e New Orleans, a steel vessel of
9,600 tons, the largest turned out south of Newport News, built for the
Shipping Board, in January, 1920. These were followed by four sister
vessels from the Foundation yard and seven from the Doullut & Williams
plant. The former went to sea through Bayou Bienvenu and the latter
through Lake Pontchartrain. The Doullut & Williams yard is a large one.
Originally planning a mere assembling yard, the Foundation Company had
subsequently developed the greatest steel fabricating plant in the
South--so confident it was that New Orleans would carry through the
project.

And, too, the New Orleans Army Supply Base that Uncle Sam was building
on the river end of the Industrial Canal was rapidly rising--the
facility that was to double the port storage capacity of New Orleans
when it was finally completed in June, 1919.

The canal is 5-1/3 miles long. Between river and lock the canal prism
will be 125 feet wide at the bottom and 275 feet at the top; between
the lock and the lake, 150 feet wide at the bottom and 300 feet wide at
the top. It is an excavation job of 10,000,000 cubic yards. Five
hundred thousand flat cars would be required to carry that dirt--a
train more than 4,000 miles long.

By September, 1919, the canal had been entirely dredged, except for the
2,000-foot channel between the lock and river, which must be left until
the last, to a width of about 150 feet and a depth of 26 feet. Since
then, the labor has been concentrated upon the lock. But twenty-six
feet will float a vessel carrying 6,000 bales of cotton. Full
dimensions, however, will be developed, and the Canal, with a system of
laterals and basins such as are found in Europe, will be an Inner
Harbor capable of indefinite expansion.

OVERWHELMING ENDORSEMENT BY NEW ORLEANS.

When the Canal was about half finished it received the most tremendous
endorsement by every interest of New Orleans in its history. The
question was put squarely before the people: "Do you think it is a good
thing, and you are willing to be taxed to put it across, and, if so,
how much?" And the answer came without hesitation: "It is absolutely
necessary to the industrial progress of the city. We must have the
Canal at all costs, and are willing to be taxed any amount for it."

On September 24, 1919, George M. Wells, consulting engineer, made a
report to the Dock Board, showing that the last bond issue of
$6,000,000 had been exhausted, and about $