the opening, to the close of navigation, there LAKE ERIE. were, exclusive of the small steamboats that ply Improvement of Black Rock hardaily between this and Detroit, 601 arrivals, viz: bor, $52,098 00 139,594 00 62,743 93 15,000.00 10,000 00 97,858 43 30,305 65 48,149 75 9,781 12 45,598 29 62,557 15 51,794 77 33,208 71 19,713 91 45,000 00 $723,403 31 $122,601 00 20,000 00 20,000 00 $162,601 00 690 steamboats and 211 schooners, averaging | Improvement of Buffalo harbor, 118,600 tons, as follows: 390 steamboats, at 250 Improvement of Dunkirk harbor, tons each, 97,500 tons; 211 schooners, 100 tons Improvement of Cattaraugus creek, each, 21,190 tons making in all 118,600 tons." Improvement of Portland harbor, Detroit, Milwaukie, Michigan City, and nume- Improving the harbor of Erie, Tous other places of less importance, on the bor- Improving the harbor of Coneaut, ders of these lakes, are making astonishing ad- Improving the harbor of Ashtabula, vances in trade, wealth, and population. It is said, Improvement of Cunningham creek, upon good authority, that two hundred and twenty-Improvement of Grand river, three vessels discharged cargoes at Milwaukie | Improving the harbor of Cleveland, during the last season. The census of this town Improvement of Black river, was taken under the act of Congress organizing the Improvement of Union river, Territory of Wisconsin, and the population was Pier at La Plaisance bay, ascertained to number one thousand and three hun- River Raisin ship canal, dred, where, eighteen months before, there were but two families. These facts are surprising, even to those who live in this age of wonders. Every where in the vast fertile regions of the west, the LAKE MICHIGAN. country is advancing with railroad velocity, out- Improving the harbor of Chicago, stripping the calculations of the wildest enthusiast. Improving the harbor of St. JoThe lake coast of New York, and Pennsylvania, and the northern part of Ohio, have more than doubled in population within the last eight years, since the General Government began the construction of harbors, and Michigan has increased from a population of about twenty thousand, to upwards of two hundred thousand souls; from a wilderness, to a comparatively dense population of enterprising lar statement, it should be borne in mind, are for and industrious citizens. L sephs, Improving the harbor of Michigan the extremities of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The expenditures mentioned in the above tabuIt is impossible, at the present day, to assign twelve hundred miles, where, prior to 1828, no works extending along a coast navigation of limits to the future population and wealth of the good harbors existed on the main land, except at States bordering upon the western lakes. Their productive industry, owing to the fertility of the soil, and other natural advantages, will soon equal that of any other portion of the United States of the like extent. The lakes, which are the natural avenues for their trade, are destined to be covered with vessels engaged in an active and profitable Commerce. Then, a trip from Buffalo to Detroit was considered being often compelled, by sudden storms and adas dangerous as crossing the Atlantic-vessels verse winds, when they had nearly reached the place of destination, in order to avoid being wrecked on the coast, to put back, and make the A project has been set on foot to overcome the port from which they had sailed. Now, vessels of Falls of St. Mary, and open the navigation of Lake tle danger as they ascend the Hudson. all descriptions cross Lake Erie with almost as litThe Superior, which, it is believed, may be accomplish-change has been wrought by the appropriations ed at a comparatively trifling expense, as it will alluded to. require but three locks, of seven feet lift each, and been created on Lake Erie, and three on Lake OnAlready twelve good harbors have a canal of less than a mile in length. By this tario. These have been generally made by remeans, more than twelve hundred miles of coast moving the bar at the entrance of the harbors, and navigation would be added to the present. The whole amount appropriated, from the com- the force of the waves, and prevent the accumulaby constructing piers of wood and stone to break mencement of the improvement of the harbors on tion of sand and gravel in the channels. This the northern lakes to the close of the last session experiment has proved entirely successful. The of Congress, was one million two hundred and object of the appropriations now asked for is, in ninety-eight thousand eight hundred and forty dol- most cases, to make these structures permanent; lars and eighteen cents. This sum has been ap-in some few others, it is to remove the bar between plied to the following improvements : the piers. No good harbors now exist on Lake Michigan. This fact accounts for the destruction of human 5,000 00 lives, and the loss of property, which occurred on. 10,000 00 those waters during the past season. It is com149,820 87 puted that property to the value of two hundred 116,620 00 thousand dollars was destroyed by one storm, at 113,395 00 and near Chicago, which was entirely owing to the 5,000 00 impossibility of passing over the sand bar at the mouth of the river, between the piers. The follow$405,835 87 ing extract from the message of Governor Dodge to the Legislature of Wisconsin, presents a clear, the public lands, and convert a howling wilderness and correct view of this branch of the subject: into fruitful fields, to the fostering care and protec"The shipping interest of Lake Michigan for tion of the Government. Open to them the facilithe last two years, has increased to a great extent, ties of trade with the commercial cities on the seaand little has been done to protect it. Appropria- board. Enable them to send the products of their tions for the construction of harbors and light-houses labor to market, where they may receive in exare of the first importance to protect our commerce, change the commodities of the southern States, the as well as the lives of enterprising citizens on Lake manufactures of New England, the teas of China, Michigan. Many lives, and property to a large and the spices of India, at such reasonable cost, amount, have been lost, for the want of the neces- that they may not be entirely deprived of the luxusary harbors on this lake. I would suggest the pro- ries of life common to all who inhabit the old States priety of asking of Congress an appropriation suffi- of the Union. cient to cover the expenses of surveying all the necessary harbors on Lake Michigan, and the construction of such harbors and light-houses at the most eligible situations, for the security and pro tection of our lake trade." The following is an extract from a memorial of the General Assembly of Indiana to the present Congress, asking an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars, for the improvement of the harbor at Michigan City, Indiana: The expense of transportation from Buffalo to Chicago, Milwaukie, or Michigan City, during the summer months, is about one dollar per barrel bulk: later in the season, when the weather becomes tempestuous, and the dangers of navigation increase, the price of freight advances to four or five dollars per barrel bulk, which, of course, becomes a charge upon the consumer. This enormous charge falls upon those least able to bear it; it falls upon the settlers on your public lands. The charge for freight would be nearly uniform, at all seasons of navigation, provided the harbors on lake Michigan were made accessi ble to shipping, and secure against This would, also, reduce the rates of in That, owing to its natural and relative position, Lake Michigan may be emphatically styled, in its commercial importance, the Mediterranean of North America. The business in this lake has in-storms. creased in a ratio far exceeding that of any other surance, which become, of necessity, a tax upon the newly-occupied navigable waters. The amount of people of the west. merchandise landed at the different points on the It has long been the settled policy of Great Briwhole lake, it is believed, would not fall short of tain to extend her commerce whenever it can be twenty millions of dollars. The amount landed at done with profit, and to gain a foothold by occupy Michigan City alone, exceeds three millions of dol-ing the ground in advance. With the manifest and lars. The losses sustained by damage to vessels avowed design of securing a portion of the trade of and merchandise on the lake during the past year, the rich agricultural States bordering on the lakes, which mostly has been for want of harbors, has not the Parliament of Upper Canada have assumed the been less than a million of dollars. In two years stock of the Welland canal, so that it has become a past, more than fifty lives have been lost, many of Provincial work. It is said, upon good authority, them young, intelligent, and promising, who met with a premature and watery grave for want of harbors; vessels being under the necessity of encountering the severest gales at sea, without any other hope than that of being able to outride the storm!" that the Welland canal and locks are to be enlarged, so as to admit the passage of vessels of the largest capacity that navigate the lakes. The British Government is making extraordinary exertions to open a navigation for ships around the rapids of the St. Lawrence, and the work is now in progress. In 1836, five millions one hundred and fifteen This important work, which is to be constructed up. dollars and ninety three cents, as appears from the on a magnificent scale, it is expected, will be finishreport of the Commissioner of the Land Office, were ed in two or three years, when an uninterrupted paid into the Treasury, on the sales of public lands, communication will exist between the ocean and in the state of Michigan; yet the bill before us con- the western lakes for ships and steamboats of three tains only the pitiful sum of forty-five thousand hundred tons burthen. It requires no gift of prodollars for harbors in that State. This is a narrow, phecy to foretell, what I do not hesitate to declare as illiberal policy, unjust to the enterprising citizens my firm belief, that many gentlemen present will who have emigrated from the eastern States to settle have the gratification to see British vessels discharg and improve the public domain, and unworthy the ing their cargoes at Oswego, Sodus Bay, Toledo, character of a great and powerful empire. Detroit and Chicago, which were freighted with mer The pioneers of the west may be regarded as the chandize at the docks of London or Liverpool. forlorn hope in the march of improvement. Their It is stated in the journals of the day, that the lot is a life of hardship, privation and enduring Parliament of Upper Canada have appropriated toil, exposed alike to the dangers of savage war-eight hundred thousand dollars for the construction fare, and the wasting diseases incident to all new of a railroad from Niagara to Detriot, which will settlements. They level the forest, reclaim the form a connecting link in the chain of railroads swamps, clear up and fence their farms, subdue chartered, or finished and in operation, from the city and fit the soil for cultivation. They enlarge the of Boston, through Massachusetts, New York, Upbounds of civilization. They may be said to live per Canada, and Michigan, to Lake Michigan, and not for themselves, but for their children-for the good of their couutry. Every consideration of justice, humanity, and patriotism, calls upon the Congress of the United States to extend to those hardy, brave, enterprising citizens, who first occupy extending westwardly from Chicago to Galena. A canal is also projected to connect Lake Ontario with Lake Huron, by a short and feasible route through Lake Sincoe. Such are the vast and magnificent plans of internal improvement adopted by the only power on earth which can, from its local position, become a competitor of our maratime cities for the immense trade of the fertile and productive regions bordering on the lakes. It touches our national character, not to be outdone by our powerful competitor in this noble field of commercial rivalry. Let not the golden prize be seized and borne away by another, in consequence of a spiritless and parsimonious policy on the part of the Congress of the United States. It must be apparent to the most casual observer that Great Britain intends to avail herself for the present, and secure for the future, the advantages of her position in regard to the trade of the Canadas and the adjacent States. With this view the British Government is strengthening and completing its system of fortifications in the Canadas, which will answer the double purpose of maintaining the supremacy of the crown, by overawing the disaffected and disloyal among his majesty's subjects in the provinces, and of efficient defence against the arms of the United States in the event of war. where the business of the country naturally centres, at the mouths of navigable streams, at the terminations of canals and railroads, do require accessible, convenient, and safe harbors; wherever such do not exist, it is believed to be the duty of Congress to provide the means for their construction. Compare the expenditures of the General Government for objects of admitted national utility, in the new States, with the munificent appropriations for our maritime cities; for the improvement and defence of the seaboard, and the protection of our foreign commerce, wherever a sail whitens the ocean. Look at your marble palaces for customhouses, rivalling in architectural beauty and grandeur, the splendid edifices of Greece and Rome; look at your granite dry docks at Boston and Norfolk; look at the impregnable defences of your seaports; look at your line of battle ships under cover in your navy yards--all constructed at the expense of the Treasury of the United States; look at your Delaware breakwater, which has already cost the Government over fifteen hundred thousand dollars, and is only half completed-then turn your eyes It is a maxim in political economy, that a re- to the western lakes, and behold the unprotected dundant population tends to weaken the State. condition of your internal commerce; witness the The emigration of the inhabitants of the old States annual sacrifice of the lives of American citizens in of the confederacy to the States and Territories navigating those dangerous seas; the vast destrucstretching along and beyond the chain of western tion of property in gales and storms, owing almost lakes, will long preserve that medium density of entirely to the want of accessible and safe harbors population so congenial to a happy and prosperous for shipping. Who can fail to perceive, at a condition of society. It was a saying of the Empe-glance, the great inequality which prevails in the ror Adrian, "He had rather see the Empire full of distribution of the favors of the Government? the people than riches." Let the surplus population of marked injustice of Congress towards the neglected. the Eastern and Middle States pour forth into the public interests of the West? This unequal state valley of the Ohio and the Mississippi, the prairies of things should no longer exist-a speedy remedy of Michigan and Illinois, and the mineral region ought to be provided. The people of the West of Wisconsin, where the labor of the agriculturist have the right to demand that equal and exact jusmust reap a rich reward, and well-directed enter- tice should be done alike to all portions of the prise can not fail to prosper. In reference, there- Union presenting substantial claims for the consifore, to the general welfare of the Union, no impediment should be thrown in the way of public improvements which have a tendency to encourage emigration, and keep down the increase of population within the old States. to proper limits. In the further improvement of harbors on the lakes, it is desirable that a system should be pursued, having due regard to the commercial facilities which will be most needed by the country as it advances in wealth and population. With these important objects in view, Lakes Huron and Michigan ought to be surveyed by engineers, who should be required to report all the statistical and topographical information they might be able to collect, to Congress, accompanied with a general plan for the improvement of such harbors as will best serve to diminish the dangers of navigation, and meet the demands of increasing trade. This would bring the prominent points into view, and throw open to the public the natural avenues for internal commerce. It would, moreover, shut the door against those applications to Congress for appropriations which originate in a spirit of speculation, with interested individuals who seek private gains at the expense of the public. It seems to be generally admitted, that those points on the lakes deration of Congress. They desire nothing more. In the present condition of our finances, with a Treasury overflowing, all the various branches of the public service may be abundantly provided for, and the leading interests of the country protected, which fall within the constitutional powers of Congress, without imposing the slightest additional burden upon the people. The neces Mr. C. said he could not conclude, without expressing his acknowledgments to the Committee of Ways and Means, for raising the appropriation for the improvement of Big Sodus bay at his own request, from five thousand dollars, as contained in the original bill, to twelve thousand. sity of the increase was the more urgent, as an incorporated company was now engaged in the construction of a canal, of large dimensions, to connect Sodus bay with the Erie canal and Cayuga lake. When the bar, at the entrance of this harbor, between the piers, shall be removed to a sufficient depth, it will become one of the best harbors for shipping on Lake Ontario. The harbor is spacious, the water within the bar, is of sufficient depth for a ship of the line-the anchorage is good; it possess es, moreover, the important advantage of being convenient refuge for vessels in severe gales. |