HARBORS, DOCKS AND BREAK WATERS. The principal purpose of a com mercial harbor is to furnish a means for trans ferring freight from the interior to seagoing carriers. The harbor affording the cheapest and most expeditious shipping facilities at tracts the greatest patronage, as it is the facility for readily discharging cargoes and reloading, rather than the size of the harbor, that attracts shipowners. By the erection of a breakwater, the dredging of a creek or river and the con struction of modern docks provided with rail road tracks leading to the water edge and equipped with the latest facilities and median isms for loading and unloading, one city gains an advantage over another that has a better natural harbor, wherein however a modern system has not been installed.
The world's largest cities are primarily those that have important water communication, and. while this feature is generally viewed as merely an adjunct to a city's commerce, it is in reality of prime importance to its progress. Those cities that neglect their waterways fall behind in growth and prestige, while those that im prove their harbor facilities usually forge ahead with rapid strides. The question of harbor improvements is therefore a vital one and deserves the most careful consideration of those in authority, and the support of every class of citizens. Cities that have natural ad vantages must keep their equipment up to date. while those with limited natural facilities may overcome their disadvantages, and, by well planned improvements, rise to positions of in ternational fame — as many European cities have done in recent years — entering into suc cessful competition with older and better known ports.
In the making of improvements the true purposes and reasons for harbors should be kept in view —whether for commercial, refuge or fishery purposes, or a combination of any two, or all. To be successful, the improve ments planned should be considered not alone from an engineering but from every other standpoint.
The elements of the commerce of an inland city consists of freight handled by inland car riers — such as railroads, river steamers, canal, boats and other forms of transportation — as likewise coastwise and overseas freight, in addition to the products of its own industries.
The incoming freight is destined for four prin cipal purposes: immediate transshipment, stor age for later shipment, material for the city's industries or wares for local consumption. The facilities of the city should, therefore, be planned to the end that the freight for each of these purposes shall be handled in a different manner. Freight for immediate transshipment, transferring from cars to vessels or vice-versa, should be handled on piers equipped with rail road tracks and loading and unloading devices, so that cargoes may be transferred with as little intervention of manual labor as possible, and in a minimum of time. Such piers need not be in close proximity to the business dis trict of the city; any point in the harbor that may readily be reached by a railroad will answer the purpose. A ship that receives part of its cargo from railroad cars may also, at the same time, take on freight from a canal boat, the transshipping piers— when placed near canal and railroad freight terminals— being thus enabled to serve a double purpose.
Freight intended to be stored in the city for future shipment should be placed in ele vators or storage warehouses accessible to both rail and water transportation, but preferably away from the business district of the city. Particular care should be taken to avoid the placing of terminals and storage warehouses in such location as to necessitate the trucking of freight across the city.
Freight intended as material for manufac ture in the factories of the city should, when ever possible, be delivered by rail or water direct, and the finished product should be re moved in the same manner. The advantages of rail connections are appreciated by manu facturers who, wherever possible, have a spur or switch extended into their yards. The value of canals, however, is not so well under stood, although a system of canals proves of the greatest utility in a manufacturing district, particularly for products of a bulky nature.