Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1919 — LAKES TO GULF WATERWAY [ARTICLE]

LAKES TO GULF WATERWAY

Proposed in Bill by Senator Meeker in State Legislature. A canal from Indiana Harbor to the Wabash river near Battle Ground will be constructed if a proposed bill In the state legislature becomes a law. Senator Meeker, the author of the measure, ■has pointed out that such a waterway would tap the coal fields of southern Indiana and prqyido cheaper transportation for fuel between them and Gary and Chicago. The senator said that such a route would be 250 miles shorter than any other feasible route that could besuggested. All transcontinental railroads, he said, would cross such a waterway. The main object behind the plan would b® a waterway connecting the Great Lakes with, the Gulf of Mexico. Senator Meeker announced that his bill will provide that the government appoint a commission of three members to investigate the most feasible route or routes connecting Lake Michigan with the Wabash river 1 by canal. It would be called the Michigan and Ohio waterway commission and the finding would be reported to the governor before the next session of the legislature. 1 4 "