Experiments have been made for the application of electricity to the traction of the boats, with promise of further development. In the meantime considerable importance is attached to the installation of electric telephone communication from one end of the line to the other, whereby instant communication can be had with the section superintendents, the lock tenders and other officials. The system is devised solely for the use of the canal officials, and will be invaluable in sudden emergencies caused by accidents to the boats, leaks, breaks, or other disasters that may occur and interfere with the navigation of the canal. For some time past western shippers have been testing the feasibility of establishing a through line of transportation from the Great Lakes to New York by way of the Erie Canal without the delay and expense of transhipment at Buffalo. In 1895 this idea was worked out by the construction of a fleet of steel canal boats, consisting of one steamer and five consorts, by the Cleveland Steel Canal Boat Company of Ohio. Several fleets of this kind have since been put in operation, and the projectors believe that they have demonstrated the practicability of thus carrying freight to the seaboard from any of the western lakes at a fair margin of profit and in successful competition with the railways. These steel barges have encountered severe storms on the lakes without any serious damage to the boats or their cargoes. The cost of the tug boat is about $15,000, and of each consort about $6,000. The time occupied by the steel fleet from Cleveland to New York has been from ten to twelve days. The second enlargement of the Erie Canal, now in progress and nearing completion, will afford greatly increased facilities for transportation, by increasing the depth from 7 to 9 feet and doubling and lengthening all the locks. There will be no increase in the width of the locks nor in the length of the boats navigating the canal, but two boats (which form a horse-tow) will be locked through at once, and by the locks being doubled, side by side, no boats will have to wait for others coming in an opposite direction. The cargo will be increased by the greater depth of water in boats of the same size, more deeply loaded, and the traction will be so improved that boats will run easier and faster. The amount of freight carried on the Erie Canal—east and west—in the year 1896 was 2,742,438 tons.[55] The amount transported on the Welland Canal for that year was 1,279,987 tons. CANADIAN COMMERCE ON THE GREAT LAKES.