ng the most important means of traffic,
as a rule, supplementing other navigable waters. Thus, by means of an
elaborate system of canals, goods are transferred by water, from one
river-basin to another, so that practically all the navigable streams of
western Europe are connected. Canals are extensively used to avoid the
falls or rapids that separate the various reaches of rivers. The water
itself by means of locks lifts the boat to a higher level or transfers
it to a lower reach, thus saving the expense of unloading, transferring,
and reloading a cargo.

The manner in which canals supplement the obstructed navigation of a
river is seen in the case of the St. Lawrence. This river is obstructed
in several places by rapids, but by means of canals steamship service
connects the Great Lakes, not only with Quebec, but with ports of the
Mediterranean Sea as well; indeed, it is possible to send a cargo from
Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, to Odessa or Batum, on the shores
of the Black Sea.

The internal water-ways of Canada have been splendidly developed. The
Canadian St. Marys Canal furnishes an outlet to Lake Superior for
vessels drawing twenty-one feet. The Welland Canal connects Lakes Erie
and Ontario. The Rideau Canal and River connect Kingston and Lake
Ontario with the Ottawa, and the latter with its canals is navigable to
the St. Lawrence. With a population of less than six millions the
Dominion Government has spent nearly one hundred million dollars in the
improvement of internal water-ways.

[Illustration: PROFILE OF ERIE CANAL

HORIZONTAL SCALE 100 MILES TO THE INCH, VERTICAL SCALE 1,000 FEET TO THE
INCH]

In the United States the possible development of canals has been
neglected and, to a certain extent, stifled by railway building. The
Erie Canal, built before the advent of the railway, connects Lake Erie
with tide-water at Albany, a distance of 387 miles. For many years it
was the chief means of traffic between the Mississippi Valley and the
Atlantic seaboard, and although paralleled by the six tracks of a great
railway system, it is still an important factor in the carriage of grain
and certain classes of slow freight.[9] The level way that made the
canal possible is largely responsible for the decline of its importance,
for the absence of steep grades enables a powerful locomotive to haul
so many cars that the quick transit more than overbalances a very low
ton rate by the canal.

The Chesapeake an