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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA. il est filmA A partir da I'angle MupArieur gauche, de gauche h droite. et de haut an bas. en prenant la nombra d'imagas nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent )a mithoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I 9 77-2 T772, j JrCK-*Y^ V-%.k 19^ TRANSPORTATION BY RAILWAY AND SHIP-CANALS. 579 €, I in forty could ha' had the grit and the per- severance to do Avhat she done, and hold }ier tongue about it too. I know I couldn't for one." "She shouldn't lia' let her good be evil spoken of," said Mrs. Morse, with an air of authority. "I douo as anybody had oughter have spoken evil of her good," was Miss Beei-s's dry answer, and Mi*s. Morse said no more. But such a warm and generous vindica- tion touched many a feminine heart, which could appreciate Miss Beulah's self-sacri- fice better than the deacons could. There was an immediate clustering and chatter- ing among the good women, who, if they did love a bit of gossip, were noue-the less kindly and well-meaning, and presently a spokeswoman approached Miss Beers with the proijosition that if she would make Miss Beulah a handsome bonnet, a dozen or more had volunteered to buy the ma- terials. "Well," said Miss Mary Jane, wiping her spectacles, "this is real kind; and I make no doubt but what Beulah'd think the same, though she's a master-hand to be independent, and some folks say proud — mabbe she is; but I know she couldn't .".'t take it kind of friends and neighbors to feel for her. However, there ain't no need on't. It seems that Sary's husband ain't very forehanded, and she's got a dreadful taste for the millinery business ; so she's gone to work in one of the fust shops there, and is gettin' great wages, for her ; and only yesterday there come a box by e.rpress for Miss Beulah with the tasti- est bunnit in it I ever see in my life — good black velvet, with black satin kind- er puffed into the brim, and a dark green wing to one side of the band, and a big bow in under a jet buckle behind. I tell you it was everlastin' pretty. Sary she sent a note to say she hoped Aunt Beu- lah'd give her the pleasure to accept it, for she'd knowed all along how that she was the cause of her goin' without a bunnit all summer (I expect her ma had writ to her), and she felt real bad about it. You'd better b'lieve Beulah was pleased." And Miss Beulah was pleased again when the women from the village began to call on her even moi*e frequently than before, and express cordial and friendly interest in a way that surprised her, all unaware as she was of Miss Beers's enthu- siastic vindication of her character before the sewing circle. Yet, poor, dear, silly old woman — only a woman, after all — nothing so thrilled and touched her late- awakened heart as little Janey's soft ca- resses and dimpled patting hands on that sallow old face, when she climbed into her lap the next Sunday, and surveying Miss Beulah's new bonnet, exclaimed, with her silvery baby voice, " Pitty, pitty bonnet I" Jack did not say anything abo"t it, nor did the congregation, though en more than one female face beamed a furtive con- gratulatory smile, and Deacon Flint look- ed at Deacon Morse across the aisle. If there "is any moral to this story — as no doubt there should bo— it lies in the fact that Mrs. Blake never again sat down in a chair without iii*st lifting the cushion. TRANSPORTATION BY JiAILWAY ANT> SHIP-CANALS. H ALF a century since, the chief outlets of our West were the Oliio and Mis- sissippi, the Missouri and Arkansas riv- ers. Cereals and other productions often perished, on their way to the great marts of the East, under sultry climates. Then came the Erie Canal, then canals around the falls of th-j Niagara and St. Lawrence, then the enlargement of the Erie, and at length the railway; and soon we are to have ship-canals around the falls of the St. Lawrence of size sufficient for steamers six times as large as the boats of the Erie Canal, and competent to cross the ocean. Under the influence of her canal, New York outstripped the rival cities of the Atlantic ; but for five months of the year ice closed navigation, and railways came in to meet the exigency, and now the ques- tion is, which shall have the supremacy — the railway, open summer and winter, dai- ly improving its powers, or the ship-canal, converting the sea-ports of our lakes into sea-poi'ts of the ocean ? Shall it be the railway, which perforates the mountains, replaces iron with steel, which "mobili- tate viget, viresque acquirit eundo," or the gigantic canal, which opens a continuous highway through rivers and lakes, and across continents and oceans ? The pi^og- ress of the railway in this country has been gradual but constant. It soon di- verted the passengers, then the mails and express freight, then became a substitute for the canal when ice and snow prevailed in winter. As steel took the place of iron, and mechanism improved, the railway has competed successfully for freight both ^- 580 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. with canal and river, and reduced the toll of tlie canal to rates barely sufficing for its maintenance. A few years since, tlie audacious men wlio ventured to hojM) that a, ton of freight might be carried on long routes for two cents a ton per mile were pointed out as radicals and enthusiasts, but such has been the progress of art that these radicals, or philosophers, as the case may bt , are left far in tlie rear. Steel clashes with steel, and from day to day the journals have an- nounced that the cereals of the West are transported by rail from Chicago and St. Louis to Boston for less than one-third of a cent per ton a mile, or for one-sixth of a cent per ton a mile, and scientific men as- sure us that this covers the cost when the traffic of the line exceeds (as it often does) a million of tons per annum ; for this year more than eight millions of tons of cereals are moving eastward from the ports of our lakes alone. " Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis." A few weeks since, Mr. Fink, a gentle- man of great experience, testified before tlie State Committee of New York that, after a certain amount had been sent over a long line of good railway, in a country where fuel is accessible, the additional through freight may be carried at a cost of less than four mills per ton a mile. To accomplish tliis, however, the traffic must be sufficient to furnish an average of about tv.'o hundred tons per train, equivalent in most parts of New England to three hun- dred and thirty tons east and one-fifth of the amount back, in trains of thirty cars. The railways of America commenced tlieir career in great weakness and trepi- dation. On the Boston and Worcester Railway, a part of the Boston and Albany lino, which now carries several millions of tons yearly, for many months the freight daily transported averaged twelve tons down and twenty-four tons back, and the only freight-house of the line at Bos- ton could hold but two freight-cars. In- deed, it was once proposed at a meeting of its directors to let the entire freight busi- ness of the road at fifteen thousand dol- lars per year. Its business was indeed insignificant. But, as we have advanced, commerce has expanded; the rail, useful both in summer and winter, became most attract- ive. Freight has moved with more regu- larity, and in larger masses. Railway tracks and mechanism have been con- .stantly progressive. The iron has touch- ed the land with electric force. In the words of our Railway Commission, in their last rejiort, "it has enabled the farmers of tliis country to undersell all others, and in so doing reversed the course of exchanges and restored tlie spe- cie basis." The reductions of railways have changed the balance of trade. The low cost of our through traffic is no standard for the cost of the local busi- ness. It is due to the size and regularity of the trains. Instead of being marslialled for ten miles, and then laden or unladen, they are made up for points possibly a thousand miles away, and are run undis- turbed the entire distance. The cost is by no means proportionate to distance; while in long runs the cost may be but three mills, for short runs it may be twenty times that amount, and the cost can not be determined by percentages. As well might you compare the charges and profits per ton of the wholesale mer- chant with those of the apothecary, who divides the ton into ounces. The one with Ave per cent, profits may accumu- late faster than the other selling at more than cent, per cent. The railway, in competition with the Erie Canal, has achieved a triumph. The latter has been obliged to relinquish most of its tolls, and to carry free many lead- ing articles. In place of a revenue of five millions, it now, after widening and deepening, realizes little more than a sin- gle million — barely sufficient, if it does suffice, to keep its banks and boats in re- pair. It has, however, subserved one purpose of the State. By its rivalry with the railway it has kept down the latter's charges more than half the year. Tolls have been kept down not only by this com- petition, but also by the rivalry of rail- ways with each other, and in their rivalry there have been some amusing features. A continuous line through Canada, which adds ten or fifteen per cent, to the dis- tance from Boston to the West, has in- sisted that it should be allowed to charge less for the distance than the shorter lines to counterbalance its length, while 'he Baltimore and Ohio makes a like claim for its saving in distance. To such com- petition and differing views, and the in- tense rivalry of our sea-ports, w^e must ascribe the low rates for fourth-class freight, which at times fall below the cost of transjiortation. TRANSPORTATION BY RAILWAY AND SHIP-CANALS. 58i Wo must, however, remenil)er that while the oharyes for fourth-chi,ss freight aro soinetiines reduced behjw tliree mills per ton a mile, the other ehusses of freight range from Jive tt of Canada, which now, under its costly government, exceeds one hundred and .seventy mill- ions. Besides this, sjje now l)ays a \x)r- tion of our interest on national debt. Her debt per capita already exceeds our own, is becoming opjjressive, and must eventually be assumed by England, for whose l)enelit it has been contracted. It will l)e many yeai*s before the chief rail- ways of Canada compete successfully with our own. Her Great Western and Grand Trunk depend, to a great extent, upon the trade they can divert from our lines to the We.st by a circuitous comjMJti- tion, which has doubtless, to some extent, contributed to the reduction of rates. There is another great enterpi'ise, moi"e commercial in its character, on which Canada is now engaged, expressly de- signed to compete not only with the Erie Canal and her own lines of railway, but also directly or indirectly with all our trunk linos from the sea-boai*d to the West. This undertaking is fast advan- cing to completion. It is the enlarge- ment of the Welland Canal and the ca- nals of the St. Lawrence to admit steam- ships of twelve hundred tons. Canada is desirous to supersede New York, and it must be conceded that her temptation is a strong one, as our lake ports annually receive ten million tons of cereals, in addition to va.st amounts of live stock and provisions. New York and Boston now hold Montreal in check by the Erie Canal and Central Railway. In a few weeks Boston Avill gain some points by the tunnel, and its new route to the coal mines, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Upon the completion of the canals on the Niagara and St. Lawrence, New York will be obliged to make strenuous efforts to hold its own. Should it fail, it will doubtless be its policy to open a ship-ca- nal from the St. Lawrence into Lake Champlain, and possibly thence to the head of navigation on the Hudson, in the benefits of which Boston will participate, and to which it may lend its aid. If, however, the railways on the shores of the lakes, St. Lawrence, and the Hud- sou compete successfully with the lakes TRANSPORTATION BY RAILWAY AND SHIP-CANALS. 68!) and rivors, and continue to improve, their future is brif^ht before tluMu ; wliilo tlie hike steanier« :>f liuht dniujjht curry tiieir jjraiu across the sea, the railway, rc'soj-t- inj; to more caj>aciou3 steamers, some of wliich transport six thousand tons, may lay down their cargoes at U'ss cost in the soa-ports of Europe. THE NOUTIIEUX PACIFIC. \Vo have glanced at the great line f)f Canmla slowly progressing through the Hudson Bay territory. L<'t us now glance at three other lines making rapid i)rog- i*ess, and destined •within two yeai-s to reach the waters of the Pacific, which have already been touched by our Cen- tral Pacilic Railway. First, there is our Northern Pacific, ■which extends from Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, to the Upper Mi.ssouri, and is destined to cross the Yellowstone within a twelvemonth. Having converted its bonds into stock, and found a quick nmrket for its land, toward which the tide of emigration is setting, it is rapidly ap- proaching Montana, both from the east and from the west, and will there make a connection with the combined river, ca- nal, and railway improvements of Ore- gon, soon to give place to a continuous railway. Large bodies of settlers attend its march, eager to plant themselves in the rich wheat fields of Dakota, or plea- sant pastures or prolific mines of Mon- tana, or looking still further west to the green meadows or wheat fields of Oregon, We may look to Oregon for new lines of steamers to China and Japan. Then we have a long line of railway from Ogden to the Park of the Yellow- stone, aiming at the conlluence of the Willamette with the Columbia, making a third line to the Pacific. This will give the Union Pacific a new route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, independent of the Central line. THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY. The public has long kept its eyes on the Union Pacific and Northern Pacific rail- ways through all their vicissitudes of for- tune, but w^hile its attention has been con- centrated on them and a Texan line across the Llano Estacado, which seems to be re- pelled by the treeless plains and wastes before it, another enterprise, the Atchin- son, Topeka, and Santa Fe lino, begun in great weakness, but conducted with much sagacity, has quietly followed the camvan route from Kansas to Mexi<'o, traversed the fertile i»iains, interchanging the cere- als of Kansas for the or«'S of Colorado, has i)ierced the Itjiton Mountains, and in one year more will reach the boi*der of Mexico. In another season, under char- tei*s alivady conceded, it will enter Mexico, and reach Guaymas, the chief sra-i)ort of Northern Mexico; extending a branch into Ari/.oiui, it will unite with the Southern and Central Pacific Railroad. It will also reach an American port at San Diego, and another at San Francisco, thus making two new routes to the Pacilic. A slight extension will carry this line to El Paso, on the northern frontier of Mexico, more than half way from St. Louis to the city of Mexico. Having reached the table-land, it will command the com- merce of the States of Sonora and Chi- huahua, and probably of the northern half of Mexico. The only connection that city now has by railway with the sea is the Mexican railway which connects Vera Cruz with the capital. This has fallen into the hands of the Jews. It has cost more than ten millions of dollars for three hundred miles of railway, although it has received large subsidies from the govenunent. It is deeply in debt, maintains a high rate of charges, and draws out a sickly exist- ence. As the States of Chihuahua and Sonora are distant from the cai)ital, are not popu- lous, but contain much valuable land with rich silver mines, it would bo politic for our government to jjurchase them, Avith the undei*standing tliat a largo per- centage ot' the money bo applied, through the medi\im of bonds, to extend the line to the city o." Mexico. An apj)ropriation of fifteen millions, to be invested in l)onds, would carry the line from El Paso to the capital across the table-land of Mexico, and the bonds might be used to repay the debt of Mexico. We may well anticipate such a result, and the ultimate extension of the Santa Fe lino from Kansas City to the city of Mexico, thus connecting it with the chief sea-board and inland cities. While this great work is progressing. Now Orleans is recovering from the ef- fects of the war, and is now accessible to the largest steamboats for a channel has been provided at the mouth of the Missis- sippi with twenty-five feet of water, and 584 IIAliPEK'S NEW MONTHLY MAO.VZINE. tlio Illinois Crntrnl Riiilroad CoinpaJiy, ono of our stronfifost milroiuls, has pur- chiiHcd a oontroUiiiff intcn'st in tlic dii-cot lino fi-oni Cairo to Now Orleans, and has nearly Unished its convei*sion into a steel- clad railway, so level and so direct that within u year a ])asHen{rer nuiy traverse the distance from Cairo to New Orleans in fourteen hours, or in twenty-four hours from the Oulf to Lake Michigan, and in one day reaeli hy sueh railways watei-s llowinj^ into Hudson Bay, and the cotton and sutfar may take a northern route to Atlantic cities. Meanwhile Cincinnati, to extend her valuahle ctmnncrce, hius issued bonds for twenty millions of dollai-s, and nearly comi)leted her ffwnt Southern Kailway across Kentucky and Tennessee to Chat- tanoojfa, opening a vtust pivstonil region almost inaccessible during the war, and connecting her with the rising city of At- lanta, and the cotton i)orts of South Caro- lina. Georgia, and Alabama, thus benefit- ing her own connnerce, and i)romoting the great interests of the Union. Among the earliest railways of the West was the Illi'- •>'• '^'^ntral. Congress had granted to tht of Illinois a large amount of fertile ha., .n the centre of the State, but acces.sible by no river, and con- sequently of little value. Mr. Rantoul and other enterprising men of Miussachu- setts offered to build a railway through it for tlie alternate sections, and to i)ay the State a yearly percentage on its reeeijjts. The land was granted, the road wa.s built, emigrants were attracted, the land rose to five prices, and has become the great corn field of the West. The rise enriched the railwaj', the settlers, and both State and nation. This great line has been wisely administered; for some time past it has earned eight and divided six per cent., has thi-own out an arm to Sioux City, on the Upi)er Missouri, and obtained good connection with Manitoba; recently it has purchased a controlling interest in the great Southern line of 530 miles from Cairo to New Orleans, and is rebuilding its bridges and rejilacing its rails with steel. In a few months more it Avill bring the mouth of the Ohio within fourteen hours of New Orleans, and ere long St. Louis, Chicago, and St. Paul within one or two days of the Gulf of Mexico. Already it has"bc<;omo a route for the sugar, cotton, and tobacco of the South on its way to Northern marts, and ono of the chief feeders of the Illinois Centnil, forminjf a route of nulionul ini- lM)rtancft. I5ut there is another great enterjmso now on tlui tttpin, still m-canal from ocean to (M-ean, either a<'ro.ss the Lsthmus or through Central An\erica, the latter of which is ])referabl() to the former, jus it nuikes the route from oin* Atlantic coa.st to California and Ore- gon several hundred miles .shorter than that by the Isthmus. It was once, before the era of railways, when in a state of na- ture, the leading route from New York to San FnuK'isco. At the recent Congress in Paris, Mr. Lessei)s by his iiitivpidity and address carried a vote in favor of a canal acro.ss the Isthnnis near the Chagrcs River, when) a rampart of mountains imiMnles the way, and where more than ten miles of tunnel must Ik; made, eightj"- feet wide and lliO feet high, o,* oytcn cuts through the mount ains of ."»()() feet in 'iepth. Modern science may i)o.ssibly acliieve this in ten or llfteen yeare, but the estimates for the work and its accumulating interest will jjrobably ex- ceed )S2U( »,()()(), 000, while the route by Cen- tral America presents a lake and river al- ready navigable by steamei's. Hci-e a ship- canal may bt; made for our largt^st steam- ships at a cost greatly below the cost across the Isthimi.s, and in one-half the time — a canal which will be remunerative at half the toll of three dollars per ton demanded by Mr. Lesseps. This gentlema)i has now a European ivputation fi-om the Suez Ca- nal through Arabian sands, near the route where Herodotus found a canal 2000 years ago, and has done this by bending to his will the Khedive of Eg,yi>tand the autocrat of France, but luis dealt with no mountain barrier or gigantic tunnel unprecedentetl in modern engineering. He would enter a new field, and rival Hannibal, who "dis- jeeit saxa et montes rupit aceto," but must be careful not to alienate the friends of the enterprise by the untimely use of his acids. This enterprise is mo.st impor- tant to our own country, as it will unite its fronts on two oceans, and pi-oduco a wholesome rivalry with its land route. It is all-imiKJrtant that no mistake be made, that the route be chosen which cam be most rapidly perfected, which shall short- en distances, and permit the moat reason- able tolls. I Call puss retui ' Paci per TRANSPORTATION MY RAILWAY AND SHIP CANALS. 68S CANAL ACROSS CENTRAL AMKKICA TO THK l*AfIFK'. The fliicrpsH of (litween the Atlantic and Pacific. When a ship-canal is finished, it will cheap<'n all our routes to the Pa- cific, and it is safci t<» predict that it will reduce the rates of freifj^ht hetweeu the Atlantic and Pacilic helow si.K dollars ])er ton rid the canal, and we may easily fore- see what will he the future course of com- nu'rce. The routes across the Isthmus and Central America have heen explored and surveyed hy hoth Eiif^land and the United States, and the estimates for one of them are helow the cost of the Suez Canal, while the prosjiects for husinci-s nvit far more eiu'oura}j:inther million to ils lonna;,'^>. The commerce of the Tnited Slates alono through thi*< canal will supply a tonnage etpial to that which pays six millions of dollars e.ich year to the Suez Camil. It will he a candidate for ships on their voy- ages from Europe for tea to t-liina and •Japan, and on their return, and will t:dach hetwoen iiv(> and six millions of tons — nearly twi<'e the toiniago which ])a.sses yearly through the Suez Ca- nal. This estimate is not. I high one. Ten years siin'e, hefoiv the grain trade of Cali- fornia had attained to any importance, the tonnage that would seek the canal wjus set at 3,:500,000 tons hy Admiral Davis, o{ our navy, and the annual .saving in the cost of freight, interest, and insurance on the property to he transjjorted hy this canal was set hy liim at ninety-nine millions of dollai-s. The estinuite seems to l>c a high one, for it exceeds the computed cost of the canal itself; but the saving must he im- mense, as this tnule is fast inci'ea.sing. and the cost of transportation may he? lessen- ed two-thirds hy a ship-canal. California has bccomo the chief granary of Great Britain, which now requires anmutlly fnmi other nations two hundred millions of bushels of grain ; she jirefers the wheat i 886 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. of (^iliforni.i to ^^rind with licr own moist •wlicul, and there is no eonntry but Cali- fornia wliere one man can successfully cultivute llv»» Inindred acres <)f wheat un- aided l»y eitlier man or fertilizer. With this canal completed, the jjvuin of Run Franci.sco, which is now moiti than four months on its way to I'oston or Liv- (>r|HM>l, could be lauded thent in less tlnin thn'O weeks. The vessel transporting^ it, instead of makin;^' one trip yearly, wouhl iwcom|»lish nuiny trip i, hy the aid of steam, now prohibited by the len^jth of the voyage. To th(^ I'nited States tln' n more important, as they dmw one-ilfth of the wheat they consume from California and ()re<;on, and b_> nmans of this canal may save annually a million sterliiifj in tiie frei;,dil. To France it is imi)ortant for the dilfu- sion of her manufactures over the isles and coasts of the Pacific, while th- whole continent of Europe and most of South America arc deeply interested in thi.s en- terprise. 18 A SHIP-CANAL FEASIBLE? Both Ensliiu'i and the United States have made diligent inquiry for a short- cut across the Isthmus free from lockage and tunnels. The Isthmus lias been carefully sur- veyed, but no route for a canal has ljc>en discovered which would not recpiire deep rock-cuttin<( and a vast expenditure. The only route to the Pacific free from such em- barrassmentr; is one across Central Ameri- ca, by the San Juan River and the Lake of Nicara<.fua, from the port of San Juan to the i)ort of Brito, on the Pacific— a distance of 15)0 miles. On this route 140 miles will beoi)en river and lake navif?ation,and fifty miles ship-canal. The San Juan route was carefully examined in 1851 by Child, an American engineer, whose re})ort was in- dorsed by Colonel Abert, an eminent of- ficer of tlie Engineer Corps of the United States. This report gave the following results, viz. : that the summit level is found in a large navigable lake, wliose surface is but 110 feet above the level of the sea on either side; that this lake is twice the size of Lake Champlain, being 110 miles in length and thirty-live miles in width, and lies iu a, country where the raiu-fall is three times u.s great uh the rain-fall of New York, being ninety-eight in«'hes an- nually. The San .luan River flows from this lake into the Caribbean Sea— a dis- tance of II'.J miles; its average width is (UK) feet, and it i-et-eives from the lake in dry seasons a supply of water equal to S()0,(M)() ction fi-om the sea. Its do- s«'ent to the sea averages but ten indies to tlu> mile, which is less than that of the Ohio, and as theiv are but four rapids in it, the Castill(», Del Toro. Balus. and Ma- chuca, which are easilj- overcome, it is at all times navigable for ves.sels dniwing three feet of water, and in firshets for sti'anu'i-s of a much larger size. The en- gineer has estinutted for thirteen locks ujxm the river and eastern canal, but there is rea.son to believe that a portion of them may Im? dispensed with, so gentle and equable is the flow of the river. Wo learn furth<>r from Child's report that the river, for ninety miles from the sea, may !h( made navigable for largo ships at a moderate cost, and for twenty-nine miles more to the lake a ship-canal may be eas- ily constructed on its bank. The indentations of the coast are such at each terminus that good harbors may be made; the height of land between the lake and the Pacific is biit nineteen feet above the lake, and the route ada])ted for a ship-canal. Indeed, we are led by the rei)()rt to the conclusion that the rock en- countered on both routes will be less than that requisite for the masonry of the canal and its har))ors. The climate, although the lake is within fifteen degrees of the equa- tor, is healthful — a point of no little im- portance to those who build as well as to those who shall use the canal. The i-eport finally apprises us that a shii)-canal of size sufficient to acconnnodate steam-shijjs drawing seventeen feet of water of the largest class in use in 1851 might be con- structed for less than thirty-three millions of dollars. But there is ami)lo water for a larger canal. The Suez Canal, which is of greater length than that proposed, is two hundred feet in width and twenty-five feet in depth, and we must adopt its dimen- sions if we expect its success. We n»ay double the cost, and to cover contingencies and interest during construction shall fiid it advisable lo carry the estimates iiu ,- eighty millions of dollars, which h iu:i far from the cost of the Suez Canui. THE SIFTING OF PETER. BS7 A toll of 11 dollar ami u half |H>r ton on the tonnu};*- fiirninhwl by the Unit<'