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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS, SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1907. 13 BIG WATERWAY ACROSS GEORGIA PLANNED Col. Goodyear Suggests Connecting Mississippi With the Ocean canal connecting the great Mis sissippi with the Atlantic ocean, util izing navigable 'river* for the greater part of the route and building but about 240 miles of actual canal—that Is the plan proposed by Colonel C. P. Goodyear, of Brunswick, Ga., who has made an exhaustive study of the con ditions. They are laughing at Colonel Good year In Brunswick. They laughed at him when he said he could give Bruns wick a deeper channel by blasting the bar with dynamite. But he did It, and Brunswick has today a channel seven feet deeper than before. They laughed at Robert Pulton when he built his first steamboat—but they stopped laughing when the steamer puffed up the Hudson. Here, In brief. Is Colonel Goodyear's plan, n plan that has attracted the attention of expert engineers, who admit that there are no Insuperable ob jections: The Altnmaha and Ocmulgee rivers nro navigable from-Brunswick, on the Atlantic coast, to Macon. Prom the Mis sissippi extend the Ohio and the Ten nessee. Prom Rome, Ga., runs the Coosa to Gadsden, Ala. The territory to be excavated extends from a point on the Tennessfe, near Guntersville or Huntsville, Ala, to Gadsden, and from Rome, Ga, through Atlnnta to Macon. The total excavation would be about 240 miles in length. Cost of Great Canal. The cost? That can not be accu rately estimated until an expert sur vey Is made, but Colonel Ooodyear gives figures based on the cost of other canals, 'built under old conditions and without modern machinery. Here are some of Ills estimates: If built with locks, the canal would require eighty-four locks; to cost $10,- 000 each, or $840,000. Estimating ex cavations at $10,000 a mile, 240 miles would cost $2,400,000, giving a total cost of $3.240,000. Keen estimating the locks at $15,000 each, and the excava tion at $15,000 a mile, the total cost would be $4,850,000, or with the most liberal estimate, $20,000 each for locks and $20,000 per mile of canal, the total would be $6,480,000, nut un extravagant sum for such a result. Colonel Goodyear believes that In stead of locks a system of lifts, work ing on the principle of elevators, would be more practical and cheaper to op erate. He estimates the cost of these at $1,320,000. With the excavations at $20,000 per mile, this would give a total cost of $6,120,000. To Cross Mountains. That the mountains to be crossed form no great obstacle, Is shown by the fact that higher ranges have been crossed by canals which are now be ing operated profitably, and whose commerce Is growing heavier every year. A lift not exceeding 784 feet Is to be overcome. The Morris canal Is higher, the great Erie Is nearly as high. Army engineers pfoject, and pronounce feasible, a canal to cross the Alleghenies to Pittsburg at an elevation of 1,285 feet. The apparently formidable character of such an enterprise, which must climb over the hills of Georgia, Is shown to have parallels In America and In Europe, many canals overcoming an even greater rise and fall. The same range of mountains to be crossed Is far higher In Pennsylvania and New York, ijhere they have been crossed by a' canal since 1820 and 1850, when en gineering had not nearly approached Its present perfection. Those canals were built by shovet and wheelbarrow, under much more adverse conditions than those confronting the engineer of today. The water to supply the proposed canal Is bountifully furnished in Geor gia and Alabama by many streams which cross the route outlined. There will be no lock of water to supply the loss by wastage and evaporation. Such a canul would give the South a navigable waterway from the Atlantic to Rome, Ga., through a prosperous country which would supply ample commerce for a profit upon the outlay. It would open to direct commerce with the Atlantic, the great Tennessee river. 64(1 miles in length, from Knoxville through Alabama nnd hack Into Ten nessee and Kentucky to a connection with the Ohio and the Mississippi. Government Survey. Colonel Goodyear Is making an effort to secure an expert survey of the pro posed route. There was a survey made by the United States Engineer Corps In 1875, which Indicated that the plan was feasible, but owing to favorable traffic conditions at that time, no ef fort was made to build the canal. Con ditions have changed since then. Rail road traffic is congested, commerce Is Increasing to a point where new trans portation facilities are Imperative, and COLONEL GOODYEAR’S PLAN. Great waterway would extend from navigable rivers to Atlantic ut Brunswick, passing by Atlanta nnd Macon. the country is rich enough to carry such a project to completion. Colonel Goodyear recommends the building of the canul by private capi tal, asking the government only for the right to charge tolls. By private capital the canal would be built more expeditiously and the opposition of railroad Interests in politics would not be felt so strongly. Colonel Goodyear believes, however, that tho population benefited by the canal could easily bring to bear enough influence to In sure its bulldipg by the Federal gov ernment. The financial returns from canals are shown by the success of similar enterprises in England nnd America. In the Birmingham district a canal was capitalized with 140 pound shares, and Its yearly dividends were 140 pounds. Another was capi talized with 200 pound shares, anil the dividends were 160 pounds yearly. The Erie canal was completed in 1825 and later enlarged. In 1884 It was made a free canal. It had cost $39,000,000; It had collected tolls sufficient to pay the entire cost of construction and Inter est, and bsldes this a surplus of $27,- 000,000. The state of New York Is now spending $101,000,000 to double the capacity of the Erie canal. “The canal will be built some day,” says Colonel Goodyear. "We may do it or leave It for our children to do. But now Is the time to begin It. Noth ing la Impossible In the face of modem engineering." W. W. Finley, president of the 8outh. ern railway, In nn Interview- published recently, took up the matter or water way Improvement and Its urgent need. An extract from the Interview with Mr. Finley follows: "Without better and more extensive transportation facilities, development will be retarded and the South will fail to reach that full degree of material prosperity to which Its great natural resources and the energy of its people entitle ft. "In some localities improved water transportation will be of great benefit. I think my position on this subject of the proper policy to be pursued toward the waterways is now well understood throughout the South. I am most heartily In favor of Improving to the utmost capacity of their usefulness every Bouthern harbor and every navi gable river In 'the South. I believe that sound economic policy demands this course. I favor it because It will be an Important factor In the upbulld- |p~ of the South, and the railroads of that section have nothing to fear from anything that tends to the devel opment of Southern trade.” GETTING OFF THE EARTH; PAINTING A TALL STACK HUMAN FLIES AT THEIR WORK. The black speck at the top of one picture shows one of the painters. Tho other shows him swinging to the ladder, half way up. It Takes a Steady Brain and Some Nerve to Put a New Dress on This Chimney. ropes extending down to the roof. Then the men who are going to do the paint ing climb into little “fall.**"—prophetic name that—and haul themselves up un far oh they wont to go. It Is easy sailing then up and down the stuck, until a tnan has to shift his position, when it is necessary to go to the top again and move the block. A chimney like that on the heating plant requires about two and one-half days' work for three men. In that time it is completely covered with gruphite p*ilnt. And for this Job of risking their lives for more than two days Burdtitte and Vawter divide $50, after paying a helper. As far as the writer Is concerned, they can have the Job. But they don’t seem to mind. Both men have been In the business about live years, and neither has had more than one bad fall. Burdette dropped 25 feet once, without doing himself any damage; and Va»wter fell 40 feet in Jacksonville, which tumble put several dents in him which It took weeks to get odt. Neither man drinks and only one of them smokes. Both of them are slight in build, but muscular, which is natu ral, considering the Job. For climbing tall chimneys is no place fdr fat men. NEED A FENCE? Page Fence Erected, Gall For Our Fence Man W. J. DABNEY IMP, GO., 95, 98 and 100 80. Forsyth 8trs«t. If you have circulated anywhere In the vicinity of the Georgia Railway and Electric Company’s heating plant lately, maybe you have noticed n cou ple of human files crawling up or down the 160-foot stock. If vou have, you saw the firm of Burdet.c and Vawter at work—for this pair of gravlty-de, tiers has been engnged In the cheerful pasttme of slapping a coat of graphite paint on the 4,800 square feet of chim ney. The writer went down with a view of taking some pictures nnd writing something about the gentle art of tall chimney painting. He thought that which could be taken from the top of a slack. And doubtless there are. Hut as far as he Is concerned they may re main untaken. For any normal man would rather he at the bottom looking up than at the top looking down. Maybe you think 160 feet Is not high, whne it Is the height of a stack. Hut that gives you another think.' It Is more than high—Is very high. But it's a cinch for Burdette and Vawter. When they get ready lo paint they send a man up tho stack by paeans or the ladder on the side, and he nttaehes there ought to he some nice pictures a couple of blocks at Unstop, with A iilf.tm. friafa.it itt Whltitj, Ophm,. Itar. pit.., C«c./.r, CM.,./. Ttkacia ..4 ll.iaufl.- ■I. pr hint tiijgif/M. The Only Kceley lniH* ( tutsia Georgia. 229 WoodwirJ At)., ATLMTA, GA. SHEARS SHARPENED failed for and delivered. Phone Bell 2428—Atlanta 442. HEALEY BARBERS’ SUPPLY CO., No. 1 N. Forsyth Street.