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TO BE COMPLETED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE
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ILLINOIS AND MISSISSIPPI CANAL
SPRINGFIELD
ÍIANAPOLK
(FROMC ROCK ISLAND TO HENNEPIN.)
As asked for from ConOTess by the General Assembly of Iowa in 1864, 1870,1874 and 1882, in memorials
unanimously adopted. The same has also been asked for by the Legislature of Illinois. Also, since De¬
cember Í, 1881, by the Board of Trade and Transportation of New York, Produce Exchange of New York,
Board of Trade of Buffalo and Board of Trade of Chicago, in memorials presented to Congress. The
construction of this canal is desired because thereby will bo removed the sole remaining barrier to All-
Water Transportation, Direct from
ALTON
ST. LOUIS
The proposed route of this canal has been surveyed three times, and, last, in 1874, with great care, by
the Engineers of the U. S. War Department. The estimate of that survey places the entire maximum cost
at ^,899,723; the length being a little less than 65 miles. The saving in freight charges on grain alone in
a single season, on shipments from the States directly affected, will exceed an amount at least double that
of the cost of the canal. The Internal Revenne tax collected in one year from the ten revenue districts
which touch the Mississippi between St. Paul and Alton will more than pay the entire cost of the canal.
JRand, McNally & Co,^ 'EngraviérSy Chicago.
î
A NATIONAL WORK.
\
THE ALL-WATER ROUTE
4
from the
UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER
The Voice of Conventions, Boards of Trade and State Legis-
latdres; India-Wheat (Consul General's Report) ; State¬
ment on Saving One Cent per Bushel; U. S. Engi¬
neer Maj. BeNYAURD's CoMilERCIAL STATISTICS,
Published by the Illinois and Mississippi River and
Canal Improvement Commission.
to
NEW YORK AND THE
CHICAGO:
Rand, McNally & Co., Printers.
1884.
A NATIONAL AVORK.
AN ALL-WATER ROUTE FROM THE UPPER MISSIS¬
SIPPI TO NEW YORK.
THE APPEALS TO CONGRESS.
The attention of every member of Congress is respectfully and particularly
solicited to tlie recent oflScial declarations of Conventions, Boards of Trade,
and State Legislatures, in support of the appeals made for the removal, by the
Oeneral Government, of the sole remaining obstacle to an all-water transporta¬
tion of products and commodities from the Upper Mississippi to the East, via
the Lakes, the Erie Canal, and the Hudson.
These several declarations and memorials are here presented in the order of
the date of their adoption by the respective bodies in which they originated, as
follows:
In May, 1881, there assembled at Davenport, Iowa, adelegate body of about
400 members, representing commercial bodies, municipal corporations, and
farmers' associations, of seven different States, and passed the following reso¬
lutions unanimously :
"Thisconvention, representing the people of the Mississippi Valley and the
Northwest, in the pursuance of the call of the convention, and in furtherance
of the purposes hereof, unanimously declare:
"1. That the Congress of the United States should devise by law, and sus¬
tain by liberal and efficient appropriations, a system of cheap transportation
by water routes, connecting the Hfississippi and its tributaries with the Eastern
Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico,
" 2. That it has been the policy of Congress and the desire of the people of
Northwest for many years to inaugurate and complete a system of water chan¬
nel improvements having the Mississippi for its base; that, to give greater
efficiency to the policy, there should be constructed from the Mississippi river,
on the most direct and feasible route, to the Illinois river at Hennepin, and
thence to the lake at Chicago, a canal adequate to the present and future tran.s-
portation needs of that great part of the Northwest to whose people such a
work of internal improvement is an imperative necessity, for a relief from ex¬
cessive freight rates on the produce and commerce of this country, and that the
work so long needed should be immediately commenced."
4
MEMORIAL OF THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE.
Adopted on October 26th, 1881.
"A National Work of Gh-eat Importance."
Whereas, This Board is advised that a renewed effort is about to be made
to direct the attention of the Congress of the United States to the question of
constructing a short line of canal, of capacity equal to that which may be
obtained in the Mississippi river between Rock Island and St. Paul, from a
point at or near Rock Island to the Illinois river at Hennepin, thus opening
direct water communication between the Upper Mississippi river and the lakes
via the present Illinois & Michigan Canal ; and
Whereas, This work is of a National character, and of great importance
as a means of cheapening the cost of transporting the products of the North¬
west to foreign countries, and especially to the principal points of consumption
in our own country, not only on such commodities as might seek that line of
transport, hut also on the perhaps larger volume carried by rail, as it, if com¬
pleted, would act as an efiicient regulator of railway tariffs, throughout a vast
area of the most productive agricultural territory in the United States, on the
well known principle that rates of freight by rail are controlled by the rates
current on and the possibility of diversion to the cheaper water routes; and
"Whereas, The estimated expenditure necessary to place this line" in success¬
ful operation, as shown by the surveys of competent engineers in the United
States service, is quite small in comparison with the great benefits to be secured
to both producers and consumers by its construction; therefore.
Resolved, B3' the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, that Congress he
respectfully but urgently petitioned to grant at its next session an appropriation
for this object, which will he snfflcient to commence and prosecute the work
with a vigor which will insure its completion with the least possible delay.
Resolved, That this expression be communicated to the President of the Senate
and Speaker of the House of Representatives, with the request that it be
laid before the honorable bodies over which they respectively preside, and
also to the Senators and Representatives in Congress from this State, with the
earnest request that they use all honorable means to secure favorable action by
Congress on this subject.
RESOLUTIONS OF THE BUFFALO BOARD OF TRADE.
Adopted on December 10th, 1881.
"A Oreal national Thoroughfare, Entitled to Consideration."
First, The Board of Trade in the City of Buffalo and State of New York,
most respectfully calls the attention of the Congre^s of the United States
to the necessity for increased and cheaper facilities for transportation, for the
following reasons: First, that the great extent of territory embraced within
our limits, together with its rapid settlement and increased trade, which is now
crowding our railways and water channels, with a prospect in the near future
of assuming much larger irroportions, calls loudly for prompt action to the
end that the general welfare shall he respected.
5
Second, That this Board of Trade and the commerce it represents have a
direct interest in all water routes from the port of New York City by the Erie
Canal and the great lakes to the Mississippi river, for wenbelieve it is the most
feasible and economical solution of the transportation question from the North¬
west to the Eastern seaboard.
Third, And as a means to that end we are not only in favor of the speedy
construction of the proposed Hennepin Canal, which will connect Lake Michi¬
gan with the Mississippi river, but we invite the attention of Congress to its
importance as a link in a great national thoroughfare, and as such entitled to
consideration and support.
Fourth, That our Representatives in Congress, in both Houses, will best re¬
flect our wishes by securing at this session of Congress an appropriation to
build said canal.
Fifth, That the Secretary of this Board be instructed to forward to our Sen¬
ators and Representatives in Congress a copy of these resolutions.
ACTION OP THE NEW YORK BOARD OP TRADE AND TRANS¬
PORTATION.
At Rbgulak Meeting Held Dec. 14th, 1881. Pbom Report of N. Y.
Herald, Dec. 15, 1881.
" Necessary to the Full Development of Our Country's Resources."
"Several other gentlemen took part in the discussion, after which, on motion
of Mr. A. B. Miller, chairman of the Canal Committee of the Board, a resolu¬
tion was adopted declaring that the rapid and enormous increase of the popu¬
lation and products of the country, unprecedented in the annals of the world,
demands in the interest of that important factor in the general prosperity of our
people—cheap transportation—that such constructions and improvements
should be made to the navigable waters of the United States as shall give them
their highest efficiency. The following was also passed :
Resolved, That we regard the construction of the Hennepin Canal for the
purpose of connecting the water of the Mississippi River with the Atlantic sea¬
board, via the great lakes, Erie Canal and Hudson river, as essentially
National in its character and operations, and necessary to the full and imme¬
diate development of our country's vast resources.
Resolved, That we respectfully urge upon Congress the need of such legisla¬
tion as will secure the necessary appropriations, etc., to the end that the canal
may be completed for navigation at the earliest day possible, and that we espe¬
cially call upon the representatives of our own State to take such actiou as in
their wisdom will most speedily and best secure the desired result.
COMMITTEE'S REPORT AND THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE NEW
YORK PRODUCE EXCHANGE.
Adopted by Full Meeting of the Exchange, Deo. 20th, 1881.
" The United. States Ooverninent Should Undertaketo Build the Hennepin Canal. "
At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the New York Produce Exchange,
held December 20th, 1881, the following Report of the Committee on Trade
6
was submitted, aud the recommendations contained therein were unanimously
adopted. F. H. Parkek, President.
Pail Babcock, Jr., Secretary.
Your Committee on Trade, to whom lias been referred tlie question of appli¬
cation to Congress for the building of the Hennepin Canal by the United States,
have given to this subject, the attention demanded by its important bearing on
the internal commerce of the country, aud respectfully report as follows :
In the opinion of your committee there cau be little if any question that the
proposed opening of a water-way from the Mississippi river to the Illinois and
Michigan Canal and the great lakes promises highly advantageous results, not
only to the Northwestern States, but to the whole northern country east of the
Mississippi river. Besides furnishing new means of transport to the Atlantic
seaboard for the produce of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and other grain-pro¬
ducing States, such a canal would also act as a welcome regulator of railroad
freights in the Northwest.
There cau be little question, also, that neither private enterprise nor the
State of Illinois, within whose territory the canal will be situate, nor any
other State directly benefited, nor all these combined, will or can undertake an
enterprise which is sure to meet the determined opposition of the railroad
interest.
The question before us, therefore, simply is ; Shall the United States build
and maintain this canal, and cau this Exchange, in, view of the well-grounded
opposition to the policy of its Internal Improvements in general, consistently rec¬
ommend such action on the part of the General Government '?
After mature consideration your committee have come to the conclusion that
this question should receive an affirmative answer from your Boarrl, and for the
following reasons;
The ground on which the Hennepin Canal is to be built has been repeatedly
surveyed, with a view to that improvement, by the United States Government,
and by other competent parties; the practicability of the project has been
established and the cost has been reliably ascertained. The scheme, therefore,
can not be classed with a large number of internal improvements annually
brought before Congress, which are indefinite in their scope and in the results
expected, and of uncertain cost.
The Hennepin Canal further differs from many of those proposed improve¬
ments in so far as it is sure to benefit a very large section of country, our own
State included. The General Government, further, seems to be committed to
an extensive improvement of the Mississippi river, of which the Hennepin
Canal may juslly be considered part and parcel, and the fact that its construc¬
tion would be to the benefit of the Northern States east of the Ilocky Moun¬
tains, only strengthens its claims on the whole country, which for a long time
to come, is, according to the policy airead}' adopted, to be taxed to the im¬
provement of the Mississippi river in its southerly course.
Your committee therefore feel justified in recommending to your Board the
adoption of the following preamble and resolutions:
Whereas. The completion of a water-way from the Mississippi river to
7
Lake Michigan by the construction of the Hennepin Canal promises to realize
advantages of national importance; and
Wheheas, There are insuperable obstacles in the way of having such im¬
provement carried out by private entei'ijrise, or by the State immediately ben¬
efited; and
Whereas, The building of the Hennepin Canal may justly be regarded as
part of the improvement of the Mississippi river; therefore,
Besolved, That in the opinion of the New York Produce Exchange the
United States Government should undertake to build the Hennepin Canal
and to maintain the same free for all time to come; and further,
Resolved, That our Senators and Representatives be requested to join the
representatives of other States in providing the necessary legislation for car¬
rying out this plan.
L. P. Holman, Chairman. John Sinclair.
Walter Carr. Sam'l S. Carll.
Gustav Schwab.
New York, December 19, 1881.
A MINNESOTA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SPEAKS.
" Worthy Immediate Assistance of the Present Congress."
Duluth, Minn., April 4, 1882.
To the. President of (he Illinois & Mississippi River and Canal Commission,
Washington, D. C. :
De.^r Sir: At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of Duluth, held on
the 3d lust., the following resolutions were adopted:
Whereas, Water courses, either natural or artificial, have in all ages been
considered the conservators of prices in the commerce of the world, and
cheapen the cost of food to the laboring classes of the earth, therefore.
Resolved, That this Chamber looks upon the construction of the Hennepin
Canal [Illinois and Mississippi Canal] as a matter of National importance,
worthy of the immediate active sympathies and assistance of the present
Congress, and that our members are respectfully requested to render the enter¬
prise their earnest aid and support.
Yours respectfully, George W. Kimberley, Secretary.
THE VOICE OF IOWA.
Memorial of its General Assembly.
" The Immediate Beginning of the Work is desired."
On February 4th, 1882, the House of the General Assembly of Iowa unan-
imou-sly adopted a preamble and resolutions as follows:
Whereas, The agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial interests of
the Northwest, and no less those of the entire couutry, are largely dependent
for their development upon a full enjoyment of facilities for the transportation
of products and commodities, and
Whereas, The two great interior water routes of transportation in the
8
United States are those of the Mississippi river from north to south, and of the
lakes, with the Erie canal and Hudson, from west to east; and
Whereas, A direct all-water connection between these two great routes is
indispensable to a complete service to the interests which so imperatively
demand improved and cheaper routes of transportation, since without such a
connection there can be no real use by the Northwest of a water route to the
East, nor by the East to the Northwest; and
Whereas, The General Assembl}' of Iowa did in ISßl, again in 1870, and
still again in 1874, memorialize Congress for the construction of a canal to
connect the Mississippi with the Illinois, on a line running eastward from or
near Rock Island, while Governors Merrill, Carpenter and Gear, have, also,
in offloial communications, urged that Congress should undertake that greatly
needed work of improvement; therefore.
Resolved, That this House, the Senate concurring, respectfully memorialize
the Congress of the United States to authorize, provide for, and direct, at its
present session, an early construction of a canal for commercial purposes from
Hennepin, on the Illinois river, to or near Rock Island, on the Mississippi
river.
Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representa¬
tives be requested, to use all possible and proper exertions to secure from the
bod}' in which they respectively serve, the passage of a bill, at the present
session, ordering the immediate beginning of the work of constructing the
canal herein mentioned, and to vote liberal appropriations therefor, to the end
that the said canal may be completed and opened to the commerce of the
country at the earliest possible date.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions duly signed by the Speaker, and
attested by the Clerk of this body, be forwarded to each of the Iowa Senators
and Representatives in Congress, in order that the same may be duly pre¬
sented to the respective bodies in which they serve.
On the 7th day of the same mouth, or, as soon as the properly authenticated
copy of the above could reach that body from the House and be brought up
for action, the Senate of the Iowa General Assembly also unaniniomly adopted
the same memorial to Congress in behalf of the long desired canal.
: ILLINOIS FOLLOWS IOWA,
The Prayer op a Great State.
"'Without Sue/i a Oonnectiou there cm he no Real Use by the Northwest of a
Water Route to the East."
On March 27, 1882, the Senate of the General Assembly, and on March 30,
the House in the same body, respectively, adopted, by a unanimous vote in
each case, the following as constituting a memorial to Congress:
Whereas, The agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial interests of
the Northwest, and no less those of the entire country, are largely dependent
for their development upon a full enjoyment of facilities for the transportation
of products and commodities; and
Whereas, the two great interior water routes of transportation in the
9
United States are those of the Mississippi river from nortlt to south, and of
the lakes, with the Erie Canal and Hudson, from west to east; and
Whereas, A direct all-water connection between these two great routes is
indispensable to a complete service to the interests which so imperatively de¬
mand improved and cheaper routes of transportation, since without such a
connection there can be uo real use by the Korthwest of a water route to the
East, nor by the East to the Northwest;
Resolved, That the Senate, the House concurring, respectfully memorialize
the Congress of the United States to authorize, provide for, and direct at its
present session, an early construction of a canal for commercial purposes from
Hennepin, on the Illinois river, westward to the Mississippi river; on the
most feasible route.
Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representa¬
tives be requested, to use all possible and proper exertions to secure from the
body in which they respectively serve, the passage of a bill at the present session
ordering the immediate beginning of the work of constructing the canal herein
mentioned, and to vote liberal appropriations therefor, to the end that the said
canal may be completed and opened to the commerce of tlie country at the
earliest possible date.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, duly signed by the President of
the Senate, the Speaker of the House, tuid attested by the Secrctaiy of this
body, be forwarded to each of the Illinois Senators and Representatives in Con¬
gress, in order that the same maj' be duly presented to the respective bodies in
whicli they serve.
ACTION OF THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
Tow.akds Nation.aiuzino the W.ater Rox ïe FitOAt the Lakes to the
Upper Mississippi River,
To remove the objection, repeatedly urged, that the Slate of Illinois is hold¬
ing and collecting toll upon the water-route which must be an integral part of
a completed connection between the Lakes aitd the Upper Mississippi,the General
Assembly has, at its special session just held, enacted the following bill. The
fact that the Senate of that body agreed to the measure originating therein,by
a vote embracing only two nays, and the House by a vote of 103 to 48, clearly
indicates the full approval of the act of session by the people, at the general
election in November:
A Bili, for an act ceding the Illinois A Michigan Canal to the United
Stales.
Sec. 1. Be it enaeied by the P-ople of Illinois, represented in the Oeiieral As-
.sembly, That the Illinois & Michigan Canal, its right of wn}', and all of its
appurtenances ; and all right, title, and intxTcsl which the Slate may now have
in any real estate ceded to the State by the United Slates for canal purposes, be
and arc hereby ceded to the United State.-, for the purpose of making and main¬
taining an enlarged canal and water-way from Lake Michigan tolhe Illinois
and Mi.ssissippi rivers, and this cession is made upon the condition that the
United States shall, within Arc years from the time this act.takes effect, accept
this grant, and thereafter maintain the said canal and water-way for the purpose
aforesaid. In case the United States shall accept this grant, it is upon the ex¬
press condition that the canal shall be enlarged in such manner as Congress
10
may determine, and be maiutaiued as a National water-way, for commercial
purposes, to be used by all persons, without discrimination, under such rules
and renulatious as Congress may prescribe; and the real estate aforesaid, here-
bj- conveyed to the United Slates, shall be used and the avails thereof applied
to carry out the objects of this grant, and for no other purpose, in such man¬
ner as Congress may determine.
Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall have power to withdraw and revoke
this propo--cd grant at any time previous to its acceptance by Congress, but
when the United States, b}' act of Congress, shall accept the grant and con¬
ditions nrovided for by Section 1 of this act, the Governor shall immediately
thereafter e.xecute and deliver, in the name of the State of Illinois, to the
United States, a deed of cession, in accordance with the provision of this act,
and shall then and there, or as soon as practicable, surrendei' all property men¬
tioned in this act to be granted to the proper authorities of the United States;
and nnlil the doliveiy of such deed and acceptance of the same (together with
the property conveyed) by the United Stales, the authorit}'and duty of the State
of Illinois to operate said canal and control its property and appurtenances
shall in no respect be impaired.
Sec. 3. This act shall not take effect until it shall first have been submitted
to a vote of the people of the State of Illinois at the general election to be
held on Tuesday, the 5th daj' of November, A. D. 1882, and have been approved
b}' a majority of all the votes polled at such election. At the said election
the ballots, in so far as the}' relate to this act, shall be in the following form:
" For the act ceding the Illinois A Michigan Canal to the United States," and
when so voted it shall count in favor of this act, but if cancelled with ink or
pencil it shall be counted against this act. The returns of the whole vote
cast at said election, and of the votes for the adoption or rejection of this act,
shall be made and canvassed by the same officers, and in the same manner as
are the returns of the votes for Senators and Representatives of the State of
Illinois, and if it shall appear that a majority of the votes polled are " for the
act ceding the Illinois A Michigan Canal to' the United States," the Governor
shall make proclamation thereof, and this act shall take effect from and after
.the date of such proclamation, hut if a majority of the votes cast are ''against
the act ceding the Illinois A Michigan Canal to the United States," then this
act shall he null and void.
RESOLUTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY NATIONAL BOARD
OP TRADE,
Held at Washington, J.vnuaky 23, 24 and 25, 1884.
liesolved, That the enlargement of the Illinois A Michigan Canal and the con¬
struction of the Hennepin Canal, connecting the Illinois and Mississippi rivers,
as by survey recently made by the Secretary of Wtir, are necessary to control
and materially reduce the cost of transportation from the fields of production to
the great lakes, and that the cheapest possible transport from the interior to
the seaboard is indispensable io the retention of foreign markets for our
cereals.
RESOLUTION OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER IMPROVEMENT CON¬
VENTION,
Held at Washington, January 23, 1884.
Resoloed, 4. That in the interest of cheap transportation, and to afford a choice
of water routes to the seaboard, we regard connections between the upper navi¬
gable waters of the Mississippi and the great lakes as of great importance, and
that congress in making appropriations ought to have regard to the establish¬
ment of the free water communication between the valley of the great river of
11
the west and the tidewater of the east, in accordance with the recommendatioDS
heretofore made by tlie President of the United States in his special message on
the subject.
REPORT OF CONSUL-GENERAL H. MATSON, CALCUTTA, ON
UNDEVELOPED WHEAT RESOURCES, ETC.
December 23, 1882. No. 28. Published Febru.íet, 1883.
The total area of India under British administration is 904,000 square miles,
and that of the native States 575,000 square miles; but the latter area is not
dealt with in this report.
The following table gives the area in each of the four principal wheat-pro
ducing provinces, with the proportion of cultivated, culturable, and uncul.
turable areas, so far as can be ascertained;
Provinces.
Total area.
Cultivated
area.
Culturable
area.
Uucultur-
able area.
Square
miles.
Square
miles.
Square
Sqiiare
miles.
miles.
Punjab
io;',oio
36,656
36,706
33,648
33,892
N ortbwestern and Oudh
105,031
51.000
20,139
Central
84,208
22,840
26,755
34,613
Bombay
73.609
35,053
4.022
34.533
Prom which it appears that in those four provinces alone there are nearly 88,000
square miles, or 56,000,000 acres, virgin land, the larger portion of which can
be made suitable for the cultivation of wheat. It should be remembered, how¬
ever, that this land is overgrown with jungle, and the process of clearing is
very slow and expensive, and that nearly all of it requires irrigation.
In order to facilitate the development of the wheat resources and to assist
the export trade, the Government of India is pursuing a policy of encourage¬
ment, which has already resulted in better facilities of transit to the seaboard,
by the construction of new railways and in the reduction of freight; it has
removed taxes, export and octroi dulj'; it is diffusing knowledge and instruc¬
tion in the cultivation of wheat and improvement of the soil, constructing
canals for irrigation and transportation, and in many other ways giving moral
and material aid to this great cause, in the hope that India may ultimately
become the granary of Great Britain.
When all these facts are summarized it will be found-
That India can produce an average quality of wheat at as low cost to the
producer as the most favored locality in the United States;
That she can now supply the European market with about 40,000,000 bushels
annually, and possesses facilities for increasing the supply to an almost unlim¬
ited extent, owing to the great elasticity of the home consumption and to the
vast amount of land awaiting cultivation.
STATEMENTS WORTH!' OF SPECIAL NOTICE AND
CONSIDERATION.
These improvements contemplated would be common to Illinois, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Iowa and to every State and Territory within the range of their
influence. If made, would the result justify the expenditures? In 1872 a United
States Senate committee reported that the Hennepin Canal would save in one
12
year sufficient to pay the cost and fl,360,000 in excess. No account was made
by this committee of transport of ha}-, lumber, bricks, iron, coal, groceries, or
returns of any kind. The average freight charges from all the river towns by
this canal were estimated at just one-half the charges for the same service by
rail, or 8 6-10 cents per bushel less by canal than by rail. The entire estimated
cost of botii these improvements is less than .19,000,000. That five cents per
bushel .saving in trau.sport is below the actual saving. New England, on the
basis of saving one cent per bushel, would save $420,000, or $150,000 more
than enough to pay interest on the entire cost of construction, and New York
alone would save $420,000, or $150,000 more than enough to pay all the inte¬
rest on the entire co.st of construction, and the country at large would save on
the amount of grain exported $180,000 more than sufficient to pay the interest
four times over on the entire cost of construction.
Cheaper transport on the great lakes during tlie last twelve }-ears by the use
of barges and vessels of veiy much greater tonnage has reduced shipping
charges six cents a bushel on grain, and the reductions and final abolition of
tolls on the Erie Canal have reduced transport charges six cents more. These
great reductions in transport charges from the lake ports to the seaboard,
amounting to twelve cents per bushel, now enable our cereals, both wheat and
corn, to control the markets of Great Britain and Western Europe. The charges
for transports by rail are everywhere more than double the charges for the
same service by water unless in competition therewith. Great Britain can now
take full cargoes of wheat in sea going vessels from Cawupore, 900 miles up the
Ganges, to Liverpool or London without breaking bulk via the Suez Canal ; and
not content with all these seeming advantages still greater and cheaper facili¬
ties are souglit for transport from the Red to the Mediterranean Sea by enlarg¬
ing the present Suez Canal, or by the construction of another canal parallel
thereto. Certain persons have inquired why the State of Illinois does not build
the Hennepin Canal. Persons familiar with the boundaries of the State would
hardly care to ask the question. Illinois contains about 56,000 square miles,
not more than one-twentieth part of which would l)e any more tributary to the
canal than the State of Maine or the State of Georgia. The section of country
that would be tributary to it lies west of the Mississippi, and not cast of that
river.
COMMERCIAL STATISTICS,
AxD OEKEli-M. t'ONSIDEIi-VTION OP THE BENEFITS TO BE DETÎIVED BY THE
CONSTUfCTION OF THE CAN.tE BETWEEN THE MlSSISSim AND THE LaKES,
GIVEN BY United States Engineek, Ma.t. W. H. H. Beny.vdkd, in his
SüüVEY OF Route for Hennepin C.vn.vl.
The construction of a canal to connect the waters of the Upper Mississippi
with those of the lakes, byway of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, has long-
been earnestly desired by the jieoplc occupying the vast area lying west of
Chicago and seeking improved channels of communication with that city and
the East. Four times—in 1864, 1870, 1874, and 1883, respectively—has the
General Assembly of Iowa, by eoncurrent action on the part of each of its
branches, specifically memorialized Congress for the opening of such a canal
by the General Government. The Legislature of Illinois has also similarly ad-
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■dressed its appeal to Congress repeatedly, the last occasion being that of the
special session of that body last 5'ear. These two States, thus speaking through
their representatives, embrace more than 5,000,000 of people. Their express¬
ion of opinion and desire have been earnestly supported, loo, by resolutions
adopted by such Boards of Trade as those of St. Paul, La Crosse, Duluth, Da¬
venport, Rock Island and Chicago, In the Northwest, and those of Buffalo,
Syracuse, and New York, In the East, and by the resolution of the Senate
branch of the New York Assembly last May, which would have been con¬
curred In by the House had the session had two days longer continuance. In
the city of New York, particularly, not only the Board of Trade and Trans¬
portation, but the "Produce Exchange,"a body numbering in its membership
nearly 3,000 of the Produce Commission and other business men of that city,
have addressed Congress In urgent appeals In behalf of the canal In question,
usually denomluated the " Hennepin Canal." In May, 1881, there assembled
In Davenport, Iowa, a delegate body of about 400 members, represent¬
ing commercial bodies, municipal corporations, and farmers' associations, of
seven different States, expressly to urge upon the attention of the country the
desirability of, and necessity for, the construction of the said canal by the
General Government.
The reasons which have been and are presented In support of this action and
these appeals, may be thus summarized:
■ 1. Cheap transportation to the East Is even more an absolute necessity to the
Upper Mississippi Valley than Is such transportation to the South. In the di¬
rection of securing the latter, very much has been done during the past fifteen
years. The Improvement of the Rock Island and the Des Moines Rapids, the
removal or the reduction of numerous sandbars, etc., and the construction of
the jetties at the mouth of the river, have each been of great advantage to
those whose products seek a Southern market, or can be transported to Europe
by way of New Orleans. But It Is urged that, after all, the main articles of
commerce flow from the West to the East and from the East to the West.
Several co-operative causes are responsible for this:
a. The greater shipping ports of European markets are on the Eastern At¬
lantic seaboard, for to these are made the larger number of Imports, so that
the vessel leaving thence laden with cereals and provisions fi'om the West can
offer to these cheaper freightage, because sure of return cargoes at rates which
are the most remunerative, as a result of the shorter ocean voyage, as com¬
pared with that required from ports more distant from Liverpool, or London,
or Bremen.
b. In the East are the manufacturing centres and the populous cities, the
necessities of which make constant demand for the grains and breadstuffs,
the meats, and the dairy products, of the Northwest. From the East, also,
the Northwest most largely draws Us supplies of manufactured articles, ma¬
chinery, staple goods, etc.
e. In the East are the strong competitors for the products of the North¬
west—the markets at Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Portland,
Montreal, and Quebec—which are not only connected with the Northwest by
the great trunk railroad lines which stretch from Chicago to the ocean, but
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which enjoy, also, more or less directly, the free use of the lakes, the Erie or
the Weiland Canal, the Hudson or the St. Lawrence.
These and other notable facts press upon attention the truth that if the Up¬
per Mississippi Valley is to at all attain the development so unmistakably
promised in the wealth of its resources and the energies of its people, it must
have opportunities for transportation of its products and commodities which
shall be equally direct and inexpensive eastward or southward.
3. It is the particular misfortune of the Upper Mississippi Valley that it
has no share in the vast benefits which accrue to the lake region in the matter
of competition and cheap transportation, secured through the use of a water
route which has its western terminus at Chicago, and its eastern in New York
Harbor. The potency of the competitiou in freight charges maintained by
the water route of the lakes, the Erie Canal, and the Hudson, stands con¬
fessed. Yet the striking facts pertaining thereto are worthy of special refer¬
ence here. Thus, in a letter to the Hon. William Windom, United States
Senator for Minnesota, Mr. Albert Fink, the well-known railroad commis¬
sioner, wrote in 1878 : * * * " You are aware that when the rates are re¬
duced between Chicago and New York on account of the opening of the
canal, this reduction applies not only to Chicago, but to all interior cities
(St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati), to New York. If that was not the
lule, the result would be that the roads running, say, from St. Louis,
Indianapolis, and Cincinnati, to Chicago, would curry the freight to Chicago,
from which point low rates would take it to the East, and leave the direct road
from the interior points to the seaboard without any business. Hence, when,
ever the rates are reduced on account of the opening of navigation from Chi¬
cago and lake ports, the same reduction is made to all interior cities, not only
to New York, where the canal runs, but to Philadelphia and Baltimore. Al¬
though the latter cities have no direct water-route communication with the
West, yet thej' receive the benefit, as far as railroad rates are concerned, the
same as it a canal were running from the lakes direct to these cities, because
whenever rates from Chicago to New York are reduced, it is necessaryto re¬
duce the rates from Chicago to Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore ; other¬
wise, the business would all go to New York. The reduction of the rates from
Chicago and St. Louis to Baltimore causes a reduction in rates on shipment ria
Baltimore to Atlantic ports—Norfolk, Wilmington, Port Royal, Savannah,
Brunswick, and Fernandina—and from there into the interior of the Gulf
States—Augusta, Atlanta, Macon, Montgomery, Selma, ete. * * * These
roads * * are obliged to follow the reduction made ®¿aí the Baltimore yrad,
and which were primarily made on account of the e.xistenee of the Erie Canal,
and the opening of navigation. The same way in regard to the west-bound
business, * * * so that it may be said that the rail rtUes are kept in check
by water transportation."
But, while this potential influence of the water-route competition of the lakes
and of the Erie Canal is widely felt at Chicago, ttnd all over the country east¬
ward and southward from Chicago, its westward trend practically ends at
Chicago. It so sends at Chicago, so far as the Upper Mississippi Valley is con¬
cerned. because there is no water route open to the Upper Mississipjii by which
Chica.tro and the lakes can be reached. It is to meet that difficulty that the
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Hennepin Canal is necessary. In a word, the construction of the Hennepin
Canal and the use of the Illinois and Michigan Canal will extend to the Upper
Mississippi Eiver the water-route competition in freight charges now terminat¬
ing westward at Chicago.
3. The great gain to the entire region west of Chicago to result from the
extension to the water-route competition and cheapness to which attention has
been directed, may be approximately estimated on comparison of railroad
freight charges on lines of commerce with which water routes of transporta¬
tion come into competition, and those on which no such competition is
known.
The reports of the leading trunk lines, collated by Mr. Joseph Nimmo, Jr.,
in a table illustrating the successive reduction of freight charges on those roads
and on the Erie Canal, respectively, furnish striking evidence on this point.
(Internal Commerce of the United States for 1880, Appendix, page 330 )
Of twelve of the railroads therein enumerated, maintaining an avei'age
freight charge of from 1.85 to 3.168 cents per ton per mile, respectively, in
1868, the only ones maintaining for the year 1880 an average freight charge
of .88 of a cent per ton per mile were those having no water-route competition.
This is a summary of that exhibit as to the charges for 1880 per ton per
mile :
RAILROADS HAYING COMPETITION IN WATER ROUTES.
Per ton per mile.
New York Central Railroad $0 00.88
Pennsylvania Kailroad 00.88
New York. Erie, and Western Railroad 00.84
PhiladelpMa and Erie Railroad 00.56
Lake fehore and Michigan Southern Railroad 00.75
Michigan Central Railroad 00.842
Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne Railroad (for 1879, lor 1880 not given). , 00.76
RAILROADS NOT COMPELLED TO MEET WATER-ROUTE COMPETITION.
Per ton per mile.
Boston and Albany Railroad $0 01.20
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (for 1879, for 1880 not given) 01.023
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad (for 1879. for 1880 not given), 01.49
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad (for 1879, for U80 not given) 01.76
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (for 1879, for 1880 not given) 01.21
Erie Canal for 1880 $0 00.49
Tims it will be seen that the four leading trunk railroads running to Chicago
from the Upper Mississippi Valley States maintained an average of .63 of a
cent per ton per mile freight charge in excess of the average freight charge of
seven other trunk railroads eastward of Chicago, where tariff rates were, as
Mr. Fink has explained, constantly under the control of the potentially oper¬
ative competition of the water routes of the lakes and the Erie Canal. The
fact thus cited to attention is a very important one. Its existence is urged as
furnishing an argument for tlie opening up of an extension of the water route
of the lakes to the Upper Mississippi so strong that its force can neither be
moderated nor escaped.
These facts find earnest enforcement, moreover, in yet others directly
illustrating the beneficent results to producers and consumer.s attendant upon
the maintenance of water-route competition with railroads. For example,
the freight charges by rail during the past season, on wheat from Saint Paul
to Chicago or Milwaukee, were twenty cents per 100 pounds in car-load lots,
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or twelve cents per bushel. From Saint Paul to Davenport or Rock Island,
by the Mississippi river, the charges were three cents to four cents per bushel
for wheat, although lower rates were frequently accepted. From La Salle, on
the Illinois river, and the northern terminus of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal, as also from Henry, thirty miles south of La Salle, the charges of last
season on wheat were three cents per bushel, including State tolls on canal.
Deducting the State tolls, li mills per 1,000 pounds per mile, and three cents
per mile on boats, or seven mills per bushel of wheat*the actual charge for trans¬
portation would have been 3.3 cents per bushel.
Now, estimating the cost of transportation on the proposed Hennepin
Canal, from at or itear Rock Island to the Illinois River at or near Hennepin,
sa3' sixt3r-three miles, at the same rate per bushel per mile charged on the 100
miles of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, free of tolls, at li cents per bushel
of wheat, then, by an all-water route from the Upper Mississippi to the Illinois
River and thence to Chicago, the freight from Rock Island to Chicago would
be 3.8 cents per bushel. But this estimate, it is to be noted, is based upon the
present use of canal boats of only 160 tons on the Illinois and Michigan Canal.
The proposed Hennepin Canal, however, contemplates use of boats of 380
tons; and an enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal to an equal
accommodation of tonnage would secure a reduction in freight charges of
fulh' 35 per cent, on the 100 miles from La Salle to Chicago. This would
lessen the charge to an extent of nine-tenths of a cent per bushel. The actual
charge per bushel from Saint Paul to Chicago via the Mississippi river and
Hennepin Canal, would then be as follows;
Cents.
Saint Paul to western terminus of Hennepin Canal 3
Mississippi River to Chicago, via Hennepin and Iliinois and Michigan Canals 3.9 or 3
Total from Saint Pani to Chicago ' 6
Thus, there would be effected a saving of six cents per bushel on wheat
from the Upper Mississippi River districts to Chicago, and so, on the vast
aggregate of that cereal now compelled to seek entrance upon the water-route
of the lakes only thbough transportation by railroad.
Actual results are shown already, it may be further urged, as due to the
direct competition of canal and railroad, in the case of the Illinois and Mich¬
igan Canal and the railroads by which it is paralleled. The railroad commis¬
sioners of Illinois establi.shed the freight charge on wheat by rail last season at
eleven cents per 100 pounds, or 6 6 cents per bushel, for 100 miles, the distance
from La Salle to Chicago ; for 130 miles, the distance from Henry, on the
Illinois river, to Chicago, twelve cents per 100 pounds, or 7.3 cents per bushel;
for 183 miles, the distance from Rock Island to Chicago, 13.4 cents per 100
pounds, or 8.3 cents per bushel. It has been freely stated, and generally be¬
lieved, that the railroads have regarded these rates of the commissioners as too
low. Yet wheat was last season taken from Henry and from Peoria, each on
the Illinois river, for three cents per bushel by rail, while the schedule rates
were 7.3 cents per bushel. Thus were the rates of the railroad compelled to
fall to a point of equality with those of the canal; while on lines not so placed
in competition with that water route, the rates from shipping stations of equal
distance from Chicago with those of Peoria, Henry, and La Salle were required
to pay the full schedule rate as established by the commissioners.
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These illustrations give emphasis to, but do not at all exhaust, the facts
which are relied upon to support to the utmost this, the third reason thus
urged by which the desire for the construction of the Hennepin Canal is
enforced.
4. The vast volume attained by the annual cereal product of the States di¬
rectly tributary to the Upper Mississippi, presents yet additional support to
the plea for an all-water transportation route to the East. The annual report
of the Chicago Board of Trade for 1882 esiimates the crop yield thus:
Illinois) Bushels.
Wheat 52,302,900
Corn 187,336,900
Oats 18,696,000
Total 258,335,800
Iowa.:
Wheat 25.487,200
Corn 178,487,600
Oats 99,141,000
Total 303,115,800
Kansas :
Wheat 33,248,000
Corn 150,452,000
Oats 29,700,000
Total 213,400,600
Nebraska :
Wheat 14,947,200
Corn 82,478,200
Oats 44,555,700
Total 141,981,100
Minnesota:
Wheat 37,030,500
Corn 21,127,600
Oats 9,417,650
Toüü 67.575,750
Wisconsin:
Wheat 20,145,400
Corn 30,201,600
Oats 12,780,800
Total 63,127,800
Thus is presented a grand total of 1,047,536,850 bushels as the product of
three cereals only, in a single year, from six States, constituting only a part of
the widely extended area certain to be affected and benefited by an extension
to the Upper Mississippi of tlie water-route system of transportation reaching
westward from New York, but now having its western terminus at Chicago.
But consideration of these facts would be seriously incomplete were it not
made to include the fact that, vast as are the aggregates of ijroductions iu the
States named, for the year 1882, they are certain to be yet largely increased,
year by year. Comparative statistics are almost startling in that regard. Thus,
as a single illustration where many might be given, the wheat product of Iowa
from 1849 to 1860, as shown by carefully compiled statistics, aggregated
50,000,000 bushels; from 1860 to 1870, 195,000,000 bushels; from 1870 to 1881,
375,000,000 bushels. Of corn the yield was, from 1849 to 1860, 250,000,000
bushels; from 1860 to 1870, 550,000,000 bushels; and from 1870 to 1881,
1,800,000,000 bushels. Estimating the wheat at 85 cents per bushel and corn
IS
at 35 cents, a curious statistician has recently shown (see Clinton (Iowa) Agri¬
culturist, February 2, 1883) that the total value of these two crops in Iowa, ex¬
cluding those of 1882, would equal $1,177,000,000, or more than the highest
estimate of the value of all the gold product of California, from its discovery,
on June 19, 1848, to June 30, 1881.
In this connection, too, may be cited the fact that, while the total wheat
crop of the United States increased from 181,199,000 bushels in 1867 to
498,549,000 bushels in 1881, the larger part of that increase was signalized in
the States of the Upper Mississippi Valle3',
5. The fact that the producers of the Northwest do and must increasingly
look to the exportation of their cereals, provisions, dairy products, and cattle,
as offering the surest market and the largest profit, has also great weight in the
argument urged in behalf of the Hennepin Canal. Those European markets
are no longer left to supply by American producers. These are invited, but
only in competition with those of other countries. The freight rates to be paid
in transporting products from the Upper Mississippi to Liverpool often alone
determine the possibility or impossibility of profitable exportation. On this
point, the evidence taken in New York by a committee of the State Senate,
appointed to investigate the facts as to the relative advantages to commerce of
the Erie Canal, was conclusive. That committee, which had its sessions in
September, 1881, recorded the testimony of prominent members of the New
York Produce Exchange, which asserted that it frequently happened that the
difference of one cent per bushel in the price of wheat in New York City deter¬
mined the ability or inability of the commission men and dealers to make ship¬
ments to European markets. One shipper placed that controlling difference as
low as one-fourth of a cent per bushel. It was also the concurrent statement
of some of the gentlemen testifying, that advance in freight rates frequently
estopped grain exportations, while freight reductions stimulated such movements
of cereals, and gave legitimate impetus to the grain markets of the entire coun¬
try. (See printed report of New York Senate committee on Erie Canal, sub¬
mitted to General Assembly of 1882.)
So manifestly correct are these several testimonies, that they were even
anticipated by Mr. Joseph Nimino, Jr., of the Bureau of Statistics, when he
said, in his report on the commerce of the United States for 1880 (page 154):
"The price of all commodities of low value in proportion to weight is in
every market greatly affected by the cost of transportation.
"Especially is this the case in regard to the surplus agricultural products of
the Western and Northwestern States. The low rates which prevail for trans¬
portation upon the Northern water lines, therefore exercises an important reg¬
ulating influence over the price of all the products of the West, not only in the
markets of the Atlantic seaboard States, but also in foreign countries. It is
due chiefly to this fact, during the last ten years, that the value of domestic
exports from the LTnited States has greatly increased, and that since the year
ended June 30, 1875. the value of exports from the United States has largely
exceeded the value of imports to the United States."
6. Scarcely less important to the Upper Mississippi Valley region than the
export of its products, rendered possible and profitable only when cheap trans¬
portation is secured, is the ready and inexpensive delivery of its imports. The
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aggregate ot these increases year by year, while it has already reached pro-
po) tion and value which are literally immense. Thus, not only are vast totals
of anthracite coal and crude and manufactured iron from Pennsylvania, pot¬
tery from New Jersey and Ohio, hard woods from Indiana, and stone and
bituminous coal from Eastern Illinois, shipped in large quantities to the Upper
Mississippi Valley States, but the cotton goods of Massachusetts, the woolens
of Rhode Island, the machinery of Connecticut, the agricultural implements of
New York—all constituting heavy bulk freights—are constantly adding to the
number of their consumers in the wide area of territory to be more immedi¬
ately benefited by the construction of the Hennepin Canal,
A single locality may here be specifically mentioned as furnishing significant
illustration of the general fact thus urged to attention. The tri-cities of Moline,
Davenport and Rock Island (to name each in the order of its manufacturing
importance), have had their respective business interests carefully revised, in
statistical form, at the close of each year, for the columns of the Davenport
Oazetie. The last of these reports—that of January 1, 1883, for the year 1882,
presents some noteworthy figures. A single plow manufactory establishment
at Moline (Deere & Co.), consumed in 1882 1,110 tons of steel, 3,000 tons of
wrought iron, 900 tons of pig iron, 300 tons of malleable iron, 2,000,000 feet
of oak and ash lumber, 400 tons of grindstones, 30 tons of emery, and 250
barrels of oil and varnish, employing weekly 700 men. Another establishment
(the Moline Plow Company's works), used only a less aggregate of similar
material, the value of the product of these two establishments footing up to
$2,500,000 for the year. The Moline Wagon Company manufactured goods to
the value of $625,000; the Deere & Mansur Planter Company, to the value of
$600,000; the two malleable iron companies, to the value of $280,000; the ma¬
chine, engine, and boiler shops, to the value of $480,000; the paper mills, to
the value of $150,000; the pump factory, to the value of $125,000; while the
saw-mllls and other establishments aggregated a 5'ield of products exceeding
in value a million dollars more. In Davenport, the enumerated manufactures
of the year—agricultural implements, lumber, flour, oatmeal, glucose, carriages,
woolen goods, cigars, clothing, etc., aggregated a value of $5,864,876; and the
value by jobbing houses, the sum of $8,046,730; the shipments of local freight
by three railroads, 17,536 car-loads, and the receipts, 16,653 car-loads. In
Rock Island, the plow works manufactured goods in excess of a million dollars
in value; the glassworks, to the value of $200,000; stove works, to the value
$100,000; the saw-mills, 80,031,866 feet of lumber only, 18,328,750 shingles,
16,653,000 laths, and 198,650 pickets. If to this partial exhibit of the manu¬
facturing interest of Rock Island City were added those of the United States
Arsenal, on Rock Island, the aggregate of railroad shipments would be 17,982
car loads shipped and 18,258 forwarded, by four roads, including the receipts
and exports of coal, largely mined from the extensive coal-fields lying within
an area of 15 miles east and southeast of Rock Island.
In illustration of the undeniable fact thus cited to attention, it maybe stated
that anthracite coal, transported from the Lackawanna mines, in Pennsylvania,
to Chicago at a net freight charge of $1.40 per ton, has continuously cost $2.00
per ton additional as its freight charge to the Upper Mississippi river from
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Chicago. When it is remeinhered that the use of this Pennsylvania coal through-
the entire Northwest, even to Denver, Colorado, is constantly increasing, year
by year, it will be seen that the certain reduction freight charges from Chicago
to the Upper Mississippi, to the extent of at least one dollar per ton, to follow
the construction of the Hennepin Canal, would constitute a gi-eat boon to hun¬
dreds of . distant communities, and to many thousands of people scattered over
a widel3'-exteuded area of country. Similarly, also, a large aggregate of North¬
western citizenship would be greatly benefited bj' the reduction in the cost of
bituminous coal taken from the Illinois river coal-fields, sure to result, in all
the Upper Mississippi river cities and towns, and the communities having
ready communication therewith, from the transfer of loaded coal-barges from
the former river to the latter river by way of the proposed canal.
7. It is essential to a correct understanding of the demand for the construc¬
tion of the proposed canal, that the fact be fully comprehended that Chicago
is the natural and the inevitable centre of the commerce of the entire North¬
west. In that cit}' is found not only the best market for all the products of the
Upper Mississippi Valley region, but the market for such products. There is
really purchased, as the reports of Mr. Charles Randolph, secretary of the
Chicago Board of Trade, conclusively show, eight-tenths of all the grain and
provisions moved eastward for export to Europe.
To reach that central market readily, directly, and cheaply, is, therefore, a
prime concern of the producing classes of the Upper Mississippi Valley.
These are some of the considerations which are pressed in support of the
request for the construction of the proposed Hennepin Canal. It is urged with
much earnestness, by citizens of careful thought and extended business obser¬
vation and experience, that these and other considerations not herein enumer¬
ated justly entitle the canal in question to approval and support as a national
enterprise of great merit and increasing importance.