y the Union from Philadelphia, through Reading to Middleton on
the Susquehanna, and thence up that river to the Erie and the lakes. The
Schuylkill canal, 70 miles to Reading, has a depth of 6 feet, and from
Reading to Middleton, 4 feet. The Susquehanna canal, from Havre de
Grace, Maryland, at the head of tidewater, and the Chesapeake bay to the
New York line, and system, has a uniform depth of 5 feet, and is about
300 miles long. This canal, leading through Maryland and Pennsylvania
along the Susquehanna, can readily and cheaply be enlarged to the
dimensions of the Erie canal, and will then furnish Norfolk, Baltimore,
and Philadelphia a direct route to the lakes by the enlarged system,
fully equal to that of New York. Western Pennsylvania and Pittsburg
would have the route, by the enlarged system, up the Alleghany and Olean
to Rochester on the Erie canal, and thence to the Hudson or the lakes,
and from Bridgeport to Cleveland or Erie city. Ohio would have the
benefit of the routes (enlarged) to and from Cleveland to Bridgeport or
Portsmouth on the Ohio, and to and from Toledo to the mouth of the
Wabash or Miami or to Cincinnati. These canals are 40 feet wide and 4
feet deep. Indiana would have the benefit of the Wabash and Erie canal
to Evansville, on the Ohio, from Toledo, and to and from the same point
to the mouth of the Miami at Lawrenceburg and to Cincinnati, and would
also largely participate in the benefit of the Chicago and Illinois
canal of the whole system. Wisconsin would have the benefit of all these
canals, but especially of that connecting the Wisconsin river with Green
Bay, and the rest of the lakes with Lake Superior. Illinois would have
the benefit of the Wabash and Erie, the Chicago and Illinois, and of the
entire system. Indeed, with a thorough-cut canal from the Illinois river
to Chicago, fact will outstrip fancy as regards the progress of that
great city. And here a strong argument in favor of the whole of these
works is presented to every true American, by the fact that the vast and
increasing heavy and bulky products of the West demand the enlarged
works, and if she cannot have them by the Hudson, the Delaware, and
Susquehanna, she will have them by the Canada canals, and the St.
Lawrence to its outlet in the Gulf. Minnesota would have the benefit of
the improvement of the upper Mississippi, and of the canals uniting the
Wisconsin with Green Bay, and Superior with the other lakes. Iowa,
Missouri, Ka