History of Steam on the Erie Canal | Page 9

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 competitive ability.
CANAL NECESSITIES.
The history of the experiments for means of propulsion on our canals
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 canals.
We see the New York and Albany tow-boats, with from twenty to forty
loaded canal 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 canal.
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 passing locks--and somewhat
smaller trains on the other parts of the canal, 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 canals will need new arrangements, new regulations and new
customs.
Tugs on the canal 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 canal 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 canal
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 substitution 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,