1852.] 



REVIEWS. 



93 



cargo. The accomitiodatlou for passingcrs is to be of tluxe classes, 

 rates not e.'icoediiig the following fares respectively, — caliiii, £2\ ; 2nd 

 cabin, £12 12 ; and steerage, £6 63., every reqiusite being found, and 

 a mail and mail officer being carried free of charge. The freight from 

 Liverpool not to exceed 60s. per ton measurement, nor the freight of 

 produce above that demanded by sailing vessels. For this sei-vice the 

 contractors are to receive £24,000 sterling per annum, to which sura 

 the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad Company and the City of 

 Portland are to contribute £5000 slg., leaving the balance (£19,000 

 stg.) as the annual Provincial charge. 



By the Straits of Belle Isle the distance from Liverpool to Quebec 

 is nearly 400 miles less tliau that to Boston, 'ivhich, with smooth water 

 from the Straits to Quebec, and vessels of equal speed, will give a 

 saving of 2};, days in the voyage. We may, therefore, hope to estab- 

 lish an improved mail line for the Province, and perhaps ultimately 

 when our Railroads shall have beun completed, instead of paying for 

 transit of our mails through the States, be enabled to make a profit on 

 the carriage of an American Mail to the west. One great improvement 

 resulting from the contract will be the erection of proper lighthouses 

 throughout the Lower St. Lawrence and the Straits of Belle Isle, 

 whereby the character of the navigation will be improved, insurances 

 reduced, and the whole shipping interest served. We can imagiue 

 nothing more judicious than the completion of the contract and the 

 manner of it — the lealization of the enterprize and its success is 

 fraught with advantages direct and indirect affecting every interest in 

 the Province. 



After recommending an expenditure of £30,000 01 the rapids of the 

 St. Lawrence, with tlje view of obtaining a safe and facile channel 

 throughout, for vessels drawing 10 feet of water, an improvement well 

 worth the outlay, the Commissioners proceed to consider the propriety 

 of the construction of the proposed canal at the Sault Ste. Marie. As 

 in the case of the Champlain Canal, however, ' so iu this. They no 

 sooner state the cost than they drop the subject. A survey has been 

 made and an " ad interim" report submitted by Mr. S. Keefer, but all 

 to no purpose — the Commissioners will not be tempted or driven to a 

 judgment. We are glad to see that Mr. Keefer insists upon Lockage 

 of the fullest capacity for the largest class of steamboats on our lakes. 

 The obstacles and inconveniences, nay, we may even say, the positive 

 losses resulting from a contrary course on other canals, prove the wis- 

 dom of at once making a permanent sufficient provision in these partic- 

 ulars ; besides, if the estimates may be relied on, and we infer that they 

 may, the extra expense is unworthy '^f consideration : for while the 

 cost of this canal 120 feet wide, with locks 250X55X9 will be £100,00^^ 

 that involved iu a width of 159 feet with locks 100 feet longer, 11 feet 

 wider, and with one foot additional draught of water, viz : 350X66X10, 

 would only be £20,000 more, or £120,00.1. 



In the estimate of " Prospective Revenue," we find some interesting 

 information in con:.ection with the Mining Companies of Lake Supe- 

 rior. The population now engaged on the South siJe, numbers 2500. 

 Thirty-seven Mining Companies have been there formed, of which 

 fifteen have commenced operations, and will produce this year (1852) 

 about 2000 tons of copper, worth at Pittsburgh £120 per ton. Two 

 Iron Companies (also on the South side) expect to produce 1000 tons 

 of "blooms" this season (1.-52; which sell at Detroit for £16 5s.* per 

 ton. " The proprietors of the Iron Mountain are sanguine in their 

 expectations of transporting 100,000 tons (1) of this orp eastward im- 

 mediately upon the opening of the canal. They e.xpect to be able to 

 manufacture it into railway bars at the cost of £7 10s. per ton, and 

 thereby to revolutionize the iron trade." 



This Iron has, it is said, been ascertained by experiment to possess 

 an ultimate tenacity when rolled into bars of 89 882 lb.s. upon the 

 square inch — while that of the best Russian is but 79.000 lbs., and of 



* This piite must be a misprint in the Reporl, it does not agree well wilh 

 the statement further down ihal the proprietors of the iron mounlain expect 

 '>9 furnish railway bars al £7 IOj. per ton. 



the best Englioh 57.000 lbs. ; — and in its native state to contain 69 per 

 cent, of pure Iron. 



We trust these " sanguine expectations " may be realized, and the 

 truth of those experiments substantiated. But why so much about the 

 operations on the South shore, and nothing, positively nothing, about 

 those on the nortli? Did Mr. Keefer see too much or too little of these 

 North shore operat ons ? — perliaps both — perhaps he saw too much of 

 how little was doing, and thought it more prudent or more charitable to 

 give our compai ies the go-by. Strange, that in an estimate of the 

 " Prospective Revenue" of a Canadian Canal at the Sault Ste. Marie, 

 the only references made to the sources whence that revenue is to be 

 derived, should be in connection with " the South shore I" Have they 

 on the North shore no "sanguine expectations" on a large scale ? no 

 realizations on a small one ? We were prepared to hear (whenever we 

 heard anything in connection with our Superior Mines but "calls") that 

 very little had been done ; but we are now obliged to infer, from Mr. 

 Keefer's silence, that nothing is expected I 



We have thus given an abstract of this important and valuable 

 Report, venturing our own impressions in relation to such pajts of it 

 as seemed to demand comment, and if we have extended our notice to 

 an unusual length, we rest our excuse on the public interest of the 

 subjects, and the very great difficulty (to which we have before 

 referred) of obtaining a copy of the document. 



Improved liailroad. — Mr. Carpenter, of Rome (N". T.) has made an 

 improvement in the ordinary ii'on raikoad, calculated greatly to dimin- 

 ish the liability, if not utterly preclude the possibUity 01 a train run- 

 ning of the track, under any cii-cumstances. The improvement consists 

 of a middle rail of iron or wood, running the whole length of the track, 

 precisely in its centre, and raised a foot or so above the side or bearing 

 rails. Friction rollers are attached to the engine and cars beneath, to 

 play Ujpon the sides of the middle, or guiding rail, whereby the motion 

 of each car is steadied, and any ieudency to fly the track at once 

 aiTested. Experienced and competent engineers concur in the opinion 

 that the adoption of this invention would add greatly to the safety and 

 security of raih-oads, and prevent a large class of accidents to which we 

 are now exposed. As they now are, it is left to chance and good luck 

 whether or not we are carried safe. If nothing happens to it — if 

 nothing is thrown upon the track, by accident or by design — if no stone 

 or rock should happen to roll down upon it fiom along its numerous 

 banks — if no limb from a tree, or a rail or stake from a fence, is blown, 

 upon it — if no animal get upon it — if no child, in its innocent sport, 

 should place a sbip of boai'd upon it (as was recently the case in Eng- 

 land, thereby throwing the cars off and kiUing five persons) — if none 

 of these, and numerous other similar unforeseen and unavoidable cas- 

 ualties should occur, we may be carried along safely enough on rail- 

 ways as now constructed. With this improvement the speed may be 

 increased to almost any extent, with entire safety, so far as there would 

 be any danger of running off. In short, without it a railroad is incom- 

 plete, so much so as a ship without a rudder or a carnage without a 

 tongue. We are informed by Mr. Carpenter tliat the only objection 

 made to his improvement, is the cost of it ; and yet he is fully of the 

 opinion that it would be a matter of economy, and for the manifest 

 interest of railway companies to adopt his improvement. It would not 

 only prevent a large class cf accidents, but it would prevent the wheels 

 from wearing as they now do, the friction being much less. — JVeui York 

 jtribhne. 



Although the above paragraph bas recently appe«,red in several of 

 the American and English journals, yet it occurred to us that a similar 

 improvement had been proposed iu Canada several years ago, and 

 upcn enquiry we found, that iu the spring cf 1847, a patent was secured 

 by Mr. Sandford Fleming, of Toronto, for a centre rail railway. Mr. F 

 went farther than to insure the safety of the train, by guide wheels 

 actiug on the middle rajl; he also proposed to have horizontal driving 

 wheels revolving against the sides of it by wliich the locomotive and 

 carnages were propelled. A model was constructed on this principle, 

 which, we are told, elucidated the mode of propulsion satisfactorily ; 

 but it must be admitted that there are difnciilties to encounter before 

 the detaOs of this proposed system of locomotion could be properly 

 can-ied out ; yet if the extra cost of an additional rail was not suflScient 

 to preclude its adoption, the liability of trams to run off the track, 

 would doubtless be greatly diminished, and consequently the safety of 

 passengers and property, in the samti ratio, increased. 



