Canal Service and AdministrationCin Europe
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ON THE Zlll) II EVE LAND CANAL.
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OTTKKDAM. Jan. 27. (Special
('(irreHjidndeiico of The. Hue.)
Tli Ik 1h Hie age of rallroaila. It
promiHea also to bo the age of
cnnalH. Water transportation l
still cheaper than any other, and the Eu
ropean natlotiH are ileepenlnK their rivers
and constructing cannls to Join their water
ways. It is only a question of time, when
the United Stales will do the bhiiip, and
when wo shall have ship cannls Joining
some of the principal purls of our country.
I came from Antwerp to Rotterdam by
boat to learn something about the canals
of the Dutch, and since then I have visited
their waterways In the north. Holland 1
the canal land of the world. It Iiiib more
Interior waterways than uny region except
the Yangtse Kiang valley about Shanghai,
Hangchow and Soochow. It Is, all told,
only about as big aa Massachusetts, but if
you could stretch Ita navigable waterways
out In one straight line they would carry
you from New York to Kan Francisco and
almost back to Chicago before you got to
the end of them. There are in all about
two thousand tulles of canals enough to
reach from New York to Denver and also
three thousand miles of other waterways,
Including little rivers and the 'mouths of
the Scheldt and Rhine, and also the Ztiy
der Zee and other places where tho north
ern ocean runs Into the land.
Indeed, there Is so much water here thai
one of the most Important duties of the
government Is the taking care of It. The
government has a department known as
The Waterstaat, and the queen has In her
cabinet a minister of waterways. This
department has some of the best of civil Krooulaud of our own American line mov- islands of Dulveland and Tnolen Into the one of those stonea was laid by band. Each
engineers. It has men who devote them- Ug up witn a cargo from New York for Maas canal. The waters of the Ooster one took a part of a man's life to put it in
selves to studying how to keep the North Antwerp, and a little later on came in sight Si heldt are wide and spotted witi Islands, its place, so that In reality the lives of
sea from rushing In and drowning out the 0f the dykes. Near the Dutch boundary tho We passed many sailing craft and now and generations have been swallowed up by
country, for almost one-half of Hollnnd Is river Is walled with stone held between then went lv a tu towinir erpat hnron theKP canal hanks.
piles. We rode high above the reBt of the With the glass we could see schools of you have all heard of the windmills of
tountry, and could ace the roofs of the black seals on the sand flats, and farther Holland? They are to be seen everywhere,
nariis and houses even with the top of the back hundreds of Holsteln cattle lying out Along some of the canals there are hun-
dykes. On the opposite side the trees in the sun. dreds of them. They spot the farms, and
showed out like bushes over the wall which We entered the Hollandlsche Dlco and nn . ihom nn tho oAa nr tho inn
waterways which connect Amsterdam with extended on and on up the river as far as then the canals and mouths of the Maas, where they grind flour, saw lumber and do
the ocean, and It has others who are schem- our eyes could reach. We passed the great now going by villages on the banks, and an gor 0f things. They give a great
Ing how to build a great dyke across the forts that guard this entrance to Europe now seeing the second stories of other vil- charn. to the landscape. They look t.o alive
Zuyder Zee to redeem as much land as a and went on througn a flat country on the lage houses which were apparently looking tnat i don't wonder that Don Quixote took
good-sired Texas county, which, when re- edge of tho sea. At times we could aee the over the dvkes and watching us go by. one Ior a gant aha wanted to fight him.
deemed, lll be worth hundreds of dollars fields beyond tho walls with the cattle feed- The Dutch canals are almost as thickly These mills are all old, and it must have
n cre. lng upon them, bong lines of trees marked populated as the waterways of China. C0Bt many millions 0f dollars to build
This undertaking Is for a time In abey- out tho road, which seemed to be march- Every barge we passed had its family upon them. Their day, however Is past, and
ance, but there Is no doubt that It will lng over the landscape, making me think it, an evidence of the thousands of Dutch DUt few new ones are building The gas
eventually be carried out. The Dutch have of Macbeth's woods coming to Dunsinane. families which live and die upon boats. engine anj tne steam engine have taken
done much of such reclamation In the past. We soon left tho Scheldt and passing Hables are born upon them, and many have tner places, and we may yet have a Hol-
About fifty years ago they lifted 1.000,000,- through the locks came Into the canal of no other homes. We frequently saw chll- Jan(1 without windmills.
uuu iun ui waier iui oi i ne region near gouth Beveland. This Is one of tho largest dren trotting up and down the roors of the
Haarlem, and made seventy square miles of canai 0f southern Holland. It is wide and barges within six Inches of drowning, and
good farming land. It cost them more than hlgh banked, and so straight that the tugs now and then a little one tied with a rope
fl.600,000, but the land was worth It. In anj barges which fill It grow smaller and to the mast. On many of the boats the
another place they have redeemed 41.000 Bnmier and nnally block the canal in th women were cooking; on some they were
acros at a coat of about $4,000,000, and as distance hanging out the washing, and on one a
" " """" 1 " ,r - .wjuifiaw,- f1" tssaMsMiLgayjJaW 1''
E ' n
CANAL IN AMSTERDAM, WITH LOAD OF AMERICAN FLOUR.
below the ocean, so that In some places
the fishes outside swim high above the
level of the thatched house roofs. It has
men who are engaged In planning and
building rhlp canals, such as the mighty
aoon as the work was dene a foreign syndi
cate offered them . $2.000, 000 for the prop
erty as a whole. The government refused
this offer, and eventually got several hun
dred thousand dollars more than It cost It
to make the Improvement.
Aa to the Zuyder Zoo scheme, this Is a
bigger one than any that has yet been un
dertaken. It Is estimated that It will cost
over $75,000,000. but It will result In the
reclamation of a vast tra:t of land. The
work will take thirty-three years, and the
taxea on the land recovered will then bring
In $4,000,000 a year to the government,
making the matter a good long-time Invest
ment. At present the government Is afraid
of It, and although all the plans have been
completed no work has been actually done.
Have you ever heard of Zeelend? It Is
Holland has made Its ship canals pay
well. Amsterdam has the North Sea canal,
which Is about fifteen miles long, running
across the country from Amsterdam to the
ocean. It Is thirty feet deep and has two
tnrrmous locks which protect It from the
The locks are old fashlonej. They are JUtle Dutch girl held up hor doll baby and North B(?a at h,gh t(de , took a rWe a,ong
loved by hand by quaint old Dutchmen In iUKnea as v. e went Dy Jt & inspected the breakwa-
capa, roundabouts ami (at pantaloons, ai
every lock Dutch girls brought out fruit
and knlcknacks to sell to the passengers.
They were pretty girls and I liked their
quaint costumes. They wore short skirts,
white clogs and black stockings. Several
had on bright vests and two had horns if
gold over each of their eyes, the horns
twisted around in the shape of a miniature
old-fushioned bed spring. Three others had
gold o" silver helmets fitted tight to their
heads, showing out through their lace caps.
They laughed as we dealt with them, but
invariably got the best of the bargain.
Most of the craft of this canal Is carried
along by tugs, although some barges are
Every village along the canal had Its own
boats tied to the banks, and the larger
towns were cut up by canals so that boats
from the main canals could be taken Into
them by means of locks.
We stopped for a time at Dordrecht,
which in the middle ages was one of the
riches of all the Dutch cities. It had
palaces at that time, and Its buildings now
arc medieval and quaint to an extreme.
ago and inspected
ter at its entrance. The work Is well done,
but the locks do not compare with those of
the Sault Ste. Marie between Lake 17 iperior
and Lake Huron. The caual c about
$16,000,000, of which one-fourth was paid
by the sale of the reclaimed land, which
brought an average price of almost $500 an
acre. '
The town of Rotterdam Is a city of canals
Just below tho city there Is a lumber yard and canalized rivers. The Maas has been
at which bargee of American lumber were B0 dredged that it now permits the largest
unloading. 1 noted the name of the firm. It ot ocean hP 10 come lnt0 Rotterdam, and
was Dubbledam, an evidence that the lum- the connections with the Rhine and other
ber men of Holland can compete In pro- parts of Europe are such that this city ha3
fanlty with our men at home. become one of the chief ports on the con-
In nunv nliirpn alnnr theaa ranila thorn tinent. It Is one of OUT principal EattwavS
the southeastern province of Holland, con- Pull,',, hy inen and women and others by wppp dredges at work, and here and there for northern Europe, surpassing Antwerp
alstlng of nine Islands lying In the mouths horses. So far but little electricity has we sftw (he omcerg of tne Waterstaat su- It importations of American products,
of the Scheldt and the Maas. formed by the ,"''n PPlM ,h"se canal, although this perlntendlng ,he building of new embank- Antwerp, as far as the figures go. has the
lit brought down by these rivers. The nitt,lr '8 seriously considered by the nientg Tne canaig re almost everywhere greater tonnage, but much of Its tonnaga Is
most of the province Is below sea level. I)utt-n- At every few steps along the way wane(j wltn st0nea the size of your two fists made up of ships which merely touch there,
being protected against the ocean by mighty re P8 for tying the boats, and we now an(1 a j loooj at them the enormous work while that of Rotterdam Is composed of
dykes. It was through thla province that I Bn1 tnen Pel boats at anchor. tnat ,t muat nve taken t0 make 1.000 miles ships which take on and discharge cargo,
came from Antwerp to Rotterdam on the leaving the South Beveland canal, we of such canals came to me. There are no Rotterdam has about half as much ship
little steamboat Telegraf HI. entered the Ooster Scheldt, a sort of branch stones 'n Holland. Every pebble hs to ho Ping as Hamburg and about one-third that
Aa I rode down the Scheldt I passed the of the sea, aud then went on between the brought In from ether countries, and every of Liverpool or bend The shipping is
steadily Increasing, and it now comprises
lines to all parts of the world. In l'JOO
there wen about 600 ships from the United
States. This is not one-tenth of the wholo
number that came he -e, but they carried
almost one-third of the cargo of that year.
The chief of thise ships aie those of the
Holland-American line, which go from Rot
terdam direct to New York, and have b'V n
doing so since limO. These ships are first
clees passenger steamers, some of them
being 12,000 tons and over.
Rotterdam is our guti: to the Ithine a:: 1
to the enormous country tributary to it.
Our goods are hire transshipped into tin
huge barges, from 2iio to 30n feet long. In
which they are carried up the Rhine. The
river freights are exceedingly low and the
Rhine trade is enormous. About one-half
of all the goods that como Into Holland
through Rotterdam up the Rhino to differ
ent parts of Germany, Switzerland and
France, the number of river ships and boats
which carry them being something like
110,000 annually. There are canals con
necting the Rhine with the Seine and the
Elbe. The barges go as far north ad Basel
and some of them are taken up the Main
to tho Danube, so that Rotterdam is ac
tually the center point of a network of
waterways which embraces almost all cen
tral Europe.
The Increase of the Rhine trade has given
Rotterdam great prosperity. It had about
200,000 people in 1800. It now has almost
330,000 and it is growing like a green bay
tree. It is steadily Increasing its ship
ping facilities. It has built a new harbor,
which Is over a mile long and 1,000 feet
wide, and has another harbor in course of
construction which will be 2,0(0 feet long,
1,000 feet wide and twenty-six feet deep.
When the present improvements are com
pleted Rotterdam will have twenty-five-miles
of quays. It has already over twenty
miles and more than thirty-two acres ot
sheds and warehouses for its ecean ship
ping. This all belongs to the municipal,
ity. The city has put up eighty stei 1 cranes
which will lift from 1.500 to 06,000 pounds
each, and It has hydraulic coal lifts which
will move 200 tons of coal per hour at a
cost of 4 cents per ton. In svery respect
the shipping facilities are of the best.
I am surprised at the work the Europeans
are doing In making canals. I have been
pretty well over the continent within the
past few years. Nearly every country in
Improving its waterways. Russia Is plan
ning a canal from St. Petersburg and th
Baltlc to the Black sea, which will !'
thirty feet deep and able to accoinmnd ite
the largest of the ocean steamers. The
canal system will probably be extended
eventually to the Northern ocean, so thai
the wLole cruntry will be accessible b
water. The chief rivers of Russia are al
ready connected by canals, and it is pos
sible to go from St. Petersburg to the Cas
pian sea by boat-
Germany has ror years been spending tin
enormous amount on deepen'ir; ii.-i riviri
and building canals, and it has one of th
best canal systems of Eurcu. (i:ods ca-i
be taken from Hamburg to Berlin and al
most to the sources of the Kibe by boat.
There are canals connecting the I'lhe nut
the Oder, and tho canal which h:is bn-n
built to Join the coal and iron ro;-i: ns nb::ut
Dortmund to the North sea will evntuilly
be extended to embrace the 1. bine,, the
Wess-er and the Elbe.
The Germans want to standardize their
canal system, if possible, eo that bMr--' i
carrying 1.P00 tons can be taken to env
part of the country. They ue wid birg. s.
on the principle that it is easier to ma a
wide canal than a deep one.
At present the canals of eastern ('. rin::n
seem to be favored over those of the west,
the port of Stettin complaining that th
Prussian government will not give it de
canal facilities which It needs to compete
with Hamburg. It is much :iearer m.i
naturally more accessible to Berlin tVn
(Continued on Seventh P e )
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