Ohio Valley Hist. Ass'n, Fifth Annual
Meeting. 27
with after the first half of the year
1818, the state grant remaining on
the statute book a dead letter, and the
whole matter receiving adjudica-
tion by the decision of Chief Justice
Marshall in 1824, in the well
known case of Gibbons vs. Ogden. Even
before the trials of April,
1817, boats had been springing up
everywhere. By 1819, there were over
sixty in western waters, and from this
period the west, with the changes
wrought by the introduction of the
steamboat, may be said to have
entered upon her second stage of
existence. The day of the licensed
company was over-and the period of free
competition among steam-
boats inaugurated. What this meant in
hastening internal improvement,
in stimulating domestic manufacture, in
welding the west into an
economic unit, is another chapter in the
history of the steamboat.
Monday evening was given over to a
Waterways Meeting
under the auspices of the Historical
Society of Western Penn-
sylvania, impromptu addresses being
delivered by Mayor Magee
and Governor Tener. The main address of
the evening was by
Col. John L. Vance.
OHIO RIVER IMPROVEMENT, AND LAKE ERIE
AND
OHIO RIVER SHIP CANAL.
By JOHN L. VANCE.
Every step in the progress of the
improvement of the Ohio River
has received the approval of the
Congress and the recommendation
of the Engineers of the United States
Army after careful surveys and
examinations of the river from its
source to its mouth.
A special Board appointed under direct
authority of Congress,
followed by the Board of Review--both
boards composed of experi-
enced officers of recognized
ability-made reports recommending the
improvement of the river by locks and
movable dams to provide nine
feet of water.
In closing its official report, the
Special Board said: "In view
of the enormous interests to be
benefited by continuous navigation on
the Ohio River, and the great
development which may be expected
from such increased facilities, the
Board is of the opinion that the
Ohio River should be improved by means
of locks and movable dams
to provide a depth of nine feet from
Pittsburgh to Cairo."
And the Board of Review reported:
* * * "For these reasons the Board
is of the opinion that the
improvement of the Ohio River by locks
and movable dams so as to
28 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
secure a depth of nine feet as
recommended in the report of the Special
Board is worthy of being undertaken by
the United States.
"In making this recommendation the
Board realizes that it is
suggesting a plan for river improvement
on a scale not hitherto at-
tempted in this country; but *
*
on account of the large com-
mercial development of its shores and
its connection with the lower
Mississippi, now maintained in a
navigable condition, the Ohio River
is, in the opinion of the Board, the one
river of all others most likely
to justify the work."
These reports received the strong
endorsement of the Chief of
Engineers of the Army and the Secretary
of War in transmitting
them to Congress.
Fifty-four locks and movable dams are
required to provide nine
feet of water at all seasons of the year
from Pittsburgh to Cairo-
nearly 1,000 miles.
Twenty-three of these locks and dams are
completed or in process
of construction, leaving thirty-one to
be provided for by appropriations
by Congress.
Sixty per cent of the sites for the 54
locks and dams have been
secured; all the sites have been
practically fixed; the money has been
appropriated to complete the purchase of
all, and the Government
is moving as rapidly as possible to
obtain titles thereto.
In the report accompanying the river and
harbor bill presented
to the House of Representatives on the
11th of February, 1910, the
Committee on Rivers and Harbors stated:
"The improvement of the
Ohio River is of great importance, and
has been specially recommended
by the President of the United States.
The Committee has thought
it proper to provide that this important
work should be prosecuted at
a rate which will insure its completion
within a period of twelve years."
The tremendous importance of the
improvement of the Ohio-
to which direct expression was given by
the Committee - was emphasized
by President Taft, in a carefully
prepared address delivered at Cincin-
nati on the 21st of September of last
year, in which he uttered these
emphatic words: "I earnestly hope
that the time may come in the not
distant future when the plan for
completing this Ohio River improve-
ment shall be changed so as to make the
time six years for completion
instead of twelve."
Those who know something of the
importance of the Ohio Valley
and that which will follow the
completion of the work now in progress
for the improvement of the river, will
join with our honored Chief
Magistrate in the hope he expressed.
How many know the resources of the six
states bordering the
Ohio and directly tributary to it?
This valley is, to-day, the greatest
manufacturing center of the
country. From Pittsburgh to Cairo, on
either bank and on both banks,
Ohio Valley Hist. Ass'n, Fifth Annual
Meeting. 29
the traveler on one of the many steamers
traversing the Ohio finds
himself never beyond the sound of the
hammer or the forge, nor be-
yond the sight of the smoke issuing from
the monster stacks of im-
mense manufacturing establishments.
At the head of the Ohio is situated this
marvelous city of Pitts-
burgh-to-day the greatest manufacturing
center of the world-with
a tonnage of 150,000,000 tons last year,
greater by far than the com-
bined tonnage produced or originated by
Philadelphia and Baltimore
and Boston and Greater New York.
For miles above Pittsburgh, along the
improved Monongahela,
it is one succession of manufacturing
plants-the marvel of the whole
world in extent, in number of employes,
in value of product and
capital. And as it is there, so it is
along the Ohio, below, and the
passenger on an Ohio river steamer is
lost in amazement over the stu-
pendous products of the Valley.
In this Valley we have the coal that
supplies our own demands
and the southern markets and the
steamships that leave the ports 2,000
miles below; and the products of her
factories reach the entire world.
And more: Our Valley, in advantages and
possibilities, is the
richest on earth. In climate, in
location, in soil, in iron, in salt, in
steel, glass, and pottery products; in
gas, in timber, in stone, in water-
power, and in manufacturing industries
in general; in enterprise, edu-
cation and intelligence, it has no
superior.
As an agricultural valley we challenge
the United States, as we
challenge the world.
It is not alone beyond the Mississippi
that agriculture has her
seat and her empire. It is not alone in
the great Northwest nor the
productive Southwest nor the fertile
South. The six Ohio River States,
where the forge and the mill are never
idle, where smoke obscures
the sky, and on whose rivers the
steamers ply their busy trade-these
States challenge all sections of the
country in their agricultural products.
In one year alone the value of the farm
products of these States reached
a total of approximately five billion
dollars--more than the combined
value of any other six or twelve States
in the Union.
What, indeed, would the development of
these six States be, with
the Ohio River open the year 'round and
navigable the year 'round,
to pour their treasures into the lap of
the markets of the world!
But still more: The six Ohio River
States pay into the Treasury
of the United States more than one full
half of the entire internal
revenue collected in the whole nation.
But we have the wealth, and
we have the money, and are not
complaining.
The entire wealth of the country is
estimated in round numbers
at one hundred billion dollars, and it
is with genuine pride that the
six Ohio River States find themselves
credited with 30 billion dollars,
or nearly one-third of the total wealth
of the whole country, with all
30 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the other states and territories
required in the making up of the
remaining two-thirds.
But enough of figures, however
interesting they may be, as well
as conclusive evidence of the supreme
importance of the Ohio Valley
and the Ohio River.
This river is not the only water way in
which the six states of our
inland empire are interested. They want
to connect the Ohio and
Mississippi and the Hudson by a continuous
navigable water way.
And this may be done by the construction
of the Lake Erie and Ohio
River Ship canal--a proposed canal of
103 miles in length. Thus
would be secured 2,700 miles of unbroken
navigable channel, from
New Orleans to New York, of which 2,000
miles from New Orleans
to Pittsburgh, will be nine feet in
depth, and 700 miles, from Pittsburgh
to New York, will be 12 feet in depth.
This is the shortest route by
300 miles than the only other possible
route between the Gulf and the
Hudson, and can be realized at an outlay
that is imperatively de-
manded when the existing tonnage to be
served and the economy intro-
duced are considered.
The building of the connecting
water-link between the Ohio and
Lake Erie will give unbroken navigation
between 24 states in the Union,
and serve directly the territory where
now exists the densest tonnage
movement in the world, and have the
ability to introduce economy in
transportation by it in the ratio of not
less than 5 to 1 over railway
movement.
This project is in control of
Pittsburgh, and her progressive busi-
ness interests will carry it to speedy
and successful completion.
* * * * *
The rivers of our continent are the
natural arteries through which
the trade of the country is intended to
pass; and it is the duty of the
Government to improve these free public
highways in every way pos-
sible, because all classes of citizens
will thereby be benefited.
The Ohio is preeminently a national
water way. As it flows be-
tween its banks on its course to the
Gulf, it does not tell of Pennsyl-
vania, or Ohio, or West Virginia, or
Kentucky, or Indiana, or Illinois.
While it adds to the wealth and grandeur
of these great common-
wealths, above and surpassing all else
it tells the story of a nation
united; of a country that all of us
love, a country with one Constitution
and one flag, a country of peace and at
peace with all the world, a
country with one aim and one destiny, a
country united, one and indi-
visible now and forever.
Those who have labored many years for
the permanent improve-
ment of the Ohio were not building alone
for the present generation,
but for those who come after they are
gone. In this work have been
Ohio Valley Hist. Ass'n, Fifth Annual
Meeting. 31
engaged strong and able men at all
points along the river. Pittsburgh,
ever at the front in enterprise, has
contributed her full share.
It is our good fortune to have homes in
this Valley, dear to many
of us as our birthplace, and to all of
us by fond memories and cherished
associations. We, who love the Valley
and the River, here pay tribute
to all who have labored for, and through
their labors have advanced.
the improvement of the greatest channel
of commerce in the world.
They have been governed by no selfish
purpose, but by a noble, un
selfish desire to benefit our homes, to
make more prosperous our Val-
ley, to leave to their children and to
generations yet unborn a heritage
rich in commerce, their valley teeming
with intelligence and populous
with contented men and women-with more
schools, more churches,
more of all that makes life desirable
and that adds to the sum of
human happiness.
Another speaker of the evening was the
nearest descendant
of Robert Fulton, Rev. C. Seymour
Bullock, of Fall River, who
spoke as follows:
Mr. Chairman: His Excellency, the
Governor, Your Honor, the
Mayor; Ladies and Gentlemen: I am happy
in bringing to you, unof-
ficially, the greetings of a New England
city that has just secured for
itself a State appropriation of one
million dollars to improve its al-
ready magnificent harbor.
More and more are we coming to realize
that the future of our
country depends upon the conservation of
its natural resources and
the development and utilization of its
waterways as avenues of trans-
portation. The total bankage of the
rivers of Europe is but 34,000
miles while the river banks of streams
east of the Rocky Mountains,
that are 100 miles long and navigable,
will total more than 80,000 miles.
On our Great Lakes in one year we
carried freight with a total ton-
nage sufficient to tax the carrying
capacity of a train of cars of or-
dinary size that would completely belt
the globe. If the engine of that
train were to pull out from Boston it
would pass thru San Francisco,
cover the Chinese Empire and Turkestan
and Persia, bridge the Med-
iterranean and the Atlantic and speed on
again almost to Salt Lake
City with its train of loaded cars
before the caboose left Boston. Mr.
Chairman, that is something of a freight
train!
With no such system of inland seas the
European countries are
fast outstripping us in the race for
commerce. France and Germany
have developed or are developing systems
of internal water communi-
cation on a basis of one mile of
waterway to each twenty-five miles of
territory. Already France has 3,021
miles of canals in operation, while
Germany, aside from the Kaiser Wilhelm,
has 15,011 miles of canals
and 1,500 miles of canalized rivers.