Hawaii and Porto Rico.— Hawaii has Norte k:In Harbor, with an entrance channel 400 feet aide. 3.000 feet long. and 35 feet deep at mean k w water. Since the opening of the Panama Canal Honolulu has become a port of call for coal and fuel oil. It has 22 wharves and Its tonnage in 1917 was 2,037,424 tons. Hawaii also has Kahului Harbor and Hilo Harbor, both improved to a depth of 35 feet. The tonnage of the former in 1917 was 228,853 tons, and that of the latter was 357,406 tons. San Juan Harbor in Porto Rico has an improved chan eel 600 feet wide and 30 feet deep with terminal facilities_ Its tonnage in 1917 was 756,350 tons.
Cape Cod and Poses** Canals.— The water ways of the United States also include many channels already described and also the Cape Cod and Panama canals. The former extends from Bnuard's Bay to Cape Cod Bay. It is from 100 to 300 feet wide on the bottom and was originally built by private parties, and may become a pan of the Intercoastal Waterway from Maine to Key West. It is to be acquired by the United States and be given a prism 30 feet deep, with a minimum width of 200 feet. The largest of the government owned and oper ated canals is the Panama Ship Canal, approxi mately 40 miles long, extending from Limon Bay in the Atlantic to La Boca Bay in the Paci fic Its regulated summit level is between 82 and V feet above sea-level. The difference is due to the variation in the level of the Chap-es River. That level is reached by a double lock, each lift being 45 feet, making a total lift of ;10 feet at the Atlantic end of the canal and at the Pacific end there are double lift locks in the Pedro-Miguel section and a single lift lock be low Lake Miraflores. Approximately one-half of its length is Gatun Lake and Lake Miraflores. natural bodies of water, thereby ma terially reducing the original cost of that raterway. Its locks are 1,000 feet long and 110 feet wide. The canal has a minimum bottom width of 300 feet, but an average width of 649 feet and it has a minimum depth of 41 feet.
The Waterways.— There are other water ways not mentioned in this article compris ing interior lakes and unimproved rivers. The foregoing enumeration, however, of waterways and the description of their channels are sufficient to indicate their extensiveness the country over as well as their importance to the commerce of the na tion. Those hereinbefore mentioned comprise thousands of miles of navigable channels. In their construction and maintenance, the govern ment of the United States hun dreds of millions of dollars. some States and many communities have con tributed large sums toward waterway improve ments. The policy of co-operation between the general government and the States and com munities may become a settled policy and that governmental aid may be extended only when localities advance some part of the expense of making waterway improvements. That policy
has been adopted in some European countries and has been recommended by one or more commissions of the United States.
The data as to waterborne tormage given in this article are chiefly from the official records for the year 1917. Over most waterways, it was not as voluminous as it was during the preceding four years, owing to the abnormal conditions prevailing the country over, in conse quence of the Great War. Much of the com merce of the country was diverted from water ways to railways, which were under Federal control. The conditions in the year 1918 were still more unfavorable for water carriers and the waterborne tonnage, except ocean traffic, the greatest in the history of the country, was less over inland waterways than it was in 1917.
The end of the war and the return to normal industrial life will awaken an ever increasing demand for greater facilities of transportation. The waterways of the coun try will furnish those facilities. The entire Atlantic Gulf and Pacific coasts, the Great Lakes and the interior waterways of the coun try are equipped as shown in this article to do a volume of transportation unparalleled at any other period in the history of the world.
Bibliography.— Various limed States Coast and Geodetic Survey charts; various reports of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives of the United States; many Acts of Congress of the United States; the Reports of the Chief of Engineers of the United States army for the years 1900-19; Re port of Gen. William H. Bixby, Chief of Engi neers, on the Intercoastal Waterway frosts Maine to Key West; various documents of the House of Representatives of the United States on Waterway Improvement Projects; Reports of the United States Commissioner of ra tions on Transportation by NN'ater in the nited States in 1909; Reports of the Mississippi River Commission; Reports of the Ohio River Com mission; Reports of the New York State Waterways Association; Reports of the At lantic Deeper Waterways Association,- Reports of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress; Reports of the Tennessee River Improvement Association; Proceedings of the International Joint Commission on Boundary Waters; for for 1912 of the International Congress of Nav igation; Reports of State Engineers of various States; maps and charts of various sections of the United States; reports of Municipal Harbor Improvement Commissions, and many other records.