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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 30, 1963)
4 $3 g g SUNDAY. JUNE 30. 1963 MEOFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOHD. OREGON ; . Mid-West Waiting for St. Lawrence Seaway Dream To Come True i i u-. ftf iho manv who re By DAVID SMOTHERS United Prwi International Chicago - tlTO - The Mid west is still waiting for the St. Lawrence Seaway dream to come true. It was less than five yean ago - in April, 1959 - that the passage was breached and the way cleared for salt water vessels to tap the wealth of the nation's heartland. That was a time of superla tives. There wbs talk of 35 million tons of cargo within the Seaway's first year. 50 million annually within 10 years. Duluth and Toledo were to become the harbor ri vals of New York and New Orleans. Who could tell? Some day ocean liners might be docking at Detroit and Chi cago's harbor lights would be as famous as Singapore's. It hasn't happened yet. In a few cities along the Seaway route the channel to the At lantic has been everything the civic planners dreamed. In a few others, the age of the Seaway has been a bitter dis appointment. In most, the po tential Is still there. But it could be years before it is re alized. Beyond Projections After four years on the Sea way, Toledo Port Director Louis C. Purdcy estimated the city's annual income is $20 to $25 million richer. Tonnage passing through the Toledo port has "gone far beyond the original projections made pri or to completion of the Sea way," he said. But at the twin ports of Duluth, Minn., and Superior, Wise, which had dreamed of a new iron age of prosperity, there were many who felt they'd be better off if some one filled in the St. Lawrence river. In Chicago, once touted as the potential queen of the Sea way cities, port director Capt. John J. Manlcy took the hard nosed view. "The Seaway has more than lived up to the expectations of realistic people," he said, "but not the dreamers." In most Seaway ports there was agreement that Die cities which have made the chan nel pay off for them are the ones which worked hardest at it. Child of Planning The St. Lawrence Seaway is the child of a half cen tury of planning and bicker ing, dreaming and frustration. It had many enemies and has many still. Railroads, truck ers and East Coast and Gulf Harbor interests were gener ally blamed for blocking con struction of the Seaway until the 1950's. That was when Canada, which hoped to cash in most, announced plans to go ahead. Then the United States joined in. The deepening of the St. Lawrence channel from Mon treal to Lake Ontario-along with the locks and dredging necessary to open up the Croat Lakes to the West -meant deep draft ocean ves sels could take on steel at Chi cago, iron ore at Duluth, cars at Detroit, grain at Toledo. In return, the "sallies" could bring the infinite variety of international cargo to the landlocked Middle West. It sounded wonderful. Yet today, the St. Lawrence Sea way Corp., the federal agen cy in charge on this side of the border, can't pay the in terest on its $150 million loan from the U.S. government. . Worried About Talk Shippers are worried about talk of raising tolls on the Seaway. New labor problems replace old ones. Congress men are unhappy. Port facili ties are inadequate in many cities. Harbor plans which were on the drawing boards back in the 50s are still there. These were some of the voices - optimistic and oth erwise - heard along the Sea way and in the Great Lakes ports: "Buster" slaughter, boss 'of the International Longshore men's association (ILA) at Du luth: "There was the time when the first shipment of beer was to go overseas from here. They didn't count it in cars or cases. They said so many bottles were being ship-1 pcd. When I figured out how much that was - it was only about a quarter of a car - I laughed. Hell, my men drink that much beer during lunch hour." A 'Whit El.ptenf Joseph H. McCann, hard pressed administrator of the Masscna, N.Y.-bascd Seaway Development Corp., replying to talk of the waterway as a "white elephant:" "Forget about our balance sheet and look what we've done for the Midwest. The Seaway made it possible for the steel mills to get iron ore at a low rate. We've lowered the cost of shipping grain overseas. The Seaway makes it possible for American products to com pete in a tough overseas mar ket. Why, I know one com pany selling 20,000 cars in Australia, only because the Seaway helped them become competitive." William J. Rogers, director of port control at Cleveland: "I don't think performance has lived up to expectations. We have not had an educa tional program in the hinter lands. As a result, we haven't taken the business from Bal timore and Philadelphia that we should. The business goes elsewhere when we can't pro vide enough shelter or have to move cargo from pillar to post to make room." Future Looks Good R. J. Rankin, president of Canada's St. Lawrence Sea way Authority: "Once the fi nancial problem of the Sea way Authority has been sat isfactorily arranged the fu ture of the Seaway looks very good indeed. I don't think it should be held over the Sea way Authority that the water way is lagging behind - we are lagging behind the antici pation, but with a net rev enue of $3.5 million what's the matter with that?" Wesley Harkins, executive of the Frazer - Nelson ship yards at Superior, Wise: "It's all well and good to look at the foreign flags in the har bor and feel it's so romantic and exotic. But it's quite an other thing to figure what Moire PMP annal EFJIEIffi(GY! Young and old got BOTH in fresh, Luscious iBin wffiffiMiiJTr fnrmm HBecIk BBalkeiry' . . . Southern Oregon's ONLY HOME-OWNED and OPERATED BAKERY Rtcfi as flutter Sweet us u Nut! Folks here in southern Oregon and northern California have come to expect the BEST from BECK'S . . . and they won't be disappoint ed when they try the new, tasty BUTTER-NUT SPUN LOAF! Packed with iron, proteincalcium and vitamins, this wonderful tasting bread is just the food for health, pep and energy. It's SPUN to make it FRESHER THAN FRESH . . . TENDER BLENDED and TENDER TEXTURED to the very last crumb. All we ask is that you TRY this bread that's RICH AS BUTTER, SWEET AS A NUTI Spread it enjoy it then keep it on hand for real bread enjoyment. Your grocer has it NOWI LOOK FOR THE BRIGHT NEW YELLOW WRAPPER ON YOUR GROCER'S SHELVES! V x ' l.a i I t, t .-.. av ,..... Fresher than Fresh! those ships are doing to our economy. I just can't see where the Seaway is ever go ing to help this area. And it's a fairly safe prediction that there won't be an American ship on the lakes in five years." It is almost as easy to speak gloomily of the Seaway as it was to hail its coming five years ago. The first year the channel opened, total tonnage was about five million below ex pectations. Latest figures from the Senate Public Works Appropriations subcommittee have total tonnage 34 million below anticipations since 1959. Tonnage increased 10 per cent last year to a total of Just under 26 million. Mc Cann rated that a "banner year," but the original hole had been for 37 million tons. "It is improbable that we can catch up for many years to come," McCann told the Senate subcommittee last month. Shippers have recited a lit any of troubles - unwilling ness of some cities to pro mote their ports; Congress re fusal to let the Seaway Devel opment Corp. spend money to toot its own horn; the need for still further work on the Seaway itself; inexperienced longshoremen; docks which should have been modernized years ago; foreign competi tion; international lab or snarls. Buffalo grain traffic since the Seaway opened has drop ped drastically because ships which used to unload their cargoes onto rail cars now sail straight on through to the Atlantic. Duluth - Superior had hop ed to grow rich shipping iron ore. Instead, the twin ports are hurting because of foreign ore coming through the Sea way. Lake Superior shipping companies are likewise afraid of a fleet of "superships" be ing built by the Canadians with the aid of government subsidization. Reasonably Satisfied Most Chicago business lead ers appeared reasonably sat isfied with their port's prog ress, even though the city's 1,146.112 tons of export and import cargo last year hard ly made it a lake leader. Yet shippers complained of t h e lack of a heavy crane at Navy pier, off midtown Chicago, and of the "iron curtain" of 31 rail and highway bridges spanning the river entrance to the south side Calumet harbor. At Cleveland, ex-mayor An thony Celcbrceze fought with the city council for a year over placement of a heavy lift crane before he became a member of President Kenne dy's cabinet. Cleveland port authorities ruefully admit the quarrel became a standing joke in European shipping cir cles. But the crane is now in operation and paying divi dends. Detroit tonnage has increas ed less than half a million since the Seaway opened. Many blamed the slow pace on the fact that Detroit is the only big port on the lakes without a public port authori ty. Port authority boosters charge that private owners won't spend money until they are sure of increased business. Appear Thoroughly Happy Other cities appeared thor oughly happy with life on the Seaway. In most cases, these were the cities which had made sure they would be ready when the "sallies" sail ed in. Toledo's story was the most dramatic. Since the Seaway was born, the city has become the largest American tonnage port on the lakes with a 1I -inly respectable 4.6 million tons handled last year. Grain tonnage at Toledo was only 200,000 in 1958. Now it's 1.6 million. Bulk cargo is boom ing. Port Manager Purdcy sketched in some of the rea sons. "We've spent about $22 mil lion expanding port facilities, anticipating the Seaway traf fic," he said. "Only $6 mil lion has been spent in pub lic funds. The rest was sup plied by private enterprise. "But you can have the best facilities and location in the world and you still won't have a booming port unless you sell it. We set aside S41, 000 annually for port promo tion and the total budect for public relations, advertising and promotion is S75.000." Competing With Ntw York In Canada. Toronto acquir ed a 300-ton lift, kept deepen ing its harbor, and is now competing for business with New York. Hamilton. Ont., posted total tonnage of 7.9 million last year to lead the lake cities and Monteral was second with 5.3 million. M i 1 waukee's expanding port is one of the most mod ern on the Great Lakes and Port Director H. C. Brockel says "The Seaway has come quite close to realizing its ex pectations." Although there is criticism that Chicago got off to a slow start as a Seaway city, city and private interests have promised to spend more than $22 million on the harbor by the end of next year. One of the many who re fuses to give up on the Sea way's future is Ransom Cros by of Massena, N.Y., execu tive secretary of the Northern New York Trust company and son of E. B. Crosby, an early Seaway crusader. "We have entered a period of enlightenment," Crosby said. "A few years back. Sea way backers felt that industry and big ports would magical ly follow the deep draft navi gation. Now we know that we must work for these things, and work together." 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