Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

ST LAWRENCE
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made in 1883, was expended in cutting a straight outlet from the
Chicago river into the lake. The available depth was only 2 feet,
hut since then the harbour accommodation has been extended, by
means of piers, dredging, and a breakwater, to accommodate vessels
of 14 feet draught.
The harbour works at Chicago, as w7ell as at other lake and river
ports, are constructed simply of cribs or boxes, composed of logs 12
by 12 inches, filled with stone, and joined to each other, after they
have finally settled down, by a continuous timber superstructure
raised a few feet above the level of the water. On this plan break¬
waters, piers at the mouths of rivers, and wharves have been built
within the last sixty years at the most important points along the
I shores of the St Lawrence lakes, as well as at most of the river
harbours communicating with the Atlantic ; and experience has
proved that no cheaper and better system could have been devised
for such localities.
CL The St Lawrence leaves Lake Huron by the St Clair
rer al river at Sarnia, and after a course of 33 miles enters
ke- Lake St Clair, 25 miles long, and terminating at the
head of the Detroit river, near the city of Detroit in
Michigan. Eighteen miles farther on the St Lawrence,
with a descent of 11 feet, enters Lake Erie. The naviga¬
tion through the St Clair river is easy throughout, but in
Lake St Clair there are extensive sandbanks covered with
a depth of water varying from 6 to 10 feet. Previous to
1858 much inconvenience was experienced in navigating
the lake owing to its insufficient depth; but at the end
of that year the Governments of the United States and
Canada dredged a canal through the bed of the lake,
which is of soft material, to a minimum depth of 12 feet,
with a width of 300 feet. This channel has since been
deepened to 16 feet over a width of 200 feet, and works
are now in progress to deepen the rocky shoal called the
“Lime-Kiln Crossing” in the Detroit river to 18 feet, to
enable vessels drawing 15 feet to pass with safety from
lake to lake in stormy weather.
The peculiar features of Lake Erie are its shallowness
and the clayey nature of its shores, which are generally
low. The south shore is bordered by an elevated plateau,
through which the rivers, which are without importance
as regards Lake Erie, have cut deep channels. The mean
depth of the lake is only 90 feet and its maximum depth
204. Owing to its shallowness it is easily disturbed by the
wind, and is therefore the most dangerous to navigate of
all the great lakes. Its length is 250 miles and its
greatest breadth 60. The area of the basin of Lake Erie is
39,680 square miles, including 10,000 square miles, the area
of the lake. Its waters are 564 feet above the sea and
330 above Lake Ontario. The extreme difference observed
in the level of the lake between 1819 and 1838 was 5 feet
2 inches, but the average annual rise and fall (taken on
a mean of twelve years) is only 1 foot inches. The
mean annual rainfall is 34 inches. The navigation of
Lake Erie usually opens about the middle of April and
closes early in December. Besides the Erie and the
Welland Canals, the lake has two other great canal systems
on its south shore,—the Ohio and Erie Canal, from Cleve¬
land to Portsmouth, and the Miami and Erie Canal, from
Toledo to Cincinnati.
Buffalo (population, 171,500 in 1883) is situated at the north-
as angle oi Lake Erie, and is therefore much exposed to the
° ,, sU1,(1'wesk winds, in which direction the lake has a
ttiV C f ° ., mfies. Thus more than ordinary care has been
, "' 'l 0 Proyide safe harbour accommodation for the large fleets of
vessels constantly arriving at Buffalo from the upper lakes. The
■ a ,° which has been made navigable for more than a mile,
lUnfuir at.Its mouth b>T a breakwater, 4000 feet long, built at
nf rim la , a mi^e horn the shore. The harbour thus formed allows
IVnt entyance of vessels of 17 feet draught as against 13 in 1853.
™nl-0n y, 6 P°rt situated at the head of the Erie Canal and
ln ari hour s sail of the Welland Canal, but it is the western
minus of the New York Central, Erie, and several other railways,
e possession of these exceptional advantages has constituted
A/0 the great commercial centre of the inland seas of North
menca. For the six years ending 1883 the yearly average ship¬
ments of wheat and corn received by lake at Buffalo, by the Erie
Canal, and by rail from elevators was 5,555,000 quarters by canal
and 2,320,000 by rail, or 70‘20 and 29'80 per cent, respectively.
There are 38 elevators in the city, comprising storage, transfer,
and floating elevators, with a combined storage capacity of 1,125,000
quarters and a daily transfer capacity of 333,000 quarters. During
the ten years ending 1883 the annual average number of lake
vessels arriving and departing from Buffalo Creek numbered 7438,
the aggregate tonnage was 4,165,098 tons, and the average size of
craft 560 tons.
In 1883 the enrolled tonnage of the United States
vessels for the northern lakes, and the enrolled registered
tonnage of steam and sailing vessels in the province of
Ontario, including tugs and barges on the Ottawa river
and barges at Kingston, were as follows (Table II.):—
Sailing vessels
Steam vessels
United States.
No.
1373
1149
2522
Aggregate
Tonnage.
310,454
304,649
615,103
Canada.
No.
452
352
804
Aggregate
Tonnage.
44,000
64,000
108,000
Freight propellers are now rapidly doing away with
sailing vessels, or causing them to be converted into barges
or consorts. The rapid increase in their tonnage capacity
has been remarkable. In 1841 there was only 1 freight
propeller with a tonnage of 128 tons; in 1850 there were
50 with an average of 215 tons, in 1860 there were 197
with an average of 340 tons, and in 1880 there were 202
with an average of 689 tons.
The Erie Canal connects Lake Erie with the Hudson river at Erie
Troy and Albany and with Lake Ontario at Oswego. The move- Canal,
ment of freight of all kinds by the canal was 3,602,535 tons in
1873, and 3,587,102 in 1883, and the average annual movement
from 1874 to 1883 was 3,447,464 tons. This canal was constructed
in 1825 by the State of New York, for the passage of vessels of 60
tons ; but by the year 1862 it was sufficiently enlarged to allow of
the passage of vessels of 240 tons. The dimensions and capacity
of the canal and its two principal feeders are given in Table III.:—
Locality.
Buffalo to Albany ....
Oswego to Syracuse ..
Lake Champlain to Al¬
bany
Albany to New York
by the Hudson river
i-} «
351
38
455
145
Size of Canal.
| §
Feet.
70
70
50
° s
£-3
So
Feet.
56
56
35
r- Q
£
Qj c3
Feet.
7
7
5
No. & Size of Locks.
Feet.
110
110
100
Feet.
18
18
18
Feet.
655
155
180
The cost of construction, maintenance, and management of the 455
miles of canal up to 30th September 1873 amounted to £17,460,000.
A project has for some time been under serious consideration for
the enlargement of one tier of the present locks and the deepening
of the canal so that between Buffalo and Albany there would no¬
where be a less depth than 8 feet. The estimated cost of this work
is about £1,600,000.
The Welland Canal flanks the Niagara river and is 27 miles in Welland
length from Port Colborne on Lake Erie to Port Dalhousie on Lake Canal.
Ontario. It was opened in 1833 for the navigation of small vessels
and was first enlarged in 1844. Vessels, however, continued to
increase in size until in 1860 there were 341 with an aggregate
tonnage of 143,918 tons which were unable to pass through the
enlarged canal. In 1870 the number that could not pass had
increased to 384, with an aggregate tonnage of 194,685 tons; in
1880 to 460, with an aggregate tonnage of 287,342 tons; and in
1883 (notwithstanding the completion of the second enlargement
in 1882) to 557, with an aggregate tonnage of 398,808 tons. The
cost of the canal including its maintenance up to 30th June 1883 was
$20,859,605. Its dimensions are now as follows :■—number of lift
locks, 25 ; dimensions, 270 by 45 feet; total rise of lockage, 326|
feet; depth of water on sills, 12 feet. The movement of freight of
all kinds by the canal was 1,330,629 tons in 1873 and 827,196 in
1883, and the average annual movement for the decade ending 1883
was 986,441 tons. This serious falling off in traffic is partly due
to the numerous competitors by lake and rail which have sprung up
during the last ten years for the transportation of products to the
east, but principally to the deepening of the channels and harbours
of the upper lakes, a work that has encouraged the construction of