DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CAAL


economic justification of the proposed expenditure; (b) the agricultural, for-
estry, mining, manufacturing, real estate, and trading interest of the peninsula
of Florida and its railway and highway transport agencies; pointing out the
extensive development of the State and local highways heretofore made and
that planned for the future for which the people have expended for construc-
tion tremendous sums of money; (c) the commercial Interests of the Gulf
and Atlantic ports of the United States, and of the hinterland of these ports.
We submit that the commercial interests of foreign-owned shipping and of
foreign ports should not be considered; and that the interest of United States
Gulf and Atlantic ports in foreign commerce should not be permitted to offet
in anywise the disadvantages to east, central, and south Florida of, among
other injuries, being reduced to the status of an Island.
 & As to the economic fj Ulation of the projeot.-To justify the money
expenditure, the proposed project, whether a Federal navigation project or a
self-liquidating project, must earn at least (i) interest on its construction
costs; (b) a sum equal to current taxes on the project; (c) a credit for the
necessary additions and betterments as and when traffic requires such Im-
provements; (4) the cost of maintaining the property so created, and the cost
of administration, operation, and sanitation; (e) a reasonable profit on the
undertaking; (f) a necessary sum for amortization or sinking fund.
 4. No ofical estimated cost of the project has been made public. From the
data available and from the experience of the engineers making this joint
statement (which experience includes the responsible direction of the location,
construction, and maintenance of railways and of accessory projects in the
southeast for 20, 80 and more years), and from such knowledge of the Panama
Canal as we have at hand, we believe the approximate cost of the project
will be, when finally consummated, $300,000,000 for the route indicated to us,
to wit: Beginning in the Withlacoochee Bay off the mouth of the Wlthlacoo-
chee River near Yankeetown, thence along the Withlacoochee River to Dunnel-
lon. At or near Dunnellon there is a lock to be built having a lift of 53 feet
From Dunnellon lock eastward, the canal will extend across the divide between
the valley of the Withlacoochee River and the valley of the Oklawaha River,
with a minimum elevation of 40 feet above mean sea level. A lock to be
constructed near Lake Kerr to drop the water level to that of the St. Johns
River near Lake Kerr. From Lake Kerr lock a channel to be dredged to and
down the St. Johns River to Jacksonville. The width of the canal between
the Dunnellon lock and Lake Kerr lock to be 300 feet. From the Dunnellon
lock the dredged river channel to be 300 feet, and the approach channel in
Withlacoochee Bay to be 500 feet All widths are minimum bottom widths.
The depth in the canal section (referred to mean sea level) to be 36 feet plus
2 feet overdepth, and the same depths to be obtained in the river channels.
The alinement of the canal, but not in the river channels, to have a minimum
radius of 5,000 feet at the curves. The canal locks (assuming the locks to be
twin locks) to be 110 feet wide with a length of 1,000, equipped with intermedi-
ate gates. The depth over the miter sills to be 40 feet The total length of
the route, including more than 20 miles of approach channel in the Gulf,
will be approximately 206 miles, of which about 45 miles will be between the
locks and the remainder in the river channels or dredged canals extending
to the Withiacoochee River and the St Johns River. A part of the 45 miles
between the locks will be in the valley of the Oklawaha River. A dam is to
be built across the Oklawaha River Valley near the month of Orange Creek
so as to bring the elevation of water in the Oklawaha River Valley to 40 feet
minimum above sea level The water level in the Oklawaha Valley to be
kept below the elevation of water in Silver Springs and in the great lakes
Harris, Eustis, and Griffin. The spoil from the canal excavation to be dis-
posed of by distributing it on both sides of the canal out to a maximum
distance of about 1,J00 feet from the edge of the canal. The maximum depth
of the spoil to be 20 feet with 200 feet berm. The slopes of the canal banks
to be one-half to one or one to one in rock; and three to one in other material.
Vertical-lift bridges to be constructed for seven railway crossings. The bridges
to serve the railways are: Seaboard Air Line, two; Atlantic Coast Line, three;
Florida East Coast, two.
 Nine suspension-type highway bridges to be built with a vertical clearance
 above the surface of water of 135 feet. The channel spans for the highway
 bridges will be 700 feet between towers. The above describes the project as
 we understand it is now being considered. The nine highway bridges to be
 built as proposed must serve all north and south hlZhwav transport because