much less difficulty small boats can ascend the Rhine as far as Hunningen, at the gates of Basel.

Towing by steam apparatus placed on the banks is organized between Bonn and Bingen, while steam-tug towing, which every day is on the increase, is strongly competing with it. The prices of tug towing upstream do not exceed on the average $0.00875 to $0.009 per ton for every mile. The fleet which carries on the traffic of the Rhine counts to-day 8,248 boats, of which number 7,530 are ordinary boats, representing a tonnage of 1,531,284, and 738 are steamers, whose total tonnage is 32,204. The value of this fleet is estimated at $4,632,000, and it employs a force of 21,678 men as crews.

One remarkable feature connected with the navigation of the Rhine is the development and perfect outfitting of the ports which are established along its route. Of forty-one ports of some importance, twenty-eight are connected with railways and provided with all the appliances necessary to expedite the transshipment of merchandise from boats to cars and vice versa. In respect to management and appliances, the ports of Ruhrort, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Mayence, Mannheim and Frankfort on the Main have not any reason the be envious of the most modern seaports. Quays, sheds, warehouses, cranes, granaries with elevators, and silos for grain, separate establishments provided with tanks for petroleum - everything exists to facilitate traffic and reduce to a minimum the cost of handling and warehousing. The construction of the Rhine ports is, however, rather difficult by reason of the variations in the level of the river, which sometimes rises 18 to 22 feet, as most of the basins and floating docks are in free communications with the river. The wharves and talus are of costly construction. Besides, the basins and protected places must be large enough to serve as places of refuge during great floods and the breaking up of ice. These circumstances, as well as the occurrence of very low water, prevent or at least seriously hinder navigation on an average during thirty-seven days per year.

THE ELBE.

Interior navigation is also thoroughly organized on the Elbe, which, together with its tributary, the Moldau, forms to-day a navigable way of 483 miles. Since the completion of the task of rectification the Elbe contributes greatly to the prosperity of the port of Hamburg. At low water the swiftness of the current varies from 1 1/2 to 7 feet per second, and increases to 10 to 11 1/2 feet per second at high navigable water. Even in this latter case the draft of boats can not exceed 4 feet 6 inches, while at low water the possible draft is reduced to 21 inches on the Austrian portion, and does not amount to more than 31 1/2 inches between Magdeburg and the junction of the Havel, above Hamburg.

In spite of the unfavorable conditions, the average price of freight per ton per mile is only $0.00388 upstream and $0.00291 downstream. The boats in use are as much as 197 to 230 feet in length and 28 to 32 3/4 feet in width, with a capacity of 15,900 to 26,500 cubic feet. Traction is supplied by means of chains from the banks or by steam tugs. Steamboats, known as "express transports," carry 150 to 200 tons of merchandise and tow a barge of 200 to 250 tons. They cover the distance of 392 miles between the Austrian frontier and Hamburg in three days; in ascending the stream they require eight or nine days. The rectified Oder and the canal uniting the Oder and the Elbe, which is 143 miles in length, with 25 locks, and follows partially the course of the Spree, constitute beautiful navigable ways in spite of their shallow draft. The lock of Mühlendamm, 377 feet in length and 31 1/2 feet in width, was opened last year. Its completion brought to a conclusion the improvements in the Berlin section, for which the municipality contributed nearly $2,000,000. Boats of 500 tons can now circulate between the Elbe, the Spree, and the Oder.

THE NEW PRUSSIAN CANALS.

Besides the rivers and canals of the March, of which we have just spoken, and the North Sea and Baltic Canal, recently opened, North Germany does not possess any artificial navigable way of importance. As other countries have done, Prussia has presumed upon the economic value of railways. It has been found necessary that railways should carry a large car of coal from Westphalia to Bremerhaven for $10.13, which for distances of 186 to 279 miles only amounts to $0.0038825 per ton per mile, and it was not until industry was forced to demand rates below the cost of working the railways that the necessity was recognized of completing the economic system of the country by the establishment of a well-arranged series of canals. The programme of these works is drawn up, and the period of construction has commenced. We are accustomed to seeing the Germans, after they have adopted a programme, bring to its execution a thoroughly scientific spirit, combined with perseverance and real patriotism. Apt to profit from the experience of others, they know how to give to their creations a remarkable degree of perfection and common sense. The examples which they have furnished in this respect in the organization of their great industries, in the management of their ports, in the creation of their powerful merchant marine, are once more displayed in the construction of a system of navigable ways recognized as necessary to the industrial and economical expansion of their Empire.

This programme aims principally to connect with each other the great natural arteries of the Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe. In the beginning, it suffices to open an economic navigable route between the industrial regions of Westphalia and the German ports of the North Sea by the construction of a canal from Dortmund to Emshafen, a project now under full headway.

THE DORTMUND-EMSHAFEN CANAL.

The distance from Dortmund to Emshafen will be 158 1/2 miles. Strictly speaking, the canal extends only from Dortmund to Meppen. From Meppen to Emden the course of the Ems is to be canalized for this purpose. The canal will have a width of 98 1/2 feet at the water level and 59 feet at a depth of 8 1/3 feet below the level. In the excavated sections the bed is provisorily fixed at this depth of 8 1/3 feet under the water line, but in the embanked section the cunette is deeper; the bed is 11 1/2 feet under the water level, and even there a width of 46 feet is maintained. The available dimensions of the locks are: Length, 240 feet; width, 28 feet 2 inches. The miters are placed at a depth of 9 feet 10 inches under the water level. With this depth the canal will be practicable for boats carrying 600 tons, and if later it should be deepened so as to employ the entire capacity of the locks, it will receive boats of 700 to 800 tons.

The difference in level between the canal at Dortmund and the North Sea at Emden is 228 feet. This fall is overcome to the extent of 81 feet by a plunge elevator of the Gruson system, established 10 miles from Dortmund, and by nineteen sluice locks scattered throughout the entire length of the canal. These locks will all be provided with hydraulic-pressure operating gear, which will considerably hasten the operation of gates and sluices.

THE DORTMUND-RHINE CANAL.

The canal from Dortmund to the Ems, which a branch prolongs to Herne, is to be continued to the Rhine in such a manner as to connect Ruhrort and Duisburg with Emshafen. At Bevergern, situated almost halfway between Ruhrort and Emshafen, the great central canal diverges. This will extend to Magdeburg and will establish the junction between Rhine, Weser and Elbe.

It is proposed to commence very soon the section from Herne to the Rhine. The distance is only 25 miles, but in this all the difficulties are accumulated. The section passes through the busiest industrial region of Westphalia, and lively rivalries have developed among the metallurgic and coal companies respecting its route. This latter is rendered most difficult by reason of the declivity of the country, as well as by the permeability of the ground in the zone of the mining concessions.

In order to pass from the Rhine to the summit-level pond, whose water level is 183 1/2 feet above the North Sea, there have been constructed two locks of 16 1/3 feet fall, and two Gruson plunge elevators, with a fall of 32 5/6 and 46 feet, respectively. The section of the canal and the constructive works will have the same dimensions as in the canal from Dortmund to the Ems. The industries of Westphalia are still, however, urging the Government to enlarge these dimensions so as to permit the passage of the large Rhine boats. They ask that the locks may be 279 feet in length and 34 1/2 feet in width. The expense of construction of this section of the canal is estimated at $10,000,000.

THE RHINE-WESER-ELBE CANAL.

The central canal, as we have said, diverges midway from the Ruhrort-Emshafen Canal. It will have a length of 224 miles between Bevergern and Magdeburg. This canal is destined not only to have an important transit trade, but also to serve a very large local traffic between Osnabrück, Minden, Hanover, Peine, Brunswick, and Magdeburg. According to the present plan of construction, there will be only four locks and one elevator. The cities mentioned which are not immediately on the main canal will be connected by branches. These will be extended to Osnabrück, Hildesheim, Peine and Brunswick. The dimensions of the locks and the constructive works will be the same as in the Dortmund-Ems Canal. All known improvements and appliances will be installed to expedite navigation and facilitate traffic. The expense is calculated at $3,475,000.

SOUTH GERMANY AND ALSACE-LORRAINE.

In South Germany and Alsace-Lorraine efforts are likewise being made to develop the means of economical water transportation. The canalization of the Main was finished in 1888 as far as Frankfort, over a distance of 22 miles. The draft, previously only 2 3/4 feet, has been increased to 8 feet 2 1/2 inches. The locks constructed in 1886, with a length of 179 feet and a width of 34 1/2 feet, have been lengthened. They are now 804 feet long. The expense of canalization, supported by the Government, amounts to $2,000,000, while the city of Frankfort has expended $1,640,000 for the preparation and outfitting of its port. The traffic, which in 1886, the year of the inauguration of the port, was 156,000 tons, had in 1891 increased to 577,000 tons.

Much is said of the canalization of the Moselle, which is the principal tributary of the Rhine. Canalized already above Metz, it would be transformed in its lower portion - 180 miles in length - into a beautiful, practicable waterway, navigable for large Rhine boats. The proposed locks would have a length of 279 feet, a width of 32 2/3 feet, and a draft of 8 feet 2 inches. The expense is estimated at $3,570,000, but it appears small in comparison with the economic results which are expected. On the other hand, an improvement in the navigability of the Rhine itself above Spire up to Strasburg will probably be accomplished in a short time. The canals of Alsace-Lorraine will then be placed in direct communication with the great navigation of the Rhine. These canals, 269 miles in length, have not undergone any modification since 1870. By its insufficiency the waterway system of Alsace-Lorraine formed a gap among the French canals. This need the German Government has undertaken to fill. It may be expected that within three years the Alsace-Lorraine canals will have the usual dimensions and constructive works of French canals, so that they will be practicable in their entirety for large inland boats.

BELGIUM.

The geographical and economic resemblances which exist between Belgium, Holland and France are too great not to have occasioned the same needs and the same methods of transportation. Belgium is accordingly liberally provided with navigable ways.

The length of the Belgian system measures 1,229 miles, of which 730 miles are navigable for boats of 300 tons. In France there are 2,555 miles of canals of this class. The greater proportion of Belgian canals is, however, old, and the period of great works may be considered as closed. The canals from Brussels to Willebroek, from Louvain to the Rupel, from Ghent to Terneuzen, from Ghent to Bruges, from Brussels to Charleroi, and from Maestricht to Boise le Duc, the canalized Sambre, the greater part of the coal canals, and numerous canals of minor importance were constructed before 1830.

THE MEUSE.

The most important work executed since 1830 has been the canalization of the Meuse. From the cannon foundry below Liege to the French frontier the distance is 70 miles, and the minimum draft obtained is 6 feet 10 1/2 inches. The section from Liege to Namur, executed from 1853 to 1867, includes eight locks of 186 feet in available length and 29 feet 6 inches in width, as well as three large locks like those of the section between Namur and the French frontier. This latter section was finished in 1880, and comprises nine locks of 328 feet in available length and 39 1/3 feet in width. The entire work cost nearly $5,000,000. Large boats frequenting the Meuse have a tonnage of 2,500 to 2,800 cubic feet.

THE MEUSE-SCHELDT CANAL.

THE CHARLEROI-BRUSSELS CANAL.

Among present enterprises we should mention the enlarging of the canal from Charleroi to Brussels and the construction of the Central Canal. Commenced in 1875 and 1882, respectively, they are progressing with remarkable slowness. The Charleroi-Brussels Canal measures in length 45 miles, of which 15 miles, from Charleroi to Seneffe, have been enlarged to the width of 34 1/2 feet on the bottom and provided with twelve new locks of the length of 127 feet and the width of 16 3/4 feet. The 30 miles separating Seneffe from Brussels are still to be completed. Forty-three locks exist in this portion. These locks, of antiquated pattern, measure only 74 feet in length, 8 2/3 feet in width, and 6 1/2 feet in depth. The boats, called "Charleroi buckets," which can pass, carry only 70 tons.

THE CENTRAL CANAL.

The Central Canal, whose economic interest has considerably lessened, descends from Houdeng, at the end of a branch of the Charleroi-Brussels Canal, to Mons. Its total length is only 13 miles. It is now being constructed with a width at the bottom of 34 1/2 feet and a draft of 6 1/2 feet. It will later be deepened by 1 1/4 feet. The difference in level between Houdeng and Mons is 293 1/2 feet. The first section of the canal, already completed from Mons to Obourg, overcomes within 8 miles a difference of level of 76 1/4 feet by means of one lock of 7 1/3 feet in fall and five other locks of 13 3/4 feet in fall each. These locks have an available length of 133 feet and a width of 16 3/4 feet. They are provided with all possible appliances. The second section, from Obourg to Houdeng, passes over coal fields, and must, within a distance of less than 5 miles, suffer a difference in level of 217 feet. To effect this purpose, there have been constructed four elevators fitted out with hydraulic pistons, the first three for a fall of 55 1/2 feet, and the fourth, at Houdeng, which is completed, for a fall of 50 1/2 feet. The Houdeng elevator is one of the most remarkable productions of human industry.

RECENT WORKS.

Some works have been recently executed upon the Scheldt and the Meuse. The dams heretofore existing above Ghent have been replaced by sluice locks 137 feet in length and 18 2/3 feet in width. At the same time the course of the river has been straightened. The work of regularization has likewise been pursued below Ghent, where the river is subject to the influence of the tide. While formerly the section of the river under water, when flowing at its full level, was 721 square feet and the grade 6.96 inches to the mile, this section now measures 1,216 square feet, and the grade per mile is 9.29 inches.

BENEFITS OF CANALS.

Railway tariffs are badly adapted to commercial fluctuations. In this respect water carriage presents an incomparably greater elasticity. Waterways also create a new competition and often cause railways to reduce their tariffs. It is a happy method of forcing the hands of railway monopolies. Here is the heart of the question. The interest of the country is to have its transportation at the cheapest price possible. In this age especially, when the sharpness of international competition seems not to know any limits, carriage at the lowest price possible is an absolute necessity. Now navigable waterways afford an economical method of transportation par excellence. Not only do they prevent the exaggeration of rates by railways, and, indeed, often produce reductions which permit certain industries to compete in foreign markets, but in many cases they also permit the operation and development of natural riches, mines, and quarries, which, by their remote situation, can not incur the comparatively high freights of railways in bringing their products to market. This means of transportation is strongly organized on the European continent.

CAUSES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROTTERDAM.

Rotterdam is to-day certainly the most formidable competitor of Antwerp. How is it that the amount of merchandise passing through Rotterdam has tripled in fifteen years? Neither the superiority of the port and its appliances nor its moderate charges suffice to account for this growth. The difference in rates is only a few fractions of a cent, which, though something, is very little compared with the difference in interior freight rates. To understand the situation we should know that the development of traffic at Rotterdam is directly connected with the industrial growth of Westphalia and Rhenish Prussia and the expansion of their commercial relations with countries beyond the seas. Among the imports we find more than 1,000,000 tons of minerals, and among the exports more than 2,000,000 tons of coal. Still, Holland neither consumes minerals nor produces coal. But the Dutch have admirably understood how to attract the German transit trade. They have constructed at Rotterdam the most powerful apparatus existing in any continental port for the mechanical handling and loading of coal. The cars loaded with coal are successively drawn upon the platform of an Armstrong hydraulic elevator, which lifts them 30 feet above the ground. At this height the wagon is inclined so that the coal immediately slides upon an inclined plane into the hold of the vessel. In this manner, within one hour, 20 carloads, or 200 tons, of coal can be discharged. The charge is 4 cents per ton, including everything from the time the car leaves the railway track until it is returned. During 1893 113,900 tons of coal and coke were handled. A new elevator to lift cars of 25 tons to the height of 40 feet is being constructed.

INFLUENCE OF RHINE NAVIGATION.

But it is the Rhine which has become the principal factor in the prosperity of Rotterdam. To see how closely its maritime traffic is connected with the navigation of this river, let us examine the movement to and from Rhine ports. In a previous table we have already noted that 4,422 ships of 3,153,099 tons entered the port of Rotterdam in 1892, and 4,481 vessels of 3,614,654 tons in 1893. The amount of merchandise imported was 4,278,849 tons and 4,936,896 tons, respectively, an increase of 658,047 tons. During these two years the traffic between Rhine ports and Rotterdam increased from 2,661,495 tons to 3,290,048 tons of merchandise, an increase of 628,553 tons.

Similar statistics for the port of Antwerp do not exist, but statements of the German custom-house at Emmerich indicate for 1892 a passage of 1,447,016 tons of merchandise between Germany and Belgium, and for 1893 1,310,033 tons. They likewise show that in 1892 4,863,853 tons of merchandise passed through Emmerich between Germany and Holland. The amount for 1893 was 5,423,418 tons. There was, therefore, an increase in the traffic between Germany and Holland of 557,565 tons, while between Germany and Belgium there was a decrease of 136,983 tons.

How can we explain the unfavorable situation of Belgium? First, by the extremely low rates of freight existing between Rotterdam and the Rhine ports. Frequently the carriage of a ton of mineral does not cost more than $0.00155 per mile. The expense from Antwerp to Ruhrort is at least twice as much per mile. The following table show the average cost of the transportation of cereals between Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam on the one hand and the principal markets of the Rhine on the other:

Besides the extremely low rates of freight, the Dutch ports have a very important advantage in the superiority and regularity of their steam service. While at Antwerp there is only a single line - foreign, indeed - running to Frankfort and Mannheim, consisting of boats drawn by tugs, there are at Rotterdam and Amsterdam several rapid services with large vessels carrying 600 to 800 tons of goods. These boats require only three to four days to cover the 353 miles between Mannheim and Rotterdam, at a time which is scarcely lessened by the railways. Not only do these conditions compete with the Belgian waterways, but even the railroads are beginning to feel the effects. It is not natural to suppose that the merchants and manufacturers of the Rhine region will continue to pay a rate of $3 to $5 per ton by rail to Antwerp when they can ship by regular service to Rotterdam at $1.40 to $1.60 or less per ton. Nor is this competition limited to the few cities and ports situated immediately on the Rhine. Far different. The influence of the ports of Ruhrort and Duisburg extends over Westphalia; that of Dusseldorf and Cologne over Rhenish Prussia; that of Frankfort and Mannheim over Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Baden, Alsace-Lorraine, and Switzerland.

The improvements to be made upon the Rhine-Dortmund Canal, the Moselle, and the Upper Rhine to Strasburg will certainly increase the influence of Rotterdam in Westphalia, Alsace-Lorraine, and Switzerland. Let us look a moment at the price of freights. The rate for cereals from Rotterdam to Metz will not exceed $1.15 per ton, and to Nancy, $1.35. For Strasburg the situation will be the same. And what of the railways? How can they compete with such rates when they ask from Antwerp to Strasburg $4.26 per ton for cereals? For other goods the difference is proportional. Freight by rail between Antwerp and Strasburg is $5.99 per ton, while by Rotterdam and the Rhine it is only $1.93.

In this connection, as a conclusion to our description of Rhine traffic, it may be interesting to note the amount of commerce at some of its ports. At Frankfort on the Main, for instance, the tonnage increased from 155,956 tons in 1886 to 597,315 tons in 1890. The traffic at other ports of the Rhine in 1891 was:

CONCLUSION.

From this review of the existing conditions of inland navigation in France, Germany, Holland and Belgium, we have learned how thoroughly the system of interior waterways is organized, especially in Holland and the Rhine district. Belgium, although naturally in a superb situation for controlling the transit traffic between the countries southeast of her and those beyond the seas, finds her position seriously menaced. Rotterdam and Amsterdam on the one hand, Dunkirk, Calais, and Havre on the other, are making strenuous efforts to displace the commerce of Antwerp. Failure to maintain Belgian waterways up to the modern standard is largely responsible for this condition. It is not the intention here to go into the details of proposed remedies; suffice it to say that the subject of improved interior waterways is now being agitated. Measures will doubtless soon be taken to promote the best interests of Belgium. But, aside from the question of improvement, there is one element lacking to the prosperity of inland navigation - that is, want of freedom in the movements of commerce. The canal tollgate still exists in Belgium. It is a relic of history. France abolished it many years ago. It exists only in this country, and here its results are disastrously evident. When the tollgate and its keeper disappear, then Belgium can hope to compete with her neighbors as carrier of the commodities of other nations.

In this résumé, made as brief as possible, but unfortunately still too long, the effort has been chiefly to present a clear idea of the methods employed by the chief industrial nations of the Continent to secure economical, safe, regular and speedy transportation of their products to market, and to bring to themselves in like manner their necessary supplies from other parts of the world. Millions and millions of dollars have been spent and are still being spent by Germany, France, and Holland for this purpose. No sacrifice seems to great for them, and indeed the seaports, as we have seen, are not the only recipients of this bounty. They understand that the heart can not be in good order without healthy veins and arteries. Hamburg, Bremen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Dunkirk, Calais, and Havre are centers whence the great arteries of trade and commerce radiate, but every one of these ports depends, in turn, upon the thorough and complete organization of its tributary system of railways, rivers, and canals.

CANALS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

[From "Highways of Commerce," issued by the Bureau of Foreign Commerce of

the State Department, 1899,]

LEEDS DISTRICT CANALS.

The lord mayor and the alderman of York were appointed in 1462 conservators of the Ouse and the other rivers connected therewith. During the five decades 1828 to 1868, the traffic averaged about 110,000 tons per annum. The navigation in 1872 extended from 8 miles above York to the confluence of the Trent, Ouse, and Humber - 60 miles.

The Aire and Calder were incorporated in 1699, and subsequent acts of Parliament were procured in 1774, 1820, and 1828. In point of construction and operation this has been regarded up to the present time as the model canal in England.

Up to 1872 there had been expended on this work more than £2,000,000 ($9,733,000), out of which, borrowed and then due, there remained about £500,000 ($2,433,250). Interest was paid on this sum before declaring dividends. The amount of share capital and debt is not limited by the acts of Incorporation. Proprietors' interests are said to be estimated by the proportion borne to dividend. In 1872 it was stated that the Aire and Calder dividend had ranged up to that time from £40,000 ($194,660) to £72,000 ($350,388).

In 1872 reconstruction of the canal for the fourth time was taking place.

The canal was originally made 3 feet 6 inches in depth, and the locks were 60 feet by 15 feet by 3 feet 6 inches. Under the act of 1774 the locks were made 66 feet by 15 feet by 5 feet throughout the system. In 1820 the Goole canal was constructed, with locks 72 feet by 18 feet by 7 feet, and under the act of 1828 these dimensions were extended to the whole navigation. Since the year 1860 a general improvement had taken place previously to 1883, with locks 215 feet by 22 feet by 9 feet. At that date (1883) these changes lacked about three years' work of being complete as to the routes from Goole to Leeds and from Goole to Wakefield. The canal itself was then 66 feet wide. From 1860 to 1883 £600,000 ($2,919,900) was said to have been expended in improvements and purchases of mill power and water rights, etc. Of this amount £100,000 ($486,650) was spend on the port of Goole and £32,000 ($155,728) in purchasing the Bradford Canal.

A summary given in 1883 makes the distances as follows:

Goole to Wakefield, 37 miles; Goole to Leeds, 36 miles; Barnsley branch, 12 miles (acquired in 1871); Bank Dale branch, 11 miles (Bank Dale, 18 miles from Goole to Selby).

Navigation of the River Aire to Rawcliffe and intermediate points not touched by the canal was also in the hands of the Aire and Calder, so that the total length of the undertaking, reckoning canal and river together, was about 80 miles.

Over the Aire and Calder proper, not including the Barnsley Canal, the traffic in 1872 amounted to about 2,000,000 tons, total; equivalent to 42,250,000 tons carried 1 mile. At the same period the rate of the Barnsley was about 250,000 tons per annum and that of the Calder and Hebble 556,000 tons.

The gross tonnage of the Aire and Calder is given as follows: In 1838, 1,383,971 tons; 1848, 1,335,783 tons; 1858, 1,098,149 tons; 1868, 1,747,251 tons.

The locks of the Aire and Calder are divided; one length takes two boats and the other length takes one boat, so as to save the water. Three boats of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal will go through the Aire and Calder locks at once.

A large culvert extends alongside the lock, with one sluice at the upper end of the lock 7 by 5 feet (the ordinary sluice is 2 or 3 feet square); and at the lower extremity of the lock is another sluice. When that is closed and the lock is empty the upper sluice is raised. It is self-balanced, like a throttle valve. Three orifices open into the elongated lock, arranged so as to divide the boats and prevent their knocking together when they are in the lock. To empty the lock the upper sluice is closed, the lower one opened, and the water drawn into the culvert and discharged at the lower end. This plan is used instead of discharging the water at the gate. The sluices are practically self-acting; two turns of the sluice handle raise it and three turns lower it. The lock is said to be filled and emptied with much more celerity by this plan than in the ordinary way, by the gates.

By way of the Aire and Calder there are three routes from Hull and Goole to Liverpool, viz: (1) Through Leeds, by Aire and Calder, Leeds, and Liverpool; (2) through Wakefield, by Aire and Calder, Calder and Ribble, Rochdale, Bridgewater, Mersey River; (3) through Wakefield, by Aire and Calder, Calder and Hebble, Sir John Ramsdin's Huddersfield, Ashton, Rochdale, Bridgewater, Mersey River.

The distances are given as follows:

The Barnsley branch was purchased by the Aire and Calder in 1871. The 15 locks on this branch were subsequently lengthened from 66 feet, their length in 1871, to 85 feet, increasing the viable tonnage from 75 to 115. This took two years and cost about £7,500 ($36,498.75), somewhat over £500 ($2,433.25) per lock. It made the locks of the Barnsley Canal, in 1883, 85 by 15 by 6 feet. The Silkstone extension on this branch is now (1890) used merely for water supply, and is without traffic; it is 2 miles in length. It had formerly a large coal traffic on it.

The branch of the Aire and Calder from Bank Dale to Selby distributed to York, Tadcaster, and Malton, with considerable trade in 1883, which still continues.

The old line through Haddlesey and Snaith to the Ouse was in 1883 nearly disused on account of its circuitousness, and the locks remained at 5 feet, the depth of 1776. The new lines to Goole and to Selby had absorbed the traffic, leaving but a little in coal and timber to the old route. The good navigation through Whitley and Pollington is called the Knottingley and Goole Canal.

In 1883 vessels up to 167 tons burden were going on the line from Goole to Leeds or Wakefield.

The principal tonnage in 1872 was coal, but they had also a large traffic in grain, stone, timber, dyewoods, and general goods.

There were two recognized systems of traffic on the Aire and Calder - the quick transit, or merchandise system, and the slow transit, or mineral system. The company acted as carriers in addition to being takers of toll, and they still do. I learn from the company that they convey in the capacity of carriers and by means of flyboats (hauled by steam, so far as their own waters are concerned) large quantities of merchandise between the ports of Hull and Goole and Leeds, Bradford, Shipley, Bingley, Keighley, Skipton, Colne, Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn, Wigan, Liverpool, Waterfield, Dewsbury, Barnsley, Mirfield, Huddersfield, Brighouse, Halifax, and Sowerby Bridge. Through their agents, they say, they also carry to Rochdale, Todmorden, Littleboro, Heywood, Manchester and other places. They say the rates of carriage charged by water are less that those of the competing railway companies.

The merchandise traffic of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was leased to certain railway companies for twenty-one years, expiring in 1874. On certain percentages of liability the railways paid so much a year for the merchandise traffic, leaving the mineral traffic and the maintenance of the canal with the canal company. Since the termination of the lease, according to Mr. Bartholomew's evidence in 1883, from which I derive these facts, through rates for the Aire and Calder and the Leeds and Liverpool had been arranged. A reasonable and fair increase of traffic, more than was due to the general increase of traffic of the country, had resulted.

The Leeds and Liverpool Company themselves had become carriers since the lease expired, and had carried merchandise traffic themselves largely.

A recent newspaper report makes an estimate of the amount expended on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal from the commencement of the undertaking to the present date, that is to say, from 1770 to 1889, and reckons the total sum at £1,500,000 ($7,299,750), of which by far the greater part is deemed to have been contributed from savings out of revenue.

LIVERPOOL DISTRICT CANALS.

The principal canals in this district are the Shropshire Union Canals, made up of several canals, as stated below; the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and the Manchester Ship Canal, formerly the Bridgewater Canal.

Originally they were built generally with sloping sides, but more recently the sides are perpendicular, and the towpath side is protected by a granite wall, the other side being simply earth, protected where necessary by piling.

The locks are chiefly of stone and brick, but latterly concrete is preferred for this. The lock gates are of elm, oak, or teak wood.

The Shropshire Union Canals afford the shortest and best canal route between the Mersey and the South Staffordshire and Birmingham iron districts, and the only water route between that river and Shropshire and North Wales, Cheshire, and Chester. They also join the North Stafford Canal at Middlewich, and thus provide water communication between the Shropshire Union system and North and South Staffordshire, and also Warrington and Manchester districts.

The whole of these canals were formed into the Shropshire Union Company in the year 1846.

The total length of the various canals forming the company's system is about 206 miles.

The canal from Nantwich to Ellesmere Port (its terminus), where it joins the River Mersey, is sufficient to pass lighters and flats carrying from 40 to 60 tons, and such craft are constantly employed upon it.

On other parts of the system narrow boats 7 feet wide are used, which carry from 18 to 30 tons, according to the depth of water. The depth of water varies from 3 feet to 4 feet 6 inches.

The locks on the canal from Chester up to Nantwich are broad, and admit two narrow boats at a time. On other lengths they are narrow.

In all districts the width of the waterway is sufficient to admit of two narrow boats passing at the same time, except through the locks, tunnels and aqueducts.

LONDON DISTRICT CANALS.

REGENT'S CANAL.

By courtesy of Mr. E. Thomas, the engineer and manager of the Regent's Canal, I am informed that, under the authority of the British Parliament, the canal was commenced in the year 1812 and occupied about eight years in construction, being open for traffic in the year 1820. It was constructed in the ordinary manner, but differs from other canals by having two locks at each variation of level, side by side, to economize consumption of water.

The Limehouse dock has a water area of 10 acres, and extensive quayage, with a ship entrance 350 feet long, 60 feet wide, and with sills laid 28 feet below Trinity high-water mark; also an entrance for barges 79 feet long, 14 feet 6 inches wide, with sills laid 22 feet below Trinity high-water mark.

The wharves and jetties in the dock are provided with hydraulic and other cranes for transshipping and loading coals and other goods up to 15 tons weight.

The dock, which is within and part of the port of London, is most conveniently located on the north bank of the River Thames, about a half mile below the Shadwell entrance to the London docks, 1 1/2 mile below London Bridge, and one-third of a mile above the Limehouse entrance to the West India docks, and is close to the Stepney station of the London and Blackwall Railway, which is reached by trains from Fenchurch street station in eight minutes; and trains run to and from this station to all stations on the Great Eastern Railway, and the London, Tilbury and South End, Thames Haven and London, Woodford and Ongar branches thereof, and also in communication with the trains of the North London Railway Company passing Bow station.

Screw steam vessels to and from Liverpool calling at Falmouth, Plymouth, and Southampton, leave and arrive at the dock weekly. London agents, J.D. Hewett & Co., 101 Leadenhall street, and John Allen & Co., 150 Leadenhall street.

The jetties in the dock are capable of transshipping and weighing, with great rapidity and small breakage, coal from screw steamers and other vessels into craft for the River Thames and other inland navigation. The Regent's Canal communicates with the dock and River Thames, and is navigable for barges of 100 tons burden. It passes through Stepney, Mile End, Bethnal Green, Hackney, Shoreditch, St. Lukes, Islington, St. Pancras, Marylebone, and Paddington, in which last-named parish it communicates with the Grand Junction Canal.

Large warehouse accommodation and extensive wharf area for storing timber, stone, and other goods are provided within the dock premises.

The company is permitted under a sufferance license (Class B), received from the honorable board of customs, to receive into the dock and land upon the quays, or transship into craft for river or canal, every description of goods and grain.

The facilities which are now afforded at this company's dock are strongly recommended to the notice of traders and lightermen on the Thames and the Regent's Canal, Hertford Union Canal, Grand Junction Canal, River Lee, and other inland navigations connected therewith, as considerable inconvenience, detention of vessels, and expense, also risk of damage to valuable cargoes such as grain, etc., in barges, consequent upon navigating the River Thames, would be avoided by using the dock.

The Great Eastern, Great Northern, Midland, and London and Northwestern Railway companies have their goods termini on the banks of this canal, and the Great Western Railway upon the Paddington Basin.

GRAND JUNCTION CANAL.

This canal was constructed, under an act of Parliament, in the year 1873. The length of the main line and its branches is about 140 miles, and the carrying capacity of barges navigating the canal varies from 50 to 76 tons, according to the craft and section of canal navigated. This company has power to charge toll for distances of about 100 miles of 16s. 10 3/4d. per ton, but in point of fact the traffic will only bear a toll of 2s. 6d. a ton over that section, thus showing a large reduction that has now been effected on the expectant sources of revenue at the time of construction.

This canal, for 30 miles from the river Thames, at Brentford, Middlesex, was partly constructed by canalizing the rivers Brent, Colne, Gade, and Bulbourne, and is not much used for irrigating purposes.

THE SURREY CANAL.

The canal belonging to this company was constructed in the year 1807. The canal is a short one - only 4 miles in length, being part of a scheme devised in the early part of this century for communication from Rotherhithe, which is about 1 1/2 miles from London Bridge, to Battersea, which is about 3 miles from London Bridge, but the plan was not carried out in its entirety, and the canal terminates at Camberwell and Peckham, suburbs of London. The canal was constructed for the class of barges ordinarily navigating the river Thames, and is camp sheeted for nearly its entire length, rendering full width available.

The traffic consists entirely of barges engaged in supplying the wharves and premises on the banks of the canal with goods which enter the company's docks at Rotherhithe.

The premises on the canal are chiefly occupied as tar distilleries, chemical manufactories, and wood yards, and a large part of the revenue from the canal is derived from the dues on coals which are brought up the canal to the South Metropolitan Gas Company, whose works have a water frontage on the canal. The canal is virtually a part of this company's dock system.

SHEFFIELD DISTRICT CANALS.

The Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, the Dun Navigation, the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, and the Dearn and Dove Canal were constructed about one hundred years ago, and there has been but little improvement in them since they became the property of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company in the year 1849. The size of these canals is such as to limit boats and barges trading between Sheffield and the river Trent to a carrying capacity of about 80 tons each. The use of steam as a propelling power is prohibited, and the length of time required to pass between Sheffield and tide water averages about a week. The locks are small and numerous, and from the canal into the Trent only one boat can be passed through at a time, giving a total of only about twenty boats at each tide. In spite of this unfavorable condition, however, not less than 500,000 tons of through traffic pass the locks at Keadby in the course of a year.

The canals being in the possession of a railway company which reaches the same points between Sheffield and the coast, there is consequently no competition on rates of traffic between the two. Thus the railway company's rate on coal for shipment at Hull from South Yorkshire amounts to 2s. 10d. (69 cents) per ton, or double the rate charged by the Aire and Calder Canal over an equal distance from the West Yorkshire collieries to Goole.

IRISH CANALS.

The canals and inland navigation enterprises in Ireland are of three classes, viz:

First. Those owned and operated by private companies or corporations. Under this head are the following: The Grand Canal, with a total length, including branches, 165 3/4 miles; the Barrow Navigation, partly canal and partly river, 42 miles; the Upper Boyne, all river, 6 miles, completed in 1800; the Lagan, mostly river, 26 miles; the Newry, canal and river, 35 miles; the Suir, all river, 16 miles; the Royal Canal, 96 miles. These, of course, are maintained out of funds belonging to their respective companies. From their importance, the Grand Canal, the Royal Canal, the Barrow Navigation, and Lagan Navigation will be considered separately and in greater detail further on. The improvements upon the routes described by the Upper Boyne, the Newry, and the Suir were largely accomplished by means of assistance in the forms of loans of public money, or by grants from general or special taxes. Some of these loans have been paid and some remitted. There is no considerable traffic upon these canals now, and the profits derived therefrom are small.

Second. Those owned and operated by the Government and maintained out of imperial funds. This class is composed of the following lines: The Lower Boyne, canal and river, 19 miles; the Maigue, all river, 8 miles, improved in 1751; the Shannon, chiefly river, 158 miles; the Tyrone, all river, 4 miles; the Ulster Canal, 44 miles. The improvement or construction of these channels, as the case may be, was accomplished by direct grants of the public funds and advances realized by local assessment. The latest reports rendered by the commissioners, under whose management are these several lines of navigation, show that the total annual receipts amount to £6,584, and the annual disbursement for expenses for all purposes, to £6,192. Thus it will be seen that the receipts derived from rents, tolls, etc., make them a trifle more than self-sustaining. Of the lines mentioned, the Shannon Navigation and the Ulster Canal are the most important. The improvement of the former involved an outlay of £683,312, and the construction of the latter about £170,000.

Third. Those under the direction of local trustees. This class includes the Ballymore and Ballyconnell, mostly canal, 37 miles; the Lower Bann, mostly river, 50 miles; the Upper Bann, all river, 21 miles; and Lough Corrib, mostly river, 23 miles. The improvement or construction of these lines, as described, was also accomplished by grants of public money and advances secured in local taxation, amounting in the aggregate to about £600,000. These public works covered a period from 1845 to 1859. The group, as given above, is also a little more than self-sustaining. With the exception of the first mentioned, the latest figures show that the total annual receipts are £3,261, and the total disbursements are £2,553. As stated, these works are managed by local trustees, representing the property interests which are contiguous to the several lines. In case of a deficiency, the difference is made up by means of local taxation. In case of a surplus, the local taxation is less by that amount. The system of management is the same as that which applies to public highways.

GRAND CANAL.

This is the most important artificial waterway in Ireland. Its main line extends from Dublin westward to the Shannon River, and from thence westward to Ballinasloe, with branches to the Liffey, Robertstown, Blackwood reservoir, Monastereven, St. James Well, Athy, Mountmellick, Edenderry, and Kilbeggan. Its summit level is 279 feet above sea level, which point is 26 miles west of Dublin. The locks upon this canal are 60 feet in length, 13 feet in width, and have 5 feet lift. Although steam is used somewhat, horses are used principally as the power for moving the boats. The traffic upon this canal amounts to 600,000 tons annually. The Grand Canal now earns for the shareholders £1 15s. on each £100 of the capital stock. The construction of the Grand Canal was commenced in 1753, and the main line was completed in about 1800. The line west of the Shannon River and the branches were opened in 1830. The entire work involved an outlay of £2,000,000. A considerable portion of this amount was made up by grants from special or general taxes and also by loans, a part of which has been repaid to the Government and a part of which has been remitted. The present capitalization of the company is £165,000.

ROYAL CANAL.

The Royal Canal proceeds northwesterly from Dublin to Cloondara, on the Shannon, with a branch to Longford; the total length of channel being 96 miles. Its summit level is 324 feet above sea level. It is fed from Lough Owel, near Mullingar. The dimensions of the locks are 70 feet in length, 13 feet in width, with 5 feet lift. The Royal Canal Company was organized in 1784. The first 46 miles of the channel was completed in 1813. The remainder of the work was completed in 1822. It received large assistance from the Irish Parliament, and from the Union after that was established. The total cost of the work was something over £1,900,000. In 1813 the original company became insolvent, the charter was forfeited, and the property transferred to the directors-general of inland navigation. Again, in 1845, the Royal Canal was transferred to the Midland Great Western Railway Company, the consideration being £298,050. An essential condition of the transfer was that the purchaser should maintain the navigation and not vary the tolls except with the assent of the lord lieutenant of Ireland. Being its own competitor, however, the company does not utilize the facilities of the canal to any considerable extent. The annual tonnage amounts to only 86,500, on an average.

BARROW NAVIGATION.

This route connects the Athy branch of the Grand Canal with the tidal part of the River Barrow, below St. Mullins, and affords water communication to Carlow, Leighlin Bridge, Bagnalstown, Goresbridge, and Graignamanna, and thence by tidal part of the Barrow to New Ross and Waterford. The work was commenced in 1759, and up to 1790 cost £80,769, about one-half of which was derived from public sources. It also received other grants after the Union, but the exact amount is not available. There is considerable traffic upon this route, but I have been unable to get figures showing annual tonnage. The profits to the shareholders are moderate.

LAGAN CANAL.

This is owned by the Lagan Navigation Company. The works were commenced by the commissioners of navigation for Ireland, the expense being defrayed by a local toll on beer, ale, and spirits imposed by an act of 1753.

In 1771 prosecution of the work was delegated to local commissioners, who raised money on the securities of the tolls. Afterwards these creditors were constituted a company by act of Parliament. The canal extends from Belfast to Lough Neagh, 26 miles, and has 26 locks, capable of passing lighters 62 feet by 14 feet 6 inches, with a maximum draft of 5 feet 6 inches.

The traffic is about 156,000 tons per annum, consisting of coal, Indian corn, timber, slates, brick, etc., and return cargoes from Lough Neagh of sand for building purposes.

The company is managed by a Belfast board of directors, with secretary and manager of works.

The company are not carriers. The lighters trading are owned by different individuals. Wherever the canal touches, railway rates are brought down to canal rates. Roughly, the effect in cheapening transportation would probably be about from 15 to 25 per cent, or perhaps even more.

ULSTER CANAL.

The works on this canal were commenced by the Ulster Canal Company under an act of 1826. Loans to the extent of £130,000 were made by the commissioners of public works in Ireland. In 1865 the canal was transferred to the commissioners in discharge of the debt. More money was expended on the canal, but under the commissioners it has been kept in such want of repair and want of water that there could be no traffic. By an act of Parliament, passed in 1888, it was transferred to the Lagan Navigation Company, as a gift, with £3,500 toward cost of repairs, the company being obligated to keep it in order for the public, charging fees regulated by act of Parliament.

It is now being put in order. The canal extends from Lough Neagh to Lough Erne, 44 miles, and has 26 locks capable of passing lighters 65 feet by 11 feet, with a maximum draft of 5 feet, when in repair.

COAL ISLAND CANAL.

Commenced in 1732 by the commissioners of Ireland, its navigation continued in their charge until 1787, when the works were transferred to parties undertaking to complete and extend the canal. In 1800 the navigation came into the hands of the directors-general of Ireland, and between 1800 and 1831 the sum of £26,240 was expended upon the works. In 1831, on the abolition of the directors-general of Ireland navigation, the management was transferred to the commissioners of public works, in whose charge it has since continued, and a sum of £5,177 has been expended by them.

Under an act of 1888 it was transferred as a gift to the Lagan Navigation Company, with obligation to keep it in order for the public, charging tolls regulated by act of Parliament. The canal extends from Blackwater River, which runs into Lough Neagh, to the town of Coal Island, 4 1/2 miles, and has 7 locks capable of passing lighters 62 feet by 14 feet 6 inches, with a maximum draft of 4 feet 9 inches. Traffic, about 15,000 tons per annum.

SCOTCH CANALS.

The only system of inland navigation within the limits of the consular district of Leith (Edinburgh) is the Union Canal, an artificial waterway extending from Port Hopetown, in the western suburbs of the city of Edinburgh, to a junction with the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Downie (a large basin at Lock 16), adjoining the town of Falkirk, in the county of Stirling.

The construction of the Union Canal was undertaken in the year 1817. It was opened in 1822, but as a property it proved a great failure. The returns from all departments - passengers, parcels, and miscellaneous goods, coals, stone, and other minerals, manure, etc. - proved much less than had been anticipated. The real returns during the seven years after opening did not amount to $85,000 a year, while the estimated returns had been set down at $275,000 a year. The canal was not intended for ship transit, but solely as a waterway of inland navigation for passenger traffic and merchandise between places on its own banks, and chiefly between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and therefore it was for a long period generally called the Edinburgh and Glasgow Canal.

The company owning it worked their business with great spirit, and adopted every available means in the endeavor to make their enterprise a paying one, or even to raise it to a fairly hopeful condition; but when the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was opened, February 18, 1842, it was seen that the canal could not long survive as an independent system of passenger and goods traffic between the two cities. A brisk competition was maintained for some time with little success, and ultimately, in 1849, the Union Canal was amalgamated with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, both of which undertakings in 1865 passed into the hands of the North British Railway Company. The Union Canal, therefore, although still remaining as a work, is quite absorbed as a business in the interests of the railway.

The total length of the Union Canal, from Port Hopetown, at Edinburgh, to the junction with the Forth and Clyde Canal at Lock 16, is 31 1/2 miles.

The medium width at top of bank is 40 feet; at surface of water, 37 feet, and width of water at bottom of canal, 20 feet. The depth of water is 5 feet.

There are 11 locks, 12 1/2 feet wide. Depth of water on sill of locks, 5 feet 9 inches. Total rise or fall of locks, 10 feet 3 inches.

The traffic consists entirely in conveyance of coals, stone, bricks, and other minerals, and manure.

The present owners are merely toll takers, not carriers. Other people put on the barges or boats. The management of this canal is entirely in the hands of the North British Railway Company.

THE FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL.

The Union Canal at its western extremity terminates in the Forth and Clyde Canal, an artificial navigable line of communication between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde.

From the Forth, at the port of Grangemouth, the navigation into the canal runs about a mile up the river Carron from low-water mark in the firth to the first lock, where there are extensive harbor accommodations. Passing southwesterly through Grahamstown and the Carron Iron Works, the canal proceeds to Camelon and reaches Lock 16, where it attains an elevation of 128 feet above the level of tide mark at Grangemouth. At Lock 16 is the large basin called Port Downie, from which the canal sends off on its east side the Union Canal to Edinburgh, above mentioned. At Windford Lock, near Castlecary, it attains its highest elevation, and continues to preserve the same onward past Port Dundas at Glasgow, on the one hand to the junction of the Monkland Canal, and onward on the other till near the aqueduct across Kelvin water. Thence it continues to the western terminus in the river Clyde at Bowling Bay, near the village of Bowling in Dumbartonshire, on the road from Dumbarton to Glasgow.

The work of excavation was begun in the year 1768, but on account of unforeseen difficulties, by reason of inexperience of its projectors in such schemes, the canal was not completed until 1790.

The Forth and Clyde Canal was incorporated with the Monkland Canal in the year 1846.

The extent of the Forth and Clyde Canal in all its parts is 38 3/4 miles. The navigation direct from the Forth to the Clyde is 35 miles; the side branch to Port Dundas, 2 3/4 miles; the continuation to Monkland Canal, 1 mile.

The number of locks on the eastern part of the canal is twenty, and on the western nineteen, the difference being occasioned by the higher level of water in the Clyde at Bowling Bay than in Grangeburn or the Carron at Grangemouth. Each lock is 74 feet long and 20 feet broad, and procures a rise of 8 feet.

The locks admit vessels of 68 feet keel, 19 feet beam, and 8 1/2 feet draft of water.

The greatest altitude of the canal is 156 feet; its medium breadth at the surface, 56 feet, and its medium breadth at bottom, 27 feet.

The canal is crossed by thirty-three drawbridges and passes over ten large aqueducts and thirty small ones or tunnels.

The tonnage dues imposed were, from sea to sea, 5s. 10d. ($1.41); from Grangemouth to Port Dundas, 3s. 10d. (93 cents); from Bowling Bay to Port Dundas, 2s. (48 cents). Subsequently tonnage dues were greatly reduced making the rate not more that 1 1/2d. (or 3 cents) per mile, but they continued to be remunerative.

In the year 1867 the two canals passed into the possession of the Caledonian Railway Company, and that company has ever since had the entire management of both of those systems of navigation.

THE MONKLAND CANAL.

This is an artificial navigable communication between the city of Glasgow and the district of Monkland, in the county of Lanark. Commencing in the northern suburbs of Glasgow, at Port Dundas, where it is brought into junction with the Glasgow branch of the Forth and Clyde Canal, it proceeds east southeastward through the parish of Old Monkland to the river North Calder. The canal sends off four branches - one, about a mile in length, to Calder Iron Works, near Airdrie, in the parish of New Monkland; one, about a mile in length, to Gartsherrie Iron Works, one, about a quarter of a mile in length, to Dundyvan Iron Works, and one, also about a quarter of a mile in length to Langloan Iron Works, all in the parish of Old Monkland.

The canal originally was projected as a measure for securing to the inhabitants of Glasgow a constant and plentiful supply of coal. The corporation of the city adopted the project and, having employed the celebrated James Watt to make surveys of the ground, obtained an act of Parliament for carrying out the design and subscribed to a number of shares of the stock.

The width of the Monkland Canal at top is 35 feet, and at bottom 24 feet. Upon the lock sills the depth of water is 5 1/2 feet.

By reason of the advantage possessed of easy communication with both the eastern and western seas, and because of its unlimited command of coal, the vicinity of the Monkland Canal has always been reckoned favorable for the establishment of manufactures, such as iron works and others of a like nature.

THE CALEDONIAN CANAL.

This is a navigable line of communication through the Great Glen of Scotland, which extends across the country directly southwest from the Moray Frith, between the mouth of the river Findhorn and two bold promontories called the Sutors of Cromarty; onward to the island of Lismore, dividing the county of Inverness and the Highlands generally into two nearly equal parts, while it connects the German Ocean and the Atlantic at those points.

The northeast end of the canal is occupied by about 23 miles of the narrow or upper portion of the Moray Frith; the southeast end is occupied to the extent of 32 miles by the sea lochs, Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe, and the intermediate portion has a total length of 60 1/2 miles, of which 37 1/2 consist of the four natural sheets of water named Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Lock Lochy. This intermediate portion is the region of the Caledonia Canal, which comprises works at its extremities and 23 miles of dry cutting.

It appears that by reason of the decay which has been rapidly going on in many parts of the original structure much of it has to be renewed and otherwise improved. In response to an application for assistance, the Government of Great Britain has sanctioned the sum of £5,000 ($24,332.50) as a contribution toward liquidating debt already incurred by the commissioners of the Caledonian Canal, and it is hoped that Parliament will approve of further annual sums being devoted toward the renewal of the original structure, as suggested in the report made by the superintendent.

THE CRINAN CANAL.

This is a work at the north end of the peninsula of Cantire (otherwise Kintyre), in the county of Argyle, intended to afford a waterway between Loch Gilp and the Atlantic Ocean, in order to avoid the difficult and circuitous passage of 70 miles around the Mull of Cantire. The Crinan Canal is about 9 miles long, and contains fifteen locks, thirteen of which are 96 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, and two locks are 108 feet long and 27 feet wide. Eight of the locks occur in the extend from Loch Gilp, or Ardrishaig, at the east end, and seven in descending to Crinan at the west end. The canal is chiefly used by small coasting and fishing vessels and by the steamboats which ply between Inverness and the Clyde. It is navigable by vessels of 200 tons burden. The small passage steamers do the distance from one terminus to the other, including the locks, in about two hours.

It is expected that the Isthmus of Cantire at no distant date will be cut off from the mainland by the formation of a ship canal connecting East and West Lochs Tarbert. The cost of such an undertaking has been estimated at £140,000 ($681,310).

From the foregoing description of the various lines of inland navigation at present in use in Scotland it will be noted that the three first mentioned, namely, the Union, the Forth and Clyde, and the Monkland, are all connected and worked as one system of water carriage, managed and controlled entirely by railway companies.

The Caledonian and Crinan are each quite independent of railways, but both are controlled and subsidized by the Government of Great Britain.

Therefore, in the first instance, there is no competition as to rate of cargo, and the latter independent systems have no competing lines of transit.

CANALS IN CHINA.

[Report of United States Consul Anderson, Hangchau, China.]

There are several features of the canal system in China, especially of the Imperial or Grand Canal, which can be studied with profit by the people of the United States. One of these is the use of the canal for the production of food in addition to its use as a means of transportation. Allied to this is the use of the muck which gathers at the bottom of the waterway for fertilization. Another is the use of every particle of plant life growing in and around the canal for various purposes.

The Chinese secure a vast quantity of food of one sort or another from their canals. To appreciate the exact situation with respect to the waterways, it must be realized that the canals of China cover the plain country with a network of water. Leading from the Grand Canal in each direction are smaller canals, and from these lead still smaller canals, until there is hardly a single tract of 40 acres which is not reached by some sort of a ditch, generally capable of carrying good-sized boats. The first reason for this great network is the needs of rice cultivation. During practically all of the growing season for rice the fields are flooded. Wherever a natural waterway can be made to irrigate the rice fields it is used, but, of course, from these to the canals or larger rivers there must be waterways. Where natural streams can not be thus adapted the Chinese lead water in canals or ditches to the edge of their fields and raise it to the fields of rice by the foot-power carriers which have been described so often by tourist writers. However the water is supplied to the rice, it is evident that there must be a waterway leading to the field and back to a principal stream, which is generally a branch canal. These waterways naturally take up a considerable portion of the land, and the Chinese make as profitable use of them as of the land itself.

The first use of the waterways is for fishing. The quantity of fish taken from the canals of China annually is immense. The Chinese have no artificial fish hatcheries, but the supply of fish is maintained at a high point by the fact that the flooded rice fields act as hatcheries and as hiding places for the young fish until they are large enough to look out for themselves. In the United States this fish propagation annex to the canals in probably neither possible nor needful in view of the work done by the State and National bureaus, but in China it is nothing less than providential.

Along the canals in China at any time may be found boatmen gathering muck from the bottom of the canal. This muck is taken in much the same manner that oysters are taken by hand on the Atlantic coast. In place of tongs are large bag-like devices on crossed bamboo poles which take in a large quantity of the ooze at once. This is emptied into the boat, and the process is repeated until the boatman has a load, when he will proceed to some neighboring farm and empty the muck, either directly on the fields - especially around the mulberry trees, which are raised for the silkworms - or in a pool, where it is taken later to the fields. From this muck the Chinese farmer will generally secure enough shellfish to pay him for his work, and the fertilizer is clear gain. The fertilizer thus secured is valuable. It is rich in nitrogen and potash and has abundant humus elements. This dredging of the canals for fertilizers is the only way by which the Chinese have kept their canals in reasonably good condition for centuries. The fertilizer has paid for itself both ways. Recently there were complaints filed at Peking that the ashes from steam launches plying on the canal were injuring the muck for fertilizing purposes, and the problem has been considered a serious one by the Chinese Government.

In addition to securing fertilizers from the canals, and thus keeping the canals in condition, the farmers help keep them purified by gathering all floating weeds, grass, and other vegetable débris that they can find upon them. Boatmen will secure great loads of water plants and grass by skimming the surface of the canal. The reeds growing along the canals are used for weaving baskets of several grades, and for fuel. In short, no plant life about the canal goes to waste.

Where there are so many canals there is more or less swamp ground. In China this is utilized for the raising of lotus roots, from which commercial arrowroot is largely obtained. There is no reason why much of the waste swamp land in the southern portion of the United States should not be used for a similar purpose, and the commercial returns from a venture of this sort in that part of the country ought to be satisfactory. Where the canals of China widen, by reason of natural waterways or for other reasons, the expanse of water not needed for actual navigation is made use of in the raising of water nuts of several varieties, especially what are known as water chestnuts. These nuts are raised in immense quantities. They are, strictly speaking, bulbs rather than nuts. They are rich in arrowroot and are prolific, an acre of shallow water producing far more than an acre of well-cultivated soil planted in ordinary grain or similar crops. These nuts, also, could be produced to advantage in the United States where there is land inundated for the growing season to a depth which will give ordinary water plants a chance to thrive and which is not capable of being drained for the time being. The nuts or bulbs are toothsome when roasted, and are wholesome, but probably would be more valuable in the United States for the manufactured products which can be secured from them.

There are duck farms all along the canals in China. These are profitable. Chinese canals, as a rule, considering the population upon them and their varied uses, are cleaner than canals in the United States. There are few if any factories to contaminate them. The Chinese use of certain sewage for fertilization also prevents contamination to a great extent. The canal water is used for laundry, bath, and culinary purposes indiscriminately. A canal in the United States could never be what it is in China, but the Chinese have a number of clever devices and ideas in connection with canals which can be adopted in the United States with profit.

The Grand Canal system in China has existed in almost its present shape since about the time Columbus discovered America. The Grand Canal, itself, extending from Hangchau to Peking, is about a thousand miles long. Much of it is banked with stone, and all of it is in such condition that with the expenditure of a little money the system could be put upon a modern and effective basis. As it is, the canal handles practically all the internal trade of China, and this trade is far greater than its foreign trade. The coming of railroads will affect the canals somewhat, but not so much as may be imagined, for the railroads will very largely be build up a trade of their own. A little money will make China's canal system in the future what it has been in the past, the greatest on earth.

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Transcribed from the original and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 2/25/99.