DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL


DOCUMENT NO. 6 (FILES OF CHIEF OF ENGINEERS), DECEMBER 1,
 1931
 REPORT OF THE SPECIAL BOARD, SUBMITTED UNDER DATE OF
 DECEMBER 1, 1931

 On this date the special board created by the Chief of Engineers'
 Special Order No. 5, dated February 5, 1927 (see Document No. 2)
 reported on the preliminary examination it had made pursuant to the
 provisions of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1927 (see Document
 No. 1). In that report the board recommended:
 that a survey be made to determine the best available location, cost
 of construction, and economic justification for (a) a ship canal across the northern
 portion of the peninsula of Florida and a barge canal along the same route; and,
 (b) a barge canal between the western terminus of such a waterway and the
 eastern terminus of the existing Gulf intracoastal waterway.


 DOCUMENT NO. 7 (FILES OF NATIONAL RIVERS AND HARBORS
 CONGRESS), DECEMBER 9, 1931
 ADDRESS BY WALTER F. COACHMAN, JR., BEFORE THE NATIONAL
 RIvERs AND HARBORS CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 9,
 1931

 On December 9, 1931, Hon. Walter F. Coachman, Jr., chairman
of the Florida State Canal Commission, made an address before the
annual convention of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress in
Washington. The following extract is taken from that address:
 Should the Government decide to construct the canal as a ship canal then
these are some of the benefits which would accrue to you, my friends: Glance
at the map and imagine a line drawn from the mouth of the Rio Grande on the
Mexico border line, to slightly north of Denver-then run east through Chicago
to the Appalachian Mountains--thence southward along the west side of the
Appalachian Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. Within this square formed bv
these lines is the territory which trades with the Atlantic seaboard lying east of
the Appalachians, cheaper either by rail or water or by combination of rail and
water to or from a port on either the Gulf or Atlantic seaboard-and thence a
movement between ports by vessel. Therefore a short route for vessels between
Gulf and Atlantic ports, by eliminating the voyage around the 500-mile peninsula
of Florida, must mean a direct saving to you. It makes no difference whether
you are a producer of commodities in the Middle West or valley, or a consumer
on the Atlantic seaboard--or whether you are a manufacturer on the Atlantic
seaboard or a consumer in the Middle West or valley you will daily receive a
direct or indirect benefit from the construction of this new artery of com-
merce. *
 There was available for this canal last year one and one-third times the tonnage
which passed through the Panama Canal-the world's greatest canal at present.
It is a saving in the interchange of goods between the people of 37 States of the
Nation-for example, it shortens the distance between New York and New
Orleans by almost one-fourth. It would also serve as a connection between the.
intracoastal canal along the Atlantic seaboard which extends from Boston to
Florida and the intracoastal canal along the Gulf of Mexico which extends from
Florida to the Mexican border line, which canals serve to connect all the rivers
along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, including the great Mississippi River system.
We have these two great independent waterway systems, upon which the Govern-
ment has spent vast sums of money, and with no way of passing tonnage from
one to the other. It would be an invaluable aid to the Nation to have these
systems connected, not only in commercial peacetime, but in time of war com-
modities and supplies could be transported from one section of the country to
another on-a protected inland water route.