1843.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



53 



ference to the north side, (Nos. 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10, have obviously no bearing 

 on the question.) No. 5 was by a country surveyor, and he merely points 

 out some disadvantages in one route on the north side. No. 6, Mr. Baird 

 never examined the north side ; and, though in Kingston at tiie time, was 

 not called in by the board ; the superior " economy, and facility of navi- 

 gation," consist in a violent current and lee shore ; that a vessel which can 

 navigate the canal, can neither get in nor out at the western terminus ; that 

 the three channels are pure fabrications, and that this is not the first ex- 

 tensive public work " undertaken through a district entirely settled and in- 

 habited by Canadians of French origin." The Champlain and Lawrence 

 railway runs through such a country, and was built almost exclusively by 

 these Canadians ; the Chambly canal also traverses such a country. On the 

 latter work I served as assistant engineer in 1834 ; and the former was built 

 under my directions, by the day. and opened in July, 183G. The evidence 

 shows all this and much more; but I will proceed with some observations 

 on the commercial prospects of the St. Lawrence canal. 



The grand object of the undertaking is to attract to the St. Lawrence a 

 large portion of the western trade, on the assumption, that the larger the 

 canal, the lower the rates of freight; and, secondly, that the cost of trans- 

 portation from the great lakes to Montreal, is the only drawback to an un- 

 limited trade with the west — positions altogether untenable. 



Barges now descend the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario to Montreal, 

 with from 100 to 150 tons freight, according to the depth of water in the 

 " Cedar Rapids," where the barges frequently touch on the boulders, with 

 which the rocky bed of the river is covered. There is only 41 feet water 

 here in the autumn, but, by clearing out the channel, it is believed that 

 boats drawing 5 feet water may descend at all times. Such boats would 

 carry "150 tons, or, if made of iron, 200 tons of freight, and with a propor- 

 tionate reduction in the cost. A bill appropriating £10,000 currency to the 

 improvement of the Cedar Rapids was introduced at the late short session, 

 and the prerogative alone prevented its passing, as it met with universal 

 favour. I send you a sketch of the contemplated plan, with a description in 

 the Montreal Gazette, by Mr. Henry Roebuck, the projector of this, the 

 first attempt to improve the downward navigation of the St. Lawrence. 

 The average regular charge is Is. 9(7. currency per bbl. of flour from 

 Kingston to Montreal, a distance of more than 200 miles by the river = 

 •19o<7. currency per bbl. per mile = 18s. 3J(7. currency = 15s. 2(7. sterling 

 per ton of 22401b. (Flour was carried during the late summer for Is. 

 sterling per bbl. ; and merchandize was carried up for 25s. currency = 

 20s. 8(7. sterling per ton, by the Rideau canal, a distance of 240 miles, during 

 a strong competition.) The tolls on the present Laehiue canal are 2d. cur- 

 rency per bbl. of flour for 9 miles = '222(7. currency per bbl. per mile, 

 or more than twice the total cost per mile through, -105(7. currency, as above. 

 The Erie canal of New York, with which these canals are to compete, 

 has locks 90 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 34 feet water, prism of canal, 21 

 feet at bottom, 40 feet at water line, and 3 to 4 feet deep. The tolls are 

 Is. 9(7. currency per barrel of flower for 363 miles = -0578(7. currency per 

 barrel per mile = about one fourth the (oils of the Lachine canal ! thus 

 showing an immense advantage in favour of the Erie canal — an advantage 

 due to the cheapness of its construction ; in other words, to its reasonable 

 dimensions. How then is transportation to be lessened, by expending two 

 or three times its original cost in enlarging the Lachine canal? The high 

 tolls have driven the forwarders to try the Lachine Rapids, and during the 

 past summer and autumn a vast number of boats have gone safely over. 

 There is a great depth of water, but the channel is narrow and crooked. 

 (The descent is about 30 feet in li to 2 miles, which is passed in 4 or 5 

 minutes, the inclination of the surface of the water being such, that the 

 force of gravity acts on the boat, thus producing a great velocity through 

 the water in addition to that of the current. A heavily laden barge overtook 

 a light steamer in the rapids, fortunately without injury to either — and the 

 first season of this navigation has passed without accident.) 



Now were individuals expending their own money on these canals, they 

 would endeavour to ascertain whether the income — the true test of the ac- 

 commodation to be offered to the trade — would justify the construction of 

 canals of a size unknown, in Christendom at least, and would enter into the 

 calculations and investigations necessary to show how this reduction of freight 

 was to be effected, and why barges of 150 tons were so much less efficient 

 than vessels of 800 to 1200 tons. But, in place of this, the public have 

 heard nothing beyond such vague assertions as, that " the St. Lawrence is 

 the natural outlet" for the " boundless trade" of the "far west;" if the 

 Erie canal, with its pitiful craft of 50 tons burden — omitting all mention, or 

 more probably ignorant of its small cost and low tolls — has yielded such 

 large returns to the state of New York, what may not be expected from the 

 " ship canals " of Canada, when " sea-going " vessels shall " float on Ontario 

 and Erie," the Welland schooner canal connecting these lakes to the con- 

 trary notwithstanding — and innumerable other equally preposterous views 

 and bombastic expressions, which are only too likely to prove as ruinous as 

 they are ridiculous. 



Y'et this little Erie canal, which the State of New York has been endea- 

 vouring to enlarge to a size somewhat greater than that of the — according 

 to Canadian ideas — little Lachine canal, and on which she has thrown away 

 £3,000,000, is now admitted to be equal to any trade which can be expected, 

 though there is no St. Lawrence to distance all competition for the down 

 freight, no Rideau to compete with for the up freight, and although it en- 

 joys a monopoly of all western freight, the people of New York not being 



permitted to use the railways along side of this canal on any terms — not even 

 in winter — for the transportation of freight. These railways are owned by 

 private companies, the government dreads their competition, and not without 

 reason. For instance, flour is carried from Albany to Boston for U Bd. ster- 

 ling per barrel, a distance of 200 miles by railway, through, or rather across, 

 a mountainous country, or at the rate of -09rf. st.' per barrel per mile, in small 

 quantities (in full loads for Is.); the rates from Buffalo to Albany, 303 miles, 

 average 3s. 3d. st. per barrel of llour, or -107(7. st. per mile = 10 per cent. 

 more than the highest charge on the Western Railway of Massachusetts. 

 This latter is a private work, open throughout the year, and without any 

 monopoly; the Erie canal is a State (government) work, closed between 

 4 and 5 mouths every year, and sustained by a monopoly unparalleled on 

 either side of the Atlantic. The enlargement of this canal is postponed 

 indefinitely, and a direct tax on every species of property in the State has 

 been laid, to meet the interest of the money squandered on this anil other 

 legislative engineering follies, pointed out in Vol. III. (p. 122 et sea.) 



Without stopping to inquire how soon this course will become necessary 

 in Canada, I will ask, what intelligent Canadian or Englishman, who has 

 visited New York and Canada, will for a moment tolerate the idea, that the 

 trade of the latter country is likely to require, not equal, but ten times 

 greater accommodation than that of New Y'ork ? Should the trade of the 

 St. Lawrence, twenty years hence, equal that of the Erie canal at this time, 

 it will show an increase unequalled in the annals of this country. Look at 

 the most, if not the only, successful work in Canada, the Champlain and 

 St. Lawrence Railway, 15 miles long, and which cost not quite .t'40,000 

 sterling, on which 50 per cent, has been paid to the stockholders during the 

 last six years, because the capital was small, and the outlay made with some 

 reference to iucome. Had this been made with three or four tracks, on the 

 scale of the Great Western Railway, it would have been as profitable to the 

 stockholders as the St. Lawrence canals are likely to prove to the Province. 

 One mile and a quarter of the Cornwall canal has cost as much as the 

 15 miles of railway, including cars, engines, buildings, wharms, and steam 

 forage-boat of 300 tons, whilst the mcome bids fair to be inversely as the 

 cost ; a fair illustration of the mode of conducting public works by private 

 companies, as compared with that generally pursued in New York and Cana- 

 da, where the helm is only too often in the hands of political adventurers 

 and desperate speculators, who, having every thing to gain by governmental 

 extravagance, naturally employ kindred spirits to execute their designs, 

 which are, usually, the expenditures of large sums in certain districts, with- 

 out any regard to the wants or interests of the community. 



The gross receipts on the Erie canal for 1840, were 1,597,334 dollars = 

 £330,028 St., and the present year will yield about the same amount. As- 

 suming the St. Lawrence canal to be about one»ninth the length of this 

 canal, and supposing the same business, the receipts would be very nearly 

 ±'50,000 cy., on an estimated expenditure of £1,043,074 cy. as per Mr. 

 Killaly's memorandum of 12th Aug. 1840, in which occurs the only argu- 

 ment (!) vouchsafed to the community for the necessity of this additional 

 accommodation to the trade at such enormous cost. 1 



On the Erie canal the up freight or merchandize yields only one-fourth of 



1 The following choice morceau — the style of which is worthy of the 

 reasoning — is all I have been able to discover. 



" General Observations. The necessity of involving the province in 

 the cost of forming a second water communication with tide-water, has been 

 for a long time the subject of dispute and argument with many. Among the 

 number of those who doubted the prudence of it, I was one until latterly ; 

 but the vastly increasing trade, doubling almost annually, and the conviction 

 upon my mind, after mature consideration, that the lowering of freight con- 

 sequent upon affording additional facilities, together with the productiveness 

 of the western countries, which are only now coming into operation, will 

 increase still further this trade to an almost inconceivable e.i tent, have con- 

 vinced me that a second and more facile outlet is called for. Besides the 

 transport being confined to the Rideau, the navigation of which depends 

 upon the stability of dams of great height, (in one case 60 feet,) should any 

 injury arise to one of these dams, (as was apprehended last spring,) either 

 through accident or malice, the effects of it would be ruinous to half the 

 commercial interests of the country. 



" I am decidedly of opinion, that the scale upon which the Cornwall 

 canal was undertaken, was unsuited to the means of the province, and was 

 uot absolutely necessarv for the greatest increase of trade, which the most 

 sanguine mav look forward to; and that a schooner navigation, combined 

 with a system of tug-boats would have answered every commercial purpose ; 

 but now, from the laree expenditure already incurred upon the central 

 portion, the little required to complete it, and the comparatively small saving 

 that might be effected upon what remains to be done, by adopting the 

 schooner scale. I am led to conclude that the best and easiest course will be 

 to open the St. Lawrence throughout from Montreal to Lake Ontario for 

 steamboats and schooners— not upon the /nil size of the Cornwall canal, 

 but on a scale sufficiently large to admit a powerful class of steamers or tug- 

 boats to pass." (Memorandum, 12th Aug., IS 10, p. 5.) 



It is scarcely necessary to say, that the " doubling almost annually " is 

 bombast to an almost inconceivable extent ; that " the small saving" is no 

 less than on 28 miles out of 40, and the diminution consists in reducing the 

 canal from 140 to 120 feet in width, and the locks from 200 by 55 to 200 

 b« 45 — a distinction without a difference you will say. 



