ENTIAL TO THE STATE’S PROSPERITY, 
 
 WITH 
 
 Some Ideas upon Internal Navigation. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 HE BUFFALO BOARD OF TRADE, 
 
 JlRRIL 11, 1878, 
 
 BY 
 
 ALONZO RICHMOND, 
 
 OF BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
 PRINTING HOUSE OP JAMES D. WARREN. 
 
 Office of the “Buffalo Commercial Advertiser 
 
A FREE CANAL 
 
 WITH 
 
 Some Ideas upon Internal Navigation. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 THE BUFFALO BOARD OF TRADE, 
 
 APRIL, 11, 1878 , 
 
 BY 
 
 ALONZO RICHMOND, 
 
 OF BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
 PRINTING HOUSE OF JAMES D. WARREN, 
 
 Office of the “Buffalo Commercial Advertiser." 
 
 1878 . 
 
3 KC 
 
 THE GREAT WATER ROUTE. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Board of Trade: 
 
 In recent notices the newspapers have 
 spoken of the great work this Board of Trade 
 has done for our city and State. It was the 
 first to advocate a repeal of the canal contract 
 system which begat the most corrupt rings 
 ever known in the State. It was the first to 
 proclaim the policy of low tolls, and also to 
 declare the necessity for a free canal. 
 
 For more than twenty years members of 
 this Board have, again and again, endeavored 
 to arouse the attention of the citizens of the 
 State, and especially of the city of New-York, 
 to the necessity of reducing the. cost of trans¬ 
 portation on the Erie Canal, and demonstrat¬ 
 ed to them that without it the trade, then 
 passing through this great thoroughfare, 
 would leave us and find other channels. 
 
 They aroused attention to the fact that high 
 tolls were not only an oppressive burden to 
 the transportation interest, but were really 
 high protective tariffs in favor of rival routes, 
 tending to force the business, which of right 
 should come through this State, into other 
 and unnatural directions. 
 
 For a long time we were despondent and 
 almost discouraged by the want of interest 
 manifested in a question of such vital welfare 
 to the State; but now we are pleased to see 
 a marked change for the better, and the 
 people at large begin to appreciate their true 
 interest. 
 
 It is but just to the departed to say that to 
 no one person are we more indebted for the 
 reduction of tolls than to the late Hon. Israel 
 T. Hatch. 
 
 In the winter of 1870 the Legislature passed 
 the resolution known as the “ Funding Bill,” 
 which allowed the Canal Board to reduce the 
 tolls on our canals to one-half the then estab¬ 
 lished rates, or say, from six and one quarter 
 cents to three and one eighth a bushel on 
 wheat, and on other articles in proportion. 
 Strange as it now appears, there was strong 
 opposition, and this reduction in tolls was ob¬ 
 tained with great difficulty. I think I may 
 safely say, if it had not been for the passage 
 of Mr. Hatch’s “ Funding Bill,” we should 
 not have had the reduction at that time. 
 
 From year to year we have continued to 
 press the*necessity of a further reduction of 
 tolls, as a means of retaining our present 
 commerce, and-trying to regain that which 
 for years past has been finding rival routes; 
 until this year we have seen our Legislature 
 pass the low-tolls resolution almost unani¬ 
 mously, and the Canal Board adopted it with¬ 
 out a'dissenting vote. We are pleased to 
 know that the people of our State, without 
 regard to place or section, are beginning to 
 realize that it is to the Erie Canal, New-York 
 must look for the power of perpetuating her 
 commercial supremacy. We think it may 
 now be said that there is hardly a disinterest¬ 
 ed person in our State who has its true inter¬ 
 
 ests at heart, who will not say that her true 
 policy is to charge on articles transported on 
 our canals a revenue, sufficient only to keep 
 them in good repair, when they are managed 
 with the strictest economy. 
 
 INJURIOUS HIGH-TOLLS POLICY. 
 
 When we look back and see the great in¬ 
 jury the policy of high tolls has done to the 
 true interest of our State, is it not a wonder 
 that this system was so long maintained ? To 
 see more clearly what a high protective 
 tariff” we were maintaining to foster and 
 build up rival routes and destroy our own 
 commerce, let me state what these tolls and 
 other extra expenses in 1869 were, as com¬ 
 pared with those of moving a bushel of wheat 
 during the last season. Up to 1869 the tolls 
 on a bushel of wheat from Buffalo to Troy, 
 were, as we have seen, six and a q jarter cents 
 a bushel; besides these tolls the extra cost of 
 moving a bushel of wheat over the expenses 
 of the present season — from the greater cost 
 of canal boats, the cost of labor, provisions, 
 horses, and the delay caused by the bad con¬ 
 dition of the canal, was probably fully three 
 cents a bushel; that is, there has been a re¬ 
 duction in tolls of five cents, and in expenses 
 of about three cents— in all about eighu cents 
 a bushel, or, to speak more clearly, on a boat 
 load of eight thousand bushels of wheat there 
 has been a reduction, in tolls and expenses, 
 of fully six hundred dollars, so that, if'it costs 
 six cents to move a bushel from Buffalo to 
 New-York, with the present rate of tolls — 
 one cent a bushel—it cost in 1869 and years 
 before, under the high tolls policy, about 
 fourteen cents a bushel to realize the same 
 profit for transportation as now. With such 
 a high destructive tariff to foster and create 
 rival routes, is it any wonder we have so 
 many lines of railroads extending from the 
 Atlantic pqrts to the far West, striving with 
 such energy for the business of the country, 
 and that at one time the managers of these 
 trunk lines of railroads believed they could 
 transport property cheaper than their rival 
 the water-route could do it, and even talked 
 glibly of drying up the Erie Canal? 
 
 It would have been wise if the .tolls had 
 been reduced, at least since 1860, to not over 
 ten per cent, on the cost of moving the pro¬ 
 perty with a profit to the boatmen. Say one- 
 half a cent a bushel on wheat, and on other 
 articles in the same proportion. The revenue 
 thus obtained would have been amply suffi¬ 
 cient to keep the canals in repair, and make 
 all needful improvements. The great volume 
 of business from the lakes, and that of all the 
 Western railroads terminating at the lake 
 ports, would now be passing through the 
 canal for the simple reason that the cost of 
 transportation by it would be so much 
 cheaper than by any other route, and New 
 York City and * State, would have been so 
 much the more banefitted by this trade. 
 
 RUINOUS RAILROAD MANAGEMENT. 
 
 Many railroads have been built ahead of the 
 requirements of the times, and fostered by 
 
3 
 
 the high tolls on the Erie Canal, that never 
 would have been begun, or thought of, if a 
 wise policy had governed the management of 
 the canal in years past. Thus millions of 
 dollars have been misapplied, and worse than 
 wasted, in the vain effort to supercede the 
 cheapest mode of transportation by a more 
 expensive one. I think there is no well- 
 informed person who can deny these state¬ 
 ments. As we now can see the mistakes of 
 the past, let us hope that in the future wis¬ 
 dom will govern the councils of the State. 
 
 Since the panic of 1873 the railroad mana¬ 
 gers have begun to realize the fact that there 
 are more railroads than are needed for the 
 business of the country. 
 
 In their strife for business we see quite too 
 often, between these trunk lines and the 
 water route fierce warfare, which has caused 
 great injury to themselves and damage to the 
 country. 
 
 I do hot now design to speak against the pre¬ 
 sent railroad management, but I must say I 
 think one of the causes of our hard times is 
 the vast amount of money invested in profitless 
 railroads, and the stupid, irresponsible man¬ 
 agement of many lines that could under wise 
 counsels be made to pay good profits, but 
 now too often wasting their earnings in pro¬ 
 fitless contentions. The great mistake many 
 managers of the trunk line railroads have 
 made is, trying to move heavy articles of 
 freight, where time is not of importance, in 
 competition with the water route. It is impos¬ 
 sible for them to do this with profit. When 
 the railroad lines avail themselves of the facil¬ 
 ities of the lakes and the canals they can com¬ 
 mand good paying rates. 
 
 I make the following extract from the Illi¬ 
 nois Central Railroad Company’s report of the 
 Directors to the shareholders, Jan. 31st, 1878. 
 They say: 
 
 “ Finally in regard to the competition of several 
 years past between water communication from 
 Chicago eastward and the trunk railways — which 
 latter determined at one time to take the traffic 
 from Illinois to the seaboard regardless of cost or 
 profit — it is well settled that the inter-State rail¬ 
 ways have played a losing game. During eight 
 months of water communication the facilities for 
 taking by water are so much improved that the 
 actual cost of water transportation to the seaboard 
 is less than half the actual cost of rail transpor¬ 
 tation. 
 
 “ It is admitted that the outlays made to increase 
 the carrying capacities of the railways have been 
 improvident; and since the reduction of the tolls 
 upon the Erie Canal, by the State of New York, 
 cheap water communication is so firmly estab¬ 
 lished that the effort to take freight by rail during 
 the Summer months has failed, asindicated by the 
 reports of several of the leading railways. Dur¬ 
 ing the contest, freight was carried in large 
 volume at about half of the actual expense in¬ 
 curred. It can hardly be expected that the public 
 will loan more money to renew this contest, which 
 has so seriously disturbed the value of railway 
 properties.” 
 
 RAIL AND WATER TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 The Chicago Times, in an article of recent 
 date, on the warfare of the railroads on the 
 water routes, made the following statement: 
 
 “ No intelligent man can be made to believe that 
 fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five cents per one hun¬ 
 dred pounds can be made a paying rail-rate be¬ 
 tween Chicago and New-York, while all could pre¬ 
 dict that every pound taken at that rate caused 
 actual loss to the transporter. Grain can now be 
 
 g rofitably transported via the Lakes and the Erie 
 anal to New-York at the rate of ten cents per 
 bushel, while no railroad can afford to take it for 
 less than eighteen or twenty cents (if they can for 
 
 that) and do a paying business. That they have 
 carried it for a less rate in times past is no proof 
 to the contrary, and it is only a question of time, 
 when they shall cease to pay dividends under it. 
 The difference between a water and rail-rouie is 
 simply enormous. Although the former, as be¬ 
 tween Chicago and New-York, is two to one as to 
 length, yet the cost of transportation is governed 
 by an inverse ratio, and is one-half less, thus con¬ 
 stituting a proportion of four to one, in favor of 
 water. That this great difference will soon decide 
 the transportation problem in favor of the water 
 route scarcely admits of doubt.” 
 
 I think that the most sanguine believers in 
 the ability of railroads to compete successfully 
 with the water-routes — the lakes and the 
 Erie Canal (strange to say, there are such) — 
 will admit that they cannot profitably contend 
 with the large crafts on the Great Lakes, 
 from Duluth, Milwaukee and Chicago to Buf¬ 
 falo. During the last ten years the cost of 
 transportation on the Upper Lakes has been 
 greatly cheapened, so that the rate at which 
 property can now be carried profitably, would 
 not then have been believed to be possible. 
 For the next ten years, I am confident, we 
 shall 1 ee the cost "of transportation on the 
 lakes still further reduced. The deepening of 
 the “ Lime-Kilns ” crossing will add to the 
 tonnage of lake crafts, with no additional 
 expense. The building of harbors of refuge 
 on all the lakes, good and safe harbors at each 
 lake port, the signal service, and many other 
 inventions that will be made use of, will all 
 tend to make transportation on these Inland 
 Seas almost as safe as the navigation of a river, 
 and thus cheapen its cost. If it is true, as we 
 believe, that it is not possible for the trunk 
 lines of railroads, running from Chicago to 
 the sea-board cities, profitably to compete, 
 during the season of lake and canal naviga¬ 
 tion, with the lakes and the Erie Canal under 
 the present rates of low tolls and an ample 
 tonnage, and also impossible for them to com¬ 
 pete profitably with the large crafts on the 
 lakes from Chicago to Buffalo, the question 
 naturally follows, whether the free commerce 
 of the lakes and the Erie Canal, with present 
 rate of tolls and tonnage, can compete suc¬ 
 cessfully with the railroads extending from 
 the sea-board and terminating at lake ports, 
 which have lines of propellers, and vessels 
 used as barges, running in connection with 
 them, with agents at all the Western lake 
 ports seeking freights and giving through 
 bills of lading. 
 
 In connection with the free commerce of 
 the lakes we have the Erie Canal. Its im¬ 
 portance far surpasses ordinary canals. It is 
 practically a strait, or short channel, connect¬ 
 ing an arm of the Atlantic Ocean with these 
 great Island Seas. 
 
 From Buffalo, its Western terminus, to Troy, 
 the distance is three hundred and forty-five 
 miles, and from Troy to New-York, via the 
 Hudson River, one hundred and fifty miles. 
 Altogether the canal-boats navigate about five 
 hundred miles. 
 
 The canal legally has a prism of seventy 
 feet at the surface, and fifty-six feet at the 
 bottom, with seven feet depth of water all its 
 way, and seventy-two double locks. If this 
 is not now literally and practically true, we 
 hope and believe that under the new manage¬ 
 ment it soon will be. 
 
 I do not think any one will pretend that the 
 original Erie Canal with boats of only seven¬ 
 ty-five tons capacity, even if free from all 
 tolls, could profitably compete with the Cen¬ 
 tral and Erie Railroads, in their present con- 
 
 ^ 1 C?<3 A 4- 
 
4 
 
 dition, nor could the present Erie Canal, with 
 boats now averaging two hundred and twenty 
 tons, and under the high tolls of 1869, of six 
 and a quarter cents per bushel on wheat, etc., 
 compete with the Railroads of this State, or 
 those that terminate at Philadelphia or Balti¬ 
 more, and own or control lines of propellers 
 on the lakes. 
 
 It is seriously asserted by some, that these 
 short lines of Railroads, connected as they 
 now are, with these lines of large propellers 
 on the lakes, can now carry freight at less cost 
 than the present sized boats on the Erie Canal, 
 with the rate of tolls of this season, can do it 
 with profit. I consider all such views erro¬ 
 neous. Let us now see what the free com¬ 
 merce on the lakes and the Erie Canal has to 
 contend against. For the true interest of the 
 canals, and the free commerce on these inland 
 6eas, vast and important as it is, are one and 
 the same. 
 
 HIGH CANAL TOLLS FOSTERING RIVAL 
 ROUTES. 
 
 I now call your attention more directly to 
 the strong competition, and the rival routes, 
 that the high tolls on the Erie Canal in years 
 past, have built up. 
 
 First, we have the New-York Central and 
 Hudson River Railroad, by which the distance 
 from Buffalo to New-York, is four hundred 
 and forty miles. This road has running in 
 connection with it, between Buffalo, Chicago 
 and Milwaukee, no less than ten large, first- 
 class, propellers. 
 
 By the Erie Railroad, the Western end of 
 which now terminates here, the distance from 
 Buffalo to New-York, is four hundred and 
 twenty-two miles. It owns a line of thirteen 
 first-class propellers and vessels that run be¬ 
 tween Buffalo. Chicago and Milwaukee. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Railroad controls a line 
 of sixteen propellers, and sailing vessels tow¬ 
 ed as barges, that run between Buffalo, Erie, 
 Chicago and Milwaukee. The distance by 
 rail from Erie to Philadelphia, is four hundred 
 and forty-six miles; from Erie to Baltimore, 
 is four hundred and twenty-nine miles. The 
 distance from Buffalo to Philadelphia via the 
 Buffalo, N. Y. & P. R. R., connecting with 
 the Pennsylvania Road at Emporium, is four 
 hundred and twenty-five miles, and to Balti¬ 
 more is four hundred and five miles. 
 
 Besides these I have named there is the 
 Lake Superior Line, of ten first-class propel¬ 
 lers, running from Duluth and the Lake Su¬ 
 perior ports to Buffalo and Erie, in connec¬ 
 tion with the Central, Erie, and Pennsylvania 
 Railroads. 
 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroads connect 
 with the lakes at Sandusky. The distance is 
 about six hundred miles from Sandusky to 
 Baltimore. 
 
 The Grand Trunk Line of railroads connects 
 with the lakes at Sarnia, a distance of about 
 five hundred miles from Sarnia to Montreal. 
 These roads have propellers and vessels run¬ 
 ning to Lakes Michigan and Superior in con¬ 
 nection with them during the season of lake 
 navigation, how many, I am not now 
 advised. 
 
 We have seen that the distance from Buf¬ 
 falo to New-York via the New-York Central 
 <fc Hudson River Railrbad or the Erie Road, is 
 greater than the distance from Erie or from 
 Buffalo, via the Pennsylvania Road, to Phila¬ 
 delphia or Baltimore. 
 
 In the published tariffs of the roads the 
 
 all rail ” rate from Chicago to Philadelphia 
 or Baltimore is less than the rate from the 
 same place to New-York. Now you see there 
 is the same discrimination against New-York 
 City, whether freight is taken by the lakes or 
 by rail. In the report of the Chicago Board 
 of Trade for 1877, taking the month of July 
 as an illustration, the rate from Chicago to 
 New-York, by the lakes and railroad, was, on 
 flour fifty cents a barrel and on wheat fifteen 
 cents a bushel, while the rate to Philadelphia 
 and Baltimore, was but forty-six cents on a 
 barrel of flour, and twelve cents a bushel on 
 wheat. 
 
 The question now follows, can the lakes, 
 with their free commerce, and the canal with 
 boats of the present size, and the present rate 
 of tolls, compete successfully with these lines 
 of railroads, running as they do in connection 
 with these of the largest propellers and giving 
 through bills of lading. I answer I hope they 
 can,and I believe they can! But to do it success¬ 
 fully there must be ample tonnage, and the 
 canal must be kept in good order. 
 
 The high tolls on the Erie Canal in years 
 past, and the warfare of the trunk railroad 
 lines, since the panic of 1873, have done much 
 to drive tonnage off from the canals. The re¬ 
 duction of tolls did not come too soon. Without 
 it, in a few years more, nearly all the busi¬ 
 ness of the canals would have been destroyed. 
 
 INTERDEPENDENCE OF LAKE AND CANAL 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 Now here let us clearly see how intimately 
 the free commerce of the lakes is dependent 
 on, and connected with the Erie Canal, and 
 the free commerce of the canals is dependent 
 on the lakes. Tolls on the canal can be kept 
 at such high rates as to drive from the lakes 
 this free commerce, unless there is some other 
 cheaper outlet, or route, than the Erie Canal, 
 for the through railroad lines and railroads 
 connecting with propellers, could carry 
 cheaper than vessels on the lakes and canal 
 could carry with profit, and conversely the 
 Erie Canal at little expense in comparison 
 with the great benefits that would follow can 
 be so improved and if freed from tolls, trans¬ 
 portation on it can be done at such low rates 
 that not only the free commerce on the lakes 
 will be assured, but all kinds of freight, where 
 short time in transit is not an object, and 
 where cheapness of transportation is an ob¬ 
 ject, will go forward by the Erie Canal, be¬ 
 cause they can be freighted on it at so much 
 less cost than is possible by rail, then railroad 
 managers will give up the strife, as the contest 
 will be so hopeless. 
 
 Thus we see that the Erie Canal is the key 
 to the situation in determining the question 
 of the price of freight between the West and 
 the East. By this channel, and this alone, 
 can we keep the commerce of the great West 
 moving through our State, making it the com¬ 
 mon passageway. 
 
 If the contest for the commerce of the 
 West were only between our own Trunk 
 Railroad lines and the Erie Canal it would 
 not be so important, but the strife is with 
 Railroad lines that lead to Philadelphia, Bal¬ 
 timore and Montreal. These lines have facil¬ 
 ities equal, if not superior, to those of New- 
 York. The enlargement of the canal to its 
 present size, enabling it to pass boats of two 
 hundred and twenty tons has cheapened 
 freight one half. It is confidently claimed by 
 
many, that if we should further enlarge the 
 locks and prism, so that boats of six hundred 
 tons could be passed, it would further cheapen 
 the cost to one-half the present amount. It 
 may be said that the canal-boats, now in use, 
 are large enough. I will not argue on this 
 question ; this may be true, and it may not be 
 true. When the Canadian ship-canals are 
 completed, so that the largest Lake vessels 
 can pass into the lower St. Lawrence, then, if 
 it should be found that our canal boats are 
 not large enough to compete successfully for 
 the carrying trade, we shall have again to do 
 as we have done before, increase their size. 
 But first it will be necessary to enlarge the 
 locks and, perhaps, tile prism of the canal. 
 That increasing the size of the vessel has the 
 effect of decreasing the cost of freighting, is 
 no experiment or theory, it is a demonstrated 
 fact beyond any dispute. 
 
 CARRYING CAPACITY OF THE ERIE CANAL. 
 
 The canal as it now is, can carry all the 
 freight likely to be offered, and greatly more. 
 The capacity of the canal is not the question; 
 the question is, can it do its work as cheaply 
 as its rival routes are likely to do it? The 
 only sensible answer to this query, is, if our 
 boats are found to be so small as to forbid a 
 reduction of freight charges we must follow 
 the example set us by the lake marine, in¬ 
 crease their size, and so decrease the cost of 
 freighting. Those who assert that our canal- 
 boats are large enough, must on reflection 
 admit that it is a problem not to be hastily de¬ 
 cided, dependent, as it is, on so many contin¬ 
 gencies. 
 
 The champions of the “ Illinois System,’’ 
 the canal steamer and barge, or double-boats, 
 assert that with a free canal such boats can 
 profitably carry freight so low as to reclaim 
 the business on the present sized canal. There 
 is this in favor of the plan: it practically gives 
 us a boat of four hundred and seventy tons, 
 and our double locks are in its favor, as both 
 the boats can be locked down at once and 
 come up together, if the locks are free. But 
 the two together make a long and narrow 
 boat, which must be handled with great care, 
 and with the present depth of water must go 
 slow. 
 
 It has been asked, why not let these boats 
 draw only five feet, and not, as now, 'Six 
 feet, and thus have two feet of water under 
 the boat instead of one foot as now ? With 
 the greater depth of water the boats could be 
 handled more safely and make better time at 
 less expense; but this loss of a draft of one 
 foot for each boat lessens its capacity about 
 fifty tons, or about one hundred tons for the 
 two, and this would add about one cent a 
 bushel to the cost of transportation, and is my 
 answer to this suggestion. 
 
 We have been informed by the proprietors 
 of the ‘‘Belgian System” of towing boats, 
 that their cable will be laid throughout the 
 entire length of the Erie Canal during this 
 season. I trust this may be so. I have more 
 faith in this system of towing canal-boats, 
 than in any of the other schemes proposed. I 
 hope the company may be able to accomplish 
 all that its most sanguine friends claim. 
 Towing by horse-power is, we all must admit, 
 a very safe and economical method of trans¬ 
 portation, and the prospect is that it will be 
 continued on the canal for many years to 
 come. 
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI AND ST. LAWRENCE ROttTES. 
 
 I have not as yet spoken of our danger from 
 the Mississippi River route, and the enlarged 
 St. Lawrence canals: but I claim that if there 
 was no other reason but to enable our boats 
 on the canal to compete more successfully 
 with the ‘*lake and rail lines” and the “ all 
 rail lines,” we need a free canal, simply be¬ 
 cause it is the quickest and most economical 
 way to cheapen the route. By obtaining it 
 you will take away the power of the rival 
 railroad routes to compete injuriously, and 
 this will bring the business to the canals, the 
 State, and the City of New-York. 
 
 We are naturally led to enquire what diver¬ 
 sion of our commerce we have reason to ex¬ 
 pect from the improvement of the Mississippi 
 River, and the enlargement of the Welland 
 and St. Lawrence canals, so that vessels of the 
 largest tonnage on the lakes can be pas;sed 
 through to Montreal or to Quebec. 
 
 The general government of the United 
 States is today paying out hundreds of thous¬ 
 ands of dollars to increase and enlarge the 
 outlet of the Mississippi river. Canada is 
 now enlarging her canals so as to enable a 
 vessel of eighteen hundred tons to be loaded 
 at Chicago and discharged at Montreal or 
 Quebec,or, as some enthusiastic persons be¬ 
 lieve, sent directly to Great Britain. The 
 latter course, we think, can never be made 
 profitable in these days of ships of enormous 
 tonnage. This thing has been worked out on 
 the lakes. 
 
 Let us first consider the Mississippi route. 
 We must admit that it has the advantage of 
 generally being navigable, at least from Cairo 
 to New-Orleans, throughout the whole year, 
 and that deepening the mouth of the river en¬ 
 ables vessels of large size to come up to the 
 latter city. To show what is claimed for this 
 route I quote from the /St. Louis Republican , 
 of March 4th, 1878, viz: 
 
 “As to the future of the route, it can be can¬ 
 didly confessed that all is doubt and conjecture, 
 so far as the extent of cheapening of rates is feas¬ 
 ible. It is a manifest fact that with increase in 
 the shipments increased tonnage and sharper com¬ 
 petition will follow; while still other possibilities 
 hang on the chances of improvements in the tow¬ 
 boats and barges and the deepening of the river 
 channel. Wha tever these may be, it is no doubtful 
 matter that the river route will always be, as it is 
 now, the cheapest on the continent. The grain rate 
 from St. Louis to New-Orleans is placed at seven 
 and one-half cents per bushel, by most of the St. 
 Louis merchants who have been interviewed; thei’e 
 is reason to believe that it has been carried actually 
 for seven cents in large lots. But let it stand 
 at seven and one-half cents. The elevator and 
 transfer charges at New-Orleans are one-half a 
 cent and the freight rate to Liverpool has recently 
 been twenty cents per bushel—which makes the 
 rate from St. Louis to Liverpool twenty-eight cents, 
 exclusive of insurance.” 
 
 Speaking of the possibility of cheapening 
 the Mississippi route, the Republican further 
 says: 
 
 “ We have not begun to try the cheapening pro¬ 
 cess on the river. As stated, the general opinion 
 is that the freight rate from St. Louis can be re¬ 
 duced to between three and four cents per bushel, 
 and this opinion is supported by the plain fact that 
 a tow-boat with six barges, carrying 240,000 bush¬ 
 els of grain, at the most liberal estimates involves 
 a capital of only $100,000. The expenses of the 
 boat and its tow to New-Orleans, and back to St. 
 Louis, will average from $150 to $200 a day, and the 
 round trip takes from eighteen to twenty-two days. 
 Taking the outside figures, the round trip expenses 
 will reach $4,400. Now the240,000 bushels of grain, 
 at three cents per bushel, would yield $7,200; and 
 if an allowance of 500 tons of freight, at ten cents 
 
pei* 100 pounds, up the river is made, the earnings 
 will be increased to $8,300; so that the net profits 
 will stand about $4,000 on an investment of $100,000 
 during twenty-two days. So that if the tow and 
 barges make one round trip each month, the annual 
 dividends will be nearly fifty per cent, per annum 
 on the capital invested. These are very liberal 
 figures, and it is claimed by many that the tow 
 and barges can be got for $50,000, instead of $100,- 
 000, and the expense of the crew cut down to less 
 than $100 per day. But without such close calcu¬ 
 lation the facts* show that the river rate can be 
 shown to be less than half the lowest rate 
 dreamed of by the lake route, and yet yield enor¬ 
 mous profits. 
 
 One more fact remains to be considered, and that 
 is the difference in time by the two routes. The 
 trip to New-York, by the lakes and canal, occupies 
 seventeen to twenty days; to New-Orleans only 
 seven days. This is without the Government 
 spending a dollar more on the river than it had in 
 past years. Insurance, running expenses and time 
 will all be lower when a permanent channel of 
 tAventy feet is provided, as it will be in less than 
 ten years.” 
 
 The Chicago Times, in a recent article on 
 the Mississippi route, says as follows : 
 
 “The Times has no desire to belittle this move¬ 
 ment, if it really has merit in it. If it is feasible it 
 will succeed any way, no matter what may be said 
 against it. In the latitude of St. Louis, very natu¬ 
 rally, high anticipations are fostered. I am not 
 shutting my eyes to the fact that the movement is 
 just now gathering strength and gaining ground, 
 but I assure you it will not last. There Avill be a 
 spurt, and then it will all die out again. But here¬ 
 tofore the great trouble has been that the channel 
 would not admit large Ocean vessels, and that de¬ 
 fect is now remedied, it is claimed. In the general 
 public estimation, that has been regarded as the 
 great obstacle; but as I look at it, that has been 
 the least. There are two or three objections far 
 more formidable. One of these is the climate. On 
 this account the route is practicable only during a 
 few months during the Winter, and then only to 
 grain in the very best condition. The Mississippi 
 takes queer notions to freeze, now and then, at 
 points considerably below St. Louis, and when it 
 does the supply is suddenly cut off. A route sub¬ 
 ject to so many contingencies can never become 
 popular. If New-Orleans could be made a great 
 market, such as Chicago is, it would be otherwise; 
 but that can never be. It is altogether too danger¬ 
 ous to ship property to that point, at haphazard, as 
 people do to Chicago, knowing that our market is 
 seldom affected by the receipts. But at the moment 
 that there would bean accumulation of a few hun¬ 
 dred thousand bushels,without shipping facilities, 
 the bottom wouldMa-ll completely out of the whole 
 business and the property would be worthless. 
 The only way in which the market could be re¬ 
 lieved would be to ship back again to the North. 
 I hold, therefore, that anything like a steady move¬ 
 ment in that direction is out of the question, and I 
 predict that the Mississippi route Avill never cut 
 any great figure. These views are not theoretical; 
 they are eminently practical. Experience has 
 taught this, that at the point where grain is trans¬ 
 ferred, or from Avhence it is shipped, there must 
 be a market, to get rid of it at no great loss, if the 
 supply exceeds the demand, or else the whole busi¬ 
 ness goes to smash, eA r erybody knows that. New- 
 Orleans can never be made a'market, and that, to 
 my mind, ends the whole business.” 
 
 Having given you extracts from the St. 
 Louis Republican presenting the most favor¬ 
 able views of the Mississippi route, also from 
 the Chicago Times, giving reasons why that 
 journal thinks the river route will not be a 
 success, I will adduce some other reasons we 
 have for not fearing the Mississippi route, and 
 point out Avhere our real danger lies. 
 
 TRADE CHANNELS FOR THE RED RIVER 
 COUNTRY. 
 
 Only a few years ago little was known of 
 the “Red River of the North,” or of its val¬ 
 ley. The region through which that river 
 flows was thought to be cold, inhospitable and 
 
 utterly worthless. Since the Northern Pa¬ 
 cific Railroad was constructed across the val¬ 
 ley, farms have been opened and cultivation 
 commenced, and it has been found that both 
 soil and climate are favorable to the produc¬ 
 tion of wheat, of a very superior quality, 
 with heavy yields. It is now generally ad¬ 
 mitted that in this valley of the Red River, 
 and its connecting A T allevs, including hun¬ 
 dreds of thousands of square miles of exce 1 - 
 lent land, both in Canada and the United 
 States, will be grown a large proportion of 
 our supply of wheat for home use and ex¬ 
 port. All the wheat sent out of the Red 
 River must come to the market in the East, 
 down the lakes throughout the season when 
 they are open for navigation. Why this must 
 be so I will try to explain. 
 
 Moorhead at the crossing of the Northern 
 Pacific Railroad, on the Red River, is an im¬ 
 portant town, near the head of navigation, 
 and until the river is connected with Lake 
 Superior by slack-water and canals, will be a 
 great wheat depot. The distance from it to 
 Duluth, on Lake Superior, is two hundred and 
 fifty miles. By the line of the railroads, from 
 Moorhead to St. Paul, is two hundred and 
 fifty miles, and the latter city is at the head 
 of steamboat navigation on the Mississippi. 
 The distance from St. Paul to the mouth of 
 the Mississippi is two thousand and seventy 
 miles, and from the mouth of that river 
 to the latitude of NeAv-York, which is the 
 course of all shipping bound to Northern 
 Europe, it is fully two thousand miles more. 
 From Duluth to" New-York by the route of 
 the lakes, the Erie Canal and the Hudson 
 River, the distance is about fourteen hundred 
 miles. Navigation on the lakes and the Canal 
 is open as late in the Fall and as early in the 
 Spring as on the upper Mississippi. The 
 period of navigation is nearly the same on 
 the upper Mississippi, above Galena, the 
 Great Lakes and the Erie Canal. The lake 
 and canal route has the advantage of 
 uniform and greater depth of water 
 for navigation which tends to greater 
 speed and despatch. While that of 
 the Mississippi is deficient in uniformity of 
 depth and frequently there are less than two 
 feet of water over the sand-bars below St. 
 Paul, in the very season of the year when 
 business is most active. Aside from the dis¬ 
 advantages of the fluctuations in the depth of 
 the water in the Mississippi, its mouth is 
 more than tw T o thousand miles further from 
 the ports in Europe, where our exports of 
 grain have to go, than it is from New-York to 
 the same ports. While it is but seventeen 
 hundred miles from Moorhead, through the 
 lakes and canal, to New-York, it is twenty- 
 three hundred and thirty miles from that 
 place to the Gulf of Mexico, and that by a 
 river navigation, which is more costly than 
 the lake navigation. The total distance from 
 Moorhead to “Liverpool, by the course of the 
 railroad, lakes, canal, Hudson and the ocean, 
 is four thousand seven hundred miles. By 
 railroad to St. Paul, the Mississippi, the Gulf 
 of Mexico and the ocean, it is seven thousand 
 three hundred and thirty miles. There being 
 a difference in favor of the Northern route of 
 about two thousand six hundred and thirty 
 miles, and a gain of over half in time. The 
 climate of New-Orleans is known to be unfav¬ 
 orable to the safe handling of corn and wheat, 
 and besides it is dreadfully unhealthy in the 
 Fall season for Northern people. It may be 
 
concluded that this Mississippi project for 
 carrying the grain of the Northwest to the 
 Eastern or European market belongs to the 
 category of the visionary; such as the great 
 Mississippi and Atlantic double track, steel- 
 rail, freight-railroad, projected by well-mean¬ 
 ing theorists who are not strong in practical 
 science. “ A shingle put into the Mississippi 
 at St. Paul,” says an authority of that city, 
 “will float down the river and up the Gulf 
 Stream to New-York.” Give it time enough 
 and it will float along to the coasts of Iceland 
 aud Norway and as far as the Gulf Stream 
 will take it; but no man of sense would pro- 
 j)ose to send grain, or other exports, to mar¬ 
 ket in any such way. Things do not drift 
 now, they go right ahead. Another reason 
 why the “Mississippi route will not be a suc¬ 
 cess, is that the lines of railroads running 
 East and West and terminating at the West¬ 
 ern lake ports, will find it a necessity to work 
 in the interests of the Northern route. It can 
 be easily demonstrated, and I think the man¬ 
 agers now fully admit, that the prosperity of 
 the lives of these railroads depends on their 
 availing themselves of the cheap water-route, 
 of the lakes and canal. By so doing they can 
 become paying roads. .Deny them the use of 
 this water-route and their ruin is inevitable. 
 DEPENDENCE OF WESTERN RAILROADS ON 
 CHEAP WATER ROUTES. 
 
 These views were well expressed by the 
 Toledo Daily Commercial of May 24th, 1877. 
 In an article on “ The Profitless Fight of 
 Water and Railways,” it said: 
 
 “ The falling off in Lake and Canal trade com¬ 
 menced when the Western Roads began to dis¬ 
 criminate against the water lines, by hauling at 
 lower rates for Eastern rail connections than they 
 did for water connections. The folly of this course 
 has been proven, by the fact that the stocks of all 
 except the last of the above mentioned Roads are 
 now vei’y low. The fact of their all paying good 
 dividends under the original system, and on much 
 smaller volume of business than they are 
 now having, and that they are now, with 
 one exception, unprofitable, is direct proof 
 that the change of policy was a fatal blunder. Pro¬ 
 rating with the Eastern trunk lines, they have re¬ 
 duced their revenue on an increased tonnage. Par¬ 
 ticipating in a fight against the water lines, they 
 have contributed largely to the destruction of 
 strong natural and advantageous allies. They 
 have gone to destruction from mmgling in a con¬ 
 test in which they had no interest, and which they 
 had the deepest interest in preventing.” 
 
 If time would admit I might quote from 
 many competent authorities, showing the de¬ 
 pendence of these Western Railroads on a 
 cheap water route; but I will only present to 
 you extracts from two letters by eminent 
 Railroad officials. One wrote: 
 
 “ I do not think your State can afford to lose any 
 time in declaring for a free Canal. As I have be¬ 
 fore stated we do not disguise our motives in this 
 matter. Our very existence depends on freedom 
 from tolls, and we, and other Western lines of 
 Railroads can, and must make up to the State of 
 New-York by giving her principal cities a whole¬ 
 sale trade which will compensate for the loss of 
 tolls.” 
 
 From another letter, I extract the following: 
 
 “ We do not take any stock in the Jetties and do 
 not propose to, until we are forced into it. We 
 cannot violate a sound principle for any tempor¬ 
 ary gain. If New-York trade were removed to 
 New-Orleans, we should not have any such coun¬ 
 try to haul merchandise to, and produce from, 
 West and North of our City, as we have South and 
 West of St. Louis.” 
 
 We owe it in good faith to these Western 
 railroads, which are our natural allies, to make 
 the route through our State, by the Erie 
 
 Canal, as cheap as possible and by so doing 
 we shall alike insure their prosperity, and 
 keep the volume of trade moving through our 
 State. The Eastern and Western lines of 
 railroads in this State have an equal interest 
 with those in the West in keeping the canal 
 the cheapest water route. This truth is too 
 plain to dwell upon. Where wmuld it be 
 possible in this broad land for four tracks of 
 rail to be profitably used except through this 
 State and along the bank of the Erie Canal? 
 
 The Pennsylvania railroad and the Balti¬ 
 more and Ohio roads, have at least equal facil¬ 
 ities, with the roads of this State for cheap 
 transit by rail. In fact both Baltimore and 
 Philadelphia have cheaper “rail rates” than 
 New-York. 
 
 THE ST, LAWRENCE ROUTE. 
 
 Our rival whom we must watch, and have 
 reason to fear, is to be found in a Northern 
 direction. We must look out for Montreal, or 
 rather Quebec. 
 
 The latter city will be our real rival; for 
 why should a lake vessel stop short of a sea¬ 
 port. The St. Lawrence route will be a 
 serious competitor with the railroads of this 
 State. The competition we are now meeting 
 from the St. Lawrence route is only from 
 small crafts, and is of no importance. 
 
 What the effect will be when its canals are 
 enlarged so the largest vessels can pass 
 through, we can not now say. Mr. Elmore 
 H. Walker in his last report to the New-York 
 Produce Exchange, on page 239, speaks of 
 the St. Lawrence route, in this manner: 
 
 “The distance from Chicago to Montreal via the 
 Lakes, the Welland and St. Lawrence canals, is 
 twelve hundred and sixty miles, while from Chi¬ 
 cago to New-York via the Lakes, Buffalo, Erie 
 Canal and Hudson River, it is fourteen hundred 
 miles, a difference of one hundred and thirty-nine 
 miles in favor of the St. Lawrence route. The dis¬ 
 tance from Montreal to Liverpool via Belle Isle 
 straits, is twenty-seven hundred and ninety miles, 
 and twenty-nine hundred miles via Cape Race; 
 against three thousand and forty miles from New- 
 York to Liverpool. The distance from Chicago to 
 Liverpool via Montreal and Straits of Belle Isle, 
 is four thousand and fifty-one miles, and via Mon¬ 
 treal and Cape Race, four thousand two hundred 
 and fifty nine miles, against four thousand four 
 hundred and fifty nine miles via New-York; dif¬ 
 ference in favor of the St. Lawrence route of two 
 hundred and eight or four hundred and eight miles 
 respectively. 
 
 “ The rates of freight from Chicago to Kingston 
 in 1876 were from six to seven and a half cents a 
 bushel,with additional charges of three to three and 
 a half cents for the barge transportation thence to 
 Montreal; an aggregate of nine to eleven cents a 
 bushel, equal to $6.00 to $3.67 per ton from Chicago to 
 Montreal. The rate in 1877, including freight from 
 Chicago to Kingston, and barge charges of three 
 to three and a half cents a bushel from the latter 
 place to Montreal, was $3.62 on wheat, and $3.39 a 
 ton on corn, including all expenses. 
 
 “ The reduction in the cost* of transportation on 
 the lakes, from the use of very large class vessels, 
 in place of the small crafts employed in 1845, is 
 much more marked than the reduction on the 
 canals, as the lake vessels of the largest class have 
 fifteen times the capacity of the largest vessel in 
 1845. The cost now from Chicago to Buffalo per 
 ton on largest vessels is about a half a mill on a 
 ton a mile, or forty-five cents a ton for a distance of 
 nine hundred miles. 
 
 “ The vessels now navigating the lakes and pass¬ 
 ing through the Canadian canals, carry from sev¬ 
 enteen to twenty thousand bushels of grain, but 
 on the completion of the enlargement of the canals, 
 vessels carrying sixty thousand bushels will load 
 at Chicago for Kingston or Montreal direct, at 
 about one-third of the present cost by small ves¬ 
 sels. 
 
 “ In the trip to Montreal from Chicago, as com¬ 
 pared by water through New-York, there is a sav 
 
8 
 
 ing of one hundred and thirty-nine miles in the 
 distance, and two hundred and seventy-eight miles 
 in the round trip. The rates from Chicago to Mon¬ 
 treal during the last and the previous year, were 
 about the same as from Chicago to New-York. 
 
 “It is proposed to make the canals free to com¬ 
 merce, charging no tolls for their use. This would 
 diminish the cost sixty-nine cents a ton, but this 
 will not meet the reduction in cost made by the 
 use of vessels on the St. Lawrence route of sixty 
 thousand bushels carrying capacity.” 
 
 AYbatever we may think of these predic¬ 
 tions of Mr. Walker, we all must agree that 
 the Erie Canal should he free from all tolls, 
 and kept in the best condition possible, to 
 enable it to compete successfully with the 
 Northern route, when the Canadian works 
 are fully completed. 
 
 For when the enlargement of the Welland 
 and St. Lawrence canals Is accomplished, 
 there is very serious question whether the 
 city and the State of New-York, can retain* 
 their commerce even with a free canal. The 
 natural highway from the lakes to the Atlan¬ 
 tic, has hitherto been found to be through our 
 State, along the line of the Erie Canal, which 
 equally with the St. Lawrence route is an 
 artificial work. If this channel, hy the aid of 
 these inland seas, does not forever continue to 
 be the cheapest route from the far West, to 
 the seaboard, let it not be because the State of 
 New-York neglects her great natural advan¬ 
 tages, and is not true to the interests of her 
 people. 
 
 NEW YORK’S ADVANTAGES. 
 
 The physical advantages of the State of 
 New-York are so well expressed by Governor 
 Seymour in his speech, delivered Oct. 17th, 
 1877, at the laying of the corner-stone of the 
 monument at Saratoga, that you will have 
 pleasure in bearing his interesting and in¬ 
 structive description. He said: 
 
 “ Those who would learn the causes which have 
 shaped the course of military and political affairs 
 on this Continent, which have given victory in 
 war and prosperity in peace, must spread out be¬ 
 fore them the map of our country. 
 
 Having traced its grand system of mountains, 
 rivers and lakes, they will be struck with the fact 
 that for a thousand miles the Alleghanies make 
 long ranges of barriers between the Atlantic and 
 the great plains of the interior. About midway of 
 their length these lofty mountains are cut down to 
 their bases by the gorge of the Hudson, through 
 which the tides of the ocean pour their floods in 
 triumph. Had but a single spur of those rocky 
 buttresses which crowd upon either shore, been 
 thrown across the narrow chasm, had but one of 
 the beetling cliffs which stand upon its brink been 
 pushed but a few feet across its course, the current 
 of events would have been changed as completely 
 as the currents of the floods. The nations who 
 control the outlets of the Mississippi and St. Law¬ 
 rence would have been masters of the Continent. 
 
 No one who has marked the physical character 
 of our country, and who has studied its history, 
 can pass through the highlands of the Hudson and 
 note how at every turn of its stream, the cliffs 
 threaten to close its course, without feeling that the 
 power which made the mountain chains to stop 
 abruptly at its brink, was higher than blind 
 chance — something more than the wild, unrea¬ 
 soning action of convulsive nature. The valley of 
 the Hudson does not end where it has led the Ocean 
 tide through the mountain passes. It stretches its 
 channel Northward to the St. Lawrence, and holds 
 within its deep basin not only the Hudson flowing 
 South, but Lake Champlain, which empties its 
 waters into the ocean far North through the Gulf 
 of St. Lawrence. It thus not only connects the 
 harbor of New-York with the basins of the great 
 lakes, but by the Mohawk branch of the Hudson, 
 it has also channeled out another level passage 
 stretching Westward to the Plains, watered by the 
 confluents of the Mississippi. These valleys of the 
 Hudson and Mohawk have been the pathways of 
 armies in war and the routes of commerce in peace. 
 
 * Consisting of Messrs. David A. W< 
 
 They have been the highways through which the 
 nations of Europe and the people of the Atlantic 
 coasts,have poiu*ed their hosts of emigrants into the 
 vast regions which stretch out from the Allegha¬ 
 nies to the base of the Eockv Mountains.” 
 
 OUR GRAND COMMERCIAL HIGHWAY. 
 
 Our ancestors, led by the prophetic minds 
 of Forman, Clinton, Morris, Hawley, Geddes 
 and others, saw the great natural advantages 
 this valley, extending from the East to the 
 West, through our State, presented, and avail¬ 
 ing themselves of it, united the waters of the 
 lakes with the ocean. They built wiser than 
 they knew. It is now the most important 
 channel for transportation in the United 
 States, its commerce is vastly more than that 
 of the Mississippi or the St. Lawrence. 
 
 When we contemplate this great water 
 route; its possibilities in the future, stretch¬ 
 ing to the far West, hy the Hudson, the Erie 
 Canal, and the Great* Lakes, a distance of 
 nearly fifteen hundred miles, to the Western 
 shores of Lake Michigan, thence hy canals 
 and rivers through the States of Illinois and 
 Wisconsin to the Mississippi River; and 
 looking still further North from the Western 
 end of Lake Superior, which, by a work to be 
 built in the near future, consisting of canal, 
 slack water and river improvements, will be 
 connected with the Red River of the North; 
 thence down this river through the lakes and 
 up the rivers of the British possessions, we 
 see an internal navigation extending from the 
 City of New-York, not only to the Mississippi 
 River, but also nearly to the Eastern base of 
 the Rocky Mountains. A navigation the like 
 of which does not exist on the face of the earth. 
 
 When we consider this commercial high¬ 
 way, extending, as it does, through so many 
 States of this Union, connecting these great 
 inland seas with the ocean; this short link 
 canal, or strait, rises to national importance. 
 Such a channel by right should be as free as 
 the lakes, and be made so that navigation on 
 it can be as cheap as on a river. I confidently 
 believe that with a trifling fraction of the 
 expense that is required to make navigable 
 the Mississippi or the St. Lawrence, the 
 water way through our State can be so im¬ 
 proved that navigation on it can be done so 
 cheaply that it will be utterly impossible for 
 any other route to profitably compete with it. 
 What visions of greatness arise; what possi¬ 
 bilities are in the future for our State, if she is 
 only true to her own interests. I believe that 
 the Erie Canal—great and important a work 
 as it has already done—has a still greater 
 mission in the future, around which will 
 circle more important results than it has ever 
 accomplished in the past. 
 
 In conclusion, let me say, we ought to ac¬ 
 knowledge the services rendered the public by 
 the State Canal Commission.* Their valuable 
 report abounds in facts relative to the science 
 of transportation; a science not as well under¬ 
 stood as it ought to be. Among other inter¬ 
 esting statements, we are told that the most 
 advanced European nations manifest renewed 
 interest in their canal systems, and this by 
 nations where railroads are chiefly owned by 
 the State. This is an evidence that they, like 
 ourselves, begin to see that the water courses 
 are superior to railroads for the carriage of 
 bulky raw materials, and agricultural pro¬ 
 duce. It is impossible to agree to some of the 
 conclusions of the Chairman of the Commis¬ 
 sion, but the report in the main is eminently 
 satisfactory, especially that portion embraced 
 in the appendix. 
 
 s, L. J. N. Stark, and Wm. Thurstone. 
 
3 0112 105220401