48th Congeess, ) HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. í Eepoet
Is# Session. | t No. 628.
r \V
IMPEÜVEMENT OF THE EEIE CANAL.
March 4, 1884.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of
the Union and ordered to he printed.
Mr. Wemple, from the Committee on Eailways and Canals, submitted
tbe following
EEPORT:
[To accompany bill H. R. 3.538.]
The Committee on Railways and Canals,^ to whom was referred the bill (S.
R. 35.38) to provide for the permanent improvement of the Erie Canal,
and to aid in maintaining the same free to the commerce of the United
States, beg leave to submit the following report:
The Erie Canal i.s, a.s is well-known, located in the State of New York,
running through the walley of the Moharvk and connecting with the
head of the navigable waters rf the Hudson Eiver, and through these
valleys, which is the only break through the mountain ranges, from
Georgia to the Saint Lawrence, intervening between the Atlantic and
the Western prairies.
This is the only natural outlet for the great grain-âelds of the West
to the eastern sea-board, and nowhere else can an avenue of commerce
be constructed or maiutaiued, on account of the topographical and geo¬
graphical conditions of the country, with equal facilities. This canal is
of some 3.50 miles in length, of nearly a uniform width of 70 feet or over
at the water surface, and there is maiutaiued at all times a depth of 7
feet of water, floating boats of 260 tons burden. This important water
route has costthe people of the State of New York the sum of $60,000,000
for its construction and enlargement, and during the past year the people
of that State burdened themselves with a tax of over $500,000 for the
necessary maintenance of this canal, and made it free to the commerce
of the world.
It is ascertained that in the expenses attendant upon the mainte¬
nance of the Erie Canal that thei'e are two funds—one for extraordinary
repairs, designed to be for the improvement and maintenance of the
permanent structures; the other for ordinary repairs, such as are inci¬
dent to tbe ordinary running expenses of the canal.
The people of that great commonwealth have made this canal en¬
tirely free to the commerce of the world, and it is the design of this bill
that by the appropriation of the amount named the people of New York
State may be relieved of the cost of the extraordinary repairs, and to
aid in its needed improvement and enlargement by appropriating for
that purpose the sum of $1,000,000 per annum for the period of ten
years, or only so long as the said canal is maintained free to commerce;
and tills is deemed but just when it is ascertained that the total amount
of tonnage (in bushels) of flour, corn-meal, wheat, corn, oats, barley,
2
IMPROVEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL.
pease, and malt which arrived in New York from the 1st day of Jan¬
uary, 1883, to the 31st day of December, 1883, was 124,336,237 bushels,
aud was delivered at that port by the following routes :
Bushels.
New York Central and Hudson River Railroad l!i5,615
New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad 28,765,288
Pennsylvania Central Railroad 13,060,494
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad 4, 581,770
Various routes - 856,924
By river and coast 3,725,238
By canal (seven montlis) 41,220,908
124,336,237
Of the entire amount of grain thus received at the port of New York
during the year it will be observed that—
Per cent.
The New York Ceutr.il Railroad carried 25.84
The Erie Railway carried 23.13
The Peuusylvania Central Railroad carried 10. 50
The Delaware, Lackawanna aud Western Railroad carried 3.69
Variou.s small routes carried 0. 69
River aud coast. 3
The Erie Canal in seven mouths carried 33.15
The following statement will show the total quantity iu tons (of 2,000
pounds) of property which was delivered by canal at the city of New
York during the season of 1883 ;
Ton.s.
Lumber - 555,.540
Wheat 493,218
Eye 93,019
Corn 464, .509
Barley 44,151
Barley malt 14,414
Oats 48,744
Potatoes 37,8-51
Flaxseed 19,411
Oil, meal, and cake 3,810
Bloom aud bar iron 2, 528
Domestic salt 25, 094
Iron and steel 1,132
Railroad iron 3,247
All other merchandise 18,653
Stone, lime, and clay .50,732
Bituminous coal 14,361
Iron ore 213,966
Sundries 27,232
2,815,987
The value of all the articles that went to New York by the canal dur¬
ing the year 1883 was $57,231,806, and was composed of the following :
Lumber |7,874, 350
Ashes, leached 30,826
Lard, tallow, and lard oil 102,000
Flour - 10,875
Wheat 18,906, 707
Rye 2,491,581
Corn 11,612,716
Barley 1,545,285
Barley malt 813,026
Oats.' 1,370,913
Potatoes 504, 716
Flax seed 1,164,678
Oil, meal, aud cake 228,601
Pig iron 107,501
IMPROVEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL. 3
Bloom and bar iron 126,414
Domestic salt 150,565
Iron and steel 135,893
Railroad iron 162,360
Other merchandise 6, 715,151
Stone, lime, and clay 507,169
Bituminous coal 86,183
Iron ore 855,866
Sundries 1,412,256
Total value 57,231,806
WEST-BOUND FREIGHT.
The total value of all the west bound freight left at Buffalo from the
Erie Canal during the season teas $20,557,074.
The following-described property was left at Bufíalo from the Erie
Canal during the season of 1883, and came direct to that point by the
Erie Canal from the Hudson River :
Tons.
Boards and scantling 141
Timber 2. 903
Hides 26
Barley 115
Pi g i ron,.- 28,525
Bloom and bar iron 5;440
Ca-stings and iron rvare 220
Foreign salt 19, 291
Sugar 4,003
Molasses 5,777
Nails, spikes, and horseshoes 210
Iron and steel 35,307
Railroad iron 29,046
Flint, enamel, crockery, and glassware 344
All other merchandise 111,683
Stone, lime, and clay 14,198
Phosphate * 9, 648
Anthracite coal 126,931
Iri ii ore 602
Sundries 26,996
Dried fruit 2.361
Bar and pig lead 28
Coffee 712
Total tons 424, 507
CHEAP TRANSPORTATION.
This is a very great and one of the problematic questions of the day;
upon its .solution depends the welfare of so many of the citizens of our
Republic. Un the economical solution of this problem depends to a very
great extent our commercial supremacy. New York possesses the key
to the situation in the Erie Canal. Tlie cheapest mode of transporta¬
tion is by the Erie Canal, which extends from the lakes to the Hudson
River, a distance of 350 miles, and 500 miles from New York City.
Taking the average price paid for the transportation of wheat during
the season, which was about 5 cents per bushel oi 8J cents per 100
jiounds, from Bufi'alo to New Y'ork, being 1.67 cents per ton for 500 miles,
which is equal to .0334 cents per ton per mile, or to carrying one ton 3
miles for 1 cent for eastward-bound freight.
During the summer the average price paid for carrying merchandise
from New York to Buffalo, distance, 500 miles, has been 75 cents per ton,
which is equal to carrying one ton 6| miles for 1 cent.
Yet it is surprising that so much has gone by the way of the canal when
4
IMPROVRMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL.
it is known that whatever eomes to it does solely of its own aecord and
unsolicited, while the railways, through their agents scattered through¬
out the country, are constantly seeking business for their various lines ;
yet notwithstanding this it has carried over one-third of the cereals
coining to the sea-board at ííew York.
The construction of artificial roads and canals is the great instrument
in developing the wealth and energies of the nation.
The Erie Canal has done more to advance the population, wealth, and
enterprise of the Western States than all the other causes combined ;
nor can it be doubted that it has been the efficient cause of increasing
the value of the public lands, and of contributing to the rapidity of
. their sales. The vast grain and produce growing regions of the West
are directly interested in the development, improvement, and mainte¬
nance of this great waterway; and now, with the many improvements
in railroading, so very greatly increasing their facilities and capacities,
t is of the supremest importance for the people to sustain this great
regulator of freight charges.
New York has done nobly in constructing her works of internal im¬
provement. Her canals refiect great honor upon her people and upon
the whole country, while they have been to the great West and the
country at large as much or more of a benefit than to herself.
Her entire system of canals have cost her an enormous sum of money,
much more than she ever received in return. Then she abandoned the
lateral and non-paying canals.
The Erie Canal has been the source of a great revenue to the people
of Nev York, when from 1862 to 1869, the period of her highest rates,
after the constitutional amendment of 1854, when the toll on wheat from
Buffalo to tide-water was nearly 6^ cents per bushel. And still the
Erie Canal paid the people from 1870 to 1874, when the tolls were re¬
duced one-half; but the tolls were continually being reduced, so that
from 1877 to 1882 they were but 1 cent per bushel; and now the people
of that great commonwealth, in their liberal, broad-minded, and cath¬
olic spirit, have removed the tolls entirely and have made this canal
free to the commerce of the world.
THE ERIE CANAL IS THE GREAT REGULATOR.
The cost of water transportation from Chicago to New York deter¬
mines the rate of rail transportation, and the rate of rail transporta¬
tion from Chicago to New York is the base line upon which railroad
rates are determined and fixed throughout the country. We know the
Erie Canal to be the great regulator of freights going to and from the
sea-board.
Senator Windom, as chairman of the Select Committee on Transporta¬
tion Routes to the Sea-board, in his very able report to the United States
Senate in 1873, and again later in a masterly speech in the United States
Senate in 1878, on the same subject, says:
The chief iustrumeiatalities by means of which those (competitive) forces will exert
their power are the Mississippi River on the one side and the northern water routes
on the other. ^ * Both routes constitute indisjiensable parts of cue grand sys¬
tem. » * ^ Each is needed to regulate the other and both as regulators of railway
charges. Each has some advantages which the other lacks, and some Impediment
which the other has not; but on the whole their trade forces, commercial facilities,
and economic capacity for cheap transportation will be so evenly balanced as to in¬
sure a healthy, active, and permanent competition.
It will he as impossible for them [the railroads] to combine to put up prices as to
effect a combination of interests between Chicago and Saint Louis or New York and
New Orleans. The interests of the lines themselves are necessarily antagonistic, and
IMPROVEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL.
5
as each will be an open, free highway ro every body who choo.ses to iioat a vessel upon
its water.s, combination will be simply impossible and competition the inevitable law
of their existence. * * * But the competitive power and influence of the two
great contestants (the water and railroad lines) will not be limited to au^' one locality,
out will extend to nearly every State in the Union, and will hold in check and regu¬
late the charges on every railroad from the interior to the sea-board. The wide sweep
of competitive influence exerted by the Erie Canal is not generally understood or ap¬
preciated. You would doubtless be surprised, Mr. President, if I told you that the
little ditch which runs through your State holds in check and regulates nearly every
leading railroad east of the Mississippi River, and that it exerts a marked influence
on the cost of transportation over all the country extending from the interior of the
Gnlf States to the Saint Lawrence River, and from the great plains of tbe eastern
foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. And yet such is the fact.
Lest it may be thought that my enthusiasm ou this subject has betrayed me into an
exiiggeration, I will give you the words of Mr. Albert Fink, a gentleman who has no prej¬
udice ill favor of water transportation, but whose ability and experience as a railroad
manager is recognized everywhere. Mr. Fink has given more attention to the philoso¬
phy of transportation and written more wisely in regard to it than any other man in
the United States. * ^ * Iiiuote:
Offick of CoMMissiON'er, No. 346 Broadway,
Xew York, May 3, 1878.
Dear Sir : In your letter of April *29, you ask me to explain the effect of the open¬
ing of navigation on the lakes upon rates of transportation charged by tbe raiIroad.s
extending from the West to the interior Gulf States. You are aware that when the
rates are reduced between Chicago and New York on account of the opening of the
canal that this reduction applies not only from Chicago, but from all interior cities
(Saint Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati ) to New York. If that were not the rnle the result
would be that the roads—running, say from Saint Louis, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati
to Chicago would carry the freight to Cliicago, from which point low rail or water
rates would take it to the East and leave the direct railroad routes from these interior
points to the seaboard without any business. Hence, wlieiiever tbe rates are reduced
on account of the opening of navigation from Chicago and the lake ports, the same
reduction is made from all interior cities, not only to New York, where the canal runs,
but also to Boston. Philadelpliia, ami Baltimore. Although the latter cities have no
direct water coinmunicatiou wirb the West, yet they receive tbe benefit, as far as
low railroad rates are concerned, to the same extent as if a canal was actnally run¬
ning from the lakes direct to those citiCvS, becaiuse whenever rates from Chicago to
New York are reduced, it becomovs absolutely necessary to reduce correspondingly the
rates fVom Chicago to Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, otherwise these cities
could do no business, as it would ail go to New York.
Tbe reduction of the rates from Chicago and Saint Louis to New York, Baltimore,
<S:c., reduces the rates on shipments from western points via New York, Baltimore, and
ocean to the Southern Atlantic ports, to Nt>riblk, Wiluiingtou, Port Royal, Savannah,
Brunswick, Fernandina, &c., and from there into the interior Atlantic Gulf States by
rail or water routes to Augusta, Atlanta, Macon, Montgomery, Selma, Houston, &c.
The railroads running direct from Chicago and Saint Loiiús, via Louisville, Nashville,
and Chattanooga to the same points arc oldiged to follow the reductions made via the
rail and ocean routes, and which nuinctions were primarily made on acconnt of the
existence of the Erie Canal and the opening of navigation ; it follows, therefore, that
the Erie Canal influences the rates of frausportatiou from Chicago, Saint Louis, Cin¬
cinnati, &e., to the interior of the. Gulf States.
The same is true in relation to tbe west-bound freight. When rates are reduced
from New Y<»rk to Chicago the roads from New York to Louisville reduce their rates
on sbipiiients made by way of Louisville to Memphis, Nashville, Montgomery, Selina,
<fec., and the direct Southern transportation lines from New York via Norfolk, Wil¬
mington, Charleston, Savannah, A;c., have to reduce their rates to meet those made by
the Northern Hues to the same points, and vice versa.
It appears from the above statement that the Erie Canal and the lakes exercise their
infiiieiice over the Southern country until it readies a line where low ocean rates from
New York to the Gnlf cities—Mobile, New Orleans, and Galveston—exercises their
influence upon the rates to the adjacent interior points to Augusta, Macon, Selma,
Montgomery, Houston, A c., .so that it may he said that all the rail rates are kept in
check by water transportation.
There need be tio fear that extortionate rates will be charged by railroad companies;
ou the contrary the fear is that water competition will be so effective as to prevent,
railroads from .securing paying rates.
Very truly, yours,
ALBERT FINK.
Hon. William Windom,
Washwgtov, D. ( '.
6
IMPROVEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL.
Mr, President, this sketch of the territorial extent of the influence exerted by the
Erie Canal is drawn, not by an enthusiastic advocate of water transportation, but by
a cool-headed, practical railroad manager of great ability and large experience, who
has long been accustomed to watch the performances of water ways from the railroad
stand-point and to measure their power with reference to its eftect on railway rates.
It is au utter impossibiiity to ever get this great factor into the " pool
system," as the caual itself is owned by the State, and that has ever
manifested its willingness to aid in reducing the cost of carriage ; be¬
sides there are some 5,000 boats that traverse this canal with nearly
as many separate owners, so there is not the least possibility of a com¬
bination. So it is apparent that any improvements made for reducing
the cost of transportation on the Erie Canal of necessity reduces the
carriage upon all other lines, and this important and permanent result
cannot be obtained upon any other line to the seaboaixl.
Governor Seymour very truthfully says:
But it may be said that the Eric Caual has lost much of its importance by.the in¬
crease of railroads. This is a mistaken idea ; it grows in value as railroads multiply.
It is true thej' have drawn from it much of its touuage, but what would their charges
have been for carrying had there been no canals? What would they bé if they are
destroyed ?
The Erie Canal is the only hope of the people against the combined
influence, power, and capital of the aggregate railway interest of this
country.
It is in direct competition with the greatly enlarged and improved
caual of the Canadian Government.
The amount of freight transported on this canal is carefully kept from
public view by the Canadian authorities until the reports are made to
the Dominion Parliament, and subsequently published. It is therefore
impossible to get the movement on this canal for the past year. The
British Government has expended $20,000,000 in the improvement of
this waterway, and it bids fair to become the most formidable rival of
the Erie Canal. During the three months ending June 30, 1883, Ihe
total amount of freight transported by the Weiland Canal was 268,381
tons, and the total tolls received from all sources, vessels, passengers,
and freight was $48,615.57.
During the flscal year ending June 30, 1883, the total tons transported
on the Weiland Canal was 861,634 tons, of which 746,162 tons was through
freight, having beeu transiiorted the entire length of the canal.
New York has done much and is doing much for the benefit and iii-
interest of our great Reiiublic. Are we not asking too much when we
tax the farmer of that State to be burdened for the benefit of the farmer
of the great West ?
The Brie Caual directly benefits more than 20,000,000 of our people in
receiving and transporting the produce, merchandise, &c., from twelve
of the Western and Southwestern States, all of which passed over its
waters for eastern and foreign markets at less price than railroads would
contract to carry for. In like manner they received to the extent of
some 179,505 tons of the manufactures of the East in the form of agri-
öultural implements and the like, which passed entirely beyond the limit
of the Empire State, and solely for the benefit of the Western pi'oducer
in giving him the lowest freight rates on these articles.
There was left at Bufitalo dnifiug the season for Western States—
Tone.
Sugar
Molasses
Coffee
Nails and spikes (iron and steel)
3,779
5, 421
672
33,451
IMPROVEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL.
7
Railroad iron
Crockerj'
Merchandise .
Tons.
28, 581
■26.5
107, 3;S6
Total tons
179, .50.5
By thi8 propo.sitioii tbe people of ZS^ew York are not to be relieved en¬
tirely from the .support of the canal. They have received great benefits
from it. and its citizens are ready and tvilling to contribute liberally to
it.s support, and by the provisions of this bill they are not to receive any
aid from the Government only .so long as they keep and maintain the
Erie Canal free to commerce : but for the
in deepening, widening, and enlarging thi.s canal and it.s permanent and
large structure.s. it is asked that Go\ ernment aid be given so as to ben¬
efit and improve this great waterway. Its benefits lie beyond the limits
of that State now, and while the people, of the State of ÍTew Y'ork sup¬
port this canal at a large annual expense, it is but .just and equitable
that the General Government give aid to its improvement, which it
greatly stands in need of, and aid to increase its capacitj^.
This canal has demonstrated that the greater the facilities for trans¬
portation the less will be the cost for transportation. And notwith-
.standing the many additional miles of new railroads built within the
past few years, the means of transportation have not kept pace with
the increased pimductions or population.
For the enlargement and improvement of her canals by the United
States Government the State of ISTew York has already given her con¬
sent by the enactment of chapter 415, Laws of 1862, wherein the Gen¬
eral Government was given permi.ssion to alter, enlarge, and deepen the
Erie Canal, or its structures, and also to lengthen its locks.
Again, in 186:3, by a .joint resolution reciting the augmentation to
national commerce by the deepening of this canal and the lengthening
of its locks, the governor was directed to invite the President of the
United States to select and detail a competent engineer in behalf of the
General Government, to consult with engineers to be appointed by the
State in resjiect to the surveys to be made for that purpose. Hon.
Charles B. Stuart was appointed as such by the President of the United
States, and Hon. William B. Taylor, then State engineer, on behalf of
the State, who directed the surveys and estimates to be made. In their
report they say :
By the eulargeiueiat of tbe Erie Canal, as authorized by the legislature of the State
oc New York in 18:^7. so as to be navigable for boats of ¿40 tons, instead of 80 tons as
then in use, it was proven that the cost of transportation by means of this enlarged
canal was reduced 50 per cent. '
And they find farther that—
By the deepening of this enlarged trunk of the Erie Canal as now existing, and by
the lengthening of the locks, a saving of nearly the same amount may be obtained.
By the lengthening of the locks so as to take in two boats at a time,
as the.y are now so very generally run together as consorts, and with
improved lock-gates, the saving in time of a passage from Buffalo to
Albany over the whole length of this canal would be very material.
IMPROVEMENT OF THE ERIE
REPORT OF ENGINEERS.
8 IMPROVEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL,
These improvefDents. together with the deepening of the canal one
foot so as to enlarge its capacity, the saving in the cost of carriage
would no doubt be fully the 50 per cent. Therefore we have now State
application for these improvements which would so materially augment
our national commerce, both foreign and domestic, and tlie President,
in calling the attention of Congress in his message of December, 1872,
to this subject, the co-operation of the Senate in appointing a committee
to examine and investigate the subject of cheap transportation between
the interior and the seaboard, and the careful, thorough, and elaborate
examination of the committee, have invested this matter with a national
indorsement.
There are numerous precedents where aid has been given by the Gen¬
eral Government to both canals and railways by the appropriation of
either lands or moneys, a few of which instances are cited as follows :
Star, at Large.
Date.
Vol.
Page.
May 18, 1826
4
169
Mar. 21, 1827
4
236
May 24, 1828
4
305
Mar. 2, 1829
4
353
Mar. 2 1831
4
474
Aug. 26, 1852
10
35-36
To whom aid extended.
; Natur© of
aid.
To Dismal Swamp Canal Company I $150, 000'
IndixTna, for canal purposes ' Land.
To Ohio, to extend Miami Canal Land.
To La. and Portland Canal Company Stock.
To Florida, for canal purposes Land,
To Michigan, for canal purposes Land,
And to railroads, other than the Paciflcs, the cases are almost in¬
numerable, as there is hardly a railroad of importance in the West but
that has received aid from the General Government, and some to the
extent of many millions of dollars.
In conclusion we say that, considered in its commercial aspect, the
Erie Canal is now in every respect national in its character, aiding the
citizens of this whole General Government, even those located at its
furthest border, and so deserving of aid, and we therefore recommend
the passage of the bill with amendments.
After the word "and" in the title insert the words " to aid in."
After the word "of" in line seven, insert the words "deepening and
enlarging the canal."
After the word " and" in line seven, strike out the words "so forth"
and insert the word " appurtenances."
After the word "years" in line five, in the sepond section, strike out
the words " or while" and insert the word "provided."
After the word "only " in line eleven, add the following : " Provided,
farther, that the State of New York shall maintain the said canal in its
current ordinary expenses of repairs and operating the same, except as
hereinbefore provided."
O