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Show NINE GREAT WORLD CANALS There are nine great ship canals in the world, and all of these have been built within the last seventy-five years. They are the Suez canal, the Kronstadt and St. Petersburg canal, the Corinth canal, the Manchester ship canal, the Kaiser Wil-helm. Wil-helm. the Elbe and Trave, the Welland and the two canals connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron between Canada and this country. In a single year a greater number of ships pass through the lake canals of the north than through the Suez canal, though there is no doubt that the latter is by far the most important water link m the world. Itis the longest, being nine miles from entrance to exit, and it cost more than $100,000,000 to build. About 4.000 ships pass through the Suex canal annually. It takes eighteen hours for a vessel ves-sel to go the entire length of the canal. There are, no locks and a part of the rout, about two-third of it. is made up of a series of shallow lakes. The Kronstadt and St. Petersburg canal is altogether al-together about sixteen miles, including the bay channel. It is an important commercial waterway and connects the capital of Russia with the Bay of Kronstadt. After the construction of the Corinth canal, which is only four miles long, a saving of 175 mile was made bv ships sailing fro mAdriatic ports. A part of this canal was cut through solid rock and, short as it is, took nine years to build. A direct route from Manchester, England, to the Atlantic ocean was obtained by the digging of the Manchester canal. From Manchester ships now go through the artificial waterway to the Mercev river and from there to the open sea. This canal is fitted with hydraulic locks. In our own country are three great canals, all of them links between the Great lakes. The Welland Wel-land connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie on the Canadian side of the river. It is twenty-seven miles long and has twenty-five sets of VScks. . . ( |
