Show THE ERIE CANAL Of the 10000000 tons qf trafllc which puss through the Detroit river In the course of a year on its way to the East not more than 3000000 can be taken throughm the Erie canal though according ac-cording to Mr E P North who has an instructive article on Time Erie Canal and Transportation In the January number of the North American Review there Is no reason why the great bulk of It should not find economic transit over that waterway To that end It would be only necessary to widen and deepen the canal sothat it mlghfaccommodate lake steamers of considerable tonnage Mr North advocates thlJj course not only because It would cheapen transportation trans-portation but because It would stimulate stimu-late the establishment finddevelopment of Industries of all descriptions along the bordcls of the canal Mr North touches upon tho advantage derived from the canal by commerce when it was first opened The canals cf New York hoye been of great service to the city and State of New York and to the country When the Erie canal was opened for through trafllc In 1S23 boats of sixty tons superseded super-seded wagons of ono to one and a quarter quar-ter tons Thy cost of freight between Buffalo and Albany fell from 5100 to 10 per ton The consequent Increase In traffic and eaithi justified an enlargement enlarge-ment commenced In 13G whereby boats of 240 tons burden replaced those of sixty tons and canal freights feU to S nor ton It also developed tho commercial com-mercial confidence necessary for tho construction of the New York Central line nnd the Eric railroad |