The Strafford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1913. CANADIAN WATERWAYS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5, 6 September 1913, Page 4

The Strafford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1913. CANADIAN WATERWAYS.

/The improvement of Canada's waterways to tlic sea is a project which, it is stated, is to he vigorously proceeded nidi, and recently two Commissioners appointed Ity the Giovernment visited Panama to inspect the progress of the great Canal undertaking, and to study the methods of construction. Reports from Ottawa state that they r 'turned to Canada impressed not onl.v with the work being done on the Isthmus of Panama, but encouraged in the direction of a forward policy with! respect to Canadian waterways. The Welland Canal, connecting Lake Erie! I with Lake Ontario so as to pass the! Niagara Falls,, is to bo deepened. The Welland Canal is about twenty-four miles long, and was opened in IS2-1. It is remarkable for its great lift, 3271 feet in all; accomplished by means ofj t'.vcpty-fivo locks. The present width of 150 feet is to be increased to 200, feet, and the depth increased from 14 to :'.r, feet, with 30 feet at the locks,' so that ocean boats of moderae size v. ill be able to pass up the Croat Lakes, ultimately as far as Fort "William, at the Canadian head of Lako Superior,!

where the bulk of the grain fro.n Ui3 | _ West is transferred from rail to i steamer. It is also proposed to re- ( £ duco the number of locks to seven, ; wh ; ch will materially reduce tho time! ]

required For the passage of the canal, > and correspondingly increase its cap'.c-. ilv. Not content with deepening the Wclland Canal, the construction of a ship canal connecting Georgian Bay

on Lake Huron with Montreal, andj thus with the sea, is understood to he: n scheme finding favor, and the Go-j vernment has been surveying the district it is proposed to traverse for some four years and has issued a report on the project. The aim of the

proposed Georgian Hay Ship Canal scheme : -' to reduce the distance from Fort William to Montreal from 1,220 m iles to 9-!0 miles, comparing Canadian water routes only. The saving in distance between Manchester 01 Liverpool and Fort William will thus he 2«0 miles; or, if New York is taken as the shipping port, about SOU miles

in a total of rather less than _ BUUtf miles The proposed canal will b< 440 miles long, which is longer-thai the famous Erie Canal between Buffalo on Take Erie and Troy on the Hudson River in the United States. The Erie ■ Canal is not, however, suitable for

, ocean steamers. ■ The construction oi a ship canal 440 miles long is a stu- ■ pendous undertaking even when, as i in tho present case, advantage will hi taken of existing waterways to partially form the canal for all but 28 oi ■ ;M miles. The existing waterways Wll have to he deepened, widened and controlled by dams and locks where necessary, and provision will be requir cd for an extra water supply at the . summit level cast of Lake Jsipissing

when traffic becomes large. The general poliov of construction proposed if to raise existing water-levels by meanf

of dams and to control the flow and changes in levels by means of locks. Thus, deepening by cutting will be avoided as far as possible, so as tr minimise expense. In a thickly popu-

lated country this policy would inI volve extremely heavy claims for

< damages, but in Northern Ontario I through which the canal will pass, th(

population is still scanty, and it if= expected that this item of expense will be low. Hie undertaking appears a very big one, but with Canada's.

enormous advance of late years it is certainly not outside the bounds of possibility.