of the general plans referred to for the improvement of the Washington Canal be adopted, in other words, should the canal be properly cleaned out, narrowed, straightened as much as possible, and a good sewer built parallel with it, the arch over the lower portion of Tiber Creek being also extended as high up as the boundary of the city limits, or should the canal be discontinued as such, and a portion of its width converted into a proper sewer, and in connection with this, should the main channel of the Potomac be diverted towards and along the Washington shore, the value of the land reclaimed, and the rise in the price of property effected by the change, would more than pay the cost of the whole undertaking, to say nothing of the vast improvement that would accrue to the city by benefiting its sanitary condition. Before closing it may not be considered irrelevant to add some general information in regard to canals and navigable rivers, and the improvements in connection with them. The tables D, E, and F, which are appended, contain lists of the canals and river improvements already existing, or which are contemplated in the United States. The authorities from which the data are obtained are as follows: 1. Report upon the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River, by Captain A. A. Humphreys and Lieutenant H. R. Abbott, topographical engineers, 1861. 2. Report of the State Engineer and Surveyor of the State of New York for 1863. 3. Report of the State Engineer and Surveyor of the State of New York for 1866. 4. Report of the Superintendent of the United States Census of 1860. 5. Archives of the Headquarters Corps of Engineers, United States Army. 6. Proceedings of the National Ship Canal Convention, held at Chicago, June 2 and 3 1863. 7. History of the Ohio Canals, prepared from public documents of 1862. 8. Bishop Davenport's Gazetteer and Geographical Dictionary. The statistics herewith submitted concerning some of the existing canals are collected principally from the above-mentioned sources, and the data thus furnished tend to demonstrate not only the importance of providing additional facilities for the transportation of freight, but also the very urgent need for them. A great many facts were presented during the session of the National Ship Canal Convention, which was called together for the purpose of discussing the subject of "the enlargement of the canals between the valley of the Mississippi and the Atlantic," being regarded "as of great national, commercial, and military importance, and as tending to promote the development, prosperity, and unity of our whole country." The substance of the proceedings of this convention, consisting of about two thousand five hundred members, representing the mercantile interest of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kentucky, Kansas, Dacotah Territory, and the District of Columbia, is summed up in the following resolutions, and which were unanimously adopted. The representatives of the States, assembled in national convention in Chicago, desirous of cementing a closer union, of perpetuating our nationality forever, of providing for the common defense, and promoting the general welfare of our whole country, adopt the following resolutions: Resolved, That we regard the construction and enlargement of canals between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic, with canals duly connecting the lakes, as of great national, military, and commercial importance; we believe such construction_and enlargement, with dimensions sufficient to pass gunboats from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, and from the Atlantic to and from the great lakes, will furnish the cheapest and most efficient means of protecting the northern frontier, and at the same time will promote the rapid development and permanent union of our whole country. Resolved, That these works are demanded alike by military prudence, political wisdom, and the necessities of commerce; such works will be not only national but continental, and their early accomplishment is required by every principle of sound political economy. Resolved, That such national highways between the Mississippi and the lakes, as far as practicable, should be free, without tolls and restrictions; and we should deprecate the placing this great national thoroughfare in the hands of any private corporation or State. The work should be accomplished by national credit, and as soon as the cost is reimbursed to the national treasury, should be as free as the lakes to the commerce of the world. An executive committee of one from each State was appointed, which prepared and submitted a memorial to the President and the Congress of the United States, presenting the views of the convention, and urging the passage of the necessary laws to carry them into full effect. The memorial urges the necessity of large ship canals between the East and the West, both for military and commercial purposes. In reference to the importance of the first it contains a very interesting description of the exposed condition of our northern frontier compared with the complete and well-established defenses of Canada, consisting of fortifications and canals; those connecting the Atlantic with Lake Ontario have locks forty-five feet in width, two hundred feet in length, and eight feet in depth. By these water communications, and the Welland Canal, the latter connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario, with locks twenty-six feet wide, one hundred and fifty feet long, and eleven feet deep, Great Britain can "send a whole fleet of gunboats, with the most powerful of screw corvettes, to carry the protection of the British flag from Montreal to Detroit." To resist such measures, the United States are, as yet, entirely powerless. The chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, in 1863, employed the following forcible language: A small fleet of light draught, heavily armed iron-clad gunboats could in a short month pass up the St. Lawrence into the lakes, and shell every city from Ogdensburg to Chicago. It could at one blow sweep our commerce from the entire chain of waters. Such a fleet could have it in its power to inflict a loss to be reckoned only by hundreds of millions of dollars, so vast is the wealth thus exposed to the depredation of a maritime enemy. The memorial proposes the enlargement of the connection of Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River; the construction of a ship canal around the Niagara Falls; and the enlargement of the Erie and Oswego canals. In reference to the commercial importance of the improvements enumerated, the signers of the memorial make use of the brief but expressive sentence, "We have outgrown our canals." They say still further, "the necessity of the enlargement of the canals is manifest by the enormous profits of the great railways and the extravagant rates of transportation, showing that the quantity to be carried forward is so vast that the carriers command their own terms." The annexed graphical sketch (G) is intended to represent the progress of the trade on the Erie Canal from the year 1835 to 1862, both included, as gathered from the annual report of the State engineer and surveyor of New York for 1863. No statistics of the seasons succeeding 1862 could be found. The broken line in the sketch shows the amount of freight arriving at tide-water, and the full line, the total amount including both that leaving and arriving at tide-water. The broken and dotted line representing the amount of freight going east, and the dotted line the total amount going both ways, exhibit apparently the average increase from year to year between 1835 and 1862, and prove said increase to become greater and greater every successive season. The total lockage at Junction and Alexander's lock for 1862 was 42,866, making the daily passage 204. The cost of transportation (tolls and freight) was $16 per ton in 1835, from Albany to Buffalo, and $6 29 per ton from Buffalo to Albany; it was reduced in 1862 to $12 50 from Albany to Buffalo, and $4 22 from Buffalo to Albany. This reduction was in a great measure attained by the gradual enlargement of the canal, and in the increased size of the boats used. The report of the committee on statistics, appointed by the convention at Chicago, contains a statement of the Hon. N. S. Benton, auditor of the canal department of New York, which furnishes the following increase in the size of the boats employed: the average size of boats in 1842 was forty-two tons; in 1847, sixty-five; in 1852, eighty; in 1857, one hundred; and in 1862, one hundred and sixty-seven tons. The State engineer and surveyor says in his annual report for 1863, in reference to the reduction of the rates of transportation, that "to accomplish this important result the State expended for the enlargement of the Erie Canal, including land damages and interest on loans, $43,639,268 34. But to make the enlargement complete and efficient, it should be followed by a proportionate increase in the dimensions of the locks in order to give them sufficient capacity. The authority above quoted says, in his paper of 1866, in reference to the enlargement of the State canals so as to admit of the passage of gunboats, a subject already debated in the New York legislature, that "the plan of the enlargement of the capacity of the locks to tide-water is the practical solution of the difficulty, and will secure us for the present in the continued control of this great traffic by furnishing to it a quicker, safer, and cheaper route than can be found elsewhere." "But so rapidly is the great West increasing in population and all the elements of national wealth and prosperity, even this relief can only be adequate for a limited number of years." "One tier of enlarged locks, with a capacity of chamber two hundred and twenty feet in length between the quoins, and a width of twenty-five feet at the top-water line of the lower level, will admit the passage of boats with six feet draught of water, equal to a tonnage displacement of six hundred and eighty-four tons or a cargo of five hundred tons, and, with an equal distribution of boats, a capacity of five million tons in each direction, per season." "The cost of transportation, as compared with boats of the present tonnage, will be reduced from 2.16 to 1.44 mills, per ton, per mile, based upon the movement of horse-power." "The experiments thus far made with use of steam as a motor have been unsuccessful. This result is attributable to the want of capacity in the locks. The room occupied by the power necessary for rapid transit is too great, as compared with the space remaining for storage of cargo, to make its use economical. This difficulty will be greatly lessened, if not entirely removed, by the use of large boats." In a statement which was submitted by the Corn Exchange of New York, and the Board of Trade of Buffalo, to the joint committee on canals of the New York legislature in 1863, the inefficient capacity of the locks on the State canals is set forth as follows: "The fact was shown that, during considerable portions of the last three years, the Erie Canal had been taxed to its utmost capacity, not from deficiency in its main trunk, but from the impossibility of passing more boats through its locks; that while the channel of the canals was sufficient to be navigated by boats of six hundred tons burden, the present locks could pass boats of about two hundred tons only; that, while the channel of the canals in question was seventy by seven, the locks were but ninety-seven by eighteen; that multiplying boats would not increase the transportation of tonnage for the reason the limit of lockage had already been reached; that while the channels of the Erie and Oswego canals (with resources at command) were probably sufficient for the transportation of twenty-five million tons annually, the capacity of the present locks had been reached the present season at two million nine hundred thousand tons. The statement shows by tables furnished by the auditor of the canal department that the lockages for the three most active months of 1860 (September, October, and November) were fifteen thousand four hundred and twenty at Frankfort, the locks being double. An addition of six hundred and nineteen new boats in the same three months of 1861, only caused an increase of one hundred and sixty-five instead of three thousand seven hundred and fourteen, allowing each new boat three trips either way. Another addition of eight hundred and fifty new boats in 1862, which during the same three months with adequate locks ought to have caused an increase in lockage of eight thousand nine hundred and ninety-four over 1860, was followed by an increase of lockage of only one thousand six hundred and sixtythree. The last increase was obtained by the utmost exertions in every respect, and by the application of stationary power." The statement then adds that "the inadequacy of the lócks to the present channels of the canals was further illustrated by the many miles of boats constantly accumulated at Rochester, waiting their time at the Brighton lock, so called, and at Syracuse, at the first lock east of the junction of the Oswego Canal; showing that while these boats had passed readily along the levels, they suffered detention only at the locks; thus, while ten to twelve days should be ample time to run a loaded boat from Buffalo to New York, eighteen to twenty-two are now required, consequently a loss of time of nearly thirty-three per cent." The foregoing data show conclusively that the delay and consequent loss in the shipment of goods through the present canals, so seriously embarrassing to commerce, does not arise from their general construction, but is principally owing to the size of their locks; the latter are too small in proportion to the profile of the canals. Being incapable of furnishing transit to more than a limited number of the many boats that traverse with ease and rapidity the levels connecting them, their progress is greatly retarded and commerce impeded, the cost of transportation, in consequence, ruling at inconveniently high rates. Any alteration in the devising of locks that lessens the cost of construction and expedites the passage of boats, as by some improved mechanical apparatus for filling and emptying the chamber, will be welcomed as an advanced step toward the accomplishment of the scheme under consideration. The preceding information in regard to existing canals, as well as the data for compiling the annexed tables, has been principally compiled, under the direction of the board of engineers, by Mr. Bishop, the inventor of the plan of improved lock submitted to it for examination, assisted by Mr. John de la Camp, civil engineer; the latter also, as already stated, prepared the drawings of the plan from the models of the lock presented for the inspection and report of the board. N. MICHLER, Major of Engineers, Bvt. Brig. Gen. U. S. A. While concurring generally in the views submitted above, it seems proper to add that it is impossible to decide, from an examination of a small model, as to the actual commercial value of an arrangement like Mr. Bishop's. It is ingenious, but I do not believe it will effect the revolution in the canal navigation that he seems to anticipate. Its real value can only be ascertained by using it on some existing or projected canal. Its advantages do not appear to me so manifest or so great as to justify a recommendation that Congress be asked to appropriate the money to make a practical trial of it. If any canal company be found willing to give the invention a test, by building such a lock and proving its value by actual use, none will be more interested than myself in the experiment or more gratified to learn that Mr. Bishop's hopes and expectations are fully realized. I am unable to perceive the necessity or propriety of having a ship canal through the city of Washington, whether it be built at the expense of the general government or of the corporation of Washington. Being of this opinion, it is scarcely necessary to add, that the locality does not seem to be a favorable one for the application of Mr. Bishop's canal lock. WM. P. CRAIGHILL, Major of Engineers, Bvt. Lieut. Col. U. S. A. I concur. W. R. KING, Captain of Engineers, Bvt. Maj. U. S. A. A.-Detailed estimates of a canal lock, eight feet lift, old plan. Excavation of earth-work, 20,600 cubic yards, at 30 cents.. Lining, 3,200 cubic yards, at 50 cents.... Puddling earth, 360 cubic yards, at 30 cents. Slope wall and pavement, 660 cubic yards, at $1 75. Loose stone, 170 cubic yards, at 81 25. Vertical wall, in cement, 120 cubic yards, at $5. 600 00 Vertical wall, dry, 480 cubic yards, at $3 50.. 1,680 00 Masonry in lock walls, 3,006 cubic yards, at $12 50. 37,575 00 1,400 00 White oak timber, &c., 42,600 feet, board measure, at 70 cents.... 2,982 00 White pine timber, &c., 16,800 feet, board measure, at 50 cents. 840 00 Hemlock timber, &c., 220,000 feet, board measure, at 25 cents.... Bearing piles, delivered, 19,000 lineal feet, at 20 cents. Bearing piles, driven, 16,000 lineal feet, at 15 cents. Cast iron, 11,850 pounds, at 10 cents..... Spikes and nails, 5,000 pounds, at 10 cents. Sulphur and sand cement, per lock. Painting lock gates, per lock... Snubbing posts, 100 lineal feet... |