Transportation on Water 385 



her commercial and trade life by means of canals, in the mileage 

 of which she now leads the world. Other instances are to be 

 found where such important constructions have changed the 

 commercial relations and standing of cities. 



The recently completed Marseilles- Rhone canal has a world- 

 wide interest. Marseilles has a river traffic of about 40,000,000 

 tons a year. By means of the canal this tonnage will probably 

 be doubled. The canal connects Marseilles and its Mediter- 

 ranean traffic with Aries, a distance of fifty miles, and thus 

 with the entire system of navigable streams and canals of the 

 interior of France. The canal follows mostly the valley of the 

 River Rhone, which has been little used because of its swift 

 current and the sandbars and shoals at its mouth. A unique 

 feature of the canal is the tunnel or subterranean waterway 

 piercing the range of Nerthe, which has hitherto cut Mar- 

 seilles off from the Rhone valley. This tunnel is 4.5 miles long 

 and is 47.5 feet high by 77.5 feet wide. This is one of the most 

 remarkable achievements of the French engineers in the twen- 

 tieth century. 



In the United States many canals of great utility have been 

 constructed or are under way. The old Erie Canal, perhaps 

 the first built in this country, about 1825, stimulated by its 

 success the construction of many others. By the end of 1850 

 over 4500 miles of canals, at a cost of more than $200,000,000, 

 had been completed. A recent notable construction is the 

 Sanitary Canal of Chicago, connecting the Mississippi River 

 with Lake Michigan (page 192). 



Canals which contribute to the immense traffic of the Great 

 Lakes are the Soo Canal joining the waters of Lakes Superior 

 and Huron, through which more than 50,000,000 tons of freight 

 pass annually; and the Welland Canal around the Niagara 

 Falls, which, however, is soon to be replaced by one to accommo- 

 date ocean-going vessels of large size. 



175. Inland shipping of the United States. Shipping on 

 inland waters in the United States is of great importance. 

 2c 



