IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // :/. r^ !.0 I.I 1.25 IIM IIIII25 ^6 3 11 *" IM II 2.2 2.0 i.8 1-4 llllil.6 m om ^^/ ^ ^^ ■4 /^ d^M' /A Photograpliic Sciences Corporation '#:v^^ #* ^■b > 9)^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 w CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions htstoriques cN%. Technical and Bibliographic Notas/Notes tachniques at bibliogiaphiques The Institute has attempted to obtain tha best original copy available fur filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method cf filming, are checked below. D □ □ □ D n Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagde Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pe'iicul^e □ Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Coloured ink (I.e. other than blue or black)/ ere de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustraticns en couleur Bound with othrr material/ Relid avec d'au.res documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these liave been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cbia dtait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 filmdes. Addi^'ional comments:/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meiileur exemplaire qu'il lui a iti possible de so procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. I I Coloured pages/ n/ \/ D Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagies Pages restored and/oi Pages restaur6es et/ou pelliculdes I I Pages damaged/ I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachetdes ou piqudes □ Pages detached/ Pages d6tach6es Showthrough/ Transparence I I Quality of print varies/ Quality inegale de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du matdriel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou parriellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 4t6 filmdes i nouveau de facon d obienir la meilleure image possible. Tl to Tl P' ol fil O b( til si ol fil si 01 Tl St Tl w M di er b( "1 re m This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmi au tacx de reduction indiqu^ ci-dessous., 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X D / 1 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here hes been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Library of the Public Archives of Canada L'exemplaire film* fut reproduit grAce d la gAnirositA do: La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada The imeges appeering here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legtbility of the original copy and in keeping with tne filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les images suivant<«s ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, uompte tenu de la condition et de la nettet^ de l'exemplaire film6, et 6n conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont fiimis en commenpant par le premier piat et en terminant soit pat la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par (e second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux bont filmte en commengant par la premiere page qui comporte une emprernte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol — »- (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "ENH"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur ia dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols —»» signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to hotton:, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmte d des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtra reproduit en un seul clich6, il e«it film6 d partir de i'engie supirieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'imeges n6cessaire. Lo? diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 REPORT OF W. SHANLY, ESQ., C.E, T<) TIIK DIRECTORS OK IHE fag^natoaga ^Ijip Canal Cog. M O N r R E A L : PK.NNV, WILSON & CO., PRINTERS AND I' U H I. i S II K R S. '55 & '57 !5'i'- James Street. 1874, \1 / A / REPORT OF WALTER SHANLY, ESQ., C.E., ON THE \ It North Adams, (Mass.) 24th August, 1874. HON. JOHN YOUNG, President Caughnawaga Ship Canal Company^ DtAR Sir : In compliance with your request, that I would examine into, and give my views of, the cost of constructing the " Caughnawaga Canal," so called, and state my opinion, generally, as to the desirability of the work and its probable effect on the trade of the country, I now beg to say : — First— as respects cost — I have made an estimate based on the dimensions of the Canal proposed by the late J. B. Mills, Civil Engineer, in 1848, and which are identical with those of the existing St. Lawrence Canals-Locks 200 X 45 feet, with 9 feet of water on the sills. I, of course, accept as correct Mr. Mills' quantities of the several kinds of work embraced in the construction of the Canal on the plan referred to, and do so with the utmost confidence in their reliability ; a confidence inspired by my knowledge of the care and accuracy with which such calculations ever came t'rum the hands of my deceased frien d, and, at ore time, professional chief. His estimate of cost amounted in the aggregate to ^i, 8 14,408 which, un- der the prices ruling for such kind of work five and twenty years ago, would ha\e been ample at the time, but in view of the great advance in the value of ( 4 ) labour, materials, lands, and all things else entering into the cost of under- takings of the sort, I cannot bring the amount that would now be required to complete -'Mr. Mills' Canal" in a proper and substantial manner below $3,763,000 ir. which, however, permanent stone structures are provided for where, in some cases, acqueducts for instance, the original estimate contem- plated using wood. Having now entered upon (at least we have been told so ; the external manifestations of the fact are not wholly convincing yet) a second era of Canal enlargement in Canada the "Caughnawaga " scheme will, of course, have to be reconsidered and remodelled in some of its originally proposed details to make it fit in with the other parts of the system —whatever that is to be. The di- mensions adopted for the new, or improved, Welland Canal are — Locks 270 x 45 feet, with S2 feet water on the Mitre Sills. Not having access to Mr. Mills' detailed plans and notes of survey I am without the requisite (/a/a for making more than an approximate estimate of the cost of constructing the Caughnawaga Canal on the scale of the "enlarged Welland," hut, approximately^ I would not venture to state the additional out- lay at much less than 50 per cent, advance on the cost of the lesser work. In other wo'-ds, the Caughnawaga Canal on the dimensions above assigned to the Welland would involve an outlay of some $5,500,000. But I do not think that such large capacity, in respect of depth at all events, is needful to ensure to a Canal connecting the St. Lawrence with Lake Champlain its fullest measure of usefulness and success, The difference in cost between a Canal adapted to vessels of 12 feei draft and one of two feet less depth would, in this instance, be not far short, probably, of a million and a quarter of dollars. Ten feet draft is as much as is required, and on that basis the Caughnawaga Canal may be constructed for about $4,250,000. So much for my views on the cost question, and now, with your permission I will touch upon the general proposition of the improvement and perfecting of our Canal system, as bearing on the Lake Champlain connection. It is undoubtedly desirable and important that our river improvements — St. Lawrence and Ottawa alike— should be of uniform design ; parts of one sys- tem : but I hold that the Welland Canal ought to be conceived and carried out on a widely different scale as having a different mission to fulfil The object of the Welland is, or should be, to do away with, so to speak, the barrier dividing Lake Ontario from the Lak-'s above, by making the Canal of such ample proportions as will pass, with the least perceptible interruption possible, the largest vessels employed in the carrying of flour and grain. Chicago harbour, formerly adapted to vessels of ten feet draft only, has been improved to 14 feet of depth and with any less water on its lock-sills the Wel- land Canal will not properly accomplish the object indicated above. The 'Wi ( 5 ) largest propellers loading in Chicag" or other upper-lake ports should, at least, be allowed the option of proceeding without break of bulk to the extremest easterly point of /al-c- fiavigation in Canadian w^^ters — Kingston or Prescott. Let the bulk, or even a fair proportion of the bulk, of Western freight once get down intu Lake Ontario and we of the River can battle for it with every cer- taintv of being able to carrv off the victor's share. Transhipment from lake vessels to river and canal craft will be the ru/e in our St. Lawrence carrying-trade. Occasionally, in the future as now, a ship will clear from Lake ports for a trans-oceanic voyage, and, then as now, let us " improve " our river navigation to the utmost possible capacity that money can effect, will find herself taking low rank among and, consequently imfitted to compete on equal terms with purely sea going vessels. Direct freighting from the Lakes to Europe will, therefore, for ever be exceptional Tranship- ment will be the rule because it will pay best all round and the first transler of cargo will for the most part take place at the point beyond which, because of the shallowing of the water, the largest lake-vessels cannot descend. Ihe River navigation never can be improved to ihe capacity of the Lakes and sailing- masters will not dirow away the advantage of the two, three, or four feet greater draught that lake navigation will allow of, as compared with the river, merely that they may pass "clear through" to Montreal or Quebec, or, mayhap, odd times to Liverpool. If then lake-navigation is always to imply a lolally different class of vessels from that best suited to x\\t river, the next point to be considered is— what is the most fitting craft for the latter service and what the extreme depth of water really needed for such craft, and that can be obtained within reasonable limits of expenditure. The bulk of the grain trade from Kingston to Montreal has for the last ten years or thereabouts been done by means of barges of the extreme size that the St. Lawrence canal-locks are capable of passing, and the capacity of the largest of which (the barges) may, I suppose, be taken at about 22,500 bushels. If then, as is, 1 think, easi'y susceptible of proof, no cheaper, safer, or speedier mode of transporting flour and grain over the river portion of the route between Chicago and the ocean (or ocean vessel) can be devised the barge undoubtedly will continue to be employed to the exclusion of almost every other kind of craft, and the use of propellors for the carrying of those commodities through river and canal, each propellor with engine power enough for the movement of half a dozen barges, each carrying a propeller's cargo, will, year by year, bear diminishing proportions to the barge fleet. The St. Lawrence Canals, as already noted, have Locks of 200 x 45 feet and were meant to have 9 feet of available depth ; but, as a matter of fact, not above 8^ feet can be depended on ; not, at all events, in such low-water periods ( 6 ) as we have been having experience of in recent ye.'.rs. Had those works been designed in the rtrst instance for ten feet draught and the sills of the Locks put down to where that depth would have always been certain, we should probabl) never have heard much about future enlargfjment — not as to depth at any rate. To improve those Canals to ten feet draft now will be a work of very large expense, only to be achieved at serious temporary inconvenience to the trade of the river, and it m.iy be worth weighing whether prudence would not counsel to abandon the attempt to deepen them and instead, to give the Forwarders' compensation in increased length of lock — a simple and inexpensive mode, as compared with the delay and cost of deepening, and where expediency has to be practiced, of gaining increased capacity. The St. Lawrence Canals as they are, even, are capable of doing a large business in our season of 200 days, or thereabouts. Thry have nei'er yet heen taxed to anything neat their full powers of accommodation . I am quite sure that seventy five million bushels in the season, and that means a very large business, would not over-X.z.\ them. Still increased capacity will be demanded and in one form or another must be con- ceded, but whatever the plan adopted I hold to ten feet as the greatest depth of which river navigation, without incurring needlessly large outlay, is suscep. tible and that for that depth all future improvements, on both rivers, should be planned and to that depth limited. While touching thus generally on the improvement of the navigation be- tween Kingston and Montreal I would note that the L-uhine Canal, having to serve the trade of both rivers, would seem to demand a different mode of treat- ment from what may be properly applicable to the other links in the chain, and should, therefore, be "contrived a double debt to pay" by giving it addi- tional width and duplicated locks. With such views then, as to the depth fully and best suited for our river improvements, I recommend that the Caughnawaga Canal be planned for ten feet of water on the Mitre-Sills and in closing my remarks on this most im- portant subject of Canal enlargement and extension, I would record my convic- tion that it will be as gre.it a mistake to limit our lake navigation to vessels of twelve feet draft, as by giving the Wetland Canal that much clear depth, only, we practically do limit it, while Buffalo will be bidding against us with the immense odds of two feet greater draft in its favour, as it will be to seek for more than ten feet in the rive>: The money that would be needlessly ex- pended in attempting to obtain 12 feet draft below Prescott would far more than pay for the difference in cost between fourteen and twelve feet in the Weltand. Next — as to the uses and, as I believe, certain effects of connecting our St. Lawrence and Ottawa navigation directly with T,ake Champlain I have always thought the Caughnawaga Canal an essential and naturally necessary ( 7 ) link in— and, therefore, a blundering omission from— our general Canal system. The object of constructing those immensely costly works, which, take one year with another in the quarter of a century in whi :iithey have been in use. have never yet earned their living, should have been tf*[do ail the business they could possibly attract and were capable of doing not to use them merely to sub- serve the interests of one particular locality, but to secure to all Canada her natural right— a right inherent in her waters— of being the carrier of the pro- ducts of half the Continent almost. Had the Caughnawaga Canal been made, as it shoT'.ld have been made, immediately following Mr. Mills' Survuy in 1848 we would all these years have been doing a large carrying trade for the New England States instead of a limited one only for Montreal : doing n immense forwarding business in place of what, in comparison with what we might have had, has been, and even yet is, an insignificant one. In New England the " The West " has its steadiest customer. In good years or bad she buys Western-grown cereals all the same ; not raising enough off her own soil, all the way from Maine to Connecticut to feed her population for, probably, one month out of the twelve. New England has, so to speak, no cereal crop Her capital and labour are embarked in other lines of industry'better suited to her condition and resources. The breadstuffs and salted provisions, of which the Eastern States are such large consumers, reach their markets mainly by way of Albany and are mainly transported that far by water— Lakes and New York Canals. Another portion descends the St. Lawrence to Ogdensburgh and is there, as at Albany, transferred to the rail. Doubtless, also, a considerable quantity goes by steamer from Baltimore and Philadelphia to Boston and other "down East" ports. The distribution through the interior of the country is wholly by rail, of course. That these commodities could be laid down more speedily and at lesser transportation charges in Lake Champlain by way of the St. Lawrence and Caughnawaga Canals than they could reach the New England border by way of Ogdensburgh or Albany is simply an incontestable proposition. The bulk of the business now takes the Erie Canal route and, compared with it the Caughnawaga could certainly show a gain in point of time of not less than three days, and in point of expenses of not less than 25 per cent., as between Chicago and Albany on the one hand and Chicago and, say, Burlington on the other. New England will have her food-supplies from the West whether v.e carry them for her or not, but, assuredly, she will not object to our carrying them provided we can do the business with better despatch and more cheaply than others can, and the producers in the West will be equally ready on the same conditions to entrust the transportation business to Canadian carriers. And now a word about Nev; York trade. Montreal merchants have always ( 8 ) ^4 urged uIkU has always seemed to iiu a senseless and unreasoning antagonism to tiie Caughnaw.iga Canal project. Tliey have argued that its construction by Canadians would be a suicidal act — tapping Canadian trade to send it away to New York. From Caughnawaga to Montreal is a short nine miles. From Caugiinawaga to New York a round four hundred. Is the harbour of Mont- real, I would ask ; the n'eans it aflbrds for the handling and shipping of grain and all other freights ; the business capacity and enterprise of her merchant'! and shipmasters, and everything else all round pertaining to Montreal — are all these essentials to a great sea-port city so utterly wanting, I repeat, that it will pay better iox the vessel laden with Western products arrived in Lake St. Louis to head southwards and worm its way through some 400 miles of canal, lake and river to New York rather than drop quietly down over nine miles of water- surface to Montreal where she can be alongside as good, as big and as sea- worthy a ship as New York would have to offer her, in fewer hours than it would take days to reach the latter port, and at a twentieth part of the expense ? To such a question Montreal people, Board of Trade included, have over and over again, in effect and emphatically, answered "Yes, that is just whit would happen : \x trade would be tapped and we would die of inanition." They forget, or else have never thought, or known, that the trade which they cry would be turned away from them never was "theirs" and that none of what you and I and a few others would like to see enriching Canadian waters has ever, save in mere driblets, come any nearer to our doors than Oswego, to the trade of which place the AVelland Canal has hitherto ministered quite as much as to that of the St. Lawrence With the 'cut-off" point for New Y'ork transferred from Oswego to Caughnawaga, Montreal would be in a position to " tap" New York business instead of New York tapping hers. However the export trade of Montreal may grow, New York will none the less continue to increase and flourish, and the only way in which we of Canada can have part or lot in her prosperity will be by carrying for her what she will have brought to her any/iow, and in our capacity as carriers it will be possible far us to make gain for ourselves from her necessities. With direct navigable access fro ■ the St. Lawrence to Lake Chaniplain Western New York interests directly opposed to ours /// all i/iin^s, could no longer hinder tin; enlargement of the Northern Canal (Whitehall to the Hudson) because the City of New York would find it absolutely necessary to take the benefit of the cheapest trans- portation route on the Continent by meeting us in Lake Champlain. When that time comes — then for one vessel we now meet dotting the surface of our great ri\-er at long intervals apart, all the way from Prescott down, we will espy ten, all doing good to the country as they pass along, putting in at one river port for fuel, at another for ^-"rovisions, and, in one way or another, ' leaving money' everywliere — even in the form of iges, for all craft, wheresoever owned, will, then as now, be largely manned b) Canadian crews. ( 9 ) I'lie litclessness of our v:\tei.s hetwetn LuUe Ontario ami Mo?itreaI is noted by all observant tourists and ilie reproach will never be wiped out so long as the idea prevails and is acted on that Canadian carrying business must be limited to what of Western products Montreal can take and dispose of to her sole advantage. When we begin to carry for all comers, and we will begin, for it is the destiny of the rivor and liiose who rule it, Montreal will quickly learn ih.u she has been living in error for a quarter of a century (ille age of our canals) and that the more business we can induct; down the St. Lawrence, whatever its seaward destination, the belter it will be for tlie country and, conse(|uently, for the commercial capital of the country. Montreal can well afford to cease opposing, if she will not aid, the Caughnawaga (.'anal enter- prise. In opposing it her people act as though her advantages as a seaport were purely adventitious and only to be maintained by placing unnatural restric- tions on the carrying cipacity of those great waters through means of which it mainly is that Canada is to continue to increase in wealth, distinction and im- portance. I have frequently heard it argued in discussions on this question of In- ternational carrying trade that the navigation laws of the United States would for ever prevent our reaping commensurate benefits irom the expense attend- ing the e.\tension cf our canal system southward. Members of more than one .Adminstration have used that argument against adopting the Caughnawaga Canal project as a (lovernment Work. I u. aid allow no such phantom to " stop the way." If by opening a channel into Lake Champlain we can accomplish what I have endeavoured to foreshadow above — the cheapening of the trans- portation of breadstuffs and, so, raising their value at the place of production — the United States navigation laws wiil be looked after at home. We can leave that little matter, whether we are to have a general Reciprocity Treaty or not, to be attended to by the Grangers and their friends. I have not, while writing this letter, had means of access to such recent statistics as would enable me to enter into detail on the sources a: . probable amount of revenue on which the "Caughnawaga Ship Canal Company"' may reckon for making the undertaking a direct financial success; but drawing its sustenance, as it would, from both of Canada's great rivers — the St. Lawrence with its almo.'-t illimitable grain trade ; th" Ottawa with its immense lumber business ; and all the minor classes of traflfic growing out of and increasing with the two greater ones, returns sufficient to pay handsomely on the cost of a ten foot navigation may, I believe, be hopefully and confidently looked for. When, some few years back, iJanada rose to the dignity of a Dominton those who believed that her future was largely dependent for its greatness on ( lo ) the uses to be made of her unrivalled lakes and rivers specially welcomed that clause in the programme of Confederation which foreshadowed the early and complete utilization of our water-highways. But the " word of promise " then given " to the ear " has been "broken to the hope." With a material ad- vancement in almost every other direction such as Canadians may well be proud of, our canals to-day are jubt where and what they were then and for twenty years before. Liberal almost to lavishness in our appropriations for all other classes of public works, the ncbles^t portion of our heritage has been treated with an approach to indifference and i.eglect. "Millions for railways, not one cent for navigation " would not inaptly characterise what has been our policy of expenditure. V/e stand ready to pledge the credit of Canada to its utmost borro'.ving capacity in pursuit of phantom railways to the Pacific, or any- where else, but can scarce spare a thought — or a dollar — for the improve- ment of the river. In all the leading journals of the country, railway questions command columns of editorials where the Welland Canal could hardly obtain lines. I am of those who hold that for railways, as national undertakings, we have, for the present at all events, done our whole duty, and that we will best consult the future of Canada and best pro- mote he development of her magnificent resourrps by, henceforward for a time, directing our thoughts, energies and means in improving and perfecting to the fullest measure of its capacity that which, in all its natural aspects certainly, is the"grandest system of internal navigation in the world. Yours very truly, W. SHANLY. oined early lise " il ad- ill be d for all jr been tvays, 1 our :o its any- rcve- Iway ianal 3, as our pro- ime, I the y, is .\