376 ADVANTAGES OF THE ST LAWRENCE 



and however energetically managed, will soon be wholly- 

 inadequate to the demands of the western trade, the 

 value of the St Lawrence, and the certainty of its being 

 very extensively used, becomes every day more clear. 



Other considerations also are likely to hasten this 

 result. 



For laden vessels coming down Lake Erie with 

 cargoes for Europe, the two points of destination are 

 either Buffalo, at the mouth of the Erie Canal, on the 

 'New York side— or Port Maitland, at the mouth of the 

 Welland Canal, on the Canadian side. If the vessel 

 make for Buffalo, its cargo must be transhipped, sent 

 364 miles by canal, and down the Hudson to New 

 York, and be again transhipped at least once before it 

 can be despatched to Europe. If it enter Port Mait- 

 land, it passes the canals without breaking bulk, and 

 descends to Quebec in four days. Thence the same 

 vessel mav proceed direct to Europe, or the cargo may 

 be transhipped, and with a fair wind may pass the 

 banks of Newfoundland before it could reach New York 

 by the way of the Erie Canal. Thus, independent of 

 possible detention on this canal, it appears that time is 

 saved by the St Lawrence route ; and every merchant 

 knows the value of this element in commercial 

 affairs. 



Again, the cost of transport from Albany to Buffalo 

 is 7 1 dollars per ton, while from Montreal to Port 

 Maitland, ascending the river, it is only three dollars a 

 ton — and the difference is greater in descending the 

 river ; so that the St Lawrence is also a cheaper route 

 than that by Lake Erie. A fellow-passenger of mine 

 across the Atlantic informed me that, in bringing Tail- 

 road iron from Liverpool to Cleveland in Ohio, (on 

 Lake Erie,) he found that, independent of speed, the 

 route of the St Lawrence was 10s. a ton cheaper than 

 anv other he could take. 



