TO FACILITATE AND CHEAPEN
INLAND
TRANSPORTATION
BY
!
KEEPING THE CANALS OPEN FOR NAVIGATION !
DURING THE WINTER SEASON,
(Through the Agency of Artificial §ieat
NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1873.
John Polhemus, Printer, lOi Nassau Street, N. Y.
TO FACILITATE AND CHEAPEN
INLAND
TRANSPORTATION
by
KEEPING THE CANALS OPEN FOR NAVIGATION
DURING THE WINTER SEASON,
Through the Agency of Artificial Heat.
New York, October, 1873.
John Polhemus, Printer, 102 Nassau Street, N. Y.
INLAND TRANSPORTATION.
The necessity for cheap transportation for grain to the sea¬
board, has become to the Western States, a question of vital
importance, and its perfect and quick solution means an ad¬
vance in their wealth and prosperity for the future, unequalled
in the history of any other land. While it is all important to
these States that their cereals should be transported cheaply and
safely to the seaboard, the route and means of such transport
is to them of secondary consideration. They would, of course,
prefer old channels and accustomed markets, but all prefer¬
ences or conveniencies will disappear before the two elements,
cheapness and safety.
The producers of the West are determined to have, speedily,
some means of carrying their products to the coast at reason¬
able cost, and will go all lengths to obtain it. Many plans are
proposed, many routes discussed, arid it is probable that some¬
thing will be done to meet this urgent and proper demand, so
that, in due time, the farmers will have their way. But the
city of New York cannot afford, at any cost, no matter what,
to see this question determined, without regard to her local
interest, for her greatness and supremacy, as the chief com¬
mercial city of the Union, are at stake, and her interest in the
subject is a colossal one.
No one can doubt but that to the Canals of this State,
this city is, in great part, indebted for its prosperity. In
1868 three-quarters of all the flour and grain received at
this port came by canal, while in 1872 the receipts by
canal were considerably more than those of all the rail¬
roads put together. The wealth poured into New York by
the Erie Canal is vast indeed, but the advantage derived from
it as a regulator of freight charges, can scarcely be over-esti-
4
mated. The following table will show the different tariffs for
freight on the New York Central, Erie, and Pennsylvania
Railways, in November and December, 1871, just before and
after the closing of the canals :
Cleveland, Ohio, Novembe irate, 20cts., December rate, G6 cts.
Columbus, Ohio,
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Louisvillle, Ky.,
Nashville, Tenn.,
St. Louis, Mo.,
Chicago, 111.,
23 " " 81
28 " " 93
38 " " 1.14
35 " " 1.15
40 " " 1.20
30 " " 1.00
Showing an advance of over 300 per cent. What the freight
charges would be in Summer, on these roads, without the com¬
petition of the canal, when the demand for freight is at its
height, we need fortunately only conjecture, but it is clear,
however, that if the canal was kept open for business during
the Winter months, as well as in Summer, its regulation of the
freight tariff would be equally effective.
The Erie Canal, as at present constructed, is taxed (it is
claimed) to its full carrying capacity, and, to afford increased
water transportation, several plans are proposed. First : To
build a ship canal from the St. Lawrence River to Lake Cham-
plain and from thence to the Hudson. There appears to be valid
objection to this plan. 1st. It is fifty per cent, longer than the
Buffalo route, which fact would neutralize most of the increased
gain in speed. 2d. It would enable Canada, in case of
trouble, to blockade the river, and thus practically control the
inland commerce of the country. 3d. It seems likely that grain,
having taken this route, and having approached so near to the
sea, would keep on, rather than turn aside to New York, for in
any weather that the ship canal would be free from ice, the
St. Lawrence would certainly be navigable. The adoption of
this plan would result in making Montreal, and not New
York, the chief grain mart of the Continent. The second plan
is, to build a ship canal from Oswego to the Hudson, and the
5
chief objection to this is the difficulty of uniting Lakes Erie
and Ontario by a ship canal, for otherwise our trade would
be obliged to use the Welland Canal on Canadian soil, and
this, as a permanency, is not to be thought of. The remaining
plan is to convert the -Erie Canal, from Buffalo to Albany, into
a ship canal throughout its length. The only objections to
this are the cost of the work and the delay in executing it.
The demand for a ship canal is based upon the fact, that there
seems to be a limit to the capacity of the canal (as now con¬
structed) to carry from Buffalo, during the boating season,
the grain which, during the same season, can be laid down by
lake vessels in Buffalo without limit as to quantity. As a
proof of this, we find that, in 1871, the receipts at Buffalo were
nearly 90,000,000 of bushels, while the shipments from there
by canal were about one-half that quantity. Again, we find
that |(in 1872 the receipts at all the Lake ports exceeded
170,000,000 bushels, while the entire receipts by canal at tide¬
water was less than 54,000,000 bushels, the railroads bringing
to New York 36,000,000 bushels which the canal did not or
could not carry. These facts conclusively prove that either
the capacity of the canal is too small, its season is too short,
or that there are not boats enough ; in fact, that it does not keep
up with the lake business now, while in all probability within
the next ten years the lake business will have more than doubled.
The object of the present improvement is to double the
canal season by keeping the canal open all Winter, so that
the grain which has concentrated in large quantities in Buf¬
falo may come on to New York by water at any and all times
of the year. Practically, the result of doing this would be to
double the number of boats (or trips, which would amount to
the same.thing), in fact, to double the carrying capacity of the
canal. It may be said that the canals are only closed five
months, not six ; but this is true in part only, for, as a rule,
boats dare not start from either terminus after a certain date,
for fear of being caught by a sudden cold spell, and being
6
frozen up for the Winter. This deducts fifteen days from the
boating season, which, with the repairs always consequent
upon opening the canals, from frost and disuse, reduces the
full actual boating season to about six months.
By the sudden freezing of the canals an immense amount of
produce is annually delayed. During the Winter of 1871, four
hundred boats containing three and one-half million bushels of
grain, besides other produce, were frozen up. The canal freight
alone on this was $640,000, and the Buffalo Commercial,
referring to the subject at that time, said, " When we consider
that this produce was moved with money raised on short
drafts, that the banks hold most of them as security, that a
large amount has been advanced upon it, and that the carriers
are likely to be kept from realizing their freights for five
months, the extent of the calamity may be comprehended."
The objection has been raised, that although the canals might
be kept open during the Winter by the means proposed, still,
as the lakes and river would remain closed, the advantages to
be derived from the improvement would be partial only. In
answer to this, I have shown that there is no limit whatever to
the amount of grain which can be laid down in Buffalo while
the lakes are open. The difficulty has been, and is now, to
forward it by canal which is worked up to its present
utmost capacity. As to the Hudson River, it is open a consid¬
erable time after the canals close, and becomes navigable in
the Spring long before the canaris are opened. In fact, the
river is closed some three months injthe year, while the canals
are closed from five and one-half to six months, as I have
already shown. Let the grain be regularly landed in Albany,
without dictation or hindrance from the railways, and east and
west shore roads would compete to bring it to New York
during these three months. Even should it accumulate in
Albany during these months, the capacity of the river, when
open, is, like that of the lakes, unlimited ; so that, that part of
the route which is clogged could be constantly worked, while
7
Buffalo and Albany would each become large receiving and
distributing centers.
But it is plain that if this improvement was put in op¬
eration and proved of easy accomplishment, by practical use,
for a season, the canal itself would soon be extended from
Albany to New York. Practicable and easy lines on both
sides of the river can easily be located for it, or perhaps it
could be run immediately along the west bank of the river
by dredging out and walling up some sixty feet of the bank
itself, and transforming this into a canal. This could be done
at small cost, and such a canal would need no feeders, as ihe
river would furnish its water supply. Supposing, for a mo¬
ment, that this winter water-way from New York to Buffalo
was built and working well, who can doubt but that the eventual
result would be, to extend the canal from Buffalo along the
lake shores first to Erie, where it would connect with the
Pennsylvania Canal ; then to Cleveland where it would connect
with the Ohio Canal ; thence to Toledo, where it would meet the
Miami and Wabash Canals, and thence across the peninsula of
Michigan to Chicago, where it would be united to the Mississippi
River by the Illinois Canal. All these several canals would in
turn adopt the improvement, and the result would be that New
York would have constant water communication, all the year
round, with nearly every western and northwestern State.
Such a result carried out (were it practicable) would be
complete settlement of the transportation question, and secure
to this City, in the future, the western cereals against all
rivals or fear of competition. The rigor of a Canadian climate
and the fact that nearly all the water line of Canada is by lake
and river, and but a trifling part by canal, would be protection
against the adoption by that country of a similar policy. If
the prism of the Erie Canal was brought up to the full standard
fixed by law, and every lock on the Western Division doubled,
which has not yet been done, its present capacity would-be
largely increased ; then were this improvement applied and
8
found to work, the necessity for a ship canal would be obviated,
and the West would have all the transportation it now needs
without dependence on railways or railway charges. I pro¬
pose, in the following pages, to show that the plan proposed by
me is feasible, easy of speedy accomplishment, and not costly.
This allowed, it would seem as though its consummation ought
to follow.
TO PREVENT A CANAL FROM FREEZING.
The practicability of preventing a small body of water
from freezing by the introduction of artificial heat will not
be questioned, but that sufficient heat can bè introduced into
a canal to prevent congelation in winter time will be very
generally doubted, and perhaps dismissed, without investiga¬
tion, as chimerical. And yet the doubt must turn on the
word " sufficient," for it cannot be denied but that it is pos¬
sible, at least, by using an immense amount of heat, not only
to warm the water in a canal, but even to boil it, if desired.
The doubt must, therefore, necessarily mean that the
" scheme " is not practicable in a commercial sense, or that "it
would cost more than it would comq to." I propose here to
show what this cost would be, and I contend that it would be
exceedingly small, considering the magnitude of the results to
be obtained, and infinitely less " than it would come to."
First. What amount of heat will be required? To arrive
at this we should note a few of the physical conditions which
govern the freezing of water. We find, first, in water a sin¬
gular exception to the ordinary laws of expansion, viz., "that
heat expands and cold contracts in a fixed ratio." Fresh
water becomes heavier by cooling until, it reaches 39° Fahr.,
and after passing that point becomes lighter. This is why
ice forms and floats on the surface, and why it does not form
in very great thickness, the temperature of the water, a few
feet below the surface, being much above the freezing point.
W ater cooled by contact with the air to 3 9° F ah r., becomes more
dense and sinks, the warmer water coming to the surface,
but, cooling below this point, it rises, while that beneath
retains its temperature at about 39° Fahr. Were this not so,
congelation would begin on the bottom, and our rivers and lakes
would become solid masses of ice.
Fresh water freezes at 32° Fahr., and ice commences to form
10
immediately on the surface when the top layer of water reaches
that temperature ; a thin film of ice being first formed, which
gradually thickens by contact with the water beneath. Ice is
a very bad conductor, and cuts oft'the escape of heat from the
water below, thus rendering the freezing process a very slow one.
Professor Silliman likens " a thin film of ice on the surface to a
blanket, which, although ofitself cold, becomes a means of pre¬
serving heat by cutting olf radiation." Again, water is heated
by convection, not conduction ; the heated water rises from the
source of heat to the surfaee, while that beneath the source
of heat remains unchanged in temperature. Thus, it is not
possible to heat a body of water throughout by applying heat
to the surface, as a few inches below the surface the tem¬
perature would not be raised. It is,Therefore, clear, that if
ice is prevented from forming on the surface of the water in
a canal, it will never form at all, and the artificial heat to be
used should, therefore, be concentrated only on the surface
instead of being introduoed into the body of water beneath.
This being done in sufficient quantity, congelation becomes
impossible.
The unit of heat is the amount necessary to raise the
temperature of one pound of water one degree. In a pound
of coal there are about 15,000 units of heat ; but let us allow
that, practically, only 12,(*00 units can be utilized. We would
thus have 12,000 pounds of water raised one degree by the
consumption of one pound of coal. A ton of coal would yield
about 27,000,000 of units of heat, which could be utilized.
In a canal one half mile long and seventy feet wide there
would be 184,800 square feet of surface exposed. Let us take
the top layer of this water, say, three inches deep, and we
should have 342,000 galls., equal to 2,876,000 pounds of water.
The ton of coal would, therefore, yield sufficient heat to raise
the temperature of this surface water nearly ten degrees, or
from 32° to 42° Fahr., or, were the canal 35 feet wide, instead of
70 feet, about 19 degrees, or from 32° to 51° Fahr. But, in-
11
stead of the top layer of water heing raised equally in temper¬
ature to the depth of three inches, as calculated, the heat
would, in fact, be all absorbed by the surface water less than
one inch deep, as it would rise to, spread over, and float on
the immediate surface, so that were it evenly distributed, 30
degrees of heat, instead of 10, would be applied to the surface
of the wide canal, and 57° to the narrow one.
But the problem is not to raise the temperature of the sur¬
face water 57° or 30° or even 10°, but only one degree, and
keep it there, for at 33° Fahr. the water could not freeze.
Water gives up its heat very slowly when its temperature
approximates nearly to that of the surrounding air, but if the
difference in temperature between the two is great, the radia¬
tion is much more rapid. For instance, were the temperature
of a body of water 200°, and that of the air 30°, the radiation
of heat from the water would be very rapid, while at 100° it
would be not nearlyfso rapid, at 50° quite slow in comparison,
and at 33° very slow and difficult. Neither does water freeze
when it reaches 32°, but it only begins to freeze at that point ;
but to turn water, at a given temperature, into ice, requires
about five times the aggregate amount of cold that it does to
bring it to the freezing point.
From the above it will be seen that the process of
freezing is a tedious one, and that the amount of heat re¬
quired to be constantly added to the water, so as to off-set
that abstracted by radiation, is very small. The exact quan¬
tity of the latter, of course, depends upon the temperature of
the surrounding air, which is constantly variable, and hence
precludes a calculation, but 1 submit that under no circum¬
stances would it equal the amount of heat proposed as above
to be applied. If this be allowed, we find that the heat ob¬
tained from one ton of coal, if properly applied to the surface
water of a canal, 70 feet wide and one half mile long, will be
sufficient to prevent congelation for a single day.
In our Winter of four months, there are not, on an average,
12
more than sixty full days on which the temperature is below
the freezing point, and it would, therefore, be only on these days
that the heat need be supplied. This would give 120 tons of
coal per mile of canal for the Winter, or for a canal 35 feet wide,
60 tons per mile. The Erie Canal is 350 miles long, and on this
basis it would require 42,000 tons per anntim, at a cost of, say
four dollars per ton, (delivered on the canal,) equal to $168,000
per annum for coal, or about four times what a large steamship
would consume annually. It is quite unnecessary to argue
that the amount of coal proposed to be used as above, will be
sufficient for the purpose, although personally I do not doubt
but that it will so prove, but instead of two tons per mile per
diem, double it and call it four tons, or, if you please, say eight
tons, and even then the difference in cost, as far as coal is con¬
cerned, is as nothing Avhen compared to the magnitude of the
interests involved. What is believed to be here proven is
that the " scheme " is practicable, at a small comparative cost
as regards fuel.
The second point to be considered is : The means of so
applying the heat that it may be evenly distributed over
the surface of the water. To each mile of canal I propose
to use two boilers, located one-half a mile apart, from each
of which two steam pipes, each 1,000 feet long, run in op¬
posite directions along one bank of the canal. These pipes
are to be floated about four inches below the surface of
the water, by being attached, every few feet, by wires, fo
small floats, sufficient to sustain their weight, which floats
are in turn to be fastened some 6 feet distant from the water's
edge, where boats could not interfere with them in passing.
By this arrangement the pipe would always float at the same
depth, whether the water was high or low in the canal, and
its heating power would not be impaired by contact with the
mud on the bottom or sides of the canal.
The heat radiated from the pipe is absorbed by the water,
which heated water rises to and spreads over the surface, its
13
constant distribution being aided by the passage of boats and
the disturbance arising from lock swells. Intervals of about
600 feet would occur between the extreme ends of the different
pipes, but the current would carry the warmer water past and
over these intervals.
The boiler, or rather heater, I propose to use is simple and
inexpensive. It consists of a series of connected iron coils,
located in consecutive brick chambers (the furnace being in
the first chamber), through which chambers the heat passes
successively until it is all absorbed into the water within the
coils. The cold water is pumped into the coil in the farthest
chamber, passing through all of them, until it leaves the first
coil, directly over the fire, in a boiling state and rushes into
the pipe into the canal, and then branching off into the two
pipes running each way 1,000 feet. There would be no econ¬
omy in using steam instead of boiling water, as five times as
much fuel is required to convert a given quantity of water
into steam, as to bring the same water to the boiling point,
and the heat derived in either case would be the same. That
is, five gallons of boiling water, discharged into the pipe, would
give as much heat as one gallon converted into dry steam.
One important advantage in the use of boiling water would be
gained, as water retains its heat so long, that it would flow
warm from the end of the pipe, 1,000 feet off, while steam gives
up its heat so rapidly that the pipe would be cold some 500
feet from the boiler, and although the same amount of heat
would be obtained in either case, it would not be so evenly
distributed by using steam.
The pipe in the canal would not need to exceed two inches
in "diameter, and the furnace coils could be made of 2-£ inch
pipe, their comparative sizes being as 64 is to 100. A steam
pump and small supplemental boiler run by the same furnace
will pump water from the canal for the heating coils, and the
exhaust steam from the pump will be returned to the canal,
14
as also, if desirable, whatever heat may escape through the
up-take, although, if the furnace is properly constructed, the
amount will be nominal, These heaters, with boiler and
pumps attached, can bg built at a cost not to exceed $1,500
each.
While I claim that with the apparatus here described, and
amount of fuel stated, congelation can be prevented at any tem¬
perature, it may be admitted, for argument's sake, that during
one of those intensely cold spells we occasionally' encounter
during the Winter, the water begins to freeze in spite of our
endeavors. After the first thin film of ice had formed, the
farther radiation of heat would be, in great part, prevented by
this thin layer of ice, which could not, therefore, become
thicker, and would disappear as soon as the intense cold mod¬
erated. Thick ice is formed by the aggregation of a number
of severely cold days, and even if the apparatus proposed
should be found, instead of working j with entire satisfaction,
to only in part accomplish its purpose, still it would be suf¬
ficient, in any event, to prevent ice forming thick enough to
impede navigation for more than a day or two at a time, even
if it ever formed at all.
The locks of the canal could be protected from snow and
ice by light frame sheds, with end doors, allowing ingress and
egress for boats, and a stove could be used to keep the tem¬
perature of the shed one degree above the freezing point. I
contend that it is capable of easy proof that, as an investment
and matter of indirect profit to this City and State, it would
pay largely to cover the entire canal with a continuous shed
from Buffalo to Albany, were no other meaas of keeping it
from freezing up, attainable.
My conclusions as to the entire practicability of the pro¬
posed plan have been strengthened by considerable experiment
made with a miniature canal some 275 feet long, and I am
more than convinced that the difficulties to be overcome in
perfecting it are imaginary, not real, and that time and trial
15
will so prove them. The proposition is, I admit, a little start¬
ling at first, but will seem less so on investigation, and is in¬
finitely less so than many more difficult conceptions which
have now become accomplished facts. In this age of advanc¬
ing civilization, the impossibility of to-day becomes the reality
of to-morrow, and the credulity with which that " new thing "
was first received is forgotten in the benefits derived from its
use. It should be remembered that there are many minor
advantages to be reaped from a successful result of this im¬
provement other than the vastly important ones of cheap food
for the world, a vast increase of wealth to the West and to
New York, and a check on the railway freight tariff. A few
of these may be mentioned, such as—
Water communication with the seaboard all the year, for
all cities and towns on the line of the canal.
Increased earnings of canal, and consequently lower tolls.
Prevention of Winter damage by ice and disuse.
Increase in the value of boats and boating business:
New York, October, 1873.
ROBERT A. CHESEBROUGH,
l v
No. 110 Front Street.
N. Y.
16
Cost per mile of applying this improvement to a canal, and
of maintaining the same annually.
4,000 feet of 2-inch iron pipe @ 30 cts. per foot - $1,200
Two heaters, complete, with pumps attached 3,000
Labor, floats, wire, &c 750
\
Total first cost per mile $4,950
Annual Maintaining.
Interest on cost, 7 per cent $346 50
Fuel, 120 tons, @ $4 480 00
Labor, 3 men, 4 mos., @ $60 - - - 720 00
Repairs annual _ 200 00
Annual charge per mile. $1,746 50
Cost of applying to Erie Canal, 350 miles.
350 miles, @ $4,950 per mile $1,732,500
Covering 72 locks, @$1,500 each 108,000
First cost... $1,840,500
Annual Charge.
350 miles, @ $1,746.50 $611,275
Using double the amount of coal 779,275
Using four times the amount of coal 947,275
Average Summer earnings of the canal in tolls $4,000,000
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