rMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 lii .....^^z= It i^ '""^ I'o 11 2.0 M 2.2 U IIIIII.6 V] <^ /2 /a ' ■4^^ A- <> y3?^ ^ V pi? CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain th^ best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which mav alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. n Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en couleur L'Institut a microfflmd le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains ddfauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont notds ci-dessous. Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Coloured plates/ PlanchSv" en couleur Th po of fill Th CO or ap Th filr ins D D Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachetdes ou piqudes Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serr6 (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure) D D Show through/ Transparence Pages damaged/ Pages endommag6es Mc in I upi boi fol D Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Bound with other material/ Relid avec d'autres documents Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Plate? missing/ Des planches manquent D D D Pagination incorrect/ Erreurs de pagination Pages missing/ Des pages manquent Maps missing/ Des cartes gdographiques manquent D Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —►(meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 de I'exemplaire filmd, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microifiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the ^iind consent of the following institution: Library of the Public Archives of Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire filmd fut reproduit grSce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou 9es planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul cliche sont fitmdes d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^ \ V ^ Y ■^ H THAT A SUCCI St. Pj ness of 1 epeechei ous sect] pared y terse an directly strained convent the floor Mr, Pre That- of the A and thei light of tions of tern oi'vi less be y north an It is bou Kocky JV region, t This / America divided 1 basins, north im the chan these thi and the ] ^ ■0 \ V si Y ^ OPEN THEM UP. H THAT IS, ALL OF OUE WATERWAYS IN THE GREAT NORTH-WEST. A SUCCINCT STATEMENT OF WHAT MAY BE DONE FOR CHEAP TRANSIT, BY THOMAS DOWSE. St. Paul Dispatch .-—Owing to the rapidity with which the busi- ness of the water conveDtion was rushed through, several statistical speeches which had been prepared by different gentlemen from vari- ous sections were not pubmitted. Among thom was a paper pre- pared with care by Thomas Dowse, Esq., of Duluth, which is so terse and yet so wide in scope and liberal in treatment, and bears so directly on the future of the North-West that the Dispatch is con- strained to give it publioity. Mr, Dowse did not offer it to the convention because he thought Minnesota should let her guests have the floor. The paper is well worth reading and a wide circulation. Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention : That we may clearer understand the vast extent of these avenues of the Almighty — which the waterways of our country really are — and therefore the bettor comprehend them as a whole, and by the light of such comprehension be enabled to make the recommenda- tions of this convention in relation to such parts of our natural sys- tem of waterways as may be actively considered by it, it will doubt- less be wise to give place to these facts. " THAT A GREAT CONTINENTAL PLAIN STRETCHES north and south between the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on its west side, throughout its whole extent, by the Eocky Mountain zone ; on the eastern side in part by a less elevated region, the Appalachian zone." This great plain occupies the whole of the continent of North America between the western and eastern mountain ranges. It is divided by its river systems into three perfect and distinct drainage basins. One drains to the soutn into the Gulf of Mexico, another north into sub-Arctic waters, and the third cast into the Atlantic by the channel of the great lakes and the River St. Lawrence. Of these three great basins that of the St. Lawrence is the smallest, and the northern is fully as large as the other two put together. 2 The St. Lawronco basin, the boundary between the United States and Canada, occupioH part of both countries. The southern basin is almost wholly in the United States. The northern basin is almost wholly in Canada, and the line of contact between the two latter basins is in part coincident with the international bound- ary line. It will thus be seen that the great continental plain of North America is divided naturally as well as artificially east and west through the centre. It is divided naturally into three vast drainage basins, the smallest of which occupies a comparatively narrow strip along the eastern portion of the international boundary, while the other two dischaige their waters in DIAMETRIOALLY OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS. The prairie region of Canada lies in the northern drainage basin, It may bo considered to extend from south to north more than a thousand miles, and nearly the same distance from east to west. It is not at all a treeless prairie; a considerable portion is thinly wooded ; yet the whole is considered as partaking more or less of the prairie character. ^ * * This great region is estimated to measure 200,000,000 acres, 160,000,000 acres of which is fit for till- age and grazing, of which 80,000,000 may be considered fit for cul- tivation. The extent of this Canadian prairie section is ten times the area of England. The climate of most of it is as salubrious as Central Minnesotu (oaused by the trade winds of the Pacific), while the spring time of the Peace River valley in the north-west corner of this prairie section is fully one month earlier than in this city, from which it is distant at least 1,500 miles in I AN AIR LINE. It is in a spirit of harmonious action that the representatives here from the so-called smallest or eastern of these continental basins, viz., that of the great lakes and the St. Lawrence, would ask your n-ttention to a brief review of its present usefulness in transporting from the producer to the consumer the marketable products of our people's labors, and to still further show how its connection by water can be made possible, not only with our great interior north and fc>outh basin, but also add to this combined volume of business that from over 4,000 miles of navigation in the great northern or Canadian basins, most of which is through their great and rapidly developing 1,000 miles square of prairie section heretofore alluded to. THE OCEAN OUTLET of this great north-western lake (Lake Superior) is through the St. Mary's Kiver (some 60 miles long) with Lake Huron and its con- necting rivers and lakes to Lake Erie, thence by the Welland Canal to L^ke Ontario, and by the Kiver St. Lawrence and its canals to ocean navigation at Montreal, or by the Erie Canal and Hudson River to New York. ST. mart's canal A few miles down the St. Mary's River from Lake Superior there are rap'ds of eighteen feet fall. From 1856 to 1884 these rapids were overcome by a canal some two miles long, with two narrow looks containing twelve feet of water. This, of course, was the limit of draft for vessels running from the lower lake ports in the Lake Superior trade. Since the construction of these locks the size of lake vessels have in* reased nearly four-fold and their depth of draft from six to eight feet to seventeen and eighteen feet ; hence a very large and the bettor part of the lake marine was unable to enter the Lake Superior trade. In September, 1884, a new lock 500 x 80 feet, with eighteen feet of fall in a single lift, instead of two in the old looks, was com- pleted. Its capacity was also increased from admitting a single or two small vessels at a time to a fleet of five or bix of our largest craft at a single passage, thus not only saving more than half the time, but increasing its capacity four to six-fold, and by the deep- ening of the St. Mary's River, where needed, to an increased depth of sixteen feet, to correspond with the new lock, has Lake Superior navigation been put quite on a level with Lake Michigan, by admit- ting the largest lake vessels to profitably enter its trade. THE EFFECT OF THESE IMPROVEMENTS has been marvellous, notwithstanding the general dullness, especially of iron, one uf the greatest of Lake Superior exports. Not only have freight rates fallen e^en more than half, but the tonnage pass- ing these locks shows a tremendous increase over any previous year in this the first year of these completed improvements. To illus- trate : if the same ratio of increase is continued through the balance of this season — and our fall shipments are always the heaviest — as has prevailed so far, thoro will pass through the canal, going east- ward alone, over 2,700,000 tons of freight, or as much AS THE EIGHT TEUNK LINES of railroads took east from Chicago last year, the same being the products of our forests, fields and mines. Do wo need a more prac- tical showing to give our General Government (and it is not a single one by any means) of the great benefit of improving our water- ways ? The labors of every man, of all classes, from Lake Superior west- ward to eastern Oregon, and south-west to Colorado, will receive increased remuneration, not only for this, but the years to come, from this single improvement. ^i)-^ Bo rapidly is tho commerce of this lake increasing that within two years from now this present lock will be continually blocked, unleHs another of at least twenty feet draft is begun at once in place of the old ones, and the necessary deepening of the river, where required, to correspond ; for from the practical fact that the larger the single cargo the cheaper it can be moved the name distance, therefore our lake vessel builders are constantly increasing their draft, and even now there are some that can be loaded to that depth ; and as such works cannot be done in a day, three years would be a reasonable time (if begun at once) in which to construct it. Such an increased depth would, of course, require a corresponding deepen- ing of the waterway between Lakes Huron and Erle^ wheie such depth is not already being made. The recent enlarged WELLAND CANAL (also partially completed last year), connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario, which in its twenty-seven miles of distance overcomes 330 feet of fall with twenty-seven locks, and will trivo font teen feet of water from the head of Lake Superior to Kingston tit the foot of Lake Ontario, where, by means of floating elevators and large 16,000 to 20,000 bushel barges, grain is today put alongside the ocean steamer in Montreal at a cost of about two cents per bushel, which charge will be materially reduced upon the completion of the St. Lawrence River Canals (now in process of construction), with a depth of water corresponding with the Welland. The combined length of these rivor canals is forty-three miles, with twenty-nine locks 27 by 45 feet, same as tho Welland, large enough for 1,500 ton boats. These are at six different places. Our other outlet is THE ERIE CANAL. '1' This canal has eight feet of water, with looks large enough to pass a 200 ton boat. This canal being in the hands of the State Govern- ment, it is but natural to believe that by the immense combination of railroads, not only in New York but other connecting States, must impair greatly its full beneficial capacity, even at its present size ; it is natural to suppose much greater benefit would follow if it were in the hands of the General Government and were to be enlarged by them. As at present the State of New York maintains it at her own expense, charging no tolls for its use and as its present benefits are almost wholly enjoyed by the entire country as far as the Rocky Mountains, at least, if not further, it is but reasonable that the people of the single Stale of Now York, after having built and made it what it is, and given freely of its benefits without Jiny limit, should now be relieved of any further direct tax to maintain it. I BED RIVER AND LAKE SUPERIOR CANAL. I have said that we wished to show how the great lakes and the waters of the other two great continental basins could be brought into harmonious connections. As U known to most of us the Eed River that forms the boundary between this Slate and Dakota, runs north into Lake Winnipeg, and so on into Hudson's Bay. We also know that it is practically navigable from Breckonridge, and constantly so from Moorhead and Fargo. By c% topographical survey made some years since it is found in going west from Lake Superior by the St. Louis River and crossing to the Mississippi, following that stream some 150 miles, and by intermediate lakes and streams to the Red Lake River, and so down to the Red River at Grand Forks, Dak., a waterway requiring, with dams and slack water, less than fifty miles of artificial canal will be required. To make this a complete waterway with six feet of water, it is estimated will cost $4,000,000 — this might be reduced con- siderably, as the reservoir system already being carried out in the upper Mississippi by the General Government would come into exact play — but to avoid question, double it and say 38,000,000 ; its length will be about the same as the Kric, which the State of New York built herself, when her population was less than that of our State now, with her people then poorer than ours now, and we have west of this Stale now a far larger population than New York then had west of her. AT A GLANCE ■l one can see how this canal would not only connect the Mississippi with the lake system, but would also connect these two systems with over 4,000 miles of continuous navigation running north and west to the Rocky Mountains and within less than 400 miles of navigable waters to the Pacific — on this 4,000 miles more than forty steamers are running to day — clear to its extreme western limit, save some 300 miles along Lake Winnipeg — it is all through a finer wheat country than this State generally— already have thousands of bushels of wheat been brought to this State from the Saskatchewan valley (which has 2,500 miles of this navigation) and sold at fabulous prices for seed. To illustrate the prolificness of the " Scotch Fife' wheat (our •' No. 1 hard") in the Canadian section, 1 would say that it pro- duces on each stem in this latitude two kernels of unequal size ard one false one. In our Red River valley, 3, and 5 in the Peace River Valley (the extreme north-west of their prairie section). That a possible transportation avenue, that will double the present profits of wheat cultivation over such a large area will long remain unim- proved, is not natural to believe possible, especially after the people interested become informed of its possibility. Constant agitation and extended information on this subject will Hooner or later make it an accomplished fact. To say that « 6 THE USEFULNESS OF CANALS has passed away, especially when three such large systems can be thereby connected and made a complete whole, is id e talk ; for, according to the New York Produce Exchange, the Erie Canal, in 1884, running as it does alongside the four-track Now York Central and double-track West Shore Railways, its entire longth, took 9,452,404 more bushels of grain to that city than all of the railways running to that port. These remarks would be incomplete without a few facts showing the development and beneficial otfects of the great LAKE SUPERIOR SYSTEM of cheap water transportation upon the immense empire in area to the west of it. The receipts of coal at the head of the lake have increased from 60,000 tons in 1880 to 600,000 tons in 1885. The receipts of wheat there have increased from 1,500 000 bushels in 1880 to 14,000,000 in 1884. The elevator and storage capacity increased from 510,000 bushels in the spring of 1880 to 9,400,000 bushels this year, and 3,000,000 more to bo immediately built. As a wheat market it has grown from daily sales of a few car loads no longer than 1884 to a wheat market second only in the amount of its daily sales to Chicago, with everything tending to show its daily wheat tran- sactions will equal even that '' modern marvel " in the coming year. That has built up there a busy population of some 20,000 from al.out 4,000 in 1880. RECEIPTS OP MONTANA SHIPMENTS in 1884, at the head of Lako Superior, for cheap water transporta- tiun east, took marine insurance of about S4 000,000, and so far this year shows a large increase over last year. Additional to this amount, lant year also saw the beginning of Montana cattle ship- m'Uts to tho improved waterway ot Lake Superior, that in the near future will exceed the value of the shipments of wheat there, be that value what it may. This improved waterway has made pos- sible the opening of the iron deposits of this State. Those of the Minnesota Iron Compauy, opened last year, will ship from their Dort of Two Harbors, twenty-eight miles east of the head of the lake, some 250,000 tons, equal to 18,000,000 BUSHELS OF WHEAT. This waterway has given to the hard working producers of the North-West, by means of its CHEAP WATER TRANSPORTATION freight rates, from Duluth alongside the ocean steamers or into elevators at New York, at an average rate this season of a fraction I i I I 1 I I loss than 6 conts por bushol, and as low aH 2^ cents to alongside ocean steamers at Montreal. A good proportion of grain that has loft there thiw Hoason haw boon carried to Buffalo, 1,030 miles, for IJ cents per bushel, or less than the usual elevator charges from cars to elevators. As giving a clearer idea of the benefits of cheap water transporta- tion as afforded by IMPROVED WATERWAYS, and the present shipping facilities at the hoad of Lake Superior, that prince of " Bonanza Farmers," O. Dalrymple, Esq., shipped from his 20,000 aero wheat holds along the lino of the Northern Pacific Railway last year as thoir products some 320,000 bushels of " No. 1 hard " wheat, not equal to some single day's lake shipments from Duluth. The celebrated " Grandin Farm," also under M"r. Dalrymple's charge, shipped last year from its 12,000 aore wheat field, about 192^000 bushels of the same kind of wheat, or about the amount taken by a single tow through that little harbor entrance 800 feet long by 250 feet wide. As a still further illustration of the be..efit8 of CHEAP WATER TRANSPORTATION afforded by " improved water-ways " and the increased carrying capacity thereby, it might be well to say that the cost of transport- ating freight per ton per mile over the New York Central Railway from Buffalo to New York, as per their last annual report — and this is the cheapest operated railway in the United States by a good deal, is sixtytwo-ono hundredths of a cent per ton, or 8^.20 cents per 1,000 miles. By the present systom of large steam barges it'W. ing a sailing consort, now made possible by the enlarged St. ¥.i'ry locks and that is now in general use on the lakes, if they can g^t sixty-five cents from the head of Lake Superior to Buffalo, 1,030 miles, it will clear the vessel, barring extra wrecks, and if they can get one dollar per ton 'tis satisfactorily remunerative. By the last annual report of the railway commissioners, of the thirty- two rail- ways of over 7,000 miles, upon the cheaply constructed railways of Iowa, averaging a cost of only 313,000 per mile, the cost of moving the same per ton was 80-100 por mile, or at the rate of $8 per 1,000 miles. QUERY. Are railways or improved waterways the real avenues of trans- portation for our agricultural people ? Have all of our people a right to ask and not only expoct, but receive, liberal and regular appropriations for their continued improvement until those avenues of the Almighty are made complete and harmonious over our entire country ?