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DESCRIPTION OF WATER-WAY BETWEEN LAKES HURON AND ERIE.

Of the great railroad thoroughfares which traverse the continent, from east to west, one of the most important routes lies across the peninsula of Upper Canada.

The valley of the Hudson River, by piercing the Alleghany Mountains, continuous for nearly a thousand miles, affords to this route facilities for reaching the sea-coast not enjoyed by others, but the delay and expense of crossing the channel under consideration detracts to some extent from the superiority which its railroads possess by reason of their low grades.

The strait or channel through which the waters of the upper lakes discharge themselves in Lake Erie is designated at its origin as the Saint Clair River.

On leaving Lake Huron, the opposite banks are not more than 800 feet distant, but the passage soon assumes its ordinary breadth, which may be estimated at 700 yards. Twenty-seven miles below Lake Huron it separates into a delta, 20 miles wide, and enters Lake Saint Clair, a shallow sheet of water, through no less than eight independent outlets, one of which has been artificially deepened and protected by wooden cribs.

From the head of the delta to this canal the water way measures 13 miles, and the distance across the lake is about 17 miles. Here the waters are again contracted, and, under the name of the Detroit River, flows with a gentle current past the city of the same name, which is located on its right bank, seven miles from its origin. Near its upper and lower course, two or three small islands divide the channel; but, throughout its length, the general width of the main channel may be taken as 2,000 feet.

The total length of the navigable course of Detroit River is 28 miles, and of the whole of the strait, from Lake Huron to Lake Erie, about 85 miles. Its general direction is 30° west of south, and the accompanying tables will show in further detail the dimensions and characteristics of those locations at which the railroad companies might bridge the stream, and of other important points in the channel.

It will thus appear that it affords throughout its whole extent the finest facilities for the passage of vessels.

The average width of the channel of the Saint Clair River, which would be navigable for boats of 16 feet draught, may be computed at 2,000 feet, with an average depth of 36 feet, and that of the Detroit River at about the same width, but with less depth in its lower course.

The only points at which any serious difficulties to navigation exist are at the Lime Kilns, below Stony Island, and in the old channel at Saint Clair Flats. The former lies partly in Canadian waters, and though vessels sometime strike in passing, yet the difficulty might be obviated at small expense. But at the latter channel the depth is about 14 feet, and vessels of that draught are confined in their course to a passage of about 150 feet width.

So narrow a water-way was an injury to navigation; and the United States Government has been constructing, at the expense of half a mil lion dollars, an artificial channel, or canal, which gives a clear opening of 300 feet for vessels of13 feet draught, and this depth is now being increased to 16 feet.

TABLE NO. I.-Showing the dimensions of Detroit and Saint Clair Rivers at important points, the figures marked thus * being approximate.

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The channel is usually free from fogs, except occasionally in the spring. The prevailing winds are from the southwest, though it fre quently blows with violence from all points of the compass. It is scarcely affected by tides, and the amount changes in water-level rarely exceed two feet; but during the winter season it is much obstructed by ice, and at some points is completly frozen over for several weeks.

It is usually in the month of December that the shallow waters of Lake Saint Clair and the west end of Lake Erie begin to freeze over, and the floating ice which soon appears in the rivers is so dammed up by this impediment that the blockade gradually extends to their upper courses, and it has been stated by the pilots and ferrymen that, although the floating cakes range in thickness only from eight to sixteen inches, the accumulated mass often covers considerable areas to the depth of five or six feet in the severest weather.

But at the head of Saint Clair River the influx of ice is stopped by the blockade at the foot of Lake Huron, and the rapid current keeps the passage quite open in all seasons of the year.

Of the value to the country of the water-way between Lakes Huron and Erie, now described, no estimate can be made. It is a part of a magnificent channel for commerce, stretching uninterruptedly from Chicago to Buffalo, a distance of 888 miles; or, if we include the shipcanals in connection with it, from Ogdensburgh to Da Luth, a distance of 1,228 miles; and to its existence is due, in a large degree, the growth and wealth of the great Northwest.

AMOUNT AND CHARACTER OF NAVIGATION ON THIS WATER-WAY.

If the tonnage of entries and clearances reported by the several customs districts be taken to measure the amount of navigation, it will appear from the Tables II and III below, that that of the northern lakes is 40 per cent. of the total coastwise and foreign trade of the country; that one-sixth of the vessels in the country are engaged in it; and that in the year more trips are made on these lakes than in all the rest of the country. To maintain and foster this commerce, over a million dollars are annually appropriated by the General Government for the improvement of its harbors and water-ways.

The strait just described is the key to all these lakes, and it will be seen below, from Tables III and IV that during the summer, if July be taken as an average month, that more than one-half of the lake commerce, and nearly one-third of all in the United States, passes through it and during these months; about three times as many passing vessels have been observed here during the last season as the sum total of the entrances and clearances of the port of New York for the same time in 1872.

During the eight months of navigation, usually from April to December, 27,000 vessels annually pass this channel, and of this number more than 20,000 carry masts, varying in height from 80 to 160 feet.

Most of the sailing-vessels are towed in their passage by large and powerful tugs, taking from one to ten vessels at a time, and the largest tows sometimes exceed three-fourths of a mile in length; but the average number would be between two and three vessels to each tow, making the total number of separate passages over 15,000 per year.

The details of this method of navigation are given in Table VI; while Table VII shows the relative number of the different classes of vessels as well as the average and maximum dimensions of each class, and No. X the proportion of the different kinds of cargo for the year 1872; this being taken from the statement of Messrs. Bissell and Hackett, submitted herewith.

*

In all these tables the figures marked thus are taken from the report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics for 1872.

TABLE No. II.-Showing the number of United States merchant vessels and amount of ton nage, geographically classified.

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TABLE NO. III.-For comparing the number of trips coastwise or to foreign countries made by all ressels, of whatever nationality, throughout the country, with those which pass through Saint Clair Flats in the same length of time.

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NOTE. The figures for the United States and northern lakes, are obtained by adding together the number entered and cleared in the foreign and cleared in the coastwise trade.

Number of vessels entered and cleared at port of New York, 1872, foreign and coastwise: Number, 18,840; tonnage, 11,803,958.

TABLE No. IV.-Showing the ratio of the commerce under consideration to that of several

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TABLE NO. V.-Showing the relative importance in tonnage in summer months of lake com

merce and other commerce.

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TABLE NO. VI.-Showing the number of ressels that passed different points of the channel in

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39

If we take the whole number of vessels which passed the flats in 1872, and divide by the number from July 1 to November 25, it gives as the ratio to be added to those observed in 1873 to express the total for this season, which may therefore be computed at 27,109. The number counted by the light-keeper at Port Huron for the previous year is given at 26,381 for the day-time only, to which he adds 25 per cent. for those passing at night.

The first column is from observers in employ of Canada Southern Railway.

The second and third columns are from those in the employ of the board of engineers, and are considered reliable, but may be somewhat too small, since some vessels passing at night may not have been seen. The fourth and fifth columns are from count by the custodian of the Saint Clair Flats Ship-Canal, who counted only the larger class of vessels passing between daylight and 10 p. m.

TABLE NO. VII.-Showing the number of vessels of each class which passed Saint Clair Flats in 1873, taken from actual count, from July 1 to November 25, with 39 per cent, added in second line, as in Table VI, to represent the total number for the year.

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