History of Steam on the Erie Canal Part 3

Publis.h.i.+ng _net time_ of steamers instead of total or through time, is deceptive, and creates a false impression with the community. Had not the through time of steamers this season been suppressed, the governor of the State would not have imagined five-day trips from Buffalo to New York, as per his message, and our city editors would not have ventilated such visionary pretensions. There are a mult.i.tude of horse-boat captains that can reduce their _net ca.n.a.l time of movement_ below the _Baxter's_, which has been so extensively commented upon; but their so doing would not expedite the transfer of grain from the lakes to tide-water.

A certain horse-boat, in a former season, made two round trips from Buffalo to and from New York in twenty days each, and on each trip lay three days in New York. This made her through time _average_ between the cities 8-1/2 days each way. Her captain once towed in the "Line" and was only nine days twenty hours from Buffalo to New York. This season a horse-boat made the round trip from New York to and from Buffalo in twenty-one days.

These _round trips_ have probably never been exceeded by steam.

In the former era the prism of the ca.n.a.l seemed imbedded with innumerable old and broken tow-lines, which the propeller, by its high velocity, sucked up, and was thereby "fouled;" and now the sea-gra.s.s is a hidden enemy that entwines itself around the propeller to foul it.

When the waters are low, forcing the engines of screw propellers lets the stern of the boat "squat" or hug the bottom, and although these are minor features of want of mechanical adaptation to ca.n.a.l duty, they ill.u.s.trate petty detentions serving to lengthen the through times of steam.

Hence, if we intermix the slow steamers with the fast ones, as we do the slow with the fast horse-boats, for a _general average_, it is quite probable that horse-times are fully equal to those of steam, and that the excess of horse-cargoes makes a large and handsome advantage in their favor.

_Therefore, under this general average, steam in 1872 is less economical than horses._

CONDITIONAL EXPLANATIONS.

Because steam has been encouraged by the Legislature, heralded by the press, and favorably reported by the Executive officers of the State as a standard of advancement most desirable to attain, _a supposition very generally prevails outside of ca.n.a.l men that it will succeed_.

As early as 1845, before the enlargements, three steamers were built and tried, and one, the _Pioneer_, ran from New York to Oswego in five days, total time, 362 miles; and _then "supposition very generally prevailed that steam would succeed_." But light freights would not pay then as against full horse-freights; neither would they pay from 1858 to 1862; neither have they paid in 1872, as against horses.

A large part of the boats own and carry their horses, two teams (four horses), alternating the teams from boat to tow-path every six hours. Many desire to see the hards.h.i.+ps, cruelties and dangers to horses obviated. It is said that one company during the war, when most of the best drivers turned soldiers, lost as many horses during the season as they put on for all their boats in the spring; that is, they had to purchase a complete equipment to make good their losses.

Some humane captains tow by the "lines" to avoid suffering and dangers to horses, many of which are drowned, and many left by the wayside. When changed from tow-path to stable, a stout man must hold the horse by the tail as he descends the steps into the stable, to prevent his pitching against the opposite side; and he holds with greater difficulty as he descends the bridge from the high, light boat to the tow-path, which is often more dangerous than the stable descent.

Others tow by the "lines"--take turns for teams, often with tedious delays--and they are, to a great extent, _subservient to the drivers_, else they suffer by their indifference, laziness or caprices, and many are sure to do their "poorest," unless they are feed extra.

All would be charmed with towage by steam, if done with economy, dispatch, regularity and safety; but quite another feeling prevails under the suggestions of changing drivers for engineers, stables for engine-rooms, horses for machinery, and light cargos for full ones, as in case of converting the horse-boat to a steamer.

Steam, as used for towing purposes, would be acceptable and subservient to the several thousand boatmen constantly in service.

If we give to the automaton system of steam _any privileges_ over horse-boats--excepting for incidental initiatory encouragement to steam--we have a war of the many against the few. In the former era the double toll system was obliged to be suspended, and the no-toll system of this era is only a temporary sufferance.

Therefore, steam must stand or fall by its own merits, and should be fostered and developed until horses possess no compet.i.tive ability.

Ca.n.a.l NECESSITIES.

The history of the experiments for means of propulsion on our ca.n.a.ls shows that no system has been developed by means of which the carrying power of these great channels of communication can be made available by steam. If this deplorable fact is to be overcome, it must be through the aid of the inventor; we must have some instruments of propulsion not hitherto in use, and some other means of application of the propelling power than those now in practice, or steam can never be sufficiently utilized to supersede horses on ca.n.a.ls.

We see the New York and Albany tow-boats, with from twenty to forty loaded ca.n.a.l boats, running at four miles per hour, and they have taken over sixty boats in a single tow from New York to Albany. But an engine, with a respectable part of their steam, can take but a _small fraction_ of their boats, and at a largely reduced speed on the ca.n.a.l.

The doom of 1845, of 1858 to '62, and of 1871 to '72, hangs over steam like a shroud; it is a mechanical doom. Steam should be mechanically elevated so that it can utilize from a third to half of its power, and so that an engine can develop an equivalent of thirty to fifty horses on the tow-path to a train of boats, and so that it can take trains of ten to fifteen boats on the two sixty-miles levels--where large hulls can be built and used without necessity of pa.s.sing locks--and somewhat smaller trains on the other parts of the ca.n.a.l, averaging eight to ten boats per tug, or moving from 70,000 to 80,000 bushels of corn, all as fast as they can be safely handled, and then the day of horses is limited, and ca.n.a.ls will need new arrangements, new regulations and new customs.

Tugs on the ca.n.a.l have never exceeded a utility of eight to fifteen per cent. of the inherent power of their steam. Hence, they have never had towing power to develop the movement of trains of boats; but when they can be made mechanically to utilize from thirty to fifty per cent., the train movement becomes initiated with boats just as absolutely as with cars, and the tow-boat system will be just as prominently and universally established between Buffalo and Albany as it is between New York and Albany.

It is perfectly practical for steam, when it shall possess a respectable mechanical adaptation to ca.n.a.l duty; that is, when it shall not be so shamefully profligate in expenditures of power--_to double the average speed of horses, or lessen the general average of ten days on the ca.n.a.l to five days_, of which the down trips may overrun and the up trips fall short, as with horse average.

When a single tug shall equal 30 to 50 horses on the tow-path, it equals 60 to 100 of supply, as all require the alternate team.

The automaton system of steam is a hinderance to horse-boat navigation, besides increasing the risks and dangers, whilst the towing system, in subst.i.tution for horses, greatly improves the navigation and lessens the risks and dangers. Averaging the total mileage of a season with horse-boat times of transit, and boats meet each other every twenty minutes, night and day including Sundays, for seven months. To carry this tonnage, there must be eleven meetings of steamers to nine by horses, which increases the risks and dangers twenty-two per cent.; on the other hand, tows to the same tonnage would only meet each other about every three hours, hence for long distances they have an un.o.bstructed water way.

MECHANICAL INVENTION, to adapt steam to the heavy resistances of ca.n.a.l boats, is therefore the first and greatest necessity of ca.n.a.ls.

A second necessity will be AUXILIARY AND CO-OPERATIVE POWER AT THE LOCKS AND SHORT LEVELS.

These must be local, and may be by stationary steam-power, by water-power from the upper levels, or by horses.

Thus, there would be only one detention of a tug through all the sixteen locks from West Troy to Cohoes--only one wherever there are two or more locks near each other, and at all locks there must be an independent local power to handle all boats. In this way tugs will lose less time between Buffalo and Albany than horse-boats do in changing teams from boat to tow-path every six hours.

Following these necessities, new rules, regulations and customs will be established, protecting the rights and equities of all.

A third necessity will be a CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT, or control of all tugs, train-movements, and local powers at short levels and locks.

This is essential to a harmony of movements, to a proper distribution of motors, and to a proper adaptation to all the ebbs and flows of trade. This is just as essential for the tugs of a ca.n.a.l as for the locomotives of a railway. Provided the control of steam shall be held, _upon the merits of some invention_, protected by Letters Patent from the General Government; then the owners thereof might establish a centralized management to meet the merits, demands and exigencies of the case. They could enforce a harmony of interests between all trains and a harmony of police regulations, and they could enforce a consolidation of effort and co-operation to meet any exigency, just as a railway company can consolidate and develop its efforts upon any necessitous occasion.

In the nature of the case, these three necessities, when accomplished, will give to steam _the universal movement of boats_.

First.--Because it becomes a cheap motor in regard to which horses can hold no compet.i.tive claim.

This is seen from the fact that when steam can only utilize from eight to twelve per cent. of its power, as under the two eras of steam, the two best steamers--the _S. B. Ruggles_ and _City of Buffalo_--lived five years in compet.i.tion with horses, nothing since has exceeded their economies or capabilities; but give the steam they used a utility of thirty to fifty per cent., or over three times its present capabilities, and no team can be supported in compet.i.tion.

Second.--Because it possesses the economies of concentrated power.

Horse-power must be diffused into small and limited qualities to be economical. The cost of double, treble, or quadruple teams, to increase speed or reduce time, swells the cost of transportation almost in like ratio, and would eat largely into the value of cargoes.

With the _present enormous waste of steam-power, trains with over three boats_ begin to increase the cost of freight per ton. The _Governor King_ was less economical with five boats than with three. On a part of the Eastern Division, two powerful tugs, lashed side by side on the levels, have taken a train of (17) seventeen boats successfully. Give to half their combined steam fifty per cent. addition to their combined power, and train movement receives an important inauguration. Economy, dispatch, regularity and a universal harmony of interests prevail.

SUMMARY.

The considerations of facts and suggestions herewith presented, embody important reasons for the Legislature to continue in force the Act of April, 1871, "to foster and develop the inland commerce of the State." It seems well adapted to influence, encourage and facilitate the development of mechanical, inventive talent; and to this end, all interests pertaining to the immediate elevation of ca.n.a.ls, to the benefits of steam, should co-operate.

To encourage invention to utilize the steam is of paramount importance, because the other "_necessities_" will then be met, and they need no legislation, for common business talent will supply their demands.

The MECHANICAL NECESSITIES of our ca.n.a.ls are greater than pertain to any possibilities by the old systems of propulsion. _It is not sufficient for steam to barely or doubtfully compete with horses, it should supersede them with the same superiorities and same universality_ that it has on railways.

Where steam is mechanically adapted to its uses, horses bear no comparison to its economies; hence, give steam its required mechanical adaptation to ca.n.a.ls, and horses must be abandoned.

The enthusiasm of 1872, in regard to steam, is less than in 1858, but there is a deep feeling of necessity for steam permeating the community, and it should be encouraged and directed in the proper channel, for the anxieties of 1858 _foundered on incompetent mechanism_, and the anxieties of 1872 _are in the same impa.s.sable channel_.