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24 | . MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. DEEP WATERWAY TO THE HUDSON. The Engineering News has for some time past been an earnest advocate of a ship-canal connection between the lakes and the Hudson river in preference to the proposed conversion of the Erie canal into a 1,000-ton barge canal. In its current issue it discusses ine subject in the following wise: In the discussion in the New York legislature over the 1,000- ton barge canal project, references all the time appear to the proppsed United States deep waterway from the lakes to the ocean. 'There is, in fact, a considerable party in the legislature, which opposes the barge-canal proposition and favors instead the construction by the United States of a ship-canal connec- tion from the lakes to the Hudson. Unfortunately, the public and the members of the legislature appear to have little knowledge concerning this ship-canal project. It seems to be unknown to many that the entire route has been carefully sur- veyed and estimated and has been the subject of as complete and thorough an engineering investigation as has ever been made, perhaps, for any public work in this country. © The results of this investigation, however, have never been spread before the public. They were put on record, indeed, in the three huge volumes of the official report; but they have been barely mentioned in the newspapers and have received lit- tle more attention in technical journals. For this reason we have deemed it appropriate at this time to present a brief de- scription of this proposed ship-canal, believing that knowledge concerning it is essential to a fair judgment of the rival 1,000- ton barge canal project now under consideration in New York. Agitation for a ship-canal or deep waterway from the lakes to the ocean has been going on since the 'yo's, and in the early 'go's the interest in it became such that conventions were held in the lake cities to further the project. This led to the appointment by President Cleveland in 1895, of an in- ternational commission to investigate the project and report | upon it.- The United States members of this commission were President Jos. B. Angell of Michigan university; Lyman E. Cooley, ©: #., of Chicapo, and Hon. John. Ee Russell. of Massachusetts. This commission had only sufficient funds to make a few rough réconnoissance surveys, but in its report it affirmed the feasibility of the ship-canal project and advised that detailed surveys be made. In 1897 congress made provision for such surveys and President McKinley appointed Maj. Chas. W. Raymond, corps of engineers, U. S. A., and Messrs: Alfred Noble and Geo. Y. Wisner, members of the American Society of Civil Engineers, as a commission to conduct such surveys. Three years' time and $485,000 of money were spent in this work, and the com- mission's report, presented in 1900, gives complete information upon the project in every detail. Previous to this commission's investigation all sorts of opin- ions were held concerning the ship-canal--or deep waterway-- scheme, and the data were lacking on which to base any in- telligent opinion. None could say certainly whether such a canal were practicable as an engineering proposition or not; whether, if built, ships would use it; whether it should be made deep enough to float the largest class of ocean-going vessels, or only deep enough for the vessels of the great lakes, or whether a canal for large barges--such as New York has now under discussion--would not answer every purpose. 'The mat- ter of route was also a matter of speculation. Some favored the route via the St. Lawrence river and Lake Champlain, some, that by Lake Ontario and the Oswego and Mohawk rivers; some the route of the present Erie canal. All these matters and many others which have been in controversy were given the fullest expert investigation by the commission and its conclusions are entitled.to the weight. of authority. No man today is competent to discuss intelligently the subject of water routes from the lakes to the Atlantic unless he has studied the Deep Waterway Commission's report; and whoever takes a position opposite to the conclusions expressed in this report deserves no credence unless he presents his grounds for dis- sent from these conclusions. First and most important is the matter of depth. The commission made complete surveys and estimates for two chan- nels, the one a waterway of 21 ft. depth, which would give passage to all the vessels now navigating the great lakes and to the ereat bulk of the merchant marine on the ocean as well, the other a channel 30 ft. in depth, large enough for practically all the vessels afloat on the ocean which are operated under traffic conditions that would permit them to use such a canal. The result of this estimate showed that the 30-ft. channel would cost at least $125,000,000 more than the 21-ft. channel and offered no commercial advantages at all proportionate to -- this excess of cost. The larger waterway would be of smaller traffic capacity than the 21-ft. channel, on account of the differ- ence of time spent in lockage, and this factor also about neutralizes the higher speed which smaller vessels could make in the larger waterway in the reaches between locks. The fact that all the lake harbors and channels, as well as the docks, piers,, etc., are designed for the vessels of moderate draught now navigat- ing the lakes, is another fact showing the inferiority of the 30- Hf oe as a commercial proposition to the channel of 21 ft. epth. Turning now to the matter of route: Complete surveys 'tangents without danger [ Mar. 19, and estimates were made for waterways by the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain route and also by the route across the state of New York from Lake Ontario via the Oswego and Mohawk rivers. The route from Lake Erie direct to the Hudson was rot surveyed, as it is well known to be only feasible for a barge canal. A waterway of even 21 ft. depth by this route would be so enormously expensive and involve such engineering difficulties as would make it impracticable. These careful sur veys and estimates fully establish the superiority of the route via Lake Ontario and the Oswego and Mohawk rivers. While the cost of building a canal by the Champlain route is a little less, the much greater distance, the shorter season of naviga- tion and other conditions prove the Oswego-Mchawk route to be the preferable one. This route, beginning at Buffalo, follows down the Niagara river to Lasalle, 15 miles. Here the canal proper begins and continues for about 10 miles to the Niagara escarpment, which is descended by a series of locks to the lower level of the Niagara river below the gorge. There ate nine locks in all between the level of Lake Erie and that of Lake Ontario, the difference of elevation being 330 ft. Leaving the lowest lock of the series, a ~ vessel would enter the lower Niagara river, which is deep enough and wide enough for any ship afloat, and it follows down the river--which is really an arm of Lake Ontario--till it debouches into the lake, six miles below. Thence the vessel proceeds through Lake Ontario to Oswego, distant about too miles from the mouth of the Niagara river. From Oswego the route is up the valley of the Oswego river, partly in an excavated channel, to the village of Fulton, where it turns up the valley of a small creek and continues across sand ridges to Oneida lake. The total distance from Lake Ontario to Lake Oneida is about 26 miles. The vessel then passes through Lake Oneida, a distance of about 21 miles, and_then enters the longest section of excavated canal encountered. that from Lake Oneida to the Mohawk river at Herkimer, N. Y., a distance of 43 miles. From Herkimer to near Rotterdam Junction, 55 miles, the Mohawk river is to be used, being converted by dams and locks into a system of slack- water navigation. Over a large part of this distance the vessel will be in a channel of such depths and width that she can make as good time as on the open lake. At Rotterdam junction, the route leaves the Mohawk and passes through South Schenectady to the head of a small stream known as Norman's Kill. It fol- lows the valley of this stream to the Hudson. Below this point about $4,000,000 will have to be snent on the Hudson river from the mouth of Norman's Kill to Hudson City to secure a 21-ft. channel. : So much for the general route to be followed. The particular feature of this route which most deserves attention is that it is a utilization of natural waterways and not an artificial channel. Of the total distance from Buffalo to New York (477 miles) only 102 miles are in standard canal section, and 98 miles are in canal- ized rivers from 250 to 1,000 ft. in width. The remaining 277 miles are in open lakes and rivers where a vessel can make nearly or quite as good time as she can on the open waters of Lake Erie or Lake Huron. This, taken in connection with the liberal size adopted for the canal section. will enable vessels to make a very high speed on this route. The estimates have been worked out with the gteatest care, from the known time occupied by vessels in passing the Sault lock and the St. Clair canal, checking them by the most thorough investigation of all available data of the speed of vessels in existing ship-canals. The result shows that a vessel of 11,700 tons displacement and 8,600 tons cargo capacity would take only sixty-four hours to make the nassage from Buffalo to New York citv, 477 miles. About seven hours are required for the passage from Buffalo through the Niagara river and down the flight of locks to Lake Ontario: eleven hours more through the open waters of Lake Ontario bring the vessel to Oswego. Athout seventeen hours are then required for the passare up the Oswego vallev and through the long canal section to the pools of the Mohawk river (of which about two hours are spent in traversing the open waters of Lake Oneida). Then nine and one-half hours are required for the passage down the Mohawk Valley, eight hours for the passage from there to the Hudson and twelve hours for the run down the Hudson to New York. The total estimated cost of constructing the 21-ft. waterway from Buffalo to New York is in round numbers $200,000.000 ( $190,400,000). Of this total about $42,c00.0c0 is the cost of the division from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and the balance the cost from Lake Ontario to deep water in the Hudson river. Again, of the total cost of $200,000,000, almost exactly half is for the item of excavation: locks cost $36,000,000; right of way $12,500,000, and retaining wall a oe ; 5,500,000, < ate g walls, slope walls and back filling, $11,000,000, An allowance of 10 per cent for engineering, super- intendence and contingencies was made on all items. The proposed canal is to have a bottom width of 240 ft. in rock and of 215 ft. in earth, and the width is increased on curves. The section was designed after careful studies of experience of the St. Clair flats canal and the Suez, Manchester, Amsterdam and Kiel ship-canals to permit a speed of 8 miles per hour on ¢ to passing ships or damage to canal banks. On open rivers where the channel banks are not defined, eee width of 600 ft. has been adopted for safe navigation. a sae 21 ie : may be stated, is designed to leave a depth oa a er the keel of loaded vessels, and will permit the Passage Of any vessels navigating the great lakes, for none of