Sewickley Herald

              The Herald
The Sewiekley Valley’s Home-News Weekly
ONE OF WORLD’S GREATEST IMPROVEMENT UNDERTAKINGS
0UR great and rapidly growing river traffic was Well described last Week before the Ambridge board of trade by Col. James P. Leaf, U. S. engineer who has supervision of river improvements in the district west of here, as basis for a plea for every possible encouragement for water-way development, building annd keeping open proper landing-places, taking advantage of low river freight rates and working for the removal of hampering restrictions that now militate against proper rate-making, and urging the building of the Lake Erie canal to extend still farther the benefits of the Ohio improvement, soon to be completed. The figures he gave were indeed impressive.
The Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in 1925 carried a total of 44,775,038 tons of freight, enough to load every ship of Great Britain, the United States, France and the mercantile marine of Japan. The Ohio carried 15,737,072 tons in that year, which compares with only 6,391,826 tons in 1922, and j 10,866,683 in 1924—a startling increase. One fj plant in his district shipped more tonnage than the ^ entire tonnage of the New York State barge canal
system. It required 40 years for the Suez canal'to reach our river’s 1926 tonnage, and ten years for the Panama canal to do the same thing.
Said Col, Leaf: “The improvement of our Ohio river including the Monongahela and Allegheny is one of the greatest undertakings carried out by any nation, and among the most successful enterprises executed by man, and judging by its increasing use, its benefits are just beginnning. The locks and dams in the Ohio were begun in 1876 and the first dam, at Davis Island, was opened in 1885. There are now, completed and under construction, all the locks and dams from Pittsburgh to Cairo, a total of 49, slackwalering the Ohio to the Mississippi. This will be accomplished by 1928, opening navigation to the Gluf of Mexico.
“As to freight rates:	One horse power would
move 2 tons 3 miles in 1 hour on a road; 15 tons 3 miles in 1 hour by railroad; 105 tons 3 miles in 1 hour on a canal; making relative cost of water to rail at the ratio of 1 to 7. Until some mode of transportation better than waterways is discovered, merchandise must seek water shipments.
“If you could afford to pay $1.10 a ton freight on your merchandise, you could ship it four miles on a dirt road, 20 miles on Beaver County’s improved roads, 100 miles on an average railroad, 200 miles on P. R. R. or N. Y. C. R. R., 300 miles on a canal, 1,000 miles on the Great Lakes or 2,000 miles on the Ohio river—take your choice.
“We should have a daily boat between Pittsburgh and East Liverpool, equipped to handle freight by machinery, and the cities and towns should have wharf boats to get the benefit of quick deliveries of merchandise at reasonable freight rates. Let us all do all we can to develop our landings and terminals, and not let any of them be closed up, for the day is not far distant when they will all be used. The river business is gaining and a little cooperation on our part will help the river and greatly benefit us.
“Let us get our Congressmen, and Senators busy to improve our Waterways and we shall do more to develop our great land than by any other action. Let us improve our opportunities and make Western Pennsylvania the place she ought to be.