Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1901 — Improwing the Erie Canal. [ARTICLE]

Improwing the Erie Canal.

The Western States are more interested in the improvement of the Erie Canal than is the state of New York. If the capacity of that canal were greater than it is the cost of transportation to the seaboard of the products of western farmers would be decreased, and the benefit of this saving in cost would go to them in part. There is no certainty that anything will be done in the near future to add to the usefulness of that canal. The

shippers of the west will have to look to the Canadian government for better facilities for water transportation to the ocean. Governor Odell has recommended to the New York legislature the continuation of the plan of improvement started in 1895 and abandoned after all the money voted by the people had

been spent, with little to show for it. That plan contemplates the deepening of the canal to nine feet and the lengthening of the locks. The estimated cost is about $25,000,000. The present cost of transportation of cereals per ton per mile on the Erie Canal is 1.75 mills. If the canal were nine feet deep the cost would be about 1.16 mills. If the barge canal advocated by the commission of which General F. V. Greene was president were to be built, the cost per ton per mile would be only .88 mill. But it will take $76,000,000 to construct such a canal, and there is no reason to be-

lieve the people of the state of New York will vote the money. Friday is the unlucky day of the week, but it seems to have no terrors for those matrimonially inclined. It is said that Friday holds a fair average with other days of the week for marriages solemnized.