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diff --git a/31383.txt b/31383.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5463faf --- /dev/null +++ b/31383.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2879 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Industrial Canal and Inner Harbor of +New Orleans, by Thomas Ewing Dabney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Industrial Canal and Inner Harbor of New Orleans + History, Description and Economic Aspects of Giant Facility + Created to Encourage Industrial Expansion and Develop + Commerce + +Author: Thomas Ewing Dabney + +Release Date: February 25, 2010 [EBook #31383] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDUSTRIAL CANAL *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: WILLIAM O. HUDSON +President, Board of Commissioners of Port of New Orleans] + + + + +FOREWORD. + + +Oh the mind of man! Frail, untrustworthy, perishable--yet able to stand +unlimited agony, cope with the greatest forces of Nature and build +against a thousand years. Passion can blind it--yet it can read in +infinity the difference between right and wrong. Alcohol can unsettle +it--yet it can create a poem or a harmony or a philosophy that is +immortal. A flower pot falling out of a window can destroy it--yet it +can move mountains. + +If Man had a tool that was as frail as his mind, he would fear to use +it. He would not trust himself on a plank so liable to crack. He would +not venture into a boat so liable to go to pieces. He would not drive a +tack with a hammer, the head of which is so liable to fly off. + +But Man knows that what the mind can conceive, that can he execute. So +Man sits in his room and plans the things the world thought impossible. +From the known he dares the unknown. He covers paper with figures, +conjures forth a blue print, and sends an army of workmen against the +forces of Nature. If his mind blundered, he would waste millions in +money and perhaps destroy thousands of lives. But Man can trust his +mind; fragile though it is, he knows it can bear the strain of any task +put upon it. + +All over the world there is the proof: in the heavens above, and in the +waters under the earth. And nowhere has Man won a greater triumph over +unspeakable odds than in New Orleans, in the dredging of a canal +through buried forests 18,000 years old, the creation of an underground +river, and the building of a lock that was thought impossible. + + + + +The Industrial Canal +and Inner Harbor of New Orleans + + +History, Description and Economic Aspects of Giant +Facility Created to Encourage Industrial +Expansion and Develop Commerce + + + +By Thomas Ewing Dabney + + + +Published by +Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans +Second Port U. S. A. +May, 1921 + +(Copyright, 1921, by Thomas Ewing Dabney). + + + + +CONTENTS + + +FOREWORD 2 + +THE NEED RECOGNIZED FOR A CENTURY 5 + +NEW ORLEANS DECIDES TO BUILD CANAL 8 + +SMALL CANAL FIRST PLANNED 13 + +THE DIRT BEGINS TO FLY 17 + +CANAL PLANS EXPANDED 22 + +DIGGING THE DITCH 27 + +OVERWHELMING ENDORSEMENT BY NEW ORLEANS 31 + +SIPHON AND BRIDGES 36 + +THE REMARKABLE LOCK 40 + +NEW CHANNEL TO THE GULF 48 + +WHY GOVERNMENT SHOULD OPERATE CANAL 54 + +ECONOMIC ASPECT OF CANAL 60 + +CONSTRUCTION COSTS AND CONTRACTORS 66 + +OTHER PORT FACILITIES 70 + +COMPARISON OF DISTANCES BETWEEN NEW ORLEANS AND THE +PRINCIPAL CITIES AND PORTS OF THE WORLD 78 + + + + +THE NEED RECOGNIZED FOR A CENTURY. + + +There is a map in the possession of T. P. Thompson of New Orleans, who +has a notable collection of books and documents on the early history of +this city, dated March 1, 1827, and drawn by Captain W. T. Poussin, +topographical engineer, showing the route of a proposed canal to +connect the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, curiously near +the site finally chosen for that great enterprise nearly a hundred +years later. + +New Orleans then was a mere huddle of buildings around Jackson Square; +but with the purchase of the Louisiana territory from France, and the +great influx of American enterprise that characterized the first +quarter of the last century, development was working like yeast, and it +was foreseen that New Orleans' future depended largely upon connecting +the two waterways mentioned--the river, that drains the commerce of the +Mississippi Valley, at our front door, and the lake, with its short-cut +to the sea and the commerce of the world, at the back. + +When the Carondelet canal, now known as the Old Basin Canal, was begun +in 1794, the plan was to extend it to the river. It was also planned to +connect the New Basin Canal, begun in 1833, with the Mississippi. This +was, in fact, one of the big questions of the period. That the work was +not put through was due more to the lack of machinery than of +enterprise. + +During the rest of the century, the proposal bobbed up at frequent +intervals, and the small Lake Borgne canal was finally shoved through +from the Mississippi to Lake Borgne, which is a bay of Lake +Pontchartrain. + +The difference between these early proposals and the plan for the +Industrial Canal and Inner Harbor that was finally adopted, is that the +purpose in the former case was simply to develop a waterway for +handling freight, whereas the object of New Orleans' great facility, +now nearing completion, is to create industrial development. + +Under the law of Louisiana, inherited from the Spanish and French +regimes, river frontage can not be sold or leased to private +enterprise. This law prevents port facilities being sewed up by selfish +interests and insures a fair deal for all shipping lines, new ones as +well as old, with a consequent development of foreign trade; and port +officials, at harbors that are under private monopoly, would give a +pretty if the Louisiana system could be established there. + +But there is no law, however good, that meets all conditions, and a +number of private enterprises--warehouses and factories--have +undoubtedly been kept out of New Orleans because they could not secure +water frontage. + +An artificial waterway, capable of indefinite expansion, on whose banks +private enterprise could buy or lease, for a long period of time, the +land for erecting its buildings and plants, without putting in jeopardy +the commercial development of the port; a waterway that would +co-ordinate river, rail and maritime facilities most economically, and +lend itself to the development of a "free port" when the United States +finally adopts that requisite to a world commerce--that was the +recognized need of New Orleans when the proposal for connecting the two +waterways came to the fore in the opening years of the present century. +The Progressive Union, later the Association of Commerce, took a +leading part in the propaganda; it was assisted by other public bodies, +and forward-looking men, who gradually wore away the opposition with +which is received every attempt to do something that grandfather didn't +do. + +And on July 9, 1914, the legislature of Louisiana passed Act No. 244, +authorizing the Commission Council of New Orleans to determine the +site, and the Board of Port Commissioners of Louisiana, or Dock Board, +as it is more commonly called, to build the Industrial Canal. + +The act gave the board a right to expropriate all property necessary +for the purpose, to build the "necessary locks, slips, laterals, basins +and appurtenances * * * in aid of commerce," and to issue an unlimited +amount in bonds "against the real estate and canal and locks and other +improvements * * * to be paid out of the net receipts of said canal and +appurtenances thereof, after the payment of operating expenses * * * +(and) to fix charges for tolls in said canal." + +This was submitted to a vote of the people at the regular election in +November of that year, and became part of the constitution. + +To avoid the complication of a second mortgage on the property, the +Dock Board subsequently (ordinance of June 29, 1918) set a limit on the +total bond issue. To enable the development that was then seen to be +dimly possible, it set this limit high--at $25,000,000. + + + + +NEW ORLEANS DECIDES TO BUILD CANAL. + + +The canal for which the legislature made provision in 1914 bears about +the relation to the one that was finally built as the acorn does to the +oak. It was to be a mere barge canal that might ultimately be enlarged +to a ship canal. Its cost was estimated at $2,400,000, which was less +than the cost of digging the New Basin canal nearly a century before, +which was a great deal smaller and ran but half way between the lake +and river. + +The panic of the early days of the World War shoved even this modest +plan to one side, and it was not until the next year that enthusiasm +caught its second wind. Then the leading men and the press of the city +put themselves behind the project once more. + +As the New Orleans Item said, October 22, 1915, "the lack of that canal +has already proven to have cost the city much in trade and developed +industry." + +Commenting on the "astonishing exhibition of intelligent public spirit" +in New Orleans, the Chicago Tribune said that "no other city in or near +the Mississippi Valley, including Chicago, has shown such an awakening +to the possibilities and rearrangements that are following the cutting +of the Panama canal. * * * The awakening started with the talk of the +new canal." + +Other papers throughout the country made similar expressions. + +In 1915 the engineering firm of Ford, Bacon & Davis made a preliminary +survey of conditions and how development would be affected by the +canal. At about the same time the Illinois legislature voted to spend +$5,000,000 to construct a deep water canal, giving Chicago water +connection with the Mississippi River; and the New Orleans Item linked +the two projects when it said, January 16, 1916, "the Illinois-Lake +Michigan Canal and the New Orleans Industrial Canal are complementary +links in a new system of waterways connecting the upper Valley through +the Mississippi River and New Orleans with the Gulf and the Panama +Canal. This system again gives the differential to the Valley cities in +trade with the markets of the Orient, our own west coast, and South +America." + +Commodore Ernest Lee Jahncke, president of the Association of Commerce, +issued a statement to the press January 16, 1916, declaring that the +prospect of the canal "brightened the whole business future of this +city and the Mississippi Valley"; the New Orleans Real Estate Board and +the Auction Exchange, in a joint meeting, urged its speedy building; +and Governor Luther E. Hall, in a formal statement to the press January +16, 1916, gave his endorsement to the construction of the canal "long +sought by many commercial interests of New Orleans," and said that work +would probably begin in "three months." + +In August, 1916, the governor dismissed the Dock Board and appointed a +new one. + +In the confusion attending the reorganization the canal project was +again dropped. The New Orleans American, on August 28, 1916, attempted +to revive it, but the effort fell flat, and the plan laid on ice until +1918. + +America had in the meantime thrown its hat into the ring, and the cry +was going up for ships, more ships, and still more ships. National +patriotism succeeded where civic effort had failed. New Orleans brought +out its Industrial Canal project to help the country build the famous +"bridge of boats." + +But this new phase of the plan was far from the canal that was finally +built. In fact, the accomplishment of this project has shown a +remarkable development with the passing years, reminding one of the +growth of the trivial hopes of the boy into the mighty achievement of +the man. + +Ships could not be built on the Mississippi River. The twenty-foot +range in the water level would require the ways to make a long slope +into the current, a work of prohibitive expense, and as nearly +impossible from an engineering standpoint as anything can be. + +Early in 1918 a committee of representative Orleanians began to study +the situation. This was known as the City Shipbuilding Committee. It +comprised Mayor Behrman, O. S. Morris, president of the Association of +Commerce; Walter Parker, manager of that body; Arthur McGuirk, special +counsel of the Dock Board; R. S. Hecht, president of the Hibernia Bank; +Dr. Paul H. Saunders, president of the Canal-Commercial Bank; J. D. +O'Keefe, vice-president of the Whitney-Central Bank; J. K. Newman, +financier; G. G. Earl, superintendent of the Sewerage and Water Board; +Hampton Reynolds, contractor; D. D. Moore, James M. Thompson and J. +Walker Ross, of the Times-Picayune, Item and States, respectively. + +On February 10, 1918, this committee laid the plans for an industrial +basin, connected with the river by a lock, and ultimately to be +connected with the lake by a small barge canal. Ships could be built on +the banks of this basin, the water in which would have a fixed level. + +Mr. Hecht, and Arthur McGuirk, special counsel of the Dock Board, +devised the plan by which the project could be financed. The Dock Board +would issue long-term bonds, and build the necessary levees with the +material excavated from the canal. + +The committee's formal statement summarized the public need of this +facility as follows: + +"1. It will provide practical, convenient and fixed-level water-front +sites for ship and boat building and repair plants, for industries and +commercial enterprises requiring water frontage. + +"2. It will provide opportunities for all enterprises requiring +particular facilities on water frontage to create such facilities. + +"3. It will permit the complete co-ordination, in the City of New +Orleans, of the traffic of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, +of the Intracoastal Canal, the railroads and the sea, under the most +convenient and satisfactory conditions. + +"4. In connection with the publicly-owned facilities on the river +front, it will give New Orleans all the port and harbor advantages +enjoyed by Amsterdam with its canal system, Rotterdam and Antwerp with +their joint river and ocean facilities; Hamburg with its free port, and +Liverpool with its capacity as a market deposit. + +"5. It will give New Orleans a fixed-level, well protected harbor. + +"6. It will serve the purposes of the Intracoastal Canal and increase +the benefits to accrue to New Orleans from that canal. + +"7. In connection with revived commercial use of the inland waterways +upon which the federal government is now determined, it will open the +way for an easy solution of the problem of handling, housing and +interchange of water-borne commerce, and of the development of +facilities for the storage of commodities between the period of +production and consumption. + +"8. It will prove an important facility in the equipment of New Orleans +to meet the new competition the enlarged Erie Canal will create. The +original Erie Canal harmed New Orleans because Mississippi River boat +lines could not build their own terminal and housing facilities at New +Orleans." + +[Illustration: W. A. KERNAGHAN Vice-President +RENE CLERC Secretary +ALBERT MACKIE +HUGH McCLOSKEY +COMMISSIONERS +Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans] + +This meeting made industrial history in New Orleans. The Hecht plan was +studied by lawyers and financiers and declared feasible. Mr. Hecht +summarized the confidence of the far-visioned men in the new New +Orleans when he declared in a public interview: "I feel there is +absolutely nothing to prevent the immediate realization of New Orleans' +long dream of becoming a great industrial and commercial center and +having great shipbuilding plants located within the city limits." + +And the Item said, in commenting on the undertaking (February 17, +1918): "Millions of dollars of capital will be ready to engage in +shipbuilding in New Orleans the moment that piledrivers and steam +shovels are set to work on the shiplock and navigation canal." + +It was a time of great industrial excitement. Victory was at last in +the grasp of New Orleans. The eyes of the country were on New Orleans. +The cry was, "Full Speed Ahead!" + + + + +SMALL CANAL FIRST PLANNED. + + +The plan, at this time, was to have a lock-sill only 16 or 18 feet +deep. This would be sufficient to allow empty ships to enter or leave +the canal, but not loaded. The mere building of ships was thus the +principal thought, despite the rhetoric on commercial and industrial +possibilities. Perhaps the leaders who were beating the project into +shape were themselves afraid to think in the millions necessary to do +the work to which New Orleans finally dedicated itself; perhaps they +realized that the figure would stagger the minds of the people and +defeat the undertaking, if they were not gradually educated up to the +mark. + +Meeting on February 15, 1918, the Dock Board resolved unanimously to +put the plan through, if it proved feasible. W. B. Thompson was +president of the board; the other members were Dr. E. S. Kelly, Thomas +J. Kelly, B. B. Hans and O. P. Geren. Later, E. E. Lafaye took Mr. +Kelly's place on the board. + +The Public Belt Railroad board had in the meantime (February 13) voted +to pay the Dock Board $50,000 a year; and the Levee Board (February 14) +to give $125,000 a year. As the plans were increased, the Levee Board +later increased its bit to $925,000. + +Mayor Behrman, Arthur McGuirk and R. S. Hecht laid the proposition +before both bodies. Action was unanimous. Colonel J. D. Hill, speaking +for the Belt Railroad Board, said: "I am glad that at last there has +been outlined a plan which seemingly makes it possible to construct the +canal. It will not only result in the eventual construction of a big +fleet of ships, but will prepare the way for a tremendous industrial +activity in other lines. The consensus has been that a navigation canal +is needed to induce large manufacturers, importers and exporters to +establish their factories and warehouses here. This project will be the +opening wedge." + +Members of the Public Belt Board voting, besides Colonel Hill and Mayor +Behrman (ex-officio) were Ginder Abbott, Arthur Simpson, John H. +Murphy, W. B. Bloomfield, Adam Lorch, George P. Thompson, Thomas F. +Cunningham, Victor Lambou, Edgar B. Stern and Sam Segari. + +Members of the Levee Board voting were: William McL. Fayssoux, +president, Thomas Killeen, Thomas Smith, John F. Muller, James P. +Williams, John P. Vezien. + +W. B. Thompson, president, put the matter before the Dock Board. "The +idea" he said, according to the minutes of the meeting of February 15, +1918, "had always received his approval, and he thought that the mayor +would recall that in the preparation, he with the city attorney, had a +very considerable part in framing the same, and he had taken an active +interest in the matter; he had always been in favor of the Industrial +Canal, and he believed in the possibility of development of New Orleans +through this, as a terminus; and it was entirely logical that the Dock +Board should do all that may lie within its power to bring about the +successful consummation of this project; the only doubt in his mind +being as to the feasibility of the project from the financial +standpoint. It seems now, however, that a plan has been devised, +through efforts of the mayor and Mr. Hecht, which gives every promise +of success. The co-operation of the city on behalf of the Public Belt +Railroad, and of the Levee Board, apparently removed the difficulties +in respect to the financial end. The Dock Board welcomes the assistance +and co-operation of the city and of the Levee Board, but inasmuch as +these boards are merely contributing certain amounts per year, and +whereas the Dock Board is the obligor in respect of the principal of +the bond issue, it devolves upon the Dock Board to use great caution +before committing itself to any particular plan in a matter which so +vitally affects the credit of the Dock Board, the city of New Orleans +and the Levee Board. President Thompson further stated that he +unhesitatingly endorsed the project and that he was sure that every +member of the board agreed, and the board would be glad to give prompt +consideration to the particular plan in question and reach some +conclusion which will insure the realization of this great project." + +To estimate the probable cost of the canal, Mayor Behrman appointed the +following committee of engineers: W. J. Hardee, city engineer; A. F. +Barclay, engineer of the Public Belt Railroad; George G. Earl, +superintendent of the Sewerage & Water Board; C. T. Rayner, Jr., +engineer of the Levee Board and Hampton Reynolds, contractor. + +On February 22, the committee reported that, not counting real estate, +a canal could be built for $2,626,876. This estimate called for a lock +600 feet long, 70 feet wide, and 18 feet deep, and a barge canal to the +lake. The cost of constructing the lock was put at $1,370,660, and of +digging the canal $1,256,216. + +This report was first received by a special committee composed of Mayor +Behrman, W. B. Thompson, Col. J. B. Hill, R. S. Hecht and Major W. McL. +Fayssoux. This committee referred it to the Dock Board, which adopted +it February 22. + +Financial arrangements were completed at this same meeting. In order to +have sufficient to pay for the land which would have to be expropriated +for the canal, and to give some leeway, it was decided to issue bonds +for $3,500,000, with an option of floating $1,000,000 more within 30 +days. A financial syndicate, consisting of the Hibernia, Interstate and +Whitney-Central banks of New Orleans, the William R. Compton Investment +Company of St. Louis, and the Halsey, Stuart Company of Chicago, agreed +to take the entire issue. The bonds were to run 40 years and begin to +mature serially after 10 years. They were to bear 5 per cent interest, +and to be sold at 95. They would be secured by a mortgage on the real +estate of the canal site, and by the taxing powers of the state, for +they were a recognized state obligation, as Arthur McGuirk, special +counsel of the Dock Board, pointed out in his opinion of July 10, 1918. + +He added: "I am likewise of opinion that said bonds are unaffected by +any limitations upon the state debt, or upon the rate of taxation for +public purposes; that the said bonds are entitled to be paid out of the +general funds, or by the exercise of the power of taxation insofar as +the revenues, funds or property preferentially pledged or mortgaged to +secure said issue may fail, or be insufficient, to pay the same." + +The following sat with the Dock Board and its attorneys at the meeting +of February 22: Mayor Behrman, J. D. Hill of the Public Belt Railroad, +R. S. Hecht, president of the Hibernia Bank, J. D. O'Keefe, +vice-president of the Whitney-Central Bank, C. G. Reeves, +vice-president of the Interstate Bank, W. R. Compton of the Compton +Investment Company, H. L. Stuart of Halsey, Stuart and Company, W. J. +Hardee, city engineer, and Hampton Reynolds, contractor. + +The selection of the site was left, by the state law, to the commission +council. There were a number of possible routes, and the selection was +made with the utmost secrecy to prevent real estate profiteering. At +first the area bounded by France and Reynes streets was chosen. This +was on February 28. On May 9, however, the site was changed to the area +bounded by France and Lizardi streets, north from the Mississippi River +to Florida Walk, thence to Lake Pontchartrain. This is a virtually +uninhabited region in the Third District, through the old Ursulines +tract. The site chosen for expropriation is five and a third miles long +by 2,200 feet wide, 897 acres. + +For this land the Dock Board paid $1,493,532.24, which is at the rate +of $1,665 an acre. The valuation was reached by expropriation +proceedings. + +In the meantime, Commodore Ernest Lee Jahncke had asked to be allotted +the first site on the Industrial Canal, and Doullut & Williams for the +second. Both were for shipyards. The Foundation Company, which was +operating a number of shipyards in various parts of the country, sent +an engineer here to see if it would be feasible for the concern to +build a shipyard here. + +Even before the piledrivers and dredges were on the job, the millions +were being counted for investment in the city whose remarkable +enterprise had won the admiration of the country. + + + + +THE DIRT BEGINS TO FLY. + + +Until the money for the bond issue should be available, the Hibernia +Bank authorized the Dock Board to draw against it on open account. It +only remained, then, to secure the authorization of the Capital Issues +Committee of the Federal Reserve Board, which controlled all bond +issues during the World War, to start the work. The grounds on which +the authorization was requested summarize conditions that make possible +a great industrial development in New Orleans, and will stand quoting. +They are: + +"(a) Semi-tropical conditions, which make it feasible to work every day +and night in the year; + +"(b) Admirable housing conditions which render it feasible for labor to +live under most sanitary conditions in houses closely proximate to both +the plants and the city, with sewerage and water connections, and with +street car transportation facilities to and from the plants and to and +from the amusement centers of the city; + +"(c) Ample labor supply and satisfactory labor conditions; + +"(d) Proximity to timber, steel and coal sources of supply with all +water as well as rail transportation facilities thereon; + +"(e) State control of the canal facilities and operation of the same, +not for profit, but for the economical and expeditious development of +shipbuilding." + +Two shipyards were established on the canal. They poured millions of +dollars into New Orleans. The tremendous tonnage built in the United +States during the war, and the slump in foreign trade that followed the +armistice, due to financial conditions abroad, have caused many +shipyards throughout the United States to close down, among them one of +these at New Orleans. The other one is now finishing its war contracts, +and will be more or less inactive until the demands of the American +Merchant Marine and business in general open up again. If they are not +used for shipbuilding, they can be used for ship repairing or building +barges. And it is obvious that the same conditions that made ship +building an economic possibility, will encourage other industrial +production, especially production that requires the co-ordination of +river, rail and maritime facilities. The Canal means millions of new +money to New Orleans, as its proponents said it would. + +On March 12, the authorization of the Capital Issues Committee was +given. On March 15, the George W. Goethals Company, Inc., was retained +as consulting engineers on the big job. The services of this company +were secured as much for its engineering skill, proven by its work on +the Panama Canal, as for the prestige of its name. The Goethals +Company, co-operating with the engineers of the Dock Board, which did +the work, designed the famous lock and directed the entire job. George +M. Wells, vice-president of the firm, was put in active charge of the +work. General Goethals made occasional visits of supervision. + +The dirt began to fly on June 6, 1918. + +Before coming to New Orleans to take up his work, Mr. Wells, acting +upon instructions of the Dock Board, called at the office of the +Foundation Company in New York, whose engineer had already studied the +possibilities of establishing a shipyard on the canal, and guaranteed +an outlet to the sea by the time its vessels should be finished. + +The river end of the site chosen for the canal consisted of low and +flat meadow land. There were a few houses helter-skeltered about, like +blocks in a nursery, but the principal signs of human life were the +cows that grazed where the grazing was good, and sought refuge from the +noonday beams of the sun under the occasional oaks that had strayed out +into the open and didn't know how to get back. The middle of the +site--several miles in extent--was a gray cypress swamp, with five or +six hundred trees to the acre, and always awash. The lake end was +"trembling prairie" marsh land subject to tidal overflow and very soft. + +[Illustration: N. O. ARMY SUPPLY BASE] + +[Illustration: BUILDING LAKE ENTRANCE] + +With dredges, spades, mechanical excavators, piledrivers and dynamite +the work opened. + +A great force of men began to throw up by hand, the levees that were to +serve as banks for the turning basin, the lock and other portions of +the canal. This levee would keep the liquid material, dredged out, from +running back into the excavation. The turning basin, 950 feet by 1,150 +feet, was an expansion of the original industrial basin. Situated +several hundred feet from the lock, its purpose is to enable ships +entering the canal from the river, and passing through the lock, to +turn in, as well as to furnish a site for the concentration of +industries. The Foundation Company had in the meantime decided to +establish a shipyard on this basin; its engineers were on the ground, +and its material was rolling. + +One dredge was sent around Lake Pontchartrain to commence boring in +from that end. This could not be done on the river end. The Mississippi +is too mighty a giant to risk such liberties. The 2,000-foot cut +between the river and the lock would have to be done last of all, when +the rest of the canal and the lock were finished, and the new levees +that would protect the city against its overflow, were solidly set. But +a few hundred feet from the turning basin, was Bayou Bienvenu, which +runs into Lake Borgne, part of Lake Pontchartrain, and one of the +refuges of Lafitte in the brave days when smuggling was more a sport of +the plain people than it is now with European travel restricted to the +wealthy. So through Bayou Bienvenu a small excavator was sent to cut a +passage into the turning basin, to allow the mighty 22-inch dredges to +get in and work outwards towards the lake and the lock site. + +The problem was further complicated by the Florida Walk drainage +system, which emptied into Bayou Bienvenu, and by the railway lines +that crossed the site of the Canal. + +These railways were the Southern Railway, at the lake end, the +Louisville & Nashville, at the middle, and the Southern and Public Belt +near the turning basin on Florida Walk. For them, the Dock Board had to +build "run-around" tracks, to be used while their lines were cut to +enable the dredging to be made and the bridges to be constructed. + +For the drainage, the plans called for the construction of an inverted +siphon passing under the Canal, a river under a river, so to speak. In +the meantime, however, the drainage canal had to be blocked off with +two cofferdams, to cut off the water from the city and the bayou, and +enable the construction of the siphon between. + +Additional railroad tracks, too, had to be built to handle the immense +volume of material needed for the work; roads had to be built for +getting supplies on the job by truck; the trolley line had to be +extended for the transportation of labor. + +Week by week the labor gangs grew, as the men were able to find places +in the attacking line of the industrial battle. Great excavators +stalked over the land, pulling themselves along by their dippers which +bit out chunks of earth as big as a cart when they "took a-hold"; the +smack of pile drivers, the thump of dynamite, and the whistle of +dredges filled the air. Buildings sprouted like mushrooms; in the +meadow, half a mile from the nearest water, the shipyard of the +Foundation Company began to take form. It was the plan to finish the +Canal by January, 1920. + + + + +CANAL PLANS EXPANDED. + + +Work in the meantime had begun on the commodity warehouse and wharf, +another facility planned by the Dock Board to relieve the growing +pains. Built on the Canal, but opening on the river, it was to perform +the same service for general commodities as the Public Cotton Warehouse +and the Public Grain Elevator did for those products. Though not a part +of the canal plan, the construction of the warehouse at this point was +part of the general scheme to concentrate industrial development on +that waterway. + +Later, the Federal Government took over this work and gave New Orleans +a $13,000,000 terminal, through which it handled army supplies. It is +still using the three warehouses for storage purposes, but has leased +the half-mile double-deck wharf to the Dock Board, which is devoting it +to the general commerce of the port. In time, the Dock Board hopes to +get at least one of the buildings. + +There can be no doubt but that the enterprise of New Orleans in +building the Industrial Canal had a great deal to do with the +government's determination to establish a depot at New Orleans. + +On May 30, the news came out of Washington that the Doullut & Williams +Shipbuilding Company had been awarded a $15,000,000 contract by the +Emergency Fleet Corporation to build eight ships of 9,600 tons each. +This was the largest shipbuilding contract that had been given the +South. The Industrial Canal rendered it possible. + +The firm of Doullut & Williams had been engaged for fifteen years or so +in the civil engineering and contracting business in New Orleans. +Captain M. P. Doullut had built launches with his own hands when a +young man, and dreamed of the time when he would have a yard capable of +turning out ocean-going vessels. The Doullut & Williams Shipbuilding +Company was organized April 25, 1918, with the following officers: M. +P. Doullut, president; Paul Doullut, vice-president; W. Horace +Williams, secretary-treasurer and general manager; L. H. Guerin, chief +engineer; and James P. Ewin, assistant chief engineer. + +"I feel that New Orleans is on the eve of a very remarkable +development" said Senator Ransdell of Louisiana in a telegram of +congratulation, "and earnestly hope our people will continue to work +together with energy and hearty accord until we have gone way over the +top in shipbuilding and many other lines." + +The expression "over the top" had not become the pest that it and other +war-time weeds of rhetoric have subsequently proven. That was a time +when one could still refer to a "drive" without causing a gnashing of +teeth. + +Picking the site at the Lake Pontchartrain end of the canal, Doullut & +Williams Shipbuilding Company began to erect its shipyard. The plant +buildings were erected upon tall piling. As the dredges excavated the +material from the cut, they deposited it on the site of the shipyard +and raised the elevation several feet, so the buildings were only the +usual height above the ground. Both sides of the Canal, it should be +added, have been similarly raised by excavation material. + +It was planned that the ships from the Doullut & Williams yard should +be sent out into the world through Lake Pontchartrain, which empties +into the Gulf of Mexico. There was ample water in the lake, without +dredging, to accommodate unloaded ships of this size. + +But the fact that ships 400 or so feet long and drawing, when loaded to +capacity, 27 feet, were to be built at New Orleans, emphasized the +belief of those directing the work of the Industrial Canal that the +plan on which they were working was too small. An 18-foot canal would +not meet the growing needs of New Orleans. Accordingly the Dock Board +instructed the engineering department to expand the plans. + +By June 11, 1918, the plans had been revised to give a 25-foot channel. +This would accommodate all but the largest ships that come to New +Orleans. The cost of such a lock and canal, George M. Wells estimated, +would be $6,000,000, or $2,500,000 more than the estimate for the +original canal. The Levee Board promptly raised its ante to $250,000 to +guarantee the interest. + +When the Dock Board floated the first bond issue of $3,500,000 in +February, at 95, it reserved the option to issue another $1,000,000 of +bonds within thirty days, at the same rate. + +For $1,500,000 of the new issue, the same syndicate of banks offered +97-1/2, or two and a half points higher than for the first; but for the +other million, they held the board to the original rate of 95. +President Thompson reported to the Dock Board June 11 that he +considered these "very satisfactory terms." He added: "We were able to +secure these better prices and conditions because the bond market is in +a somewhat better condition now than it was when we made the original +contract." + +The contract was accepted on that date, and application made to the +Capital Issues Committee for the necessary permission. This was given +in due time, though there was considerable opposition. + +The opposition, said President Thompson, at the Dock Board meeting of +February 26, 1919, reviewing the development of the canal plans, "was +inspired by vicious and spectacular attacks of certain private +interests hostile to the canal project and to the port of New Orleans." +Railroads, whose right of way crossed the Canal, were the principal +propagandists. They realized that the Dock Board could not be required +to build their bridges over the waterway, and although the Thompson +board financed the work at the time, they knew that sooner or later +would come a day of reckoning. The Hudson Board has since then taken +steps to collect several million dollars from these roads. + +But why build a canal almost large enough, only? Why build a 25-foot +lock when ships drawing 30-feet of water come to New Orleans? A lock +cannot be enlarged, once it is completed--and the tendency of the times +is towards larger ships. Why not make a capacity facility while they +were about it? + +[Illustration: LOCK SITE + Driving Sheet Piling] + +[Illustration: LOCK SITE + Dredges Entering] + +These were questions the Dock Board asked itself, and on June 29, 1918, +it decided to build the lock with a 30-foot depth over the sill at +extreme low water, and make the canal 300 feet wide at the top, and 150 +feet wide at the bottom. + +To do this, would cost about $1,000,000 more, it was estimated by +George M. Wells of the Goethals company--a sum which the Dock Board +thought would be realized from the rental-revenues of Doullut & +Williams and the Foundation Company, without increasing the second bond +issue. + +This is the Canal that was finally built--nearly 70 per cent larger +than the one that was begun and about 100 per cent larger than the one +originally planned, when the newspapers and forward-looking told the +people that the lack of such a canal had cost New Orleans millions of +dollars in development. + + + + +DIGGING THE DITCH. + + +No rock-problem was encountered in dredging the canal. The cost was +below what the engineers estimated it would be--less than thirty cents +a cubic yard. But a novel situation did develop; a condition that would +have sent the cost sky-rocketing if an Orleanian had not met the +difficulty. + +Louisiana is what geologists call a region of subsidence. The gulf of +Mexico formerly reached to where Cairo, Ill., now is. Washings from the +land, during the slow-moving centuries, pushed the shoreline ever +outward; the humus of decaying vegetation raised the ground surface +still higher. This section of Louisiana, built by the silt of the +Mississippi, was of course the most recent formation. + +Twenty thousand years ago, say the geologists, there were great forests +where Louisiana now is. Among these mighty trees roamed the glyptodont; +the 16-foot armadillo with a tail like the morning-star of the old +crusaders, monstrously magnified; the giraffe camel; the titanothere; +the Columbian elephant, about the size of a trolley car and with +15-foot tusks; the giant sloth which could look into a second-story +window; here the saber-toothed tiger fought with the megatherium; +mighty rhinoceroses sloshed their clumsy way, and huge and grotesque +birds filled the air with their flappings. + +As the subsoil packed more solidly, this wilderness in time sunk +beneath the waters. The Mississippi built up its sandbars again, storms +shaped them above the waves, marsh grass raised the surface with its +humus, and another forest grew. This, in turn, sunk. And so the process +was repeated, time after time. + +At different depths below the surface of the ground the remains of +these forests are found today, the wood perfectly preserved by the +dampness. And through this tangled mass the dredges had to fight their +way. + +It was a task too great for the ordinary type of 20 or 22-inch suction +dredge, even with the strength of 1,000 horses behind it. When they met +these giant stumps and trunks they just stopped. + +A. B. Wood, of the sewerage and water department, had already designed +and patented a centrifugal pump impeller adapted to the handling of +sewerage containing trash. Learning of this, W. J. White, +superintendent of dredging on the Canal, asked him to design a special +impeller, along similar lines, for the dredge Texas. + +Results from the invention were remarkable. During the thirty days +immediately preceding the installation the dredge had suffered delays +from clogged suction which totalled 130-3/4 hours. During the thirty +days immediately succeeding installation the total of delays for the +same reason was cut down to 71-1/2 hours. The average yardage was, for +the earlier period, 152 an hour, of actual excavation; and for the +later period, 445 an hour--an increase of almost 200 per cent. The +situation had been met. + +This was the period when the cost of labor and material began to jump. +Employers were bidding against each other for men, and the government's +work practically fixed the price of supplies. + +George M. Wells, consulting engineer, in his report of December 9, +1918, to the Dock Board, summarized labor increases over the scale when +the work was begun, as follows: Unskilled labor, 54%; pile driver men, +40%; machinists, 40%; blacksmiths, 40%; foremen and monthly, 15 to +40%--an average increase of 40%. Materials had advanced, he went on to +show, as follows: Gravel, 72%; sand, 25%; cement, 10%; lumber (form), +70%; timber, 40%; piles, untreated, 40%; piles, treated, 25%. These +increases, together with the expansion of the plans requiring a canal +of maximum depth, instead of the pilot cut of fifteen feet, as +originally planned; the insistence of the Levee Board that levees in +the back areas must be raised to elevation 30; development of +unforeseen and unforeseeable quicksand conditions in the various +excavations; requirements of railroads for bridges of greater capacity +and strength than needed; building of a power line to the Foundation +Company's plant--not a Dock Board job, but one that the conditions +required it should finance then; and other expenses, besides delaying +the work, made another bond issue necessary to finish the job. + +At its meeting of February 26, 1919, President Thompson laid the matter +before the board. It decided to issue $6,000,000 of bonds, for which +the same syndicate of bankers that had taken the other two offered 96. +Liberty bonds were then selling at a big discount, and this seemed the +best terms on which the money could be secured. + +This gave a total issue of $12,000,000 to date, the interest on which +amounted to $600,000 a year. The Levee Board raised its share of the +"rental" to $550,000, to guarantee the interest; the Public Belt +Railroad's $50,000 made the total complete. + +In the meantime ships were beginning to bulk large on the ways of the +Foundation and the Doullut & Williams yards. The Foundation company +launched its first, the Gauchy--a 4,200-ton non-sinkable steel ship, +built for the French government--in September, 1919; and the Doullut & +Williams company launched its first, the New Orleans, a steel vessel of +9,600 tons, the largest turned out south of Newport News, built for the +Shipping Board, in January, 1920. These were followed by four sister +vessels from the Foundation yard and seven from the Doullut & Williams +plant. The former went to sea through Bayou Bienvenu and the latter +through Lake Pontchartrain. The Doullut & Williams yard is a large one. +Originally planning a mere assembling yard, the Foundation Company had +subsequently developed the greatest steel fabricating plant in the +South--so confident it was that New Orleans would carry through the +project. + +And, too, the New Orleans Army Supply Base that Uncle Sam was building +on the river end of the Industrial Canal was rapidly rising--the +facility that was to double the port storage capacity of New Orleans +when it was finally completed in June, 1919. + +The canal is 5-1/3 miles long. Between river and lock the canal prism +will be 125 feet wide at the bottom and 275 feet at the top; between +the lock and the lake, 150 feet wide at the bottom and 300 feet wide at +the top. It is an excavation job of 10,000,000 cubic yards. Five +hundred thousand flat cars would be required to carry that dirt--a +train more than 4,000 miles long. + +By September, 1919, the canal had been entirely dredged, except for the +2,000-foot channel between the lock and river, which must be left until +the last, to a width of about 150 feet and a depth of 26 feet. Since +then, the labor has been concentrated upon the lock. But twenty-six +feet will float a vessel carrying 6,000 bales of cotton. Full +dimensions, however, will be developed, and the Canal, with a system of +laterals and basins such as are found in Europe, will be an Inner +Harbor capable of indefinite expansion. + + + + +OVERWHELMING ENDORSEMENT BY NEW ORLEANS. + + +When the Canal was about half finished it received the most tremendous +endorsement by every interest of New Orleans in its history. The +question was put squarely before the people: "Do you think it is a good +thing, and you are willing to be taxed to put it across, and, if so, +how much?" And the answer came without hesitation: "It is absolutely +necessary to the industrial progress of the city. We must have the +Canal at all costs, and are willing to be taxed any amount for it." + +On September 24, 1919, George M. Wells, consulting engineer, made a +report to the Dock Board, showing that the last bond issue of +$6,000,000 had been exhausted, and about $5,000,000 more was needed to +finish the Canal. + +This was in the last days of the Thompson Board, and it took no action. +The Hudson board entered upon its duties October 2. It comprised +William O. Hudson, president; William A. Kernaghan, Rene F. Clerc, +Albert Mackie, Thomas H. Roberts. Later, Mr. Roberts resigned and Hugh +McCloskey took his place. All are sound business men, with the +interests of the port at heart. + +They found, in the bank, only $2,067,845.37 to the Industrial Canal +Account. After deducting the obligations already made there was left +only $112,064.43 to continue the work. Without a public expression from +New Orleans they were unwilling to incur the responsibility of issuing +$5,000,000 more bonds. + +President Hudson called a series of meetings of the representative +interests of the city to decide what was to be done. As the people of +New Orleans had decided to begin the Canal in the first place, it was +only right that they should determine whether the undertaking, costing +five times as much as the original plan, should be carried through. + +The governor, the mayor, presidents of banks, committees of commercial +exchanges, the president of the Public Belt Railroad, the president of +the Levee Board, newspaper publishers, labor leaders and prominent +business men were invited. Likewise, a general call was made to the +community at large to express an opinion as to finishing the Canal. + +At the meeting of October 17 the city made its answer. + +President Hudson outlined the attitude of the Dock Board as follows: + +"The board has no feeling of prejudice against the completion of the +Canal. We are in favor of it. We are anxious to complete it. It was +fostered by the citizens of New Orleans. + +"The floating of the bond issue is a simple matter, if you men think we +ought to do it; but where is the money for meeting the interest to come +from? The $600,000 interest on bonds now outstanding is being paid, +$550,000 by the Levee Board, and $50,000 by the Public Belt Railroad. +The Public Belt's share is paid from its earnings; but the Levee +Board's share is being paid by direct taxation on the citizens of New +Orleans. Must we increase that tax? I personally won't object to any +taxation as a citizen to pay my part towards financing the Canal." + +"I want to see the canal completed," said Governor Pleasant. "But it is +up to the people of New Orleans to say whether they are willing to +assume the added obligation." + +R. S. Hecht, president of the Hibernia Bank, and a recognized financial +leader in New Orleans, then arose. + +"I feel," he said, "that all who have the future of New Orleans at +heart must agree that we are here to discuss not whether the Canal is +to be finished, but how. + +"Finished it must be, or our commercial future will be doomed for many +years. If the Dock Board were to stop the work, it would forever kill +its credit for any other bond issue that might be proposed for wharf +development, new warehouses, or anything else. + +"The cost of the canal is a surprise to everybody. I was present when +the cost was originally estimated at $3,500,000 with a leeway of +$1,000,000. I said then, and I repeat now, that the canal could be +financed if the people of New Orleans stood squarely behind it. + +"The cotton warehouse and the grain elevator cost a great deal more +than the original estimates. So the Industrial Canal, though it is +costing more than anticipated, because of the increased cost of +material and labor and the increased size in the Canal, will, I feel +sure, be justified by the development of the future. + +"Are we to be taxed for fifty years for our investment of $12,000,000 +and get no return, or are we willing to pay a little bit more and get +something worth while?" + +That expressed the sentiment of the meeting. + +[Illustration: BUILDING THE LOCK] + +"The people of New Orleans," said Hugh McCloskey, financier and dean of +all Dock Board presidents, "have never failed to meet a crisis. It is +the duty of the Dock Board to finish the Canal, no matter what the +doubting Thomases may say." + +Similar expressions were made by Thomas Killeen, president of the Levee +Board; Thomas Cunningham, of the Public Belt Railroad; D. D. Moore, +editor of the Times-Picayune; James M. Thompson, publisher of the Item; +B. C. Casanas, president of the Association of Commerce; L. M. Pool, +president of the Marine Bank; J. E. Bouden, president of the +Whitney-Central Bank; Bernard McCloskey, attorney; Frank B. Hayne, of +the Cotton Exchange; Jefferson D. Hardin, of the Board of Trade; +William V. Seeber, representative of the Ninth Ward; Marshall Ballard, +editor of The Item. Others present, assenting by their silence, +included John F. Clark, president, and E. S. Butler, member of the +Cotton Exchange; W. Horace Williams, of Doullut & Williams Shipbuilding +Company; E. M. Stafford, state senator; C. G. Rives of the Interstate +Bank; S. T. DeMilt, president of the New Orleans Steamship Association; +R. W. Dietrich of the Bienville Warehouse Corporation; Edgar B. Stern, +Milton Boylan, W. H. Byrnes, J. C. Hamilton, and about thirty other +representative business and professional men. Mayor Behrman, John T. +Banville, president of the Brewery Workers' Union, and George W. Moore, +president of the Building Trades Council, at a subsequent meeting, gave +their endorsement. + +With only one dissenting voice, these meetings were unanimous that the +Industrial Canal must be completed at all costs; that without it, the +growth of the city would be seriously interrupted. The one protest was +by the Southern Realty and Securities Company. It was made October 23 +against the Levee Board's underwriting the interest on the new bond +issue. + +On that date the Levee Board unanimously voted to guarantee these +interest charges, amounting to $375,000 a year. This brings the total +being paid by that body out of direct taxation to $925,000.00 a year. +The other $50,000 is paid by the Public Belt Railroad. + +To provide a leeway against the engineer's estimates, the Dock Board +made provision for a bond issue of $7,500,000, but actually issued only +$5,000,000 worth. This was taken by the same syndicate of bankers that +had taken the previous issues, but this time they paid par. That was a +point on which President Hudson had insisted. The contract was accepted +December 10, 1919. + +And the work went on, with every effort concentrated on economical +construction. + + + + +SIPHON AND BRIDGES. + + +As an incident in the work of building the Industrial Canal, it was +necessary to create a disappearing river. + +This is the famous siphon--the quadruple passage of concrete that will +carry the city's drainage underneath the shipway. It is one of the +largest structures of its kind in the country. + +A word about New Orleans' drainage problem. The city is the bowl of a +dish, of which the levees against river and lake are the rim. There is +no natural drainage. The rainfall is nearly five feet a year, +concentrated at times, upon the thousand miles of streets, into +cloudbursts of four inches an hour and ten inches in a day. In the +boyhood of men now in their early thirties it was a regular thing for +the city to be flooded after a heavy rain. + +To meet the situation, New Orleans has constructed the greatest +drainage system in the world. There are six pumping stations on the +east side of the river, connected with each other by canals, and with a +discharge capacity of more than 10,000 cubic feet a second. The seven +billion gallons of water that these pumps can move a day would fill a +lake one mile square and thirty-five feet deep. + +Three of the canals empty into Lake Pontchartrain, the fourth, the +Florida Walk Canal, into Bayou Bienvenu, which leads into Lake Borgne, +an arm of Pontchartrain. + +Because of this drainage contamination, the lake shore front of New +Orleans has been held back in its development. Yet it is an ideal site +for a suburb--on a beautiful body of water, and just half a dozen miles +from the business district. + +So the Sewerage and Water Board has been planning ultimately to turn +the city's entire drainage into Bayou Bienvenu, a stream with swamps on +both sides, running into a lake surrounded by marsh. + +The Industrial Canal crosses the Florida Walk drainage canal. This made +it necessary to build the inverted siphon. + +A siphon, in the ordinary sense, is a bent tube, one section of which +is longer than the other, through which a liquid flows by its own +weight over an elevation to a lower level. But siphon here is an +engineering term to describe a channel that goes under an +obstruction--the canal--and returns the water to its former level. + +Like the famous rivers that drop into the earth and appear again miles +further on, the Florida drainage canal approaches to within a hundred +or so feet of the Industrial Canal, then dives forty feet underground, +passes beneath the shipway, and comes to the surface on the other side, +in front of the pumping station, which lifts it into Bayou Bienvenu. + +At first it was planned to build a comparatively small siphon, but +while the plans were being drawn, New Orleans entered upon its +tremendous development. The engineers threw away their blueprints and +began over again. They designed one that is capable of handling the +entire drainage of the city. And in April, 1920, it was finished--a +work of steel and concrete and machinery, costing nearly three-quarters +of a million dollars, and with a capacity of 2,000 cubic feet of water +a second, 7,200,000 an hour, 172,800,000 a day. + +It was a work that presented many difficulties. First the Florida Walk +canal had to be closed by two cofferdams. The space between was pumped +out, the excavation was made, and the driving of foundation piling +begun. Quicksands gave much trouble. They flowed into the cut, until +they were stopped with sheet piling. The piles were from 30 to 60 feet +in length and from three to five feet apart on centers. + +Forty-six feet below the ground surface (-26 Cairo datum) was laid the +concrete floor of the siphon. + +The siphon is divided into four compartments. There are two storm +chambers, measuring 10 by 13 feet each, one normal weather chamber +measuring 4 by 10 feet, and one public utilities duct, measuring 6 by +10 feet. These are inside dimensions. The floor of the siphon is two +feet thick; the roof, one foot nine inches. The whole structure is a +solid piece of concrete and capable of standing a pressure of more than +2,000 pounds to the square foot. Its total length is 378 feet; the +shipway passing over it is 105 feet wide and 30 feet deep. + +In the public utilities duct are carried the city's water pipes, +cables, telephone and telegraph wires, and gas mains. + +The storm chambers will handle the rainfall of cloudbursts. In ordinary +weather the water will be concentrated through the smaller chamber, in +order to produce a strong flow and reduce the settlement of sediment to +a minimum. + +Eight sluice gates, each 6 by 10 feet, open or close the water +chambers. They are operated by hydraulic cylinders of the most approved +type. + +For sending workmen inside the siphon to make repairs or clearing away +an obstruction there are eight manholes. Four measure 6 by 13 feet, two +6 by 6 feet, and two 6 by 4 feet. + +As soon as the Florida Walk canal can be deepened and a few link-ups in +the drainage system can be made, the entire drainage of New Orleans, in +normal weather and during light storms, will, according to announcement +by the Sewerage and Water Board, be sent through this outlet. During +the occasional cloudbursts it will be necessary to send some of the +drainage into the lake, but this will be rapidly flowing water and will +sweep offshore. It means a great deal to the suburban development of +the city. + +A year and a half the siphon was in the making. Preparations for the +structure cost more than $250,000--excavation foundation, etc. The +concrete alone cost $170,000. Machinery and the work of housing and +installing it cost $60,000 more. + +Four bascule steel bridges now cross the Industrial Canal. They are the +largest in the city. Three of them--at Florida Walk, for the Southern +and Public Belt Railways; Gentilly, for the Louisville & Nashville; and +on the lake front, for the Southern, weigh 1,600,000 pounds +each--superstructure only. The fourth--at the lock--weighs 1,000,000 +pounds. They are balanced by 800-ton concrete blocks and concrete +adjustment blocks. Their extreme length is 160 feet; the moving leaf +has a span of 117 feet. + +With a 30-foot right of way for railroad tracks, 11 feet for vehicles +and trolley cars and four feet for pedestrians, they are designed to +meet traffic conditions of a great and growing city. They will support +50-ton street cars or 15-ton road rollers--New Orleans has nothing as +heavy as that now--and trains a great deal heavier than are now coming +to the city. No bridge in the South will support as heavy loads. + +The tensile strength of the steel of which the bridges are constructed +is from 55,000 to 85,000 pounds to the square inch, and they will bear +a wind load of 20 pounds to the square inch of exposed surface. + +They are operated by two 75-horse power electric motors, 440 volts, +60-cycle, 3-phase current, which is stepped down from 2,200 volts by +means of transformers. In addition, there is a 36-horse power gasoline +engine, to be used if the electrical equipment is out of order. To open +or close the bridges will require a minute and a half. + + + + +THE REMARKABLE LOCK. + + +Not only is the lock of the Industrial Canal one of the largest in the +United States, but its construction solved a soil problem that was +thought impossible. That of the Panama Canal is simple in comparison. +The design is unique in many respects. The lock is a monument to the +power of Man over the forces of Nature, and to the progress of a +community that will not say die. + +Because of the great variation in the level of the river at low and +high water--a matter of twenty feet--it was necessary to make the +excavation, for building the lock, about fifty feet deep. In solid soil +this would be a simple matter. But this ground has been made by the +gradual deposit of Mississippi River silt upon what was originally the +sandy bed of the ocean, and through these deposits run strata of +water-bearing sand, or quicksand. This flows into a cut and causes the +banks to cave and slide into the excavation. Underneath there is a +pressure of marsh gas, which, with the pressure of the collapsing +banks, squeezes the deeper layers of quicksand upwards, creating boils +and blowing up the bottom. + +New Orleans has had plenty of experiences with these flowing sands in +its shallow sewerage excavations. How, then, expect to make an +excavation fifty feet deep? asked the doubting Thomases. It couldn't be +done. The quicksands would flow in too fast. The dredges would drain +the surrounding subsoil, but that wouldn't get beyond a certain depth. +Furthermore, what assurance was there that the soil that far down would +supply sufficient friction to hold the piles necessary to sustain the +enormous weight of the lock and the ships passing through it? + +Undaunted by these croakings, the engineers, from test borings, +calculated the sliding and flowing character of the soil, and estimated +the various pressures that would have to be counteracted, balanced this +with the holding power of pine and steel and concrete, evolved a plan, +and began an excavation of a hole 350 feet wide by 1,500 feet long, +gradually sloping the cut (1 to 4 ratio) to a center where the lock, +1,020 by 150 feet, outside dimensions, was to be built. + +[Illustration: INNER HARBOR--NAVIGATION CANAL + Lock and Vicinity] + +The gentle slope of the cut was to prevent slides. + +It had been ascertained that the first stratum of quicksand began +twenty-eight feet below the ground surface (-3 Cairo datum) and was +three feet thick; the second stratum, forty-eight feet below the +surface (-23 Cairo datum) and ten feet thick. Coarser sand extended +eleven feet below this, from -33 Cairo datum. The second stratum of +flowing sand began just below where the lock floor had to be laid. The +third layer was 80 feet below the surface (-55 Cairo datum); the tips +of the piling would just miss it. + +Excavation began in November, 1918. While the dredges were at work a +wooden sheet piling cofferdam was driven completely around the lock, +and about 125 feet from the edge of the bank, to cut off the first +quicksand stratum. About 150 feet further in, when the excavation was +well advanced, a second ring of sheet piling was driven, to cut off the +second stratum, which carried a static pressure of 55 feet and was just +a foot or so below where the floor of the lock would be. It was not +thought necessary to cut off the third stratum. + +The excavation was made in the wet. When it was finished the dredges +moved back into the Canal, the entrance closed, and the work of +unwatering the lock site began. This was in April, 1919. + +There had never been such a deep cut made in this section. +Consequently, the character of the soil, while it could be estimated, +could not be known absolutely. And the exact pressure of the gas could +not be known. + +The sands proved to be more liquid and the gas pressure stronger than +anticipated. Quicksands ran through the sheet piling as through a +sieve. The walls of the excavation began to slough and cave. The gas +pressure became alarming when the weight of earth and water was taken +off; sand boils began to develop at the bottom; the floor of the cut +was blowing up. + +The fate of the Industrial Canal hung in the scale. + +To meet the situation the engineers pumped a great volume of water into +the excavation. Its weight counterbalanced the earth pressure of the +side and the gas pressure of the bottom. + +Then another ring of sheet piling was driven inside the other two. This +one was of steel, and the walls were braced apart by wooden beams ten +inches square and fifteen feet apart in both directions. This is one of +the largest cofferdams of steel ever driven. As an added precaution +against the danger of a blowout by the third stratum of quicksand, +which had a static head of 75 feet, 130 ten-inch artesian wells were +driven inside the steel cofferdam. Fifty-six similar wells were driven +between the steel and the wooden cofferdams to dry out the second +stratum of quicksand, as much as possible, and lessen its flowing +character. + +In November, 1919, the work of unwatering the lock site again began. +Only one foot every other day was taken off. Engineers watched every +timber. It was not until January 4, 1920, that the unwatering was +complete. The plan had worked. Only in one place had there been any +movement--a section of the wooden sheet piling about 300 feet long +bulged forward a maximum distance of three inches, when the bracing +caught and stopped it. + +Then began the work of driving the 24,000 piles on which the lock was +to be floated. They are 60 feet long and their tips are 100 feet below +the surface of the ground. + +In March, 1920, the work of laying the concrete began. The work was +done in 15-foot sections, for only a few of the braces could be moved +at one time. When it was finished in April, 1921, the lock was in one +piece, a solid mass of steel and stone, 1,020 feet long, 150 feet wide, +and 68 feet high, weighing, with its gates and machinery, 225,000 tons, +and filled with water, 350,000 tons. + +The concrete floor of the lock is 9 to 12 feet thick, the walls 13 feet +wide at the bottom, decreasing to a two foot width at the top. Six +thousand tons of reinforcing steel were used in the construction, and +125,000 barrels of cement. There are 90,000 cubic yards of concrete in +the structure. Two and a half million feet of lumber were used in +building the forms. + +Usable dimensions of the lock are 640 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 30 +feet (at minimum low water of the river) deep. + +The top of the lock is 20 feet above the natural ground surface and 6 +feet above the highest stage of the Mississippi River on record. To the +top the ground will be sloped on a 150-foot series of terraces. This +will brace the walls against the pressure of water within the monolith. +It will be developed to a beautiful park. Heavy anchor-columns of +concrete will hold the walls against the pressure of these artificial +hills when the lock is empty. + +Traffic crosses the canal here by a steel bascule bridge 65 feet wide, +with two railroad and two street car tracks, two vehicle roadways, and +two ways for pedestrians. Concrete viaducts lead to the bridge. + +Gas and water mains, sewer pipes and telephone, telegraph and electric +wires pass under the lock in conduits cast in the living concrete. + +Water is admitted into and drained from the lock by culverts cast in +the base. These are 8 by 10 feet, narrowing at the opening to 8 by 8 +feet, and closed by 8 sluice gates, each operated by a 52-horsepower +electric motor. It will be possible to fill or empty the lock in ten +minutes. + +There are five sets of gates to the lock. They are built of steel +plates and rolled shapes, four and a half feet thick and weighing 200 +tons each. And there is an emergency dam weighing 720 tons, which in +case of necessity can be used as a gate. + +Four pairs of the gates are of 55-foot size; one of 42-foot. Each gate +is operated by a 52-horsepower electric motor. When open, the gates fit +flush into the walls of the locks. + +In the emergency dam is the refinement of precaution--designed as it +was to save the city from overflow in the remote event of the lock +gates failing to work during high water, and to insure the +uninterrupted operation of the lock in normal times, if the gates +should be sprung by a ship, or otherwise put out of commission. + +This dam consists of eight girders or sections, 80 feet long, 3 feet +wide and 6 feet high. They weigh 90 tons each. They are kept on a +platform near the river end of the lock. Nearby is the crane with a +300-horsepower motor, that picks up these girders and drops them into +the slots in the walls of the lock. To set this emergency dam is the +work of an hour. + +A ship passing through the lock will not proceed under her own power. +There are six capstans, two at each end of the lock and two at the +middle, each operated by a 52-horsepower electric motor, and capable of +developing a pull of 35,000 pounds, which will work the vessels +through. + +The lock complete, counting the bridge and approaches, cost $7,500,000. +One and a half million of this is for machinery, and $56,000 for the +approaches. + +Henry Goldmark, the New York engineer who designed the gates of the +Panama Canal and the New Orleans Industrial Canal, in a letter of March +24, 1921, to the engineering department of the Dock Board, comments as +follows on the remarkable lock: + +"I was much impressed by the uniformly high grade of construction of +the lock, the systematic and energetic way in which the work was being +carried on, and especially by the admirable spirit of team work, shown +by the employees of the Dock Board, of different grades, as well as the +contractors, superintendents and foremen. + +"The desire to get the best possible results in all the details, at the +least cost, was manifest throughout. + +"The unique method used for carrying on the very difficult and risky +work of excavation has attracted much professional attention in all +parts of the country. Its successful completion is very creditable to +all concerned, in the inception and carrying out of the method used. + +"The concrete work gives the impression of lightness, as well as +strength, as though every yard of concrete was doing its special share +of the work without overstraining, which is, of course, the +characteristic of well-designed reinforced masonry. + +"The outer surfaces are particularly smooth and well finished, more so +than in any work I have recently seen. + +"The erection of the gates, valves, operating machinery and the +protective dam, has kept up closely with the concrete work, so that no +delays need be apprehended at the close of the construction period. + +"The shop and field work in the lock gates is excellent. The rivet +holes match well and the rivet heads appear to be tight and well +formed. The gate leaves seem very straight and true." + +The lock was designed by George M. Wells of the George W. Goethals +Company, assisted by R. O. Comer, designing engineer of the Dock Board, +and approved by General Goethals. The methods employed to unwater the +lock were devised by Mr. Wells. J. Devereux O'Reilly, chief engineer of +the Dock Board, to November, 1919, had charge of the details of +installing the unwatering and safety devices. He was succeeded by +General Arsene Perrilliat, who supervised the final unwatering process. +Upon his death in October, 1920, he was succeeded by J. F. Coleman & +Company, in charge of the engineering department, and H. M. Gallagher, +chief engineer, under whom work is being brought to a conclusion. + +From first to last, Tiley S. McChesney, assistant secretary and +treasurer of the Dock Board, rendered intelligent and invaluable +service, gathering together and holding the threads of the enterprise, +and attending promptly to the multitude of details connected with the +prosecution of the work. + +The lock was formally dedicated May 2, 1921--a ceremony that was the +feature of the Mississippi Valley Association's convention in New +Orleans. + +With the dredging of the channel between the river and the lock, a work +that should be finished before January, 1922, ships will be able to +pass from the Mississippi into Lake Pontchartrain. Then New Orleans can +plan its next great development. + +[Illustration: CROSS SECTION OF LOCK] + +[Illustration: CROSS SECTION OF SIPHON] + + + + +NEW CHANNEL TO THE GULF. + + +George M. Wells, George R. Goethals, son of the General, Colonel E. J. +Dent, U.S. district engineer at New Orleans, and other engineers who +have studied the problem, say that the dredging of a channel from the +Industrial Canal to the gulf through Lake Pontchartrain, or the +marshes, is feasible, comparatively cheap, and maintenance would be +simple. This would shorten the distance from New Orleans to the sea by +about 50 miles, and would be a vast saving for ships. It is one of the +objects towards which the Hudson Dock Board is working. + +It is Uncle Sam's recognized duty to develop and maintain harbors and +channels to the sea. Distance is obviously an important factor; +furthermore, the proposed new outlet would be an important link in the +Intracoastal Canal, connecting with the Warrior River section of +Alabama, which the government is developing between the Atlantic and +Gulf Coasts. A bill was introduced in the Senate in 1920 by Senator +Ransdell of Louisiana, providing for the development of the proposed +channel; it was not pressed because the canal was far from completed. +However, every effort will be made by the Dock Board from now on to +have Uncle Sam take hold. + +Colonel Dent has for a number of months been studying the feasible +routes. He, by the way, is thoroughly convinced of the value of the +Industrial Canal to the development of New Orleans, and the commerce of +the nation, and has so expressed himself in public. + +The Pontchartrain route has been laid off, by engineers, beginning at +the Canal, paralleling the south shore of the Lake Pontchartrain to the +south draw of the Southern Railway bridge, thence to the Rigolets to +Cat Island Pass, from there to Cat Island Channel and so to the deep +water of the Gulf, a total distance of 75 miles. + +Soundings and surface probings have been taken at frequent intervals +over the entire route. These have shown the engineers the following: + +Three-quarters of a mile from the south shore of the lake, and as far +as the railroad drawbridge, a hard bottom is found. The material is +principally packed sand, rather fine, with a small amount of clay, and +occasionally some broken shells. Beyond this distance from the shore, +the bottom is softer, consisting of mud mixed with sand. From the +bridge over the remainder of the route, the bottom, with the exception +of a few sand pockets, is soft--a blue mud with a large percentage of +sand. This soft material has so much tenacity, however, that current +and wave wash, which tend to fill up artificially dredged channels, +would affect only the surface. + +The government is conducting large dredging operations in Mobile Bay, +Gulfport Channel, Atchafalaya Bay and the Houston Ship Channel. An +outline of the results there will show how feasible the dredging of the +Pontchartrain Channel would be, and how much cheaper in comparison. + +The channel connecting Mobile Bay with the Gulf of Mexico has a bottom +very soft for the most part, and with a small percentage of sand. +Towards the outer end, the material is black mud, about equal in +consistency to the softest material found in the Pontchartrain route. A +sounding pole with a 4-inch disc on the end can be easily pushed three +or four feet into the mud and pulled out again. Wave and current action +cause the channel to shoal at the rate of 78,000 to 132,000 cubic yards +per mile per year, depending on the softness of the bottom and the +depth. Where the highest rate obtains, the surrounding material +consists of soft mud, without a trace of sand. Experience shows that +where there is a fair percentage of sand in the material adjacent to +the channel bed, the shoaling is lessened. In general, the material +along the Pontchartrain route contains a greater percentage of sand and +is far more tenacious than that along the Mobile Bay Channel. +Furthermore, the Pontchartrain route is not exposed to such strong +cross currents. + +The Gulfport Channel is dredged through very soft material, a +grayish-blue mud of oozy consistency, into which the sounding pole +penetrates six feet with very little exertion. On top, a small amount +of sand is found, but practically none in the lower stratum. The +material is considerably softer than any encountered on the +Pontchartrain route, except for one small stretch. Yet the shoaling is +not great. Where the shoaling is heaviest, between the end of the pier +and Beacon 10, only about 700,000 cubic yards a mile has to be dredged +out every year to maintain the channel. From Beacon 10 out, the average +annual maintenance is less than 200,000 cubic yards a mile. Except for +the four-mile stretch west of the inner entrance to the Cat Island +Channel, the bottom, on the Pontchartrain route, is harder than that of +the Gulfport Channel. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the +maintenance of the Pontchartrain Channel would not average as high as +the outer portion of the Gulfport Channel. + +The Atchafalaya Bay Ship Channel, extending from the mouth of the +Atchafalaya River across the shoal waters of Atchafalaya Bay, to about +the 20-foot contour of the Gulf, a distance of fifteen miles, is +through a material of slushy mud, with occasional thin pockets of sand. +The shoaling runs from 540,000 to 1,680,000 cubic yards a mile a year. +The highest rate is obtained in shallow water. Except in the stretch +mentioned, the material on the Pontchartrain route is not as soft as on +the Atchafalaya, nor are the depths as shoal, nor is there the exposure +to cross currents. + +In the Houston Ship Channel, the material is composed of soft mud with +a small amount of sand. A two-mile stretch through Red Fish Reef is +practically self-maintaining. For the remainder of the channel, during +the six years from 1915 to 1920, a total excavation of 13,574,000 cubic +yards was necessary to maintain the depth. This is equivalent to +100,000 cubic yards a mile a year. + +In summary, then: + +1. The Lake Pontchartrain route is practically unexposed to cross +currents, as is the case with the Mobile Bay, Gulfport, Atchafalaya, +and, to a certain extent, the outer portion of the Houston Ship +Channels. + +2. The material along and on the sides of the Pontchartrain route is, +with the exception of a small stretch, more tenacious, and contains, in +general, a greater proportion of sand than in the case of the +neighboring channels mentioned. + +The channel could therefore be more easily maintained. + +Engineers estimate that a channel with a 300-foot bottom would be +needed. On the south shore of the lake, the side slopes should be on +the 1 to 3 ratio, with provision for a 1 to 5 ratio at the end of five +years. Dumped on shore, the material would reclaim considerable +frontage, and eliminate the re-deposit of this material in the channel. + +Through the remainder of the route, the original excavation should be +made with side slopes on the 1 to 5 ratio, with provision made for a 1 +to 10 ratio in five years. + +The dredging of the 75 miles of the Pontchartrain Channel would amount +to 97,200,000 cubic yards, it is estimated by engineers. The cost would +be around $10,000,000. The annual maintenance, during the first five +years, would amount to 8,880,000 cubic yards--an estimate based on a +comparison with the other channels into the Gulf, and the character of +the material to be excavated. This estimate is considered large--but +even at that, it is only 118,400 cubic yards a mile a year, and the +cost would be about $750,000, according to Colonel Dent. After five +years, it would be less. + +Another proposed route, investigated by Colonel Dent, is through Lake +Borgne. A canal some miles in length, through the marsh, would connect +the lake with the Industrial Canal. This route has considerable +maintenance advantages over the Pontchartrain route. The character of +the bottom in Borgne is more or less the same as in Pontchartrain. + +Sooner or later, one of these channels will be built by the government. +That it has not already been begun is due to the fact that the Canal +has not yet been completed, and the expected development has not taken +place. But there is no doubt that it will. + +[Illustration: TYPICAL BRIDGE ON CANAL] + +[Illustration: EMERGENCY DAM CRANE] + + + + +WHY GOVERNMENT SHOULD OPERATE CANAL. + + +It is the function of the state to provide port facilities in the form +of docks, piers, warehouses, grain elevators, mechanical equipment, +etc. But it is the duty of the national government to improve harbors, +dredge streams, dig canals for navigation and irrigation, erect levees +to protect the back country, and build locks and dams when needed. + +These are the premises from which the Hudson Dock Board reasons that +the cost of construction and maintenance of the New Orleans Navigation +Canal and Inner Harbor should be assumed by Uncle Sam. It will leave no +stone unturned to have him assume the obligation. + +The Navigation Canal is essentially a harbor improvement. It enables +practically unlimited industrial development and commercial +interchange. It is an important link in the Intracoastal Canal system +which the government is developing to provide an inland waterway from +Boston, Mass. to Brownsville, Tex., and, with the dredging of a channel +through Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf, a problem which U.S. engineers +have been studying for some time and an undertaking which they have +found feasible, it will put the nation's second port about fifty miles +closer to the sea. It has considerable military value. Its purpose is, +therefore, national; the local interests are secondary. + +It is no new principle, this obligation of the government. That duty +has been recognized by Congress since the United States was. + +Any rivers and harbors bill will show great and useful expenditure for +waterways improvement. + +The Panama Canal, built by the government, is the greatest example. + +Coming closer home, there is south pass at the mouth of the +Mississippi. A bar, with a nine-foot depth of water, blocked the +commerce of New Orleans. Under the rivers and harbors act of 1875, +Captain James B. Eads was paid $8,000,000 for building the famous +jetties to provide a 26-foot channel. Since then, the channel has been +deepened to 33 feet. + +In more recent years, the government began to improve southwest pass, +the westernmost mouth of the Mississippi. A nine-foot bar was there, +too. To increase the depth to 35 feet, the government spent, up to +1919, about $15,000,000, and is still spending. + +"Just as the purpose of the improvements of these channels was to +bridge the distance from deep water to deep water" says Arthur McGuirk, +special counsel of the Dock Board, in a report of February 23, 1921, to +the Board, "so is the purpose of the Navigation Canal to bridge the +distance from the deep water of the river to the proposed deep water +channel of the lake." + +In the annual report of the chief of engineers, U.S.A., for the fiscal +year ending June 30, 1919, are listed the following waterways +improvements and canal developments being made by the Government: + +"Operating and care of canals, $3,596,566.20. + +"Cape Cod canal, purchase authorized, river and harbors act, August 8, +1917, cost not exceeding $10,000,000, and enlargement $5,000,000. + +"Jamaica Bay channel, 500 feet width, 10 feet depth, to be further +increased to 1,500 feet width entrance channel and 1,000 feet interior +channel, maximum depth of 30 feet, length of channel 12 miles. Approved +estimate of cost to United States not to exceed $7,430,000. River and +harbors act of June 25, 1910. House document No. 1488, 60th Congress. + +"Ambrose channel, New York harbor, appropriation new work and +maintenance, $4,924,530.88, year ending June 30, 1919. + +"Bay Ridge and Red Hook channels, $4,471,100. + +"Locks and dams on Coosa River, Alabama-Georgia, $1,700,918.21. + +"Channel connecting Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound, act of June 13, +1902, original project, for construction and maintenance total cost +$7,809,812.42. + +"Black Warrior river, 17 locks, Mobile to Sanders' Ferry, 443 miles. +Total to date, $10,101,295.54. Indefinite appropriation. + +"Sabine Pass, act of June 19, 1906 and prior, channels, turning basins +and jetties, March 2, 1907, and previously, total appropriations, +$1,875,506.78. + +"Trinity River, Galveston, north, 37 miles locks and dams. Act of June +13, 1902, house document 409, 56th congress. Estimate cost complete +canalization of river, revised 1916, in addition to amounts expended +prior to rivers and harbors act of July, 1916, in round numbers +$13,500,000. Estimated annual cost of maintenance, $280,000. + +"Houston to Galveston ship canal, act of July 25, 1912, and July 27, +1916. Cost, $3,850,000. Annual maintenance, $325,000. + +"Rock Island Rapids (Ill.) and LeClaire canal, rock excavations, etc., +act of March 2, 1907, dams, 3 locks, etc., to June 30, $31,180,085.62 +and $130,158.03 for 1 year maintenance. + +"Keokuk, Iowa (formerly Des Moines Rapids canal), old project (act of +June 23, 1866), $4,574,950.00. + +"Muscle Shoals Canal (Tennessee River), 36.6 miles, depth 5 feet, +$4,743,484.50. Exclusive of cost of nitrate plant. + +"Locks and dams on Ohio River, act of March 3, 1879, to act of March 2, +1907, including purchase of Louisville and Portland canal, +$17,657,273.78. + +"Estimated cost of new work, widening Louisville and Portland canal and +changes in dams, $63,731,488. Annual maintenance covering only lock +forces and cost of repairs and renewals, $810,000. Act of June 25, +1920, house document 492, 65th congress, first session. Also act of +March 4, 1915, house document 1695, 64th congress, second session. + +"Ship channel connecting waters of great lakes, including St. Mary's +river (Sault Sainte Marie locks), St. Clair and Detroit rivers, locks +and dams, total appropriations to June 30, 1919, $26,020,369.68. +Estimate new work, $24,085. + +"St. Clair river, connecting Lakes St. Clair and Erie, shoalest part +was 12-1/2 to 15 feet. Improved at expense of $13,252,254.00. Estimated +cost of completion, $2,720,000. + +"Niagara river, $15,785,713.07. + +"Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor, $4,492,809.80. + +"Seattle, Lake Washington ship canal, in city of Seattle, from Puget +Sound to lake; original project, act of August 18, 1894. Double lock +and fixed dam. Length about 8 miles. Total appropriation to date, +$3,345,500.00." + +These are only some of the larger projects. Of course there are a great +number of such works, all over the country, constructed and maintained +by the United States, sometimes alone, and again by co-operation with +local authorities. + +New Orleans was founded because of the strategic value of the location, +both from a commercial and a military standpoint. The power that holds +New Orleans commands the Mississippi Valley--a fact which the British +recognized in 1812 when they tried to capture it. Likewise, when +Farragut captured New Orleans, he broke the backbone of the +Confederacy. + +Mr. McGuirk, in the report to which reference has already been made, +discusses the military importance of the Industrial Canal as follows: + +"A ship canal, connecting the river and the lake at New Orleans will be +a Panama or a Kiel canal, in miniature, and double in effectiveness the +naval forces defending the valley, as they may be moved to and fro in +the canal from the river to the lake. On this line of defense heavy +artillery on mobile mounts can be utilized, in addition to heavy ships +of the line. That is to say, just as light-draft monitors, and even +floats carrying high-powered rifles were used effectively on the +Belgian coast; on the Piave river in Italy, and on the Tigris in +Mesopotamia, so may they be used in the defense of the valley, on any +canal connecting the Mississippi river and Lake Pontchartrain. Changes +are constantly occurring in the details of work of defense due to +development of armament, munitions and transport. The never-ending +development of range and caliber has assumed vast importance, +particularly with reference to the effect on the protection of cities +from bombardment. Naval guns are now capable of hurling projectiles to +distances of over 50,000 yards, 28 to 30 miles. For the protection of +the valley we should have at New Orleans armament mounted on floating +platforms which will hold the enemy beyond the point where his shells +may not reach their objective, and in this operation the canal, +affording means of rapid transport, will render invaluable and +essential service." + +A country's ports are its watergates. Their local importance is +comparatively small. They are important or not according to whether +they are on trade routes, and easily accessible. An infinitesimal part +of the trade that flows through New Orleans originates or terminates +there. The back country gets the bulk of the business. The development +of the harbor is for the service of the interior. It is essentially +national. + +From every point of view, therefore, it is the duty of the national +government to take over the Navigation Canal and release the monies of +the state so they may be devoted to the improvement of the waterway +with wharves and other works in aid of the nation's commerce. + +[Illustration: S. S. NEW ORLEANS + First Ship Launched by Doullut & Williams Shipbuilding Co.] + +[Illustration: S. S. GAUCHY + First Ship Launched on Canal] + + + + +ECONOMIC ASPECT OF CANAL. + + +Tied to the Mississippi Valley by nearly 14,000 miles of navigable +waterways, and the largest port on the gulf coast and the most +centrally situated with respect to the Latin-American and Oriental +trade, New Orleans is naturally a market of deposit. The development of +the river service, in which the government set the pace in 1918, is +restoring the north and south flow of commerce, after a generation of +forced haul east and west, along the lines of greatest resistance; and +New Orleans has become the nation's second port. Its import and export +business in 1920 amounted to a billion dollars. + +Ninety per cent of the nation's wealth is produced in the Valley, of +which New Orleans is the maritime capital. It is the source of supply +of wheat, corn, sugar, lumber, meat, iron, coal, cotton oil, +agricultural implements, and many other products. It is a market for +the products of Latin-America and the Orient. + +With the co-ordination of river, rail and maritime facilities, and +sufficient space for development, it is inevitable that New Orleans +should become a mighty manufacturing district. Such enterprises as coke +ovens, coal by-product plants, flour mills, iron furnaces, industrial +chemical works, iron and steel rolling mills, shipbuilding and repair +plants, automobile factories and assembling plants, soap works, packing +plants, lumber yards, building material plants and yards, warehouses of +all kinds, etc., would be encouraged to establish here if given the +proper facilities, and the Industrial Canal is the answer to this need, +for under the laws of Louisiana private industries can not acquire or +lease property on the river front. Even before the completion of the +Canal, the dream has been partly realized--with the establishment of +two large shipyards on the Canal, which otherwise would have gone +somewhere else, and the building of the army supply base on the same +waterway, largely due to the enterprise of the port. + +As Colonel E. J. Dent, U.S. district engineer, said before the members' +council of the Association of Commerce, February 17, 1921, the +Industrial Canal will be the means of removing the handicaps on New +Orleans' foreign trade. "I hold no brief for the Industrial Canal," he +continued, "but speaking as one who has no interest in it but who has +studied the question deeply, I will say that five years from now, if +you develop the Industrial Canal as it should be developed, you will be +wondering how on earth you ever got along without it." + +Before the constitutional convention of Louisiana, on April 4, 1921, he +elaborated this thought as follows: + +"The Industrial Canal will furnish to New Orleans her greatest need. It +should be possible to build docks there where the entire cargo for a +ship may be assembled. Under present conditions in the river it is +often necessary for a ship to go to three or four docks to get a +complete cargo. + +"Last year there passed through the port of New Orleans 11,000,000 tons +of freight valued at $1,100,000,000. This required 1,000 loaded freight +cars a day passing over the docks, fifteen solid trainloads of freight +each day. The inbound freight was about 5,000,000 tons and the outbound +about 6,000,000. This is extraordinarily well balanced for any port in +the United States. This would mean about 5,000 steamers of an average +capacity of 2,000 tons. + +"The proper place to assemble a cargo is on the docks. Last year the +Dock Board allowed but seven days for assembling the cargo for a +ship--only seven days for assembling 250 carloads of stuff. Then last +year the Dock Board would not assign a ship a berth until it was within +the jetties. These are some of the difficulties. + +"What New Orleans needs is 50 to 100 per cent more facilities for her +port. Last summer the port of New Orleans was congested, but she held +her own because other ports were congested. But that may not occur +again. If you want to hold your own you must improve your facilities." + +Wharves can be built a great deal cheaper on the fixed-level canal, +with its stable banks. And that is the only place specialized +industries can secure water frontage. + +Sooner or later the government will adopt the free port system, by +which other countries have pushed their foreign trade to such heights. +Free ports have nothing to do with the tariff question. They are simply +zones established in which imports may be stored, re-packed, +manufactured and then exported without the payment of duties in the +first place, duties for the refund of which the present law makes +provision, but only after vexatious delays and expensive red tape. +Precautions are taken to prevent smuggling. In the preliminary +investigations and recommendations made by the Department of Commerce, +New York, San Francisco and New Orleans have been designated as the +first free ports that should be established. With the ample space it +offers for expansion, the Industrial Canal is the logical location for +the free zone. + +Counting the $15,000,000 contract of the Doullut & Williams Shipyard, +the $5,000,000 contract of the Foundation Company Shipyard, the +$13,000,000 army supply base, the Industrial Canal has already brought +$33,000,000 of development to New Orleans, 60 per cent more than the +cost of the undertaking. More than half of this was for wages and +material purchased in New Orleans. The state has gained hundreds of +thousands of dollars in taxes. About half the money spent on the +Industrial Canal was wages; and helped to increase the population, +force business to a new height, raise the value of real estate, and +make New Orleans the financial stronghold of the South. + +What indirect bearing on bringing scores of other industries to New +Orleans, which did not require a location on the waterway, the building +of the Industrial Canal has had, there is no way of ascertaining. + +Since the work was begun the Dock Board has received inquiries from a +hundred or so large enterprises regarding the cost of a site on the +canal. That they have not established there is due to the fact that the +Canal has not yet been completed, and the Dock Board has announced no +policy. + +It is now working on that question with representatives of the +Association of Commerce, Joint Traffic Bureau, Clearing House +Association, Cotton Exchange, Board of Trade, and Steamship +Association. + +There is no use trying to guess at what the policy will be. It is too +big a problem, and must be worked out very carefully, with reference to +a confusing tangle of cross-interests. + +Two principles have already been categorically laid down by President +Hudson and endorsed by the Dock Board at an open meeting of April 5, +1921, with the commercial and industrial interests of the city, +planning for the policy of the Canal: + +First, that the development of the Canal shall not be at the expense of +the river. Wharf development will be pushed on the river to meet the +legitimate commercial demands of the port. No one is to be forced on +the Canal. That would hurt the port. It is not thought that such forced +development would be necessary, and the Canal will be kept open for the +specialized industries that can best use the co-ordination of the +river, rail and maritime facilities. + +Second, that the control of the property along the Canal, owned by the +Dock Board, will not go out of the hands of the Board. There will be +long-term leases--up to ninety-nine years, but no outright sale. +Furthermore, the private land on the other side of the Dock Board's +property will not be allowed to be developed at the expense of the +state's interests. So the frontage on the Canal will be developed +before there is any extensive construction of lateral basins and slips. + +What will be the rate charged for a site? Will it be based on the +actual cost of the Canal and its maintenance? Or will the state +consider it a business investment like a road or street, and charge the +property owners thereon less than the cost of construction, collecting +the difference in the general progress? That, too, is a question which +calls for considerable study before it can be answered. + +With the Industrial Canal open, sites available on long leases to +business enterprise, and with our tax laws relating to the processes of +industry and commerce revised and made more favorable, New Orleans will +enter a period of expansion and development on a scale hardly yet +dreamed of by her most far-visioned citizens, with enlarged profit and +opportunity for all her people. + +New taxable wealth will be created rapidly. New needs for taxable +property will arise. The tax burden on all will be distributed more +widely and when contrasted with the earning power of such property will +become less and less of a burden. + +This will be so because the water frontage through which the Canal is +being created for the attraction of many enterprises which cannot +locate on the river front, is all within the limits of the city of New +Orleans. + +With this Canal in operation, New Orleans will possess to the fullest +degree the three great systems of port operation: Public ownership and +operation of the river harbor facilities; public ownership of the land +and private operation of facilities on the Industrial Canal; and +private ownership of the land and private operation of the facilities +on the new channel to the sea. + +No other port in the country has the capacity for this trinity of port +systems. + +No other port possesses such a hinterland as is embraced within the +Mississippi Valley, nor so extensive and so complete a system of +easy-grade railroads and navigable waterways penetrating its +hinterland. + +No other port holds so strategic a position in the path of the new +trade routes connecting the region of greatest productivity with the +new markets of greatest promise in Latin-America and the Orient. + +[Illustration: LOCK GATE + There are Ten Like This] + + + + +CONSTRUCTION COSTS AND CONTRACTORS. + + +Everything is relative. Looking at the total, some may think that the +cost of the Industrial Canal is large. So it is--compared with the cost +of an irrigation ditch through a 20-acre farm. But comparing the cost +with the wealth it is invested to produce--has already begun to +produce--it dwindles to a mere percentage. And a comparison of +construction costs on the Industrial Canal with similar work done +elsewhere during the same time is very much in favor of the former. + +Witness the following figures shown in the books of the engineering +department of the Dock Board: + +Dredging, including the canal prism and the excavation of the sites of +the bridge foundations, siphon and lock, averaged .2784 cents a cubic +yard. The highest cost was in the lock section, from which 609,302 +cubic yards were excavated at an average cost of .3796 cents a cubic +yard. On the siphon and Florida Walk bridge section, including two +other deep cuts, the 814,919 cubic yards excavated cost an average of +.2607 cents a cubic yard. On the Louisville & Nashville bridge section, +the 1,023,466 cubic yards excavated cost an average of .2363 cents a +cubic yard. From there to the lake, 1,673,787 cubic yards, the average +cost was .2411 cents. Dredging costs were below the original estimates +when labor and supplies were 50 per cent cheaper. + +The 90,000 cubic yards of concrete in the lock cost an average of +$22.50 a cubic yard. This includes cost of material, mixing, building +forms, pouring and stripping forms. Mixing and pouring, from the time +the material was handled from the storehouse or pile, averaged $1.20 a +cubic yard. It would be hard to find cheaper concrete on a work of +similar magnitude anywhere, say the engineers. + +On the siphon the concrete work cost more, because it was a +subterranean job, with elaborate shaping. The price there was $35 a +cubic yard, in place, including material and form work. + +To drive the 17,000 bearing piles and 7,000 traveling piles on which +the lock is floated, cost an average of 15 cents a running foot. This +does not include the cost of the piling. + +Construction steel cost .12 cents a pound, and erection around 4 cents. +These were standard prices. + +The lock gates, weighing 5,285,000 pounds, cost $845,600, in place. +This does not include opening and closing machinery. + +Three of the bascule bridges crossing the Canal, weighing 1,600,000 +pounds each, cost $250,000 each, erected. The fourth bridge, near the +lock, weighing 1,000,000 pounds, cost $200,000, erected. This is for +superstructure only--it does not include the foundation. + +The emergency dam bridge, weighing 350,373 pounds, and its 108,256 +pounds of turning machinery, cost $96,728, in place. Hoisting machinery +cost $40,000 more. + +The eight girders of the emergency dam, weighing 90 tons each, at $240 +a ton, cost $172,800. + +Machinery for working the ten lock gates, the eight filling gates, and +the six capstans--twenty-four 52-horse power electric motors--cost +$21,479, f.o.b. New Orleans. + +The plant for unwatering the lock, consisting of one pump with a +capacity of 15,000 gallons a minute, and two with a capacity of 250 +gallons each, cost, erected, $11,000. + +Total mechanical equipment used on the Industrial Canal weighs 14,500 +tons. Its cost, including power-house, electrical connections, etc., is +$1,516,000. + +Plant and equipment for building the Canal, including locomotives, +cranes, piledrivers, dredges, tools, etc., cost $781,232. Depreciation, +up to February, 1921, is set at $266,874, leaving a balance of +$514,358, carried as assets. Much of this has already been sold, and +more will be disposed of. + +Following are the firms that executed contracts on the Industrial +Canal: + + +OUTSIDE NEW ORLEANS. + +Lock gates and emergency dam girders: McClintic-Marshall Construction +Company, Pittsburg, Pa.; designed by Goldmark & Harris Company, New +York. + +Filling gates: Coffin Valve Company, Indian Orchard, Mass. + +Miscellaneous valve equipment: Ludlow Valve Company, Troy, N.Y. + +Capstans: American Engineering Company, Philadelphia, Pa. + +Mooring posts: Shipbuilding Products Company, New York, N.Y. + +Miter gate moving machines: Fawcus Machine Works, Pittsburg, Pa. + +Motors, control boards and miscellaneous electrical equipment: General +Electric Company, Schenectady, N.Y. + +Bridge crane and bascule bridges: Bethlehem Steel Corporation, +Steelton, Pa. Former designed by Goldmark & Harris Company, New York, +N.Y.; latter, by Strauss Bascule Bridge Company, Chicago, Ill. + +Steel sheet piling: Lackawanna Steel Company, Buffalo, New York. + +Hoists and cranes: Orton & Steinbrenner, Huntington, Ind.; American +Hoist and Derrick Company, St. Paul, Minn. + +Conveyor equipment: Webster Company, Tiffany, Ohio; Barker-Greene +Company, Aurora, Ill. + +Woodworking machinery: Fay & Egan Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. + +Pipe: U.S. Cast Iron Pipe Company, Birmingham, Ala. + +Lumber and piling: Hammond Lumber Company, Hammond, La.; Great Southern +Lumber Company, Bogalusa, La. + +Dredges: Bowers Southern Dredging Company, Galveston, Tex.; Atlantic, +Gulf and Pacific Company, Mobile, Ala. + + +IN NEW ORLEANS. + +Cinder and earth fill: Thomas M. Johnson. + +Levee work: Hercules Construction Company; Hampton Reynolds. + +Sand and gravel: Jahncke Service, Inc.; D. V. Johnston Company. + +Cement: Atlas Portland Cement Company, the Michel Lumber and Brick +Company being local agents. + +Lumber and piling: Salmen Brick and Lumber Company; W. W. Carre +Company, Ltd. + +Coal: Kirkpatrick Coal Company; Tennessee Coal, Iron and R.R. Company. + +Reinforcing steel and supplies: Tennessee Coal, Iron and R.R. Company; +Ole K. Olsen. + +Rail and track accessories: A. Marx & Sons. + +Concrete mixers: Fairbanks Company. + +Repairs and castings: Dibert, Bancroft & Ross; Joubert & Goslin +Machinery and Foundry Company; Stern Foundry and Machinery Company. + + + + +OTHER PORT FACILITIES. + + +"New Orleans," says Dr. Roy S. MacElwee in his book on Port and +Terminal Facilities, a subject on which he is considered an authority, +"is the most advanced port in America in respect to scientific policy." +The Shipping Board echoed the compliment in its report of its port and +harbor facilities commission of April, 1919, when it said: "New Orleans +ranks high among the ports of the United States for volume of business, +and presents a very successful example of the public ownership and +operation of port facilities. It is one of the best equipped and +co-ordinated ports of the country." + +New Orleans is the principal fresh water-ocean harbor in the United +States. Landlocked and protected from storms, it is the safest harbor +on the Gulf Coast. Almost unlimited is the number of vessels that can +be accommodated at anchor. Alongside the wharves the water is from +thirty to seventy feet deep. The government maintains a 33-foot channel +at the mouth of the river. + +The "port of New Orleans" takes in about 21 miles of this harbor on +both sides of the river. This gives a river frontage of 41.4 miles, +which is under the jurisdiction of the Dock Board, an agency of the +state. The Board has, to date, improved seven miles of the east bank of +the river with wharves, steel sheds, cotton warehouses, a grain +elevator and a coal-handling plant of most modern type, together with +other facilities for loading and unloading. Authority has been granted +to issue $6,500,000 in bonds for increasing these facilities. + +Wharves, elevators and warehouses built by railroads and industrial +plants on both sides of the river bring up the total improved portion +of the port to 45,000 linear feet, capable of berthing ninety vessels +500 feet long. These facilities are co-ordinated by the only +municipally owned and operated belt railroad in the United States, +which saves the shipper much money. More than sixty steamship lines +connect the port with the world markets; the government barge line, a +number of steamboat lines, and twelve railroad lines connect it with +the producing and consuming sections of the United States. + +[Illustration: BULL WHEEL + Part of Operating Machinery for Lock Gates] + +Now nearing completion is the Public Coal Handling Plant. Built by the +Dock Board to develop the business in cargo coal, it is costing more +than $1,000,000.00, and will have a capacity of 25,000 tons. It is of +the belt-conveyor type. The plant will be able to: + + 1. Unload coal from railway cars into a storage pile; + 2. Unload coal from cars into steamers or barges; + 3. Load coal from storage pile into steamers or barges; + 4. Unload coal from barges into steamers and storage pile; + 5. Load coal from barges or storage pile into cars. + +At the 750-foot wharf the plant can take care of three ships at one +time, with a maximum loading capacity of 800 to 1,000 tons an hour. + +Other coaling facilities at the port are furnished by: + +Illinois Central Railroad: Tipple with capacity of 300 tons an hour; + +New Orleans Coal Company: Two tipples, capacity 150 and 350 tons an +hour; floating collier to coal ships while freight is being taken +aboard at the wharf, capacity 175 tons an hour; collier, capacity 150 +tons an hour. + +Alabama and New Orleans Transportation Company: Storage plant with +loading towers on Lake Borgne canal, just below the city; + +American Sugar Refining Company: Coal plant, capacity, 70 tons an hour, +for receiving coal from barges and delivering it to boiler house; + +Monongahela River Coal and Coke Company: Floating collier. + +Fuel oil facilities for bunkering purposes are furnished by: + +Gulf Refining Company: Storage capacity, 100,000 barrels; bunkering +capacity, 800 barrels an hour; + +Texas Oil Company: Storage capacity, 150,000 barrels; bunkering +capacity, 1,500 barrels an hour; + +Mexican Petroleum Corporation: Bunkering capacity, 1,500 barrels an +hour; + +Sinclair Refining Company: Storage capacity, 250,000 barrels; bunkering +capacity, 2,500 barrels an hour; + +Standard Oil Company: Storage capacity, 110,336 barrels; bunkering +capacity, 1,000 barrels an hour. + +In the Jahncke Dry Dock and Ship Repair Company, New Orleans has the +largest ship repair plant south of Newport News. The plant is on the +Mississippi river, adjacent to the Industrial Canal. It has a +1,500-foot wharf and three dry docks, of 6,000, 8,000 and 10,000 tons +capacity, respectively. These can be joined for lifting the very large +ships. It is equipped with the latest and most powerful machinery, and +has been a strong factor in developing the port. + +The Johnson Iron Works and Shipbuilding Company likewise has facilities +for wood repairing, caulking, painting and scraping of vessels, as well +as iron work. It has three docks: one 234 feet long, one 334 feet long, +and a small one for lifting barges and small river tugs. + +At the United States Naval Yard is a dock of 15,000 tons capacity. This +is placed at the service of commercial vessels when private docks are +not available. + +The Public Cotton Warehouse and Public Grain Elevator are among the +most modern facilities in the country. + +Both plants are of reinforced concrete throughout, insuring a low +insurance rate. + +The cotton warehouse comprises five units, with a total storage +capacity at one time of 320,000 bales, and an annual handling capacity +of 2,000,000. High density presses compress this cotton to 34 pounds +per cubic foot, saving the exporter 20 per cent on steamship freight +rates. The insurance rate on storage cotton is 24 cents per $100 a +year. Cotton is handled by Dock Board employees licensed by the New +Orleans Cotton Exchange under rules and regulations laid down by the +department of agriculture. Warehouse receipts may be discounted at the +banks. Cotton can be handled cheaper here than at any other warehouse +in the country. + +Storage capacity of the Public Grain Elevator is 2,622,000 bushels. +This is about 25 per cent of the grain elevator storage capacity of the +port, but the Public Elevator handles 60 per cent of the +business--proving its efficiency. Its unloading capacity is 60,000 +bushels a day from barges or ships, and 200,000 bushels from cars. +Loading capacity into ships is 100,000 bushels an hour--to one or four +vessels, simultaneously. Fireproof and equipped with a modern +dust-collecting system, this facility is considered one of the best in +the country. + +Other grain elevators at New Orleans are operated by: + +Southern Railway: capacity, 375,000 bushels; + +Illinois Central Railroad two elevators, capacity, 2,500,000 bushels; + +Trans-Mississippi Terminal Railroad Company: two elevators, capacity, +1,350,000 bushels. + +Wharves owned and controlled by the Dock Board measure 28,872 linear +feet in length, with an area of 4,230,894 square feet. Twenty of these +thirty-four wharves are covered with steel sheds. + +Wharves operated by the railroads on both sides of the river increase +the port facilities as follows: + +Southern Railway: Two concrete and steel covered docks, one a two-story +structure; one is 150 by 1,300 feet, with a floor space of 195,000 +square feet; one is 150 by 1,680 feet on the lower floor, and 120 by +1,680 on the upper, with a combined area of 453,000 square feet floor +space. + +Illinois Central Railroad: covered wharf, 130-150 by 4,739 feet. + +Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship Company: wharf +space, 112,000 square feet; covered space, 117,200 square feet. + +Trans-Mississippi Terminal Railroad Company: Wharf No. 1, three berths, +281,904 square feet; No. 2, one berth, 94,350 square feet; No. 3, one +berth, 100,725 square feet--most of it covered; oil wharf, 15,000 +square feet. + +The New Orleans Army Supply Base has a two-story wharf 2,000 feet long +by 140 feet wide. The lower floor of the wharf is leased by the Dock +Board. Back of it are the three warehouses, each 140 by 600 feet, and +six stories in height. + +Seven industrial plants have loading and unloading facilities on the +river. The Dock Board does not lease or part with the control of these, +and controls the following charges: harbor fees, dockage, sheddage, +wharfage, etc. + +Open storage on river front contiguous to wharves totals 1,169,900 +square feet. There is a great deal of potential open storage space away +from the wharves and along railroad tracks, which could be reached by +switches. + +For the storage of coffee, alcohol, sisal, sugar and general +commodities, private warehouses offer a floor space of 2,000,000 square +feet. + +Railroads serving New Orleans are: The Public Belt, Illinois Central, +Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, Gulf Coast Lines, Louisiana Railway & +Navigation Company, Louisville & Nashville, Louisiana Southern, +Missouri-Pacific, Texas & Pacific, New Orleans & Lower Coast, Morgan's +Louisiana & Texas Railroad and Steamship Company, (Southern Pacific) +Southern Railway and New Orleans & Great Northern. + +Storage track capacity of New Orleans for export traffic totals 15,156 +cars. Track facilities alongside the wharves will accommodate 600 cars. +New Orleans can handle, at the grain elevators and wharves, 3,000 cars +a day. + +Wharves are served exclusively by the Public Belt Railroad. The +Industrial Canal will be similarly served. The Public Belt Railroad +assumes the obligations of a common carrier, operating under +appropriate traffic rules and regulations. The switching charge is +$7.00 a car, regardless of the distance. On uncompressed cotton and +linters, the charge is $4.50. + +The government barge line connects New Orleans with the Warrior River +section of Alabama and the Upper Mississippi Valley, including a great +deal of inland territory to which river and rail differential rates +apply, as far as St. Louis. It is operating a fleet of 2,000-ton steel +covered barges and 1,800 horsepower towboats. There is a weekly +service. Rates are 20 per cent cheaper than rail rates. + +The port is supplied with some of the most modern freight handling +machinery. Harbor dues and other expenses are low. The water supply, +for drinking purposes and boilers, meets the strongest tests. + +How advantageously situated is New Orleans will be seen from the +following comparison of distances: + +[Illustration: SHIP LOCK on the INNER HARBOR NAVIGATION CANAL at +the PORT OF NEW ORLEANS + +THE LOCK COMPLETED] + + + + +COMPARISON OF DISTANCES BY AND BETWEEN NEW ORLEANS AND NEW YORK AND +PRINCIPAL CITIES. + +(Distances in statute miles, furnished by War Department.) + + New York New Orleans +---------------------------------------- +Atlanta 846 498 +Baltimore 188 1,184 +Birmingham 1,043 348 +Boston 235 1,607 +Buffalo 442 1,275 +Charleston 739 776 +Chattanooga 846 498 +Chicago 912 912 +Cincinnati 781 836 +Cleveland 584 1,092 +Dallas 1,642 515 +Denver 1,932 1,356 +Detroit 693 1,100 +Duluth 1,390 1,340 +El Paso 2,310 1,195 +Galveston 1,782 410 +Indianapolis 827 888 +Kansas City 1,335 867 +Little Rock 1,290 487 +Louisville 867 749 +Memphis 1,156 396 +Minneapolis 1,332 1,285 +Mobile 1,231 141 +Norfolk 347 1,093 +Oklahoma City 1,643 856 +Omaha 1,402 1,070 +Pittsburgh 444 1,142 +Philadelphia 91 1,281 +Port Townsend 3,199 2,979 +Portland, Oregon 3,204 2,746 +Salt Lake City 2,442 1,928 +San Antonio 1,943 571 +San Francisco 3,191 2,482 +Savannah 845 661 +Seattle 3,151 2,931 +St. Louis 1,058 701 +Toledo 705 1,040 +Washington, D.C. 228 1,144 + + + + +COMPARISON OF DISTANCES BY WATER ROUTES BETWEEN NEW ORLEANS AND NEW +YORK TO PRINCIPAL PORTS OF THE WORLD. + +(Distances in nautical miles, supplied by Hydrographic Office, Navy +Department; land routes in statute miles supplied by War Department.) + + New York New Orleans +--------------------------------------------------------- +Antwerp 3,325 4,853 +Bombay-- + Via Suez 8,120 9,536 + Via Cape of Good Hope 11,250 11,848 +Buenos Ayres 5,868 6,318 +Callao-- + Via Panama 3,392 2,764 + Via Tehauntepec 4,246 2,991 +Cape Town 6,851 7,374 +Colon (eastern end of Panama Canal) 1,981 1,380 +Havana 1,227 597 +Hong Kong-- + Via Panama 11,431 10,830 + [a] Via rail to San Francisco 9,277 8,568 +Honolulu-- + Via Panama 6,686 6,085 + Via rail to San Francisco 5,288 4,579 +Liverpool 3,053 4,553 +London 3,233 4,507 +Manila-- + Via Panama 11,546 10,993 + [a] Yokohama and San Francisco 9,480 8,771 + [a] Yokohama and Port Townsend 9,192 8,972 +Melbourne-- + [a] Via San Francisco 10,231 9,522 + Via Panama 10,028 9,424 + Via Tehauntepec 9,852 8,604 + Via Suez Canal 12,981 14,303 +Mexico City-- + By land and water 2,399 1,172 + By land 2,898 1,526 +New Orleans-- + Land 1,372 + Water 1,741 +Nome, Alaska-- + [a] Via San Francisco 5,896 5,187 + [a] Via Port Townsend 5,555 5,335 + Via Panama 8,010 7,410 +Panama (western end Canal)-- + Via Canal and Colon 2,028 1,427 +Pernambuco, Brazil 3,696 3,969 +Rio de Janeiro 4,778 5,218 +San Juan, P.R. 1,428 1,539 +Singapore-- + Via Yokohama and Panama 13,104 12,503 + Via Suez 10,170 11,560 +San Francisco 3,191 2,482 + Via Tehauntepec 4,415 3,191 + Via Panama 5,305 4,704 +Tehauntepec-- + Eastern end of railroad 2,036 812 +Valparaiso-- + Via Panama 4,637 4,035 +Yokohama-- + Via Honolulu and Tehauntepec 9,243 7,995 + Via Honolulu and Panama 10,093 9,492 + Via Panama 9,869 9,268 +--------------------------------------------------------- + + [a] By land and water. + + [b] By land. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Industrial Canal and Inner Harbor +of New Orleans, by Thomas Ewing Dabney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDUSTRIAL CANAL *** + +***** This file should be named 31383.txt or 31383.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/8/31383/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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