Canadian Forestry Journal, May. iqi6. 



517 



torn out of future freight revenues from forest products. Cautions are 

 issued to the public to avoid waste, when one of the most flagrant forms 

 of waste under all governments is the sacrifice of priceless timber, for lack. 

 of the elementary protective systems which are in force in nearly every 

 part of the world outside Canada. 



Over fourteen millions of dollars have been spent by the people of 

 Canada on the Trent Canal, and yet the foundation of future revenues from 

 local freight has been almost wholly demolished by the refusal of Domin- 

 ion and Provincial Governments to place the remnant of unwasted timber 

 under some system of protection. 



Into the Trent Canal project fresh millions are directed annually. Yet 

 the only hope for justification of these heavy expenditures is an abundant 

 and controllable flow of water. "This factor," remarked Dr. B. E. Fernow 

 in his report on the Trent Watershed question, "is of paramount importance 

 to the canal. Engineers have sometimes thought that dams alone may 

 effect the satisfactory regulation of the waterflow but the wiser ones have 

 recognized that for the best service, dams need to be supplemented by a 

 forest cover such as a watershed furnishes." 



The subject as outlined in the following paragraphs from the Commis- 

 sion of Conservation report will give many readers hitherto unfamiliar with 

 the grave situation along the Trent Canal a basis from which they can urge 

 public action. 



Eighty-five Years in Building. 



"The Trent Canal project has 

 been a subject of public criticism 

 and often of ridicule, ever since it 

 was conceived, 85 years ago. The 

 criticism and ridicule are not, how- 

 ever, deserved by the original pro- 

 ject but only by the irrational, slow 

 manner in which it was executed. 

 The canal project, in fact, has been 

 subjected to precisely the same kind 

 of management as the territory 

 through which it passes. The chief 

 value of a canal lies in connecting 

 markets and resources, and, there- 

 fore, depends mainly on its outlets. 

 The first outlet of the canal, the one 

 into Lake Ontario, is now, after 



the timber, owing to the expense of 

 transportation to market, was cut in 

 a more or less wasteful manner. As 

 a result, the government derived 

 scarcely any profit from this indus- 

 try, and the returns to the lumber- 

 men were also relatively small. If 

 the cheap transportation which a 

 canal furnishes had been in exis- 

 tence earlier, much more conserva- 

 tive logging operations could have 

 been carried on ; much closer utili- 

 zation of material could have been 

 made by mills situated along the 

 route ; much more profit could have 

 been secured from this resource bv 

 both operators and the people, and, 

 moreover, the source could have 

 nearly a century of dilatory work, been managed for perpetuitv, as a 



being completed ; the other, which 

 affords access to Georgian Bay, still 

 hangs fire. So long as the outlets 

 to larger markets or for through- 

 traffic were lacking, only a very 

 limited local traffic could develop. 

 Since the principal resource of the 



basis for manufacturing industries. 

 As it is. the principal local freight, 

 that from the timber-lands, is almost 

 exhausted, and a large part of the 

 usefulness of the canal has gone, as 

 least in so far as local development 

 is coiicerned. Outside of the water- 



region it serves was timber — a staple power which it supplies, through 



which needs more than local mar- traffic, which may follow upon the 



kets for a profitable and rational completion of the two outlets, can 



development — the value of the in- alone justify its existence for the 



complete canal was limited indeed, present; unless by careful planning 



Since this outlet was unavailable, and management a revival of the in- 



