William Patrick Anderson

“ The population of the states and provinces bordering on the Great Lakes is estimated to be over 35,000,000. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, south of lake Erie, there are large coal-fields. Surrounding lake Michigan and west of lake Superior are vast grain-growing plains, and the prairies of the Canadian north-west are rapidly increasing the area and quantity of wheat grown; while both north and south of lake Superior are the most extensive iron mines in the world, from which 35 million tons of ore were shipped in 1906. ”

“ The importance to Canada of the river St Lawrence as a national trade route cannot be over-estimated. As a natural highway between all points west of the Maritime Provinces and Europe it is unique in permitting ocean traffic to penetrate 1000 m. into the heart of a country. It is, moreover, the shortest freight route from the Great Lakes to Europe. From Buffalo impounding reservoirs for the gradual
distribution of all overflows in the west. At Montreal, soon after the river freezes over each winter, there is a local rise of about IO ft. ”

“ Wheat from the Canadian north-west is distributed from Fort William and Port Arthur to railway terminals on Georgian Bay, to Buffalo, and to Port Colborne for trans-shipment to canal barges for Montreal, and coal is distributed from lake Erie to all western points. The large shipping trade is assisted by both governments by a system of aids to navigation that mark every channel and danger. There are also life-saving stations at all dangerous points. ”

“ Of passenger boats the largest are 380 ft. long by 44 ft. beam, having a speed of over 20 m. an hour, making the round trip between Buffalo and Chicago 1800 m., or Buffalo and Duluth 2000 m., every week. They carry no freight. The Canadian Pacific railway runs a line of fine Tyne-built passenger and freight steamers between Owen Sound and Fort William, and these two lines equal in accommodation transatlantic passenger steamers. On lake Michigan many fine passenger boats run out of Chicago, and on lake Ontario there are several large and fast Canadian steamers on routes radiating from Toronto. ”

“ From Quebec to Liverpool by Cape Race is 2801 nautical miles, while the route by Belle Isle, more nearly a great circle course, usually taken between July and October, is only 2633 nautical miles. On the other hand the St Lawrence is not open throughout the year; the average time between the arrival of the first vessel at Montreal from sea and the departure of the last ocean vessel is seven months. From Kingston to Quebec the river freeges over every winter, except at points where the current is rapid. Below Quebec, although there is heavy border ice, the river never freezes over. ”

“ It empties into lake Erie through the river St Clair, lake St Clair and the river Detroit. On these connecting waters are several important manufacturing and shipping towns, and through this chain passes nearly all the traffic of the lakes, both that to and from lake Michigan ports, and also that of lake Superior. The tonnage of a single short season of navigation exceeds in the aggregate 60,000,000 tons. Extensive dredging and embankment works have been carried on by the United States government in lake St Clair and the river Detroit, and a 20–ft. ”

“ The Great Lakes serve as In the stretch between Montreal and Quebec the ship channel, begun by the Montreal Harbour Commissioners, has been assumed by the Dominion government as a national work, and improvements, involving extensive dredging, have been undertaken with the aim of securing everywhere a minimum depth of 30 ft. with a minimum width of 450 ft. The whole river from Kingston to the sea is well supplied with aids to navigation. ”

“ To enter the lake from river St Clair two channels have been provided, with retaining walls of cribwork, one for upward, the other for downward bound vessels. Much dredging has also been necessary at the outlet of the lake into river Detroit. A critical point in that river is at Limekiln crossing, a cut dredged through limestone rock above the Canadian town of Amherstburg. The normal depth here before improvement was 121/2-15 ft.; by a project of 1902 a channel 600 ft. wide and 21 ft. deep was planned; there are separate channels for up- and down-bound vessels. ”

“ The tidal undulation, in passing through the gulf, expands so widely as to be almost inappreciable in places, as, for example, at the Magdalen Islands, in the middle of the gulf, where the range amounts to about 3 ft.'at springs, becoming effaced at neaps. ”

“ Montreal, at the head of ocean navigation, the largest city in Canada, is an important distributing centre for all points in western Canada, and enjoys an extensive shipping trade with the United Kingdom, the sea-going shipping exceeding 1, 500,000 tons, and the inland shipping approximating 2,000,000 tons, annually. Quebec is the summer port used by the largest steamers in the Canadian trade. There are numerous flourishing towns on both banks of the river, from' Kingston, a. ”

“ The pressure of business since that time, aided possibly by some slight climatic modification, has extended the season, so that the average date of opening is now ten days earlier and of closing twelve days later. ”

“ In the dredged portions lights are arranged in pai rs of leading lights on foundations sufficiently high and solid to resist the pressure of ice movement, and there is an elaborate system of fog alarms, gas-lighted and other buoys, as well as telegraphic, wireless and telephonic communication, storm signal, weather and ice reporting stations and a life-saving service. ”

“ An international deep-waterway commission exists for the consideration of this question, and army engineers appointed by the United States government have worked on the problem. [3] Wing dams in the rivers St Mary and Niagara, to retard the discharges, have been proposed as remedial measures. The Great Lakes are practically tideless, though some observers claim to find true tidal pulsations, said to amount to 31/2 in. ”