VII. WATER TRANSPORTATION AND ROADS THE HE history of water transportation in Illinois during the past fifty years stands in striking contrast with that of railroad transportation, as it has been characterized by a steady decline in volume and importance. Today the lake commerce is the only important branch of water-borne commerce within the state. The river and canal traffic is practically a thing of the past, except in the case of a few heavy and cheap commodities which cannot pay high freight charges. The history of water transportation in Illinois for the last twenty-five years may be divided into that of river, canal, and lake commerce. The Ohio river trade is still of some importance at a few Illinois towns, in spite of a steady decline. It is difficult to give any comparative statistics, as the data for the earlier period were in terms of value and those for more recent years are given for amounts. In 1905 Mound City was the most important purely Ohio river port, with receipts of 172,570 tons and shipments of 405 tons. Other towns were Shawneetown (total receipts and shipments, 76,691 tons), Metropolis (43,308), Brookport (17,825), Rosiclare (16,200), Elizabethtown (13,450), Cave in Rock (10,400), Golconda (1,756), and Hamletsburg (110).1 In all these towns the receipts were much larger than the shipments, seeming to show that they were primarily collecting points for material which was used for local manufactures or was shipped on to other points by rail. Cairo is today, as it always has been, the most important commercial river town in Illinois, although its commerce has decreased greatly. Its situation, at the junction of the Missis 1 Report of Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water in United States, part 2, p. 282. sippi and Ohio rivers, gives it an advantage which it was thought at one time would make it the leading commercial city in the state, if not of the west. In 1905 the receipts from both the Mississippi and Ohio rivers were 268,741 tons and the shipments were 127,200 tons, or a total of 395,941 tons.2 Ninetenths of this freight was received from upstream, and consisted of coal, sand, stone, and other freight such as logs, lumber, and railroad ties, which were received for local manufacture at Cairo or for shipment by rail to other points. 3 On the Mississippi river between Cairo and St. Louis there are several river towns of considerable importance, each of which has more or less river trade; but the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railway parallels the river for a large part of the distance and has secured most of the traffic on the Illinois side. Moreover, the navigation of the river has for many years been very difficult owing to the irregularity of the stage of the water. One cause of this difficulty is the comparatively great slope on this stretch of the river, while another is the great influx of sediment from the Missouri river. Practically all the freight now handled on this stretch of the Mississippi is local freight to or from the river towns. On the upper Mississippi, railroad competition has been particularly keen for the past twenty-five years and has affected both the extent and character of the river trade. The bulk of the commerce received at the river ports has therefore consisted of stone, gravel, sand, and similar cheap heavy commodities, and rafts of logs brought down from the northern forests to be manufactured at these cities into various kinds of lumber." Thus, during the year 1894, the four cities of Fulton, Moline, Rock Island, and Quincy manufactured over 148 million feet of lumber, more than 35 million shingles, and nearly 33 million 2 Report of Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water in United States, part 2, p. 282. 3 Transportation by Water, 1906, p. 184. The variation in the Mississippi river at Grafton, Illinois, below the mouth of the Illinois river, is 29.6 feet; below Cairo and the mouth of the Ohio river it is 45.6 feet. See "Preliminary Report of the United States National Waterways Commission," Senate Documents, 61 congress, 2 session, number 301, p. 7. & Report on Transportation by Water in United States, part 2, p. 183-184. laths. This lumber manufacture has since declined owing to the establishment of sawmills nearer the northern forests. The diminishing traffic and increasing difficulties of navigation are reflected in the marked decrease in the average tonnage of river vessels. While the number of steam vessels documented in Illinois ports increased from 72 in 1895 to 80 in 1900, and to 137 in 1906, their average tonnage declined from 115 in 1895 to 78 in 1900, and to 56 in 1906. This clearly shows an adaptation of the boats to the demands of the service and the conditions of navigation. The Illinois river flows through the heart of the agricultural region of the state and, with the Illinois and Michigan canal, forms a continuous waterway for small vessels from Lake Michigan at Chicago to the Mississippi river. The people of Illinois have been interested in keeping open this waterway across the state, because of the influence it would exert upon railway freight rates between Chicago and St. Louis and intermediate points. Since about 1876 the state of Illinois and the federal government have carried on the work of improvement jointly, with a view to creating a navigable route from the Mississippi to the Great Lakes. A lock and dam at La Grange, seventy-nine miles from the mouth of the river, were completed in 1890 and another at Kampsville, thirty-one miles from the mouth of the river, in 1894. Up to June 30, 1906, the federal government had expended $1,504,748 on these works. Since 1907 these operations have been extended over the upper section of the river as far as La Salle where the Illinois and Michigan canal connects with the river, forming a through route for small boats to Chicago and Lake Michigan." The building of the locks and dams at La Grange and Kampsville gave promise of satisfactory navigation on the Illinois river at all times, as it was believed that a stage of water would be permanently secured which would afford as deep a channel as that of the Mississippi river below the Illinois to 6 Report on Trade and Commerce of St. Louis, 1906, p. 169. 7 Transportation by Water, 1906, p. 169; Report of Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water in United States, part 1, p. 51-52. Alton, at least until that section of the Mississippi should be further improved. After the completion of these improvements there was an increase in the number of steamers plying between the Illinois river and St. Louis, the number growing from nine in 1889 to fourteen in 1899.8 But many of these were used merely to tow barges and canal boats, which carried sixty-nine per cent of the total freight on the Illinois river in 1906. The commerce was mostly local and consisted of grain and general merchandise. Between 1889 and 1906 the total freight shipments fell off from 180,264 tons to 105,826 tons, or a loss of forty-one per cent.10 Few states can boast a finer system of navigable rivers than Illinois, bounded on one side by the "Father of Waters" and on another by the mighty Ohio, while the Illinois river cuts through the very heart of the state. Yet few states exhibit a more complete disregard of the facilities for water transportation which nature has placed at its very door. Partly responsible for this is the fact that these streams run, on the whole, north and south, while the principal trade and commerce of Illinois, since the early years of statehood, moves from west to east and return. Partly also the difficulties of navigation in the rivers the seasonal variations in depth and flow, the presence of sediment and shifting sand bars and the cost of improveare to blame for the small use of these streams. ment But perhaps the strongest reason of all for their neglect has been the rapid development of the railway net. There was not traffic enough for both railway and river, and in the competition between these two agencies the former completely routed its rival. The railroads offered certain real advantages, and they were eagerly seized upon by a people impatient of delay and anxious to bring the latent resources of the country into quickest possible use. To this neglect of the rivers the railroads themselves contributed materially by their unwillingness 8 Report on Trade and Commerce of St. Louis, 1890, p. 79-80; 1899, p. 132-134. 13 Transportation by Water, 1906, p. 182. 10“ Preliminary Report of the United States National Waterways Commission," Senate Documents, 61 congress, 2 session, number 301, p. 5. to coöperate with the steamers in the transshipment of freight or the establishment of joint facilities. The rivers have been regarded as enemies of the railways rather than as complementary to them. It may be that in the future, when the transportation needs of the state have transcended the ability of the railroads to meet them, the rivers will again be called upon to serve the people as they did one hundred years ago. If the story of river transportation has been one of neglect, that of the treatment of the canals has been one of indifference. The canal traffic of Illinois is carried through three artificial waterways-the Illinois and Michigan canal, the Chicago sanitary and ship canal, and the Hennepin canal. There was a steady decline in the amount of traffic on the Illinois and Michigan canal down to 1899.11 But in 1900 there was a sudden drop to 121,759 and still lower levels were reached in the succeeding seven years. Since 1907 there has been an increase. This is due to the use of this canal for a short distance by boats passing through the Chicago drainage canal. The clearances, miles run, and receipts from tolls all continued to decline steadily. The last feature is a very serious one and has necessitated the payment of a large deficit year after year out of state funds. Traffic has been increased by reductions in rates, but the increase has not sufficed to prevent a steady decline in the revenues. Since 1878 the canal has ceased permanently to pay even the expenses of operation and mainte nance. The decline of the canal to its present position has been due to several causes. The most obvious is, of course, the competition of the railroads, which are more conveniently located and have better terminal facilities, which are constantly being improved while those of the canal are not. Rate discriminations against the canal users, heavy elevator charges and expenses for rehandling grain shipped via the canal, and similar factors put the canal at a disadvantage. And finally the lack of all better 11 For a table of traffic on the Illinois and Michigan canal, 1890-1915, see appendix, p. 509. |