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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



14) Transference at lower lake ports is necessary for economi- 

 cal distribution of a very large part of the freight shipped in lake 

 vessels, and this would be the case regardless of any canal. 



15) The present cost of transference at lower lake ports can 

 be materially reduced and business still be done at a profit. 



16) Any canal which will enable this transference to be 

 avoided will cause its reduction to a minimum. 



17) The amount of tonnage which it is estimated may be 

 possibly tributary to a ship canal is 24,000,000 annually, 

 18,000,000 tons transported eastward and G,000,000 tons trans- 

 ported westward. 



18) The cost of a ship canal suitable for use by the largest 

 vessels of the lakes from Lake Erie to New York, and necessary 

 work in connection therewith, would be approximately $200,- 

 000,000, and the cost of operation and maintenance would be 



Fig. 57 Cross-section of deep waterways, partly in rock and partly in 

 earth, for 30-foot channel. 



approximately f 2,000,000 per year. The cost would depend 

 largely upon the arrangement which could be made with New 

 York State for the possession of its canals, feeders, reservoirs, 

 etc. which would necessarily be absorbed in the greater canal. 



19) The Erie canal, as it is being enlarged by the State of 

 New York, will, if all restrictions upon its use be removed, give 

 commercial advantages practically equal to the commercial ad- 

 vantages which would be given by a ship canal. 



20) If the Erie canal be further improved by enlarging it to 

 a size sufficient for 1500-ton barges, making necessary alterations 

 in its alignment so as to give a continuously descending canal all 

 the way from Lake Erie to the Hudson, and canalizing the Mo- 

 hawk river, such improved canal, navigated by barges, will enable 

 freight to be transported between the east and west at a lower 

 rate than could a ship canal navigated by the large lake or ocean 

 vessels. The cost of such enlargement would be approximately 

 one quarter the cost of a ship canal. 



21) If a ship canal were built, the business thereon would not 

 be done in large lake or ocean vessels, but in barges and boats 

 which could be equally well accommodated in a canal of much 

 less size. 



