found a broad new market in the central district as a result of this educational program. Xtrogen and the mixed fertilizers are in fact the heart of a broad and continuing program conducted by these departments to in se production per acre of farm crops in the territories these 1 carriers serve. Through lectures, bulletins, meetings, and ticinonstrations these agricultural department,s have increascd the market for synthet,ic urea as a partial AubstituBe for protein in livestock feeding and have encouraged the widespread use of minerals and vitamins in livestock nutrition. Another function of t h e I development departments is development. These departbuilt around the field of irid to the chemical and other inments maintain a constaiit , dustries covering sites where water, utilities, good foundations, and adequate transportation can be siipplied to industries seeking new location; also, prepared surveys covering market prospects for all manner of chemical goods with particular reference in t h e West North Central States to markets for nitrogen and other :io-called agricultural cl-iernicals. The Burlington Railroad liaa m d e an extensive sf,ui!y of available raw materials of mineral ering these minerals for use by origiii and has prepared a map the chemical and other industi A copy of this map is available for distribution to those are interested. Soon a 150page book of plat maps, aerial photographs, and complete ticRcriptions of desirable industrial sites in t,he areas pervcd will he rivailable to industries seeking locations. These and many other services are part and parcel of the treniendous resource of t,rmjportation made constantly available by railroads of this diPtrict x i i t 1 of nil to the ehmiical indii America.
Water Transportation WILBUR A. JONES MISSISSIPPI VALLEY ASSOCIATION, 1978 RAILWAY EXCHANGE BLDG.,
ST. LOUIS 1, MO.
ATER transportation is the liey which can unlock the door to industrial development in the West North Central States. This area has been severely handicapped in the p a d by high freight rates. The exception is the eastern half of Xnnesot,a, Iowa, and Missouri which w e ~ e ~ v ebyd the h r g e services on l,he Upper Mississippi River. A 9-foot, channel W R B established on the Upper bZiesissippi River through the construction of a series o i 26 lock8 and dams completed in 1940. The final major project in the upper river, the Chain of Rocks Canal, just' above St. Louis, was dedicated in , now under construction 3953. A new lock a t Keokuk, I o w ~ is to eliminate one of the potcntial bottlenecks in the upper river. The Upper Mississippi mvigation project from Mirineapolis and St. Paul to St. Louis is about 675 miles and constitutes nearly one third of the waterway distance from the head of navjgat>ion to the Gulf of Mexico. When the project was authorized, it, war estimated that approximately 9,000,000 tons o€ freight wcrc available for movement on the waterway. Tonnage figures of the last decade have denionstrated how conservative was the, original estimate. I n 1935 when the project was just getting under way, the annual traffic totaled 1,600,000 tons. In 1940, when the %foot channel was established, the total rose to 3,500,000 tons. E y 1951 an average of 1,000,000tons a month moved on the waterway. The t,otal for 3953, v-hich set an all-time record, was 12,855,945 tons. Petroleum and pet,roleum product's const'itute the largest singlr commodity transported upstmain on the waterway Coal and coke rank second, followed by chemicals, iron and st'ed, and itxihlizers. Downstream the principal commodity is grain. T o srwc the rapidly growing t.rnffic on the upper river, there
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are 136 river t,elminals now in operation between St. Louis and the Twin Cities. Oi this total, 28 of t'he terminal8 we in thr St. Louis area. The influence of low cost inland water\viiy transporl&tion 011 industry in this area is clearly demonstrated by po=hvar expansions. The army engineers reported last year that since World War TI the construction of new plant,s and the oxpansion of existing plants represent an investment of more than 5300,000,000. Most of the West S o r t h Central States area, however, is served ri River. \Yater\wy transportation on the Mi?ill in the pioneering stage, but the potential valw of water trariyortttiori l o the area is already apparent. h 9authorized for the Missouri River, but a t preseril E d comniercial navigation on a 6-foot channel. t navigation projects for ibe ILIissouri were startrd in the 192O's, it was not until t,he now famous Pick-Sloan plan was adopted by Congress in 1944 that the present program was fully integrated. Ult,imately, it, is planned to establish a 9-fool channel as far upstream as Yanliton, S. D. Through a series of 105 i.escrvoiw, many of them multiple purpose, it)is planned no1 onlj, t o maintain the navigation channel, but also to provid(. water for irrigation and hydroelectric power, as i d 1 as t o cnrl'y nut it valley-wide flood control program. The navigation channel from Sioux City, lonra, the present head of navigation, t o the illississippi just above St. Louk is 760 miles long. Commercial navigation as far upstream as Kansas City was firmly established before World War 11. In 1947 barge services were extended to Omaha and in 1953 commercial services Fvere expanded to serve the Sioux City :ma. Two privately owned commercial barge lines now serve the Rouri Valley. The Army Engineers have estinmted that more than 4,000,000 tons of freight will be available for movement annually when thtt 9-foot channel is completed, In 1952 traffic on Ihe RIissouri totaled approximately 50,000 tons. Last, year the t,otal tripled. amounting to 152,000 tons. With the expansion of barge services, arid their advant,age of low mst transportation, industry can bo expected t o develop rapidly. One of the handicaps in river terminals, is now being elimi are p1:tiining the construction of ex .4 factor that map prove to be decisive in the location of new indubtries is the po1,ential water reserves of this area. W. I:. i'ottri.: Missouri River Division Engineer, pointed out recent)ly that, c~~mpletiori of the Pick-Sloan reservoirs will give the Missouri Valley an impressive reserve of v,-at,er for industry, as vvell aii fol navigation and other uses. t,he increasing use of water in iiiduPt,rial procceses, such r are vital t,o future expansion. The navigation seawn on both the Upper Mississippi River :ind the Missouri Ttiver is ii~uallyfrom March or :\pril l h o u g h Sc iw inhe r ,
RALPH IMMER ELDON MILLER, INC., CHICAGO, ILL
RUCK and trailer i,ramporta,tion in this region is increari t i # as the chemical industry grows, and as the highway sil.untion, is good, improves. The WePt, Kort,h Cent,ral region is fast groving, and since many o€ t,he induslrial comniunit,iex HPP Tvidely separated. It has leaned hea\dy on the trucking indust'ry for service. I n all thes ates there is a concentrated drive for higger and better highway systems. I n this region trucking has been found a particularly valuai,le aid in augmenting rail and barge facilities. A good example is in the barging of caustic soda by yoap manufacturer8 and find tsansfer by truck t o their plant locamtion.
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol.
46,No. 11
Resources One of the greatest obstacles to trucking of chemicals in these states is the limitation placed on truckers and shippers by too little Interstate Commerce Commission authority in the area. At a time when the fertilizer industry is expanding rapidly, little authority exists for offering complete truck transportation in and away from a plant area. With the cooperation of traffic managers in various plants, new authority has been established in the past few years, but much additional work needs to be done along this line before the chemical industry in the West Sorth Central St’ates can be properly served by truck transportation. I t is inevitable, of course, that transportation facilities presently serving these areas do not look with favor on the granting of such interstate rights t o members of the trucking industry. In spite of the lack of completely satisfactory regulations, tank carriers in the area are very active in transporting chemicals. Equipment for handling chemicals of many types is being used. The chemicals and related commodities other than petroleum products that are being transported by truck are: Alcohol (grain and synthetic) Anhydrous ammonia Caustic soda Corn syrup Formaldehyde Furfural and furans Glycerol Grain distilled spirits Hydrochloric acid Lacquers, enamels, and paint thinners
.
Liquid nitrogen fertilizer8 Molasses a n d molasses residue Phosphoyio acid Sodium silicate 8teep water Sulfuric acid and oleum (white and spent) Tallow Tripolyphosphate Vegetable oils (raw arid refined)
Construction and design of tank trucks and trailers for chemicals has also gone in for a face lifting. Many weight consuming items on old type tank trailers were found unnecessary or capable of being designed to serve a double function. The research department’s of the trailer manufacturing industry have substituted newer and lighter weight materials after tests have shown them structurally strong enough t o withstand the beating they would take on the highways and sufficiently resistant to corrosion to permit use for a variety of materials. This has tied in directly with the problem of “deadheading” or returning with an empty trailer. By ut’ilizing versatile equipment, truckers in the West North Central region, where the number of miles for individual movements is greater than in many other areas, are revising the generally accepted notions on the “short haul” limitations of bullc commodity trucking. An exmiple is a carrier transporting
Insulated Tank for Carrying Soap Slurries, Fats, and Tallow milk froin the daily regioiis of thc northerri part into aleas where milk is relatively scarce. It returns a i t h vegetable oils consigned to a food processor or paint manufacturer located in the general area of his origin. All-plastic tanks are new and have shown satisfactory results in several fields but have not yet been tested sufficiently to give a good indication of just how extensive their use for highway transportation will be. In the trucking business, however, one angle of design has had a good chance for application in the states under discussion. This is compartmentation mch as is being done with pertain ships rarrging chemicals. A large molabses firm has a trailer whose lower compartment carries molasses. On top of this tank are grain sides which can be used to haul corn and other grains for a return load. The shipping public evwywhere will profit greatly when the individual states are able to agree on uniform regulations for highn ay usage. The difficulties rncouritered by highway users now cost the public thousands of dollars annually in addition to the inconvenience caused both rarriers and shippers. R ~ C E I V E for D review March 24, 1954.
ACCEPTED July IO, 1954.
Electric Power Resources M. E. SKINNER UNION ELECTRIC COMPANY OF MISSOURI, ST. LOUIS 1. MO.
This article reviews the characteristics of the area, population, and natural and electric power resources of the seven states comprising the West North-CentralStates as a unit and compares these characteristics with the United States as a whole with particular emphasis on the highly coordinated and ample power resources in or available to the area for supply of power to industries who may be interested in this location. November 1954
I
N ORDER t o properly appraise the electric power resource6
of the West North Central States, it is essential to have in mind the physical and economical characteristics of the area. This vast area comprises 172% of the land area of the United States. It is predominmtly agricultural and thinly populated as the population in the area averages only 27.5 per square mile as against 50.7 for the country as a whole; 21.1% of the steam railway mileage of the country is included in the area. Devploped
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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