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 CANALS. 
 
 E SUBJECT OF THE 
 
 VERTE 
 
 CANALS, 
 
 EEFER, 
 
 or CIVIL KNdlNEKHb. 
 
 
 * -• 
 
•■#■ 
 
oU^ CSKSi<>^. 
 
 LKTTKRS ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR OF THE "MAIL 
 
 ON THE SUBJECT OF THE 
 
 BAIE VERTE 
 
 AND 
 
 WELLAND CANALS, 
 
 BY 
 
 SAMUEL KEEPER. 
 
 MKXIBEll OF THE INSTITUTION OP C'IML KNGINEEBS. 
 
 1874. 
 
 -..-jjAtrivt. 
 

 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The following letters on Our Canals appeared at different times during the 
 last year in The Mail, and are now collected and reprinted in pamphlet form 
 for convenience of reference. 
 
 They relate to works of political and commercial importonce to the Domin- 
 ion, and were written in reply to certain official criticisms found in the blue 
 book on the reports which the writer, in conjunction with other engineers had, 
 by request of the Government, laid before them. 
 
 In the com-se of this reply it has become necessary to shew wherein the 
 works which have been projected by the Department of Public Works do not 
 conform to the best modes of construction, and will consequently fail to afford 
 the facilities, or to attain the succes-s which the people of this country have a 
 right to expect from the large outlay so freely devoted to them. 
 
 The purpose of these letters is to prove that as regards the Baie Verte 
 Canal, the only practicable mode of opening a navigable channel through the 
 Isthmus is the one in which the tidal scour is employed to lorm and maintain 
 it ; and as regards the Welland Canal, it is shewn that the enlargement when 
 completed according to the official plans, will be defective in some of its most 
 essential features. 
 
 In this progressive age, when improvements are being made in every branch 
 of the engineering profession, when great and powerful lines of railway are 
 brought into more direct competition with the inland navigations— and when 
 the West is anxiously looking for the cheapest outlet to the sea, it becomes es- 
 weutial to the success of our canals that the works should be planned and exe- 
 cuted according to the best examples of modern practice. 
 
 Sackville St., Piccadilly,) 
 London, Jan't, 21 1876. ) 
 
 S. K. 
 
 6 5 ^ ^ ^ 
 
OUR CANALS. 
 
 To Ike Kdiior of I he Mail. 
 
 Sir, — The trhhe having called public iitteiitiou to Mr. Paf,'e's report on the pro- 
 posed Baio Verte Canal, and having also referred to my report on the same subject, 1 
 beg you will favour me with space in your paper for a few short letters, in which I 
 propose to refer, as briefly as possible, first, to the Baie Verte Canal, and afterwards to 
 the works recently pltioed under contract on the Welland. 
 
 As regards the first, it is a matter of serious public concern if this Dominion has 
 in any way been pledged to Mr. Page's report ; for not only is tin; cost of such a canal 
 as he commends out of all proportion to its utility, but it is doul)tful if it is possible to 
 make or maintain a navigation on the line and in the manner suggested by him. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the Chief Engineer f^f the Department of Pul)lic Works 
 has enjoyed peculiar ad\'antages for maturing his plan for this canal. It is now five 
 years since his attention ivas first officially directed to this subject, and he has been 
 permitted to have elaborate surveys made under his own directions, the results of 
 which were placed before him by his assistants in April, 187*2. The line then recom- 
 mended was the An Lac and Tidnish, crossing the Cumberland Ridge, No estimate 
 of cost was given, but some idea of the magnitude of the undertaking could be formed 
 from the quantity of work estimated as necessary for the construction of a canal on 
 the scale recommended by the Canal Commission, accessible for vessels of fifteen feet 
 draught at low water, at both entrances — that is, for a whole tide canal. On the quan- 
 tities thus given, the cost was variously estimated at from twelve to fifteen millions of 
 dollarB. It was at once evident, that the object of opening such a communication 
 through the Isthmus was not of sufficient importance to warrant the Government in 
 embarking in such an enormous expenditure. 
 
 The Chief Engineer was expected to prepare a report for the Parliament then in 
 session, but pleading other engagements, he declined entering upon the duty at that 
 time. The Minister of Public Works then requested Mr. Gzowski and myself to re- 
 port on these plans and documents. Having first made a personal examination of the 
 locality, I submitted a preliminary report in August, 1872, pointing out the very grave 
 objections to the Au Lac and Tidnish line, and suggesting another line from Laplanche 
 to Tidnish and Weeks' Head. 
 
 In this report, approved by Mr. Gzowski, we gave it as our opinion that a half- 
 tide canal, of the dimensions recommended by the Canal Commission, and sufficient 
 for all practical purposes, could be oonstructed at a cost of between £ve and six mil- 
 lions of dollars. I was then requested to make a location survey of the proposed line, 
 to snbmit plans and prepare for placing the work under contract. This duty was care- 
 
RAIK VKRTE CANAL. 
 
 luUy performed with all expedition, and my general report was sent in in February, 
 1878, with a detailed estimate, showing, as we had before Htated, that the canal on my 
 line could be conHtructod for five uiilliuns of dollars. 
 
 My line, however, did not meet the views of certain influential parties in New Bruns- 
 wick — the Province which had always taken the greatest interest in the] proposed 
 canal. The Missiquash Kiver is the boundary Unc between Now Brunswick and Nova 
 Scotia, and it so happened that the line which I considered most eligible, and best for 
 the interest of the Dominion, fell wholly within the Province of Nova Scotia. 
 
 From what I have since learned, I am convinced that if I could have reconciled it to 
 my loyalty to Canada to make the Bay of Fundy termhuis at or near An Lac instead 
 of Laplanche, all local opposition to ray line would cease. 
 
 In May, 1872, Parliament being then in session, the Government deemed it exped- 
 ient, owing to the diversity of o^iinion that existed in regard to the different projects 
 Bubmitted, more particularly the half-tide project, to refer the whole matter with all 
 the documents to the Chief Engineer for report. 
 
 In the performance of thi-j duty, Mr. Page at length found it necessary to make a 
 personal examination of the locality, and to have other surveys made, particularly for 
 the purpose of finding " the lo^vest point of the water-shed " — matters which it would 
 have been more professional to have carefully considered and attended to at the outset. 
 In December last he submitted his report recommending the Au Lac and Tidnish 
 line by the valley of the Missiquash, and on the plan of the isthmus attached to his 
 report, he calls it the " fiiiul location." 
 
 The estimated cost of a half tide canal is $7,700,000. For a three quarter tide 
 canal $8,000,000, and for a whole tide canal $8,500,000. 
 
 It will be observed that Mr. Page does not offer any opinion as to which of these 
 plans it is desirable to adopt ; neither does ho give any idea of the extent of the traffic 
 to warrant this large expenditure. 
 
 It must also be understood that this is not the Au Lac and Tidnish line of the 
 first survey, whicn followed up the Au Lac, and crossed the Cumberla <'l ridge, the line 
 to which I so strongly objected in my first report ; nor yet is it pro isely the Missi- 
 quash line of the first survey, but a great improvement on both. Still it is open to the 
 insurmoimtable objections which I intend to refer to in my next letter. 
 Bbockville, 1st. May, 1874. 
 
 n. 
 
 In my first letter I gave a brief statement of the efforts made by our Government 
 since confoderation to revive and bring to a i)ractical issue a project which has been 
 agitated for the last fifty years for a canal through the neck of land uniting Nova 
 Scotia and New Brunswick, and connecting the Bay of Fundy with the Gulf of the St. 
 Lawrence. 
 
 The so-called Baie Verte Canal would shorten the sailing distance hetween Quebec 
 and St. John, and other ports on the Bay of Fundy o^nd the Basin of Minas five hun- 
 dred miles, and would save the delay and risk attending a voyage around the Atlantic 
 Coast of Nova Scotia. 
 
 In the comparatively isolated condition of the Provmces before confederation the 
 necessity for this short line of communication wus not felt ; but now that they form 
 one united Dominion, bound together by ties political and commercial, the trade grow- 
 ing up between them must tend year by year to give greater importance to the proposed 
 shorter and safer line of navigation. 
 
BAIB VRRTR CANAL. 
 
 The results of the aurveys, ho far, only serve to coiifinu the opuiiou tutertahied 
 by all parties, that the construction of a canal adeciuate to the wants of the trade, will 
 be a work of no ordinary magnitude. If is well, therefore, that the formidable difficul- 
 ties to be encountered, the line to be selected, and the plans suggested for adoi)tion, 
 should receive mature consideration before embarking in the expenditure. 
 
 I now propose to point out the insupenible objections to Mr. Page's " final loca- 
 tion " for this canal, the Au Lac and Tidnish by the valley of the Missi(]uash. 
 
 1. — THE WESTEBN ENTRANCE. 
 
 Notwithstanding the very strong objections urged against this entrance in my gen- 
 eral report, Mr. Page still proposes to carry out " the original idea," and to establish 
 the Bay of Fundy terminus on the lee shore in Cumberland }3asin, a little to the east 
 of the mouth of Au Lac, where the prevailing south-west wind blows directly into the 
 funnel-shaped bay, and the rise of tide varies from thirty-ciglit to forty-eight feet. It 
 is difficult to conceive of a more dangerous entrance to a canal. 
 
 It was stated in my report that "a terminus at Au Lac, us represented in the 
 Departmental chart, would expose the lock-gates to the direct assault of the sea, and 
 the full force of the south-west winds ; the heaviest that beat upon this shore. In such 
 a position it would be impossible to maintain the lock-gates, and the difficulty for ves- 
 sels making or leaving the entrance would be serious. ■■' '•' ■■' 
 
 " In proof of the statement that the south-west winds act with more force at Au 
 Lac than at Laplanche it is only necessary to refer to the chai'acter and condition of 
 the dykos at each place. At Laplanche they are of simple construction and easily 
 maintained, while at Au Lac they are of stronger build and protected from the sea by 
 close piling outside, at a very considerable expense — so great indeed that since the oc- 
 currence of the Saxby tide in 1869 many lymdreds of acres of valuable marsh lands 
 have been abandoned, it being too costly to restore the dykes." 
 
 To meet these objections, Mr. Page has modified " the original idea " by plac- 
 ing the entrance locks a short way inland, not in the direct line of the piers as at first 
 intruded, but in a line inclined to that of the piers. He also changes the direction of 
 the piers to give better piotection to the entrance, and places them Avhere " the volume 
 of water at the ri.sing tide is divided into two ])arts, one taking a north-eiist direction 
 up the Kiver Tantamar, and the other a southerly course towards Sharp's Creek. ' 
 
 Having made these changes in the position of the piers and locks, he dismisses all 
 apprehension of the dangers referred to by the following rpniarks : " ]iut as the line 
 would be nearly east, and the range of the lock-gates north-east, it will be evident that 
 thp circumstances are not as represented in the above quotation, apart from the result 
 certain to be produced by the alternate meeting and separation of the waters of the 
 two channels." 
 
 This paragraph is not vary clear. IJut it is supposed to mean that in uousequence 
 of the curve at the junction of the piers and canal, the lock-gates will be jirotected from 
 the action of the waves, and that as the terminus is in an eddy between two currents, 
 it is quite safe. 
 
 That this is not a sufficient answer to the objections raised must be evident from 
 the following considerations. Speaking of the meeting of the currents, he remarks 
 that : " the points of convergence as well as those of divergence are constantly chang- 
 ing with the rise and fall of the tides ; nevertheless there is invariably an eddy, or large 
 area of comparatively smooth water. 
 
 It is obvious that the shifting nature of the currents, as here described, between the 
 
BAIK VKRTK CANAI., 
 
 Srylla aiul I 'Uaryhdi» of the i)ropostHl entniace, niiiHt render it impoHsible for vessola to 
 luako it with any dof^reo of oortiiinty. Thoy may ho tlirown upon the piers, or, failing 
 to enter between them, may full into either of the adverse currcntb. 
 
 Apain, referring to that part of th(! canal loading from the piers inward to the iirfit 
 lock, it iH observed that " the sides of this part of the channel are to be protected by a 
 docking' of timber well tied into the banks, or by a mass of rubble masonry." No 
 doul)t this is a very necessary precaution against the surge from the entering waves ; 
 but, taken in connection with the fact that the channel between the piers is larger than 
 that witlun the cnnal, there is every reason to tear that the waves from the bay will b« 
 a source of imminent danger to the lock-gates. 
 
 The special arrangement and vast expense proposed for the protection of the en- 
 trance hi such an exposed position, and for such an enormous range of tide, show that 
 the Chief Engineer appreciates, to a certain extent, the difficulties and dangers of the 
 position ; but it is extremely doubtful if he will be able to maintain tue lock-gates and 
 the other works forming the entrance. In my judgment this is a very grave question 
 for our Government to consider. Mr. Page has not fairly met the difficulties I have 
 stated, for if they are carefully weighed, it must be obvious that he was not warranted 
 in speaktng so confidently as he has done of the entire safety of the western entrance 
 
 2. THK KASTEllX ENTRANCE. 
 
 In comparing the present plan for this entrance with the original, a most material 
 diti'oronce is observed. Instead of two parallel piers running out 0,200 feet into the 
 Bay, we find the two piers now so placed as to inclose a triangular basin of about 
 eleven acres in extent, and that they have been reduced to 4,000 feet in length. It is 
 not proposed, however, to dredge out the whole of the enclosed basin, but only a chan- 
 nel of 200 feet in width alongside the north pier. This shortening of the piers is re- 
 presented to be due to a correction nuide with regard to what may properly be con- 
 wdcred the true level of low water, which on more careful enquiry is now found to be 
 Somewhere between sixteen and twenty- seven inches higher than shown by the chart. 
 This is a most important correction, since the effect of it is to show that the distance 
 from shore to low water entrance for vessels of fifteen feet draught is not half of what 
 it was represented to be on ^he Departmental chart. I draw attention to it now more 
 particularly as I shall have occasion to refer to it again when speaking of my own plan 
 for the Bale Verte entrance. 
 
 Baio Verte is shut hi and protected from westerly and northerly winds by the main 
 laud, and the point rmniing down to Cape Tormentine, but it is completely open to 
 easterly winds. It is a very shallow bay. In a limited tideway (of nine feet ranges) the 
 shallows at its head dry out to a distance of three-quarters of a mile from shore. From 
 fifteen feet at low water opposite Tidnish Head, it gradually shoals to this dry margin 
 without any intervals of deeper pools. 
 
 In selecting a suitable point for forming an artificial harbour, it is desirable that 
 it should not be too near the beginning of shoal water. There should be room and 
 verge enough for a vessel to bring up should she, by any chance, miss the entrance 
 when making it under an easterly wind. Mr. Page has placed the entrance to the 
 harbour at or near this limit, or beginning of fifteen feet at low water, where in fact the 
 liydi'ographic contour line of three fathoias at low water, would show the entrance to 
 be in a vul de sac. 
 
 Having described the position and dangers of the two entrances, I intend, in my 
 next, to show that the cutting of a canal between them on the Une and in the manner 
 proposod by Mr. Page is impractible. 
 Brockville, May 5, 1874. 
 
BAH! VERTE CANAL. 
 
 in. 
 
 lu pronounciiif? Mr. Page'H plan iitipmcticublo, I do uot Hiiy it Ik impoHHiblo to cut 
 a canal on the lino, and in the manner suggeHtod by liim, but that the difliculties arc 
 HO great, and the expense will ho far exceed the advantagoH likely to be derived from 
 the canal, in our day, either coraniorcially or politically, that the Government would 
 not b(! warranted in undertaking it. 
 
 My roamniH for this statement are given under the following heads : 
 
 1 QUICKSAND. 
 
 The lino of the canal must necesHai-ily pass through a ti'act of country where it is 
 more than probadle that deposits of ({uicksand will be found. Indications of this 
 material may be observed in the side ditchen of the Intercolonial Railway, and in the 
 channels of the four rivers which drain the Cumberland and Westmoreland marshes 
 into Cumberland Basin. Borings along the several explored lines reveal the fact that 
 at certain variable depths below the superficial bed of clay, and falling within the 
 prison of the proposed canal, there in sand, quicksand, and sandstone rock ; and on 
 Mr. Page's first survey <|uicksand is marked on the sections of the Au Lac and Missi- 
 quash lines. 
 
 Engineers generally understand the diiWcidty of dealing with this substance. In 
 my tirst report on the Au Lac and Tidnish line, it was stated that "the section on the 
 line also shows a large amount of quicksand, a material still more difficult to deal with 
 than solid rock itself, and rendering the operation of cutting a canal through it most 
 uncertain." If quicksand can be drained and made dry, it can be as easily removed as 
 as any other kind of sand, but au long as it is saturated with water, it remains in a 
 semifluid state, and no channel can be made through it. 
 
 Quicksand is defined by Mr. McAlpino to be "a mixture of fine sand with such a 
 proportion of slay or loam as enables the mass to retain water within itself, and when 
 in this condition, after it has been trampled upon for a short time, it begins to quake, 
 so that it may be called quakesand. When it reaches this condition, if it is left quies- 
 cent for a few hours the Heavier pai'ticles of sand and clay settle down and expel the 
 water, and the mass becomes firm. If, on the other hand, it is further disturbed by 
 the feet of the workmen, it becomes more and more fluid, additional material flows in 
 from the sides, and no progress can be made with the excavation.'" 
 
 Seeing that attention was directed to this question in my first report on "the 
 original" Au Lac and Tidnish lino, now abandoned, and that pai-t of this line was 
 common with the Missiquash line, it was but reasonable to expect some reference to it 
 in the general report of the Chief Engineer. From the manner in which the marsh 
 lauds around Cumberland Basin have been formed by the sea, quicksand may be un- 
 avoidable, and it seems improbable that so slight a change in the location of the Missi- 
 quash line, as now suggested, should render it entirely free from them. It would 
 require a most minute examination by borings and test-pits, to be assured of the entire 
 absence of this material. Mr. Page has made no reference to this subject in his report- 
 His failure in supplying the necessary information on this important point lias involved 
 liis whole scheme in doubt and uncertainty. He has apparently been so much occupied 
 in criticising my plan that he has overlooked many important particulars connected 
 with his own. 
 
 The Chief Engineer see no advantage in making use of the tidal scour to aid in 
 the removal of any part of the luateiial as suggested in my general report. He is so 
 
■ 
 
 8 
 
 BAIE YEBTX CANAL. 
 
 couservatiTe in his practice as to prefer "the ordinary uninteresting [manner of doing 
 the work by manual labor or steam excavators, or both combined." Therefore if 
 quicksands occur — as there is every probability they will — they are to be removed by 
 dredging, or by Lianual labor. But it is evident from the foregoing that this wiU be 
 enormously expensive, and almost, if not altogether impossible. 
 
 2 FLOATING BOGS AND FLUID MUCK. 
 
 At the sources of the Missiquash and Laplance are vast tracts of this material. 
 The " final location "passes through it for miles. Its surface stands at an elevation 
 varying from eleven to eighteen feet above the assumed low water surface af the canal ; 
 and ae a varying level of three feet is provided for within the canal, it will ctill stand from 
 eight to fifteen feet feet above its high water surface. It is a part of the plan to drain 
 the marshes, but to what extent and in what manner is not described. The surface of 
 these bogs has a varying level as well as the canal. They consist of " a species of live moss 
 from ten to fifteen inches deep, under which is a stratum of one foot or more in depth 
 of closely matted roots." This floats upon the fluid muck, the whole depth being from 
 six to ten feet. In passing through this bog the canal banks, both sides, are to be made 
 water-tight, so as to keep back the bog, and prevent it rumiing into the canal. By 
 what system of weirs and regulating gates the bog is to be kept back and only the 
 water admitted into the canal is not stated. But it is clear that the canal must be 
 isolated from the marsh It uds, otherwise it will be subject to irruptions from the bog 
 and muck, and if by any chance quicksand is found under the seat of the banks they 
 cannot be maintained, and the attempt to form the canal in this maimer must fail. ^ 
 
 8 DBAINAGE. 
 
 It is not reasonable that the Dominion should be charged with the drainage of the 
 marsh lands. In forming the canal it may be well to give facilities for improving the 
 lands, provided in so doing the cost of the canal is not increased. It must be remem- 
 bered that the main object is to open a canal, not to drain the marshes. By leaving 
 them as they are the proprietors can improve them or not, as they think best. 
 
 As the proposed canal crosses the head-waters of the Missiquash, the drainage of 
 the marsh lanns must be received into the canal, and along with it there will necess- 
 arily come more or less of the fluid muck, which, settling to the bottom, must be 
 removed by dredging. 
 
 4 — FOBMATION OF MABINE MARSH LANDS. 
 
 This is a process still going on h*om year to year at the head of the Tintamar and 
 Missiquash rivers. It has been stopped on the An Lac and Laplanche by the 
 " aboideaux " under the post road and Intercolonial Railway. There is a tide feeder 
 on the Missiquash, on the north side of tht canal, for converting marsh lands into 
 arable lands. They are of no value until fertilized by the sea, and since, by Mr. Page's 
 plan the sea is excluded, this process will be stopped, and no more marine marsh land 
 can be formed on that side of the canal. 
 
 5 WATER SUPPLY. * 
 
 Of the sufticiency of the reservoks, which, according to Mr. Page's admission, 
 provide storage for only six and a half days' supply, while spring tides occur at inter- 
 vals of fourteen days, it is not my intention at present to ofter any opinion. 
 
 I have, however, to remark t]i3.t-. applying the same line of argument to the silting 
 np of the reservoirs tliat he has to the lakes at the head of the Laplanche, they must 
 ultimately be filled up and eeer:'^ to be reservoirs. 
 
BAIE VERTE CANAL. 
 
 There are other objections which might be urged against Mr. Page's plan, but 
 having stated the leading ones I will not trespass further upon your space and the 
 time of your readers by referring to them. 
 
 In my next I propose to enter upon a defence of my own plan. 
 
 Brock viLLE, May 7, 1874. 
 
 IV. 
 
 To prevent any misconception of my plan for the Baie Verte Canal, it is necessary 
 at once to say that I do not propose to construct h, canal accessible at all stages of the 
 tide. For sufficient reasons, given in my several reports, none of which have been 
 controverted, it is recommended that it should bo accessible only at and after half tide 
 from Cumberland Basin, though at all stages at Baie Verte. The only conclusion to 
 be di-awn from the facts reported is, that whether the terminus in Cumberland Basin 
 be at Au Lac or at Laplanche, a half-tide canal is all that can be attained, and that 
 such a canal is sufficient for all practical purposes. At the same time, however, I 
 have shown that when the trade demands further accommodation, the locks at the 
 western end can be duplicated, and as many vessels can be passed through them iu 
 twelve hours as m twenty-four hours at the eastern entrance. 
 
 In noticing the Chief Engineer's criticisms upon my proposed line from Laplanche 
 to Weeks' Head, I shall do so in the same order as when treating of the Missiquash 
 and Tidnish line. 
 
 1 — THE WESTERN ENTRANCE. 
 
 "Adverse winds blowing across the channel, dangers near the shore, and fogs, are 
 some of the perplexmg difficulties certain to be experienced in making or leaving the 
 proposed entrance. These facts," says Mr. Page, "there is good reason to believe 
 are practically known to many who may have occasion to navigate that part of the 
 coast. 
 
 It must certainly be admitted that no sailing vessel can make or leave Laplanche, 
 or any other port in "adverse winds.'" But adverse winds and fogs are just as likely 
 to be encountered at Au Lac as at Laplanche, and so we may at once dismiss these 
 trivial objections. ' ■ v>,i>^ 
 
 The "dangers near the shore" are "the stumps and roots of an underground 
 forest," and also large masses of stones scattered along the beach, and "rock in posi- 
 tion," where the entrance pier is to be placed at the depth of three feet above the 
 bottom of the half-tide canal. 
 
 The stones and stumps were observed by me at low Avater, but did Tiot, by any 
 means, appear to be so dangerous as represented by Mr. Page. The stones will all be 
 required to fill the pier, and the stumps will l)e r L of the track of vessels. But should 
 they become inconvenient to the navigation, they can easily be removed.* 
 
 With regard to the rock at the entrance, Mr. Page makes the uncalled for remark, 
 that I was either ignorant of its existance, or knowing it, had failed to communicate 
 the information. 
 
 In the discussion of a purely scientific question, the use of unprofessional language 
 does not in any way assist in its elucidation, and is altogether a matter of taste. It 
 would appear, however, as if he considered the discovery of the rock fatal to Ijaplanche 
 as an entrance for the canal. 
 
 * Dawson, in bis QEoiiOax OF Nova Scotia says these remains of the submarine forest can be "cut with 
 the spade." That being the case, they cannot be clongerous to vessels navigating this coast. 
 
10 
 
 BBIK VLHTK CANAL. 
 
 The information I received from my asHistant in clii-ectly at variance with that Mr. 
 Page received from \m. The section at the entrance furniwhed me, exhibits borings 
 from eleven to twenty-two feet below the bottom of the canal at this entrance, and hiiv- 
 ing no reason to doubt its correctness, provision was accordingly made for supporting 
 the pier upon a close i)ile foundation, which would also prevent it being undermined 
 by the current. Hut if rock in situ be found at three feet above the bottom of the canal, 
 it will rawluir be a benefit than otherwise. It will give a solid foundation for the pier, 
 thereby saving tlie cost of the artificial one, and the cxittiug of a channel through its 
 crest, which will be laid bare at low water, will famish stones for filling the pier at the 
 very cheapest rate. It will make a sure, solid pior, at less cost than if formed upon 
 clay. 
 
 If anything further were retpiired to demonstrate the entire safety and feasibility 
 of this entrance, I can add a kind of proof that must commend itself to the understand- 
 ing of all men — the evidence of practical and intelligent men living in the immtdiate 
 vicinity, who are well ac([uninted with the navigation of Cumberland Basin up to 
 Laplanche, and beyond it to Minudie. After I had completed my general report, I 
 received several communications from Nova Scotia, which so emphatically confirmed 
 my view.s that I deemed it important, in the interest of the country, to place them on 
 record in the department. They were nine in number, giving the observations and 
 experience of shipowners, shipmasters, seamen and merchants, and coming from prac- 
 tical and experienced navigators must be accepted as reliable. 
 
 They state that Laplanche will make a better entrance for the canal than Au Lac. 
 That from many years' experieiuie, and some from making as many as sixteen trips 
 both ways every year for many years, they never heard of any disaster to shipping at 
 this place, or between it and Au Lac ; and that the Minudie flats form a natural 
 breakwater for the proposed entrance, and there being no harbour at Au Lac, vessels 
 seeking shelter must make for the lee of the Minudie marshes. 
 
 2 THK EASTERN KNTRANCK BATE VERTK. 
 
 The section of the location, furnished me by my assistant, shows a cutting of a 
 mile in length across Tidnish Head, requiring about 400,000 cubic yards of excavation. 
 Instead of wasting this large mass of material in spoil bank, and covering up valuable 
 lands, it is intended to throw it into the sea— not in the deep sen,, but to utilize it in 
 the formation of a sea embankment in the tideway of the bay between Tidnish and 
 Weeks' Head ; the entrance lock to be placed at the limit for low water, and under the 
 lee of Weeks' Head, the entrance piers extending out thence to fifteen feet depth of 
 water, at low water, and another embankment, running from the lock to the shore, 
 forms a large and connuodious inner basin, the surface of whicli will be five feet 
 above high water. 
 
 There is a bay of two miles in extent from Tidnish to Weeks' Head, and another 
 of one mile between Weeks' and Jackson's Head, the latter opening out a little to the 
 south. There are shelving rocks at each of these points running out to deep water, 
 and above the rock, the clay and gravel forming the bluffs or heads, rise to a height of 
 from twenty to forty feet. 
 
 In my second letter the objection was urged against the Au Lac and Tidnish line, 
 that its entrance on Baie Verte was in a rul tie fac. In order to avoid this, and give 
 plenty of sea room, I proposed placing the entrance to my hne two miles to the east- 
 ward, just under the lee of the reef running out from Weeks' Head, where the piera 
 extending out in a north-north-oast direction will be placed along and parallel to the 
 
BAIE VKRTE OANAI,. 
 
 11 
 
 
 reef, so aa to avoid rock cutting, at the same time giving protection to the sea emhank- 
 ment from the easterly winds, the bay being shut in from northerly and westerly winds 
 by Cape Tormentine, as previously stated. 
 
 Here it is necessary to draw special attention to a fact that bears directly upon 
 this plan for the Baie Verte entrance. In his last report the Chief Engineer has made 
 the important correction in the departmental chart of liaie Verte referred to in my 
 second letter, which adds about two feet to the available depth of that bay more than 
 the chart originally represented. 
 
 Having acceqted this chart as the basis of my plan, if I am now to accept the 
 correction — and I see no alternative — my plan must be modified to meet the altered 
 conditions. As a consequence of this correction, the Chief Engineer has i-educed the 
 length of his piers from 9,ii00 feet to 4,000 feet — to less than half. If he is warranted in 
 making this very great reduction in the cost of the work at Baie Verte, I shall also be 
 warranted in doing the same. Both the length of the sea embankment and that of 
 the entrance piers can be curtailed, and the entrance thrown more into the bay be- 
 tween Weeks' and Tidnish Head, whereby without abating the amount of sea room 
 for vessels to any inconvenient extent, the cost of the work can be very much reduced. ■■ 
 
 The Chief Engineer offers the two following objections to my plan, namely, that 
 it "would be nearly, if not altogether impracticable," and if executed "would not long 
 contiime to answer the pui"pose contemplated." These, however, are mere opinions 
 unsupported by any proof. No facts are adduced, such as "rock in position," or 
 quicksand to render the undertaking dubious, only an array of imaginary difficulties, 
 and conjectures regarding certain contingencies that may, or may not arise in the 
 progress of the work. 
 
 In support of my own opinion as to the sufficiency of my plans, I can confidently 
 refer to the records of the past, to the canals and other public works, not only pro- 
 jected by me, but constructed under my own directions, when for a period of thirteen 
 years I filled the position now occupied by Mr. Page, works now in successful opera- 
 tion, and which are, at this day, the indispensable and unrivalled highways of oui- 
 commerce. .^ 
 
 In my next I will refer to the line of canal itself. ' 
 
 Brockville, May 11, 1874. 
 
 V 
 
 Before speaking of the canal itself, I am induced by Mr. Page's reference to Cap- 
 tain Crawley to indulge in a slight digression. 
 
 In the statement of any engineering problem, it is always necessary to be exact. 
 To omit important facts bearing upon the queston, or to place others in such a light 
 as to lead to wrong impressions, and then to draw conclusions from such premises is 
 not the way to arrive at the truth. Yet in my last it was clearly shown that in this 
 way Mr. Page treated the queston of the western entrance to the Laplanche Une, and 
 proved to his own satisfaction that the same coast, which had been navigated without 
 accident for the last forty years, is now unsafe. 
 
 His referance to Captain Crawley's scheme is characterized by the same method. 
 He states in effect tliat my plan of operations was plagiarized from Captain Crawley 
 
 * This correction enables tne In fact to make Bome very important ImproTementH in my plan. By lepu* 
 ating the outraucu piers Bome two or three thouBand (eet, and placing the eaBtem on the crest of the rooky 
 ridge jutting out from Weeks' Head ; and the western deeper in tne bay, the entrance wlU not only be enlarged 
 but it wiU be better protected from easterly winds, while the sea eubankment will be reduced, and the whole 
 made more secure. 
 
Ifi 
 
 BAIE VBltTE CANAL. 
 
 — that it is indentical with the crude idea which, thirty years since, was suggested, 
 discussed, and disoiirded by him, and that I now "claim its paternity." 
 
 In reference to these statements, it is only necessary for me to draw attention to 
 the printed official documents in which the respective siiggestions are elaborated, and 
 to i)oint out the fact that Captain Crawley's scheme is entirely different from mine — 
 that he did not contemplate the foi-mation of a canal with locks at each end, to form 
 a slack-water navigation, in the way I propose, but merely considered the probable 
 effect of opening a channel through the Isthmus, and "leaving it to the waters them- 
 selves to complete the communication, and render it navigable." He did not propose 
 in any way to direct iuid control the currents. His channel was to form an artificial 
 strait or arm of the sea, and Nova Scotia was thereby to become an island in the 
 Atlantic. Finding this would not answer, he dismissed the idea as unworthy of further 
 consideration. 
 
 My general report, describing the process which is an essential feature of my plan, 
 does not bear the construction that I claimed any originality for the suggestion. The 
 effect of a tidal scour which the Chief Engineer treats so contemptuously, was well 
 known to the profession long before it was discussed by Captain Crawley, as one of 
 "the great sources of power in nature" ever in operation. In our own day it has been 
 turned to good account for improving the channels in the tideway of many rivers in 
 Britain. The only object served by Mr. Page's simulated zeal for Captain Crawley's 
 interest in a worthless suggestion is to divert attention from the real queston at issue 
 — the efficacy of a tidal scour. 
 
 3 THE CANAL ITSELF. 
 
 It is stated as the thnd objections to my line that alojig the valley of the Tidnish 
 it is "extremely crooked, and the damming of the river would flood the low lands for 
 several miles. 
 
 The dam at the mouth of the Tidnish is similar in position, and serves the same 
 purpose, as the dam across the twelve mile creek at Port Dalhousie on the Wellaud 
 Canal, While it is the safest and most economical way of providing a channel, it can 
 be so straightened by cutting across the points as to render its navigation easy. There 
 are many parts of the Welland Canal where the curvature is much greater than it will 
 be here. Practically it is of very little account, and cannot with any show of reason 
 be urged as an objection to my luie. In the matter of safety it far exceeds the Missi- 
 quash line, which is thrown into side cutting along the Tidnish, and, therefore, liable 
 to breaches from leaks, sjirings or slides in the banks. The preservation of straight 
 lines for a canal is of less importance than economy of construction. 
 
 The land that will be overflowed by this dam is of limited extent, and for the 
 
 most part of inferior quality — the banks being high on both sides of the Tidnish, and 
 
 the valley between them narrow, while a large portion of the land is unfit for cultivation. 
 
 Apart from this, however, the cost of the land that may be flooded is embraced in 
 
 my estimate. 
 
 Under the same head, it is objected that "by keeping the water in the summit level 
 at the elevation proposed, the drainage of the marsh lands between Long Lake and 
 Cumberland Basin Avould be obstructed." 
 
 The drainage of the lauds along the Laplanche will not be obstructed by my plan. 
 The canal being isolated from the river, the drainage on the south side of the canal 
 flows away from it by its own natural channels to the aboideau near Amherst, wixile 
 that on the north side, which is of limited extent, followed by the side ditches up 
 
BAIK VKRTE CANAL. 
 
 IS 
 
 to the head of Fort Lawrence Ridge, from whence the, low uncultivated marsh lands 
 can easily be drained,' by tlie north side of that ridge into the Missiquash. But the 
 drainage of these remote and worthless bogs and marshes is altogether a matter of se- 
 condary consideration, and must not be allowed to interfere with the best arrangement 
 that can be made for the canal. 
 
 4. 8COUBING OPERATIONS. 
 
 In ray general leport, accessible to all, will be found a full statement of the pro- 
 posed method of proceeding with the work. It may be briefly stated here that it is 
 intended in the first place to open a channel through the Isthmus, and let the high 
 water of Cumberland Basin flow through it to Baie \ erte — that according to the state 
 of the tides the fall at high water will vary from fourteen to twenty-four feet in the 
 distance of eighteen miles from shore to shore, producing a velocity, if uniform 
 throughout, varying from two to five and a half miles an hour, the least of which, it 
 is well know, is sufficient to sweep along sand, gravel, and rounded pebbles. The 
 scour may be increased checked, or altogether stopped at any time, and twice a day the 
 channel will be laid bare for inspection, so that its progress may be seen and regulated, 
 until the channel is sufficiently enlarged for navigation, when the locks at either end 
 will complete the canal. 
 
 In a previous letter it has been shown that no progress can be made in the excavation 
 of a runing sand, by the ordinary methods. But it can easily be washed away by a 
 moderate current. The floating bog and fluid muck can also be removed most 
 economically, and most effectually by the same means. 
 
 In a subsequent report, not printed, some observations were made, from which 
 the following are taken : 
 
 The surface of Long Lake, which is seven miles inland, is foi-ty-two feet above 
 low water at Cumberland Basin, and twenty-two feet above the bottom of the canal. 
 That, and the other lakes at the sources of the Laplanche, have an aggregate ar'n't of 
 five hundred and sixty acres. Then, since the effective scouring power of water is in 
 direct proportion to its volume, its level with reference to low water, and the number 
 of times it can be used throughout the year ; and, since the whole forty-two feet falls 
 withm the range of the tides, it will be observed that, even before the water-shed is cut 
 through, a great power is available for scouring out this portion of the channel. That 
 it will be sufficient to wash out all the clay, sand and earth within the prism of the 
 canal, everything in fact, except the rock, stones and hard pan, there can be no doubt; 
 and the moveable material on which this current will act, constitutes more than nine- 
 teuths of the whole mass. 
 
 It was further observed that since devising this scheme of the modus operandi, my 
 views have been exemplified and confirmed by the history of the scouring operations 
 on the river Lune in Lancashire, given by David Stevenson, M. Inst, C. E., in his re- 
 cent work on " Canal and River Engineering, 1872." The object of improvement on 
 that river was, by removing obstructions and making training walls, to regulate the 
 currents so as to insm-e a fixed channel of greater depth. He says, " I found by 
 dredging a few hundred yards of hard material, or erecting a short wall, thousands of 
 this soft material are scoured away by the action of the current alone. In all river 
 improvements this is an efibct which should be fully taken into consideration by the 
 engineer, especially in forming his estimates." Then referring to the plan, he adds : 
 " By dredging the upper shoals of that river, the whole lower part of the river waa 
 deepened by the natural scour, without entailing any expense in removal. " . 
 
u 
 
 JIAIE VKRTE CANAI, 
 
 The Chief Eugiueer of the Dopartmeut of Public Works doew not advauco any ar- 
 gumeut against this plan of operations. He treats it simply with incredulity, as if it 
 were a matter entirely beyond his com})relicnHion. 
 
 lu my next 1 intend to conclude my remarks on the Baie Verte Canal. 
 
 Brockvillk, May IH, 1874. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The next subject in order is 
 
 -THK WATEK SUPI'LY. 
 
 Under the fourth head of Mr. Pages objections to my plan for the Baie Verte 
 Canal, he remarks that the introduction of the waters of the Bay of J'undy directly 
 into the eanal would have a tendency to silt up the channel, and that the tilling of the 
 lakes to give the necessary supply for the navigation, in the manner proposed, would 
 be attended with certain failure. 
 
 It would be out of place here to follow Mr, Page into all the details by which he 
 has endeavoured to support these statements. 1 shall, however, refer to a few leading 
 points in the discussion, as well as to certain known facts, with which they are wholly 
 irreconcileable. 
 
 If it will take as many hundred years to silt up the canal after it is once open, as 
 it has to form the Cumberland marshes, according to Professor Dawson, then there is 
 no likeliliood that in our day there will be any obstruction to the navigation from this 
 cause. According to my plan, however, the same effectual means will always be 
 available for removing such deposits as are proposed to be used for scouring out a 
 channel for the canal. The silting up of the lakes wU scarcely be observable ; indeed, 
 more material is likely to be washed out of them during the scouring operation and by 
 rains, than the high waters of the Bay will ever replace. 
 
 With regard to the supply of water for the navigation, it will not be dcmied that 
 there is some certain level for the canal between tlie second and tliird locks, at which 
 it can adequately bo supplied and maintained by the high waters of the Bay of Fundy. 
 The main supply must of course come from that Bay, but still the fresh water of the 
 inland lakes forms a convenient and important addition not to be neglected. Mr. 
 Page has assumed eleven feet below high water in the Bay for the low water level of 
 the canal, while I have assumed ten feet for the same. He allows for a fluctuating 
 level of three feet in the canal, I allow six feet. What may ultimately prove to be the 
 best working level, it is impossible for any engineer at this time to say. The operations 
 in this respect must, to a certain degree, be tentative ; and on this account, I have 
 placed the sills of the second and third locks so that, if necessary, the summit may be 
 reduced to thirteen feet below high water of the Bay. By the tidal seour this ditfer- 
 ence of three feet can be attained without much additional cost, while by the ordinary 
 process preferred by Mr. Page it would be a very formidable item of expenditure. 
 
 Mr. Page has stated, that if the lakes were once reduced to the low water level of 
 the canal (10 feet below springs) they could never be replenished again by all the 
 water that could pass through the full surface width of the canal. By this " sweeping 
 Btatement " he imagines he has proved the " certainty of failure " in the means pro- 
 posed for supplying the summit level, and that it is " sustained by the elevations of the 
 tides." This statement, however, rests upon a *• theoretical solution " of the hydraulic 
 question submitted, the results of which are liable to error, and can never be relied 
 
HAIK VKRTK (ANAL. 
 
 16 
 
 upon with the Hamo certaiuty &h those afibriled by examples of nuuilar eugiuceriuK 
 works now in operation. 
 
 As a case in i)oiut, with which tliis opinion may \h: conipiu'ed, and by which it can 
 be tested, let me roier to a canal now in existence, supplicnt directly from the sea. 
 
 The Suez Canal, oponed in 1860, is one hundred miles long from Suez to Port 
 Said. Its surface is on a level with the sea. It has no locks, <?ates or artificial works 
 to regulate the water. The bottom width in cuttings is seventy-two feet, doi)th twenty- 
 six feet, and slopes two to one; but a large portion consists of In kcs, formerly low 
 lyhig tracts of country, below the level of the sea, covered with salt. Lake Timsah, 
 about half-Avay across the isthmus, is about live miles long and (rtie mile wide. 
 The Jjitter Lakes are about twenty-three miles long, and from two to six milos wide. 
 The former was Hrst tilled from the Mediterranean, the latter from the lied Sea, iind 
 on being united by the canal the water rose in Lake Timsah four inches, and there was 
 a constant, though moderate, tiow towards Port Said. This was due to tidal pheno- 
 mena of the Bed Sea, there being no tide in the Mediterranean. 
 
 From the Admiralty report on the tidal observations in this canal, we learn that 
 " the results show that in the southern portion of the caiuil, between Suez and the 
 Great Bitter Lake, the tidal iuHuenco from the l^ed Sea is felt, there being a regular 
 flow and ebb, the flood running in about seven hours, and the ebb running out live 
 hours. At the Suez entrance the rise at springs, unless aflected by strong winds, is 
 between five and six feet ; about lialf way from Suez to the Small ]Jitter Lake, a dis- 
 tance of six miles, it is under two foet ; at the south end of the Small Jiitter Luke, a 
 few inclici only. [This information is derived from David Stevenson's work on " Canal 
 and Biver Engineering."] 
 
 The amount of »!vaporation from the surface of this canal is measured by the two 
 hours length of flood in excess of the ebb, and is nniny times greater than the greatest 
 daily demand for lockages on the Baie Verte Canal. Still it is observed that the Bit- 
 ter Lakes are not (mly kept full, but that there is a constant f!_ .. through them towards 
 the Mediterranean. The question is here presented, how much higher could the sur- 
 face of their lakes be kept if there were gates that could l)e closed at the turn of the 
 flood, so as to stop the five hours reflux of the ebb ? But takuig the conditions of the 
 tidal phenomena as they exist, tlie fact is known that the canal and lakes are kept up 
 to an elev.tdon varying from five to six foet under the high water of springs in the 
 Red Sea. 
 
 The Bitter Lakes are situated about twice as fai- inland as Long Lake, and present 
 a water surface eighty times greater than the Laplanche lakes. If, witliout any artifi- 
 cial means of preventing the waste of five hours' reflux, they can be kept up to that 
 level, then a fortiori the level of Long Lake can be maintained at half the distance, and 
 without any waste, at an elevation, certainly not exceeding five feet imder high water 
 of the Bay of Fundy. and that will give twenty-one feet of water in the canal, or twenty 
 feet available draught. 
 
 In concluding this part of the subject, it may be observed that the entrance to the 
 Laplanche line being situated between two rivers, the Laplanche and the Missiquash, 
 it oflfers greater facihties for obtaining a water supply than the Missiquash line. On 
 my plan supply gates admitting and retaining all floods can be advantageously placed 
 on the north and south sides of the canal, communicating by short channels with both 
 merS; and thns increase the flow to any desired extent. This mode of supply is cheaper, 
 
16 
 
 BAIK VKRTK (^ANAL. 
 
 moro effective and leHs complicated than the serieH of dams, bnlkhendiH, weiru and 
 Hluices proposed to bn employed on the MisHiquash line, for Hkimming off the clear 
 waters of tiio Bay of Fnndy and feeding the canal through the intervention of storage 
 rcHcrvoirH. 
 
 fl. — THE ESTIMATE OP COST. 
 
 "The ouuHbion of numerous CHHontial ittmis of work, and the iusufliciency of the 
 estimate to meet the expenditure on the works enumerated, has a tendency to mislead 
 as to the probable cost." In the previous part of his report these omissions are 
 enumerated. 
 
 1. The dredging at both entrances. This is included under the head of " earth 
 excavation " in my estimate. 
 
 2. lijK-k ditches for draining the lands. These are particularly f^ecified, and are 
 included undor the same head as the preceding. 
 
 8. Mucking and clearing the seats of the banks. This is also specified, and in- 
 cluded under the same head. 
 
 4. Slope walls for the protection of the banks. There is no immediate necessity 
 for slope walls on the first opening of the canal. It is not necessary, nor is it usual in 
 works of this kind to provide them at the beginning, nor until they are actually re- 
 quired. To this day there are none on the Suez Canal, which, as a highway of com- 
 merce, is of much greater importance than the Baie Verte Canal ever will be. 
 
 Upon the whole, therefore, there are no omissions, and the prices allowed for the 
 work are sufticient to cover the cost, even supposing that " the whole of the earth- work, 
 including sand, clay and muck, shall be removed by manual labor or by mechanical 
 means," as stated in my general report. Hence it appears that Mr. Page has unneces- 
 sarily ailded upwards of two millions of dollars to my estimate for alleged omissions and 
 insufiiciency of prices, and is still compelled to admit tlmt my line will cost $600,000 
 less than his. These facts all go to prove what I still confidently maintain, that I know 
 I have selected tlie best line for the canal, and that it can be constructed in the most 
 permanent and etticient manner at a cost not exceeding five milhons of dollars. 
 
 Appended o the Chief Engineer's report is a private letter of mine addressed to 
 the late Minister of Public Works. As no reference whatever is made to it in the body 
 of the report, I am at a loss to imderstand the reason of it being there ; but it must be 
 apparent that its publication is a breach of that confidence which should exist between 
 gentlemen engaged in the public service. Still there is nothing in the letter, although 
 written in the freedom of the unofficial style, that I would desire to withhold from the 
 public. It only anticipated the unfafr treatment my plans would receive fr'om the offi- 
 cials f the Department, so cleai'ly exemplified by the controversial tone pervading tlie 
 report of the Chief Engineer. 
 
 What(!vt'r comes of the Baie Verte Canal, the country has gained, through my in- 
 tervention, the abandonment of " the original idea " which would involve an expendi- 
 tm-e of twelve or fifteen millions of dollars. I would lilce, before the Dominion is 
 pledged to the modified idea, to advance one btep fartlier, and have the respective plans 
 submitted to a board of competent engineers for final decision- 
 
 Having now concluded the subject of the Baie Verte Canal, I have to thank you for 
 so kindly allowing me space Jn your jouinal for the discussion of this important question. 
 
 BB9CBYII.LR, 21st May, 1874. 
 
WBLLAND CANAL. 
 
 17 
 
 VII. 
 
 Othcf buHincHH lias provcntcil mo Hoouer reHumiug tlie Hubjcct of our cauulu. My 
 previouH lotterH roferroil only to ii projected work, on which no expenditure had heen 
 incurred, except for the pruliiniuary HtirvoyH. They wore dcHigued to caution tlie 
 Governraent against embarking in an impracticable uolieme, and wanting public treaHure 
 upon the "final location " of the Baie Verto Canal. In turning now to 
 
 TUK WKLLAND CANAL, 
 
 I have to deplore faultH already committed in the enlargement of a groat national work, 
 now in progroHH — faultH perHintcd in too, contrary to the lulvice of the Boai'd of E.igi- 
 u^erH, and for which Uiey cannot, in any way, be held roHpouHible. 
 
 Ah ono of that Board I feel it neccHsary to Hay for rayHolf, that while in my pro- 
 foHuional capacity my duty was performed when tlie opinion aHkod for was given ; yet 
 as a Canadian, having the beat interent of my country at heart, I have a right to give 
 expreaHion to my settled belief that our Government wan ill-adviHod when it adopted 
 Mr. Page's plans without modification after tlieir defects had been so plainly pointed 
 out by the Board of Engineers. 
 
 At & time when public attention throughout tlie Western States is earnestly directed 
 to tlie im])ortant question of securing cheap traiiuport for their products to the Atlantic 
 seaboard, and the relative advantages of every line of communication are receiving the 
 closest scrutiny, it ie incumbent on our Government to sec that the capabiUtieu of our 
 geographical position, aH a channel for this trade, are not impaired or neutralized by 
 engineering blmidoib; 'ut that on tlie other hand, the best modes of construction, and 
 everything tliat art and skill can do, shall be employed to maintain the superiority of 
 the St, Lawrence route, as the great natural outlet of tlie States which lie within its 
 own watershed. 
 
 The chief defects of the plans for the new line between Thorold and Port Dal- 
 housie, as pohited out by the Board of Engineers, are : 
 
 1. There will be a dir entity of lifts in the locks, where tliere should be a mnfnrmity, 
 thereby rendering it more difficult to maintain the navigfttion, and to economize and 
 regulate the flow of water. 
 
 2. In consequence of this defective arrangement there will be Uveuty-J'otir locks in- 
 stead of twenty on the line between Thorold and Port Dalhousie, or four locks more than 
 necessary had all the lifts been uniform, as recommended by the Board of Engineers. 
 And as regards the navigation, every additional lock may be reckoned as an addi- 
 tional mile of canal. From this cause alone, every vessel that passes through the 
 canal will be unnecessarily delayed. 
 
 8. As the locks can be filled and emptied only tliro'igh the lock-gates, and not 
 through the lock-walls also, as recommended by the Engineers, tliere will necessarily 
 be a further delay to the passage of erery vessel at erery lock, beside the danger of 
 accident to the gates from the surging of the vessel when water is admitted in only 
 one direction. 
 
 4. There will be two reaches on the new line without proper basins, as recom- 
 mended in the report of the Canal Commission. In these reaches the canal surface is 
 80 limited that a single lockage will lower it thirteen inches in one and twenty inches 
 in the other; and in order to keep it up to prevent the grounding of vessels, a large 
 body of water must be kept running to waste outside the locks. 
 
 Some minor defects in the plans were alluded to, but not specially mentioned by 
 the Board, as it was considered they would naturally occur to the practical engineer 
 charged with the duty of carrying out their suggestions. 
 
16 
 
 WKLLAMO CANAL. 
 
 I have doue all that lay in my power to avert the injury to the canal which it must 
 inevitably suffer from these grave defects in the plans. After it was known that the 
 recommendations of the Board of Engineers were not adopted by the late Government 
 it was thought advisable to bring the matter under the notice of the present Govsrn- 
 meut in hopes that the decision might be reconsidered. With this view I joined with 
 one of my colleagues in pointing out more distmctly to the Minister of Public Works 
 the injurious consequences to the navigation of j)ersi8ting in imperfect plans. This 
 was done by letter dated the 17th December last, when as yet it was laot too late to 
 adopt some, if not all, of the suggestions of the Board. Since this appeal was mad© 
 ■without effect, it wo .Id seem either that the question is not properly understood, or that 
 it was considered of more importance to this country that the consistency of a public 
 department should be maintained than that the enlargement of the Welland Canal 
 should be made ofiicient, and so a noble work is to be marred by defective construe, 
 tion. It is right, therefore, that these facts should be publicly known, as justice to 
 myself and to my colleagues requires that we should be relieved from all responsibility 
 jn the matter. This is the more necessary as it may be imagined by those not familiar 
 ■with the blue book that the works are now proceeding in accordance with the recom- 
 mendations contained in the reports of the Canal Commission and Board of Engineers. 
 This, however, is not the case. In some important particulars, both the letter and the 
 spirit of these reports have been so far departed from tliat the enlarged canal will 
 prove defective in some of its most essential qualities as a means of cheap and sjiccdy 
 transportation. 
 
 The report of the Canal Commission presented to the Government in February* 
 1871, settled all the more important questions relating to our canals — the scale of navi- 
 gation for the respective lines — the canals to be constructed — and the order in w^hich 
 tlicy should be undertaken and proceeded with. Its recommendations generally were 
 adopted by the Government, and were accepted by the country at large. 
 
 Respecting the Welland Canal it recommended no departure from the existing 
 line, except that between Thorold and PortDalhousie, which became necessary in order 
 to obtain sufficient room for placing the new locks at suitable intervals, with ample 
 basins between them to admit of the free passage of vessels, and capabla also of holding 
 a large body of water, the level of which should not be unduly affected by the lockages. 
 And, although tliis new line was recommended, it did not contemplate the aban- 
 donment of the old one between the points of divergence. On the contrary, it was 
 stated that for the class of smaller vessels it will be advisable always to maintain the 
 existing line of locks, and to keep them in good working order ; and as this could be 
 accomplished at a moderate expense by merely raising the lock walls and canal banks 
 to give the same draught, twelve feet, as for the enlarged canal, it was recommended 
 to be proceeded with at once, and thereby secure an immediate advantage to the 
 trade. ,i.,,r,^, ^; 
 
 It will be observed that the first of these recommendations has not met its entire 
 fulfilment in the plans for the enlargement recently placed under contract; and as re- 
 gards the second, it does not appear that any active measures whatever have been 
 taken to secm-e the great advantage of the increasuig diaught in the mountain range 
 of locks, alrcaihj availabe on the summit level. As the immediate effect of the latter 
 improvement would be to increase the carrying capacity of vessels navigatmg the 
 canal by one hmidi-ed and fifty tons, that is, from five hundi-ed to six hundred and 
 jfifty tons net, it seems to nie that it rests with the merchants and Boards of Trade to 
 
 ^ .^.., 
 
WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 19 
 
 advocate an improvement in which they are so directly interested. I intend therefore 
 to limit my remarks to the first of these recommendations. 
 
 The surveys for the enlargement of the Welland Canal were in progress when 
 these recommendations were made, and about a year afterwards, in April, 1872, the Chief 
 Engineer submitted his report. Towards the close of that year the plans for the new 
 line were so far advanced that a portion of the work was advertised for tender. Then 
 it was that public attention was more particularly turned to the official plans for the en- 
 largement — that Mr. Grenville produced his scheme for a shorter line with combined 
 lock — that the old project of the lateral out to Niagara was revived, and that another 
 from Chippewa to Niagara was brought forward. These several projects were dis- 
 cussed in the public newspapers with so much ability and earnestness that the Govern- 
 ment considered it expedient to refer the whole question to a Board oi Engineers. 
 Accordingly, in January, 1878, Mr. Gzowski and myself were requested "to examine 
 the proposed enlargement as indicated in the plans and m the specifications of the 
 Engineer, Mr. Page," and also to "consider any other plan or scheme" which had 
 been suggested to the Goveniment, and we were authorized to call upon the Hon. W. 
 J. McAlpine for his counsel and advice in the matter. Our report was submitted in 
 February, 1878. Its conclusions in reference to alternative plans were received, but 
 our suggestions for rectifymg the errors of the departmental plans were entirely re. 
 jected. It is now proposed to examine the official statements and arguments by which 
 the responsible officer of the department succeeded in upholding his plans against the 
 recommendations of the Board of Engineers ; but before doing so it may be well to 
 recount the preUminary action of this Board. 
 
 When about to proceed to an examination of the line and plans, the Board at 
 their first meeting in Toronto invited the Chief Engineer to acompany them, and 
 give them the benefit of such information as they might call for, and which ui his 
 official capacity, he was qualified to offer. It was due to him in his responsible posi- 
 tion that he should have an opportunity of being present when his plans were under 
 discussion. 
 
 When doubts arise as to the sufficiency of an Engineer's plans, or where the mag- 
 nitude of the work renders it desirable to seek the best advice, and a reference of this 
 kuid takes place, the advantage of a conference is obvious. If both parties desire to 
 adoj)t the best arrangements and the best modes of construction, a little discussion is 
 likely to bring aboiit harmony of action, and if all agree upon a particular course, the 
 question is settled at once, then and there, greatly to the advantage of the pubhc 
 service. As a public servant it was undoubtedly the duty of the Chief Engineer to 
 meet the Board appointed by the Government. If his plans were sufficient they 
 would be sustained, but if defective, no one should be more desirous to have them 
 corrected. Mr. Page, however, declined to attend, and by that act assumed a grave 
 responsibility. 
 
 Our report was first referred to Mr. Page, and then extracts from his report 
 thereon were sent to Mr. Gzowski and myself, which we declined to answer, stating 
 that we could not, under the circumstances, enter into any discussion with that officer, 
 but declared onr adherence to the opinions previously expressed. By the course 
 adopted the Government lost the benefit of our criticisms upon the statements and 
 arguments contained in the Chief Engineer's report of the 12th March, 1878. But 
 that which we could not with propriety undertake to do collectively, I feel myself at 
 liberty :ndividij;;lly to take in hand, because it has become a queation of deep public 
 
m 
 
 WBLIiAND CANAL. 
 
 concern, and it seems right to me that the public should be properly informed on thif 
 important subject. In my next, therefore, I shall, with your permission, proceed to 
 an examination of the report above referred to. 
 Brockvillk, 23rd July, 1874. 
 
 vm. 
 
 For convenience of reference as well as to save making long extracts, I have num- 
 bered the paragraphs of the Chief Slngineer's report of the 12th March, 1878, as 
 printed in the Parliamentary blue bopk, from 1 to 109. If any of my readers wish to 
 identify them, it is easy to pencil the figures ua the margin of that report. 
 
 The introductory part, clauses 1 to 16, might he passed over without remark, as 
 irrevelont to the question, but for the clauses 11, 12, and 18, in which Mr. Page con- 
 troverts the statement made by the Board of EngiuQers, " That the Une as located is 
 nearly that indicated by tlie Canal Commisaion." 
 
 Since the new line does not diverge from the old one at 13jorold, as suggested by 
 the Canal Commission, but at Marlett's Pond, about one mile sputh of that village, it ia 
 an imquestiouable fact th^t it is ijiot exactly the line reoonmiended, but corresponds 
 nearly with it. So it will he seen that the dates rae9tioned for the commencement and 
 cjompletion of the survey, and his verbal communication tp the Board do not in any 
 manner affect the perfect truth of this statement. 
 
 But if Mr. Page meaus to assert tliat tli^ Commission was ip any way indebted to 
 him for tlie suggestion of the new line, he is equally ia, errpr. It was very little in- 
 formation indeed that the Canal Commission received from )iim, and the writer of their 
 report was himself too "'ell informed on the subject to require any of his suggestions. 
 Many years before tnis survey was begun he well knew, from his long and intimate 
 acquaintance with that part of the country, the course which the enlargement ought to 
 take, and had often referred to it. If Mr. Page had followed the recommendation of the 
 Canal Commission, and run his line from Thorold instead of Marlatt's Pond the coun- 
 try would have been saved a great deal of unnecessary expense, and the enlargement 
 would have proved more efficient. 
 
 The Board of Engineers are taken to task (in Nos. 14, 15, and 16) for having gone 
 .so thoroughly into the questions submitted to them. They are told, in eflect, that they 
 ought to have confined themselves to general principles, and not to concern themselves 
 about details — such being the proper duty of consulting engineers. 
 
 This admonition comes very oddly from the responsible officer of the department, 
 whose plans they had proved to be defective, and who had himself declined to meet 
 the board and discuss the matters referred to. The board did not feel called upon to 
 enter into a disquisition upon first principles. It was sufficient that from a perfect 
 knowledge of these they should first pouit out the error of Mr. Page's plans, and then 
 offer practical suggestions for avoiding them. An essay on the fundamental principles 
 of Civn Engineering may have its proper place in elementary works on that science, 
 but the practical apphcation of these principles to the business in hand is all tliat En- 
 gineers of good standing are expected to be concerned with. 
 
 The reference to the question of combined locks (Nos. 17 to 28) might also be 
 passed over as irrelevant but for the misstatement in No. 18, and the erroneous con- 
 clusions arrived at in Nos. 19, 20 and 21. In No. 18, Mr. Page says the Engineers 
 gave " no reasons " for rejectmg the introduction of combined locks on the Wellaud 
 Canal, and in order to supply this alleged deficiency he bubmits hie own views on thor 
 jsubject. 
 
WKLLAND CANAL. 
 
 m 
 
 K; 
 
 Any one wlao has the blue book to refer to can readily see that the 18th clause is 
 incorrect, for at page 88 of the Parliamentary reports the reasons are fully stated by 
 the Board, and are conclusive ; while those added by Mr. Page are in many instances 
 erroneous. The statement made in the 19th clause meets its practical reputation in 
 the existence of a flight of eight locks connected, on the Cnlodonian Canal, popularly 
 known as *' Neptune's Staircase," a noble momimcnt of Telford's engineering skill. 
 This weak attempt to add more conclusive reasons for rejecting combined locks is an 
 utter failure, as it leaves many important considerations out of the question. The re- 
 lative cost of distributed and combhied locks on smgle and double lines ; their effect 
 upon the time of passage ; economy in the use of water ; its proper regulation in the 
 reaches, and the relative efficiency of the different systems, are questions not to be fully 
 discussed within the limits of an ordinary official report. 
 
 THE LOCATION AT THOROLD. 
 (Clauses 20 to &3.) 
 
 In setting about the location of the new line at Thorold, the Engineer had two 
 |)oints of departure from the existing canal to consider ; but in both of these he should 
 have been governed by the same conditions as to efficiency. First, of providing ample 
 water surface in every reach, and second, of making the lifts of the locks uniform ; and 
 a third condition, that of economy of construction must not be disregarded. 
 
 As regards the canal, everyone of these conditions would be fulfilled by diverging 
 from the old line at Thorold on the basin below the upper lock. This line would give 
 ample basins between the locks — uniformity of lifts — save the cost of a new guard lock, 
 and half the cost of cutting a new canal through the ridge dividing the ten and twelve 
 mile creeks, a mile of heavy work through rock and clay. 
 
 The objections to this line would be, ^/irst, the purchase of two mills, and the altera- 
 tion of the machinery of three others to suit them to the change of level ; and seamti, 
 it will be necessary on this Ime to cross the Welland Eailway on its maximum gradient 
 of eighty-thiee feet in a mile. The first objection is resolved into a mere matter of ex- 
 pense — the second to a question of practicability to be referred to in my next letter. 
 
 The governing conditions of the location are for the most part reversed by diverg- 
 ing from the old canal at Marlatt's Pond. The Board of Engineers pointed out the 
 fatal defects of this line by stating that " there are two reaches here where it is impos- 
 sible to have outside basins except at a very large cost in deep rock cutting, and where 
 the canal surface is so limited that a single lockage would have the effect of lowering 
 the water thirteen inches in one and twenty inches in the other, and where, in order 
 to prevent the grounding of vessels, it would be necessary to run a large body of water 
 through the waste weirs outside the locks." Further objections to this line are found 
 in the inordinate cost of cutting through the ridge, building another guard lock, and 
 shifting the line of the Welland Railway. 
 
 As the only means of avoiding this complication and securing an efficient canal» 
 the Board of Engineers recommend a change of location, " That the line for the en- 
 largement shall follow that of the existing canal through the little deep cut to Thorold, 
 and after descending into the first basin between the two upper locks, sweep round to 
 the north of the village, and unite with the proposed line somewhere below Brown's 
 cement quarry." 
 
 " Mr. Page, in clause 29, misstates the case by saying "the Engineers suggest a 
 'cliange so that the enlarged canal shall pass through the village of Thorold ;" and h« 
 tepeats the same statement in No. 70, implying that to take the canal through that 
 
22 
 
 WELLANO CANAL. 
 
 village was the first coneideration. Then he adds, " the principal reasons given for 
 this being that they consider the arrangement of the locks objectionable." 
 
 It was not to make the enlarged canal pass through Thorold, but to get rid of a 
 serious defect in Mr. Page's plans, a defect which he himself admits in clause 68, that 
 this change of location was suggested, and he most unwarrantably assigns the wrong 
 reason for it, when he puts it on the ground of their objection to the arrangement oi 
 the locks, instead of the want of basins on his line. 
 
 Exception was taken to Mr. Page's plans mainly on two grounds. First, diver- 
 sity of lifts for the locks ; and second, want of basins on every reach. Uniform lifts 
 might then, and may still, be had on his own line ; but on that line it is impossible to 
 have basins on every reach ; and as this condition was considered imperative, a change 
 of location became necessary. 
 
 DIVERSITY OF LIFTS. 
 
 It is some relief to find that Mr. Page repudiates the " medley of lifts " exhibited 
 on the profile of the new hne laid before the Board of Engineers, but I must still char- 
 acterize as bad engineering the diversity of twelve and fourteen feet lifts to which he 
 still adheres, and the four unnecessary locks so unwisely imposed upon the en- 
 largement. 
 
 Although in his first plan of the canal Mr. Page proposed to have three locks of 
 sixteen feet hft each at the lower end of the line ; and although the resident Engineer 
 8up:gested seven locks of sixteen feet lift in lieu of the eight locks of fourteen feet lift 
 each at the upper end, still the Chief Engineer states in clause 68, that locks of six- 
 teen and seventeen feet lift are " at variance with precedent," and after citing several 
 examples, he adds the absurd remark in No. 88, " that there is no case on record, as 
 far as I know, in which an experienced engmeer, after due consideration, has advised 
 the construction of locks of seventeen feet lift, on a line of navigation of such dimen- 
 sions as that of the enlarged Welland Canal, and where the gates require to be so 
 expeditiously worked." 
 
 In reply to this I have to say, that if engineers are confined to precedent, there 
 is an end to all improvement. George Stevenson had no precedent for the locomotive, 
 nor his son for the Britannia Bridge — Roebling none for his Niagara Bridge, or Cap- 
 tain Eads for the St. Louis Bridge. The science of the engineer enables him to ex- 
 tend the same principles which underlie all methods of construction to new and im- 
 proved and greater works for man's benefit ; btit according to the light of the PubUc 
 Works Department the profession is to stand still, and undertake nothing without 
 example. While the railway service is stimulating mental activity to the iitmost in the 
 production of greater facilities for travel and transport, the hydraulic engineer must 
 not advance a single step — there is to be no further progress, and the only safe guide 
 for the administration of the great public works of this Dominion is the prejudice of 
 example. 
 
 But in clause 80, Mr. Page refutes himself by giving an example. It spems we 
 have been using with perfect safety and buccess, ever since the Grand River level was 
 adopted on the main line, locks of seventeen feet lift at Port Robinson and Welland 
 If this can be done with locks of 26^ feet width, we have only to make the gates pro- 
 portionally stronger for locks of forty-five feet in width. Then again, as the gates can 
 only be moved when the pressure is withdrawn, and they should be sufficiently buoyant 
 in cither case to move easily, there is really no diflference in the time of working them. 
 In fact, gates for locks ot sixteen or seventeen feet Uft can be made quite as safe, and 
 
WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 ^ 
 
 •can be worked quite as expeditiously as those of twelve and fourteen feet lifts. This 
 is not merely my own opinion, but the opinion of the Board of Engineers, and if our 
 views had been adopted the new line would be better served, and be rendered more 
 efficient with twenty, th^n with twenty-four locks. Either for want of scientific know- 
 ledge, or for lack of skill and courage in applying it, the Dominion is about to con- 
 struct four unnecessary locks on the Welland Canal, at a cost exceeding half a million 
 of dollars, and thereby adding in perpetuity twenty per cent, to the time of passing the 
 locks, and twenty per cent, to the annual cost of working and maintaining them. 
 In my next I will consider the questions of basins and the railway crossings. 
 
 Brockville, July 26, 1876. 
 
 IX. 
 
 BASINS. 
 
 That outside basins of adequate capacity, on the shorter reaches, are an indis- 
 pensible portion of a well ordered canal, no one who has any practical acquaintance 
 •with inland navigation will ^.ttempt to deny. Where the reaches between locks are of 
 considerable length the water sm'face is too extended to be materially affected by a 
 single lockage, but where they are short it becomes necessary to make compensation 
 for the want of area in the canal proper, by establishing outside basins on the same 
 level, so that a single lockage shall not lower the water more than a few inches. If it 
 falls as much as a foot, or more, vessels will be grounded, liable to injury, and to 
 obstruct the navigation. In fact, a canal without basins is lilve a railway without 
 sidings ; it is not in a condition to do its work efficiently. 
 
 Mr. Page, in the 65th clause of his report, admits that " it is of course desirable 
 to have basins adjoining reaches of moderate length, where they can be obtained at 
 reasonable cost." And in the 53rd clause, speaking of his own line, he says: — 
 " There in oxhj one reach without an aiitside basin, namely the one between the 23rd and 
 24th lock. The reach is, however, 780 feet in length, and nearly 160 . feet wide at 
 bottom — in fact it is a basin of itself." Its value as a basin, however, will presently 
 be shewn. ,.,,, . ,„,. 
 
 It must appear evident to any one who considers the subject dispassionately, that 
 the question of basins was either overlooked or not properly appreciated by the Chief 
 Engineer when he first set about preparing plans for the enlargement. The first plans 
 exliibited to contractors at Ottawa related only to the upper portion of the loopline, 
 and did not represent outside basins ; the general specification referred to them only 
 incidentally — they were not specified — but openings in the canal bank were provided 
 for connection with them. 
 
 When the Board of Engineers met at Thorold they found there other plans, as 
 yet unfinished, not exhibited at Ottawa, with outside basins drawn upon them, but 
 still incomplete. The Board called for a return sliowing the area of each basin, 
 including the canal surface. This was furnished by the resident Engineer. It showed 
 still two reaches without basins, or rather two reaches without the requisite surface 
 area, one having a basin of little value as such. Mr. Page admits of only one reach 
 •without a basin, but while his statement is literally correct, it is nevertheless a fact 
 that on his line there are two reaches that will always prove an impediment to the 
 proper working of the traffie. According to the return furnished to the Board, one of 
 these had an area of 114,000, and the other an area of 177,800 superficial feet. Tho 
 Board could not do otherwise than accept the return given, but it seems that Mr. Page 
 has since varied the extent of the first by stating, in clause 63; that it is 780 feet long 
 and 160 feet wide, equal to 124,800 superficial feet. 
 
94 
 
 WKUJIND OANAL. 
 
 Then, as one of the locks of the enlarged canal of fourteen feet lift will require 172, 
 800 cubic feet of water for a single lockage, the effect of taking a lock full of water oi«t 
 of this reach, which Mr. Page calls " a hadti of itself," will be to lower the surface 
 sixteen inches. 
 
 Navigators may not like the prospect of grounding their vessels upon a rock bottonf, 
 or of sticking upon the mitre-sills and so to assure them there is no danger of either, 
 the Chief Engineer declares that such calculations as these " are worthless " because, 
 with Lake Erie at his back, he can send down such a volume of water tlirough the en- 
 larged canal as will always keep it up to high-water mark, even when the locks are 
 worked to their utmost capacity. 
 
 Here it is necessary at once to draw attention to the fact that Mr. Page suddenly 
 changes front, and adopts a line of argument in defence of this basinless reach which, car. 
 ried to its logical sequence, would prove all basins to be superfluous. If he can so readily 
 dispense with one basin, he can just as well dispense with two, or three, or all of the 
 basins which, on the other portions of the canal, he has gone to so great expense to 
 construct. But because he cannot have a basin here, he, m the most illogical, and 
 unwarrantable manner, assumes it to be unnecessary. 
 
 The fallacy of this argument must be apparent to any one practically acquainted 
 with the working of the old canal. A prudent engineer should endeavour to econo- 
 mize the water by arranging his works so as to avoid waste, but here, from the outset, 
 in order to compensate for defective construction, it is proposed in clause 69 to work 
 the canal at high pressure, by wasting " a volume of water from three to six times 
 greater than that required for lockage purposes." 
 
 In a previous report of the 27th February, 1872, to be found in the PubUc Works 
 Report of 1878, the Chief Engineer, when putting to a test the calculations made by 
 Mr. Brunei for supplying the canal by steam power from Lake Erie, showed that the 
 quantity of water actually passing tlirough the canal, was from nearly three to nearly 
 seven times as much as had been theoretically assumed as necessary. 
 
 Balancing these ;wo statements, one against the other, we are likely to find the en- 
 larged canal, whei t opened, in the same unsatisfactory condition as the old one, in 
 which, for years past, the want of water for the mills, and even at times for the navi- 
 gation, has been snch as to lead to seriously proposing to supply the canal by pump- 
 ing from Lake Erie. 
 
 THE WELLAND RAILWAY 
 
 is a short line, 25 miles long, running from Port Colbome to Port Dalhousie, along the 
 east side of the canal. It was built as a portage railway between the two lakes to 
 lighten vessels passing through the Welland Canal. It is now leased to the Great 
 Western Eailway, and that part of it between AUanburgh and the Welland junction is 
 at present used in connection with the Air Line. The new hne of canal must neces- 
 sarily cross this railway somewhere either north or south of Thorold. If it crosses to 
 the north the drawbridge must be on the steep gradient of eighty-three feet in a mile. 
 If to the south, the bridge will be on the level part of the hue, which for the interest 
 of the railway is to be preferred ; but on this line the canal cannot be fiu'nished with 
 suitable baisins, and hence the pubUc interest is opposed to it. On the other hand, the 
 proposed line through Thorold, which gives ample basins on every reach, leads to the 
 northern crossing of the railwa}' on its maximum gradient, and this crossing is object- 
 ed to by Mr. Page, who states that a drawbridge in this position would render the rail-' 
 way "practically useless," and involve "the destruction of a great pnblio highway." 
 
 Evidently in his judgment such a crossing of the railway presents an insurmountable- 
 difficulty. 
 

WBLLAND OAKAL. 
 
 8S 
 
 Had the Chief Engineer been better acquainted with the practical working of 
 railways he would scarcely have ventured an opinion so entirely at variance with its 
 known reBulte. Par more important railways on this continent are in successful 
 operation, whore the grades exceed that on the Welland Railway, and on which the 
 trains must be prepared to come to a stand on any part of their Une. The Boston and 
 Albany has grades exceeding 85 feet in a mile. The Baltimore and Ohio, one of the 
 most successful roads in America, climbs the Alleghany ridge from Piedmont at the 
 rate of 116 feet in a mile for seventeen miles in succession, and the trains on this 
 gradient are perfectly under control. 
 
 Moreover, it is a clearly defined prmciple in railway economy, where locomotive 
 power is employed, that every company is bound, for the protection of life and pro- 
 perty, to have sufficient break-power to control its trains on any of its gi-ades. The 
 chartered rights bestowed by Parliament upon the Welland Railway do not in any 
 manner exempt that Company from the ordinary use of brakes, and it is believed that 
 nothing more than the usual precautionary measures are necessary at this point, to 
 render the crossing as safe as if it were on a level line. 
 
 It would undoubtedly be better and safer if draw-bridges for railways, and the cross- 
 ings at grade of one railway bv another, could be altogether avoided, and as traffic in- 
 creases, it may yet be found expedient to substitute under or over crossings for many 
 that are now in existence; but on a short line like the Welland, the great cost of such an 
 alternative is not to be entertained. A crossing at grade may reasonably be resorted 
 to, whether that grade is level or inclined ; but because the host line for the canal, the 
 best for the navigation, the best for the public interest, involves the crossing of this 
 railway on its maximum gi-adient, and will put it to some inconvenience, the Chief 
 Engineer prefers sacrificing the gi'eater interest to the lesser. Although bound by his 
 official position to see to the public interest, he takes the Welland Railway under his 
 protection, and gives to Canada an imperfect canal. 
 
 The fact was pointed out by the Board of Engineers that the line through Thorold 
 was the only line on which basins could be had on every reach, and they found no in- 
 superable objection to estabUshmg a di-awbridge upon the gradient. It would doubt- 
 less be an inconvenience to the Railway, " but in view of the general interest of trade, 
 it would be an inconvenience that must be submitted to as unavoidable." In the 
 State of Massachusetts alone, according to official returns, there are no less than forty 
 crossings at grade of one railway by another ; but as a case in point, bearing upon the 
 question under consideration, there is at Cedars Falls in Iowa a crossing of one railway 
 by another, at grade, on an incline nearly the same as that on the Welland Railway, and 
 where the conditions of stopping and starting trains have in hke manner to be observed. 
 There the Dubuque and Sioux City Railway crosses the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and 
 Minnesota Railway on its grade of 78 feet in a mile, and yet the crossing on this grade 
 has neither rendered the roads " practically iiseless," nor affected theil: "destruction 
 as public highways." On the contrary, they are now in daily successful operation. 
 
 It must therefore appear perfectly evident, from the facts adduced, that the Chief 
 Engineer has greatly exaggerated the diffibulty of the crossing, that he has been be- 
 trayed into statements not borne out by the facts, and that the conclusions arrived at 
 are erroneous and fraught with consequences most injurious to the best interest of the 
 navigation. 
 
 In his futile attempt to extricate himself from an illogical position he do6& not 
 confine his attention to the solution of the engineering problems under consideration,.. 
 
 '.**■ 
 
26 
 
 WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 : I 
 
 but has gone out of his way to accuse the Board of Engiueers of advocating '• the de- 
 atruction of a great public highway," " under the guise of a pubHc improvement." 
 While there is nothing in thoir report to warrant this gratuitous remark, the remark 
 itself sufficiently indicates the animus which pervades the report of the Chief Engineer. 
 
 Being obliged, unexpectetUy, to leave for England, my next letter will be written 
 from thence. 
 
 Bkockville, Aug. 8, 1874. 
 
 X. 
 
 On my arrival at Liverpool I spent two days in renewing my acquaintance with 
 the extensive docks of this great seaport, which line the right bank of the Mersey for 
 a distance of six miles along the front of the city, and enclose a multitude of ships o' 
 all sizes from every quarter of the globe. My attention was more particularly directed 
 to the locks and docks of modern construction. In these I hoped to find examples 
 bearing upon the important question of the most suitable hfts for the enlarged locks of 
 ■the Welland Canal, referred to in my eighth letter ; and in this I was not disappointed- 
 Here are locks and dock entrances from fifty to eighty feet in width, furnished with gates 
 of wood, and of iron, and of both materials combined, which according to the diflferent 
 stages of the tides are subject to pressure vi^rying from fourteen to twenty-eight feet of 
 head. In principle, too, these gates have to be quite as strong as those of any caua] 
 locks of the same width, having twice a day to bear the same hydrostatic pressure as 
 /that due to the constant head to which they would necessarily be exposed on a canal. 
 Having been in use for upwards of twenty years they furnish a most complete and 
 practical refutation of the extremely narrow views expressed by the Chief Engineer in 
 clauses 68 to 88 of his report, to the eifect that Ufts exceeding twelve and fourteen feet 
 are unsafe. On the contrary they prove the entire practicability of locks of even 
 double these lifts, and shew that in point of fact the uniform lifts if sixteen feet sug* 
 gested by the Board of Engineers for the enlarged canal, is a very moderate and safe 
 recommendation, 
 
 THE TISIE REQUIRED FOR PASSING A LOCK. 
 
 On the St. Lawrence Canals, where the locks are of the same width, but seventy 
 feet shorter than the enlarged locks will be and where the chamber is filled through 
 the gates only, the time generally occupied by a vessel in passing from one lock to 
 another is from ten to fifteen minutes. Passing upwards last month in one of the large 
 steamers, of 600 tons, I timed her through the Lachine and Beauharnois Canals and 
 found it took from seven and a half to fifteen minutes to pass one of the lift locks. 
 On the Erie Canal, according to official returns, boats of 200 tons have been passed 
 through a single look in four minutes, the average time for a whole day being nine 
 minutes. 
 
 The probable time required for passing through one of the enlarged locks on the 
 Welland Canal is not expressly stated in the Chief Engineer's report, but it may fairly 
 be inferred from the following: In Clause ninety-two it is stated that means will be 
 provided for filling the enlarged locks in three and a half minutes, but it is "not con- 
 sidered judicious to do it in less than about ^i'<? minutes." And in clause sixty-one it 
 is also stated "that the time occuined in filling a lock is not over one-fourth of that 
 required for a vessel to pass from one level to another." According to these statements^ 
 therefore, the passage cannot safely be made in less than twenty minutes. 
 
 If we take into account the greater difficulty of handling vessels of one thousand 
 .tons, and the inadequate means provided for effecting the passage with reasonable de- 
 
WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 ffr 
 
 flpacli, it will bo found when the enlarged canal is open that it will take from fifteen to 
 twenty minutes to paua one of the locks — the latter being the safer estimate for this 
 reason. The water being admitted into the chamber only in one direction, that is 
 through the gate, it passes directly under the veHHel's bottom, and along her keel to 
 the lower gates, where piling up it lifted her stern and pitches lior stern forward 
 towards the upper gates, producing a heavy strain upon her snubbing line. If the 
 strain exceeds the strength of the hawser she plunges into the gates, and there is an 
 accident, with all its attendant damage and delay. To guard against this the sluices 
 must be opened only partially at first until the lock is about half tilled. Hence a 
 longer time is required for the filling, as fully adruitted in the report. 
 
 At Liverpool, where the gates are workecTBy hydraulic power, I found that notwih- 
 standing their greater width, lifts, and general dimensions, they could be opened and 
 closed in from three to five minutes, while at the entrance lock to the Victoria dock in 
 London, which is eighty feet in width, the ponderous wrought iron gates are opened or 
 closed in one minute by the same means — the whole time required for the passing of a 
 vessel from a tide way depending of course upon the state of the wind and tide. I 
 have seen sufficient, however, to enable me to state, with confidence, that had the sug- 
 gestions of the Board of Engineers been adopted with such appliances for working the 
 gates and sluices as modern engineering has produced, vessels could be passed through 
 the enlarged locks in about half the time that the Chief Engineer considers necessary 
 for that purpose. As it is my intention to refer to this subject again in my next letter, 
 I now proceed to consider the otlier objections to 
 
 » THE LINE THROUGH THOHOLD, 
 
 to be found in clauses 40, 41, and 42 of the report. 
 
 Stated in plain language they are: 1. Damage to private property. 2, Crossing 
 the principal street at an acute angle. 3. Increased curvature. 4. Crowding the 
 traffic of the old and new lines in the first basin at Tliorold, and 5. Drawing off the 
 water for two winters. But in the usual exaggerated style adopted in the report one 
 is startled to learn that "Forming a canal of the dimensions contemplated would, in 
 twisting through the village of Tliorold, dig the very heart out of the place." All 
 these objections, however, are very weak and can easily be disposed of. 
 
 Damage to private property is unavoidable, and must be incurred on any line. It 
 is measured simply by the amount that mixst be paid for it. It will not be necessary 
 to purchase .//rf' mills but only two, and they are not of any great value — the rest can 
 have their machinery changed to suit the new levels. The crossing of the main street 
 can be shifted to the head or foot of the second lock without injury to the traffic of the 
 village but with advantage to the workmg of the canal. The curvature, without being 
 in anyway inconvenient, is really necessary in order to secure sufficient spaces between the 
 locks and provide ample basins for the navigation. The crowding of the traffic is only 
 a specious argument, and specious arguments can always be met and refuted. In this 
 case, it is to be observed, that on the completion of the enlarged canal it will have a 
 single channel one hundred feet wide at bottom throughout, it will be no wider above 
 than below Thorold, and the track of vessels must be within this space. The volume 
 of trafiic. both on the nld and new lines, must be united either at or above Thorold* 
 uud move ou in one cliauiiel above that village. It matters not where it is united or 
 divided, so long as there is but one channel above and two channels below the poin* 
 of divergence. But the idea of crowding is altogether imaginary. It cannot happen 
 at Thorold, where the first basin is 1,200 feet long between the locks, and from 200 
 
•O WKLXAND CANAL. 
 
 to 800 foot in width at surface, with two locks ut each end. cue for the larger and 
 one for the bmaller vewelH, eacli koopinR its own Hide of the canal, And lastly, in 
 order to construct the enlarged locks on the line through Thoiold there is no more 
 neoessity for drawing off the water in winter than there would ho at Allanhurg o*r 
 at any point along tho line of the canal whore now works liave to he constructed. 
 If nocoHsary it would ho easy to point out tlie way in which tlie enlargement can bo 
 accomplished without recourse to such extreme moasures. 
 
 TUNNELS THROUGH LOCK WALLS. 
 
 (Clauses 84 to 97 of Reports) 
 That it is quite practicable to fill and empty tiio chamber of a look either through 
 its gates or through its walls, there can be no doubt, as might oasly bo proved by 
 reference to numerous examples. The formor of theso methods was uniformly adopted 
 by me, in all the locks constructed in Canada after my plans up to the year 1H52. In 
 that year, however I was called upon by the Govornment to furnish plans for tlio Sault 
 Ste. Marie Cannl, and then proposed a longitudinal tunnel, or culvert through both 
 walls, through which tho lock was to bo filled and emptied. If Parliament had then 
 gi-antod an appropriation there can bo no doubt that the locks built after this plan 
 would now be in successful operation. Since then, amongst other locks of tho same 
 class, one has been built in the Port of London, connecting tho south dock of tho the 
 Surrey commercial docks with the Thames, in which a similar managment for filUng 
 the chamber through a culvert in the walls has been adopted. The same arrangement 
 is found to answer a good purpose in the new combined locks on the Erie Canal at 
 Lockport. * 
 
 The advantages to be derived from the pratical working of this plan are as follows : 
 — 1. The quicker passage of the vessel, by tho facilities afforded of filling and emptying 
 the lock, both through the walls and through the lock gates. 2. Tho safer passage o^ 
 the vessel, and greater safety to tho gates, by admitting tho water ui an even manner, 
 as before stated, under and along its keel on both sides at the same time, so that surging 
 is avoided, and the vessel rises on an even keel to the upper level. 8. There is no 
 increase in the quantity of masonry, because it is disposed of in the most advantageous 
 manner to resist pressure, but more security for a better class of it in the place where 
 it is most required, while the mass of dead wall, is bettor placed to resist the impact of 
 vessels. 4. The spreading out of the base gives greater stability to the wall, since its 
 centre of gravity is thereby thrown more towards the back, and hence counterforts are 
 unnecessary. In fact, where walls are high, and great masses of masonry necessary 
 to retain the earth behind them, it is a more scientific way of omi^loying it than the 
 one adopted by the Chief Engineer, which consists in the assemblage of large masses 
 of inert material at the base of tho wall and in the counterforts. 
 
 It was but reasonable to suppose that a practical suggestion of this kind concerning 
 the best interest of the navigation would be fairly and candidly considered. Such, how- 
 ever, was not the case. 
 
 In No. 89 it is stated that on the Ottawa canals, owing to the action of the water 
 and frost, the tunnelled walls were injured to such an extent " that in order to save 
 them from being entirely destroyed it became necessary to fill up the tunnels and in- 
 troduce water through sluices placed in the gates." This statement is made without 
 any qualification, as a sweeping condemnation of the plan, and then the general con- 
 cltision is drawn that " although tunnels, no doubt, answer well in some countries, 
 tbey aire uevertlieless found to be quite objectionable where the action of the frost is so 
 trying and severe as in Canada." 
 
WSIXAMD CAMAI.. 
 
 20 
 
 It in strongQ thnt any oue occupyioK Uie rcHpoiiHible positiou of Clrief Engineer 
 should have allowed liimHolf to nmke ntatomentn ho entirely at vaiiance with the facts. 
 The MinJHtcr of Public Workn, or auy one taking an intercut in the matter, could hco 
 uny day in Oittiwu, by looking ut tho combined looku at the entrance of the Ridean 
 Coual, pUiiuly viuiblo from Dufferin Bridge, that thcHe Htatements are incorrect. Tlie 
 tunneltt of theHe locku are not Jilled up, and the locku are not Jilled throuijh the ijatrK, as 
 stated, but on the contrary they are filled through the tunnelH just as they wore forty 
 years ago. 
 
 It has been remarked that Dufiferin Bridge in winter is the coldest place in Can- 
 ada. If, then, as Mr. Page asserts, the severity of the frost was tho reason for filling 
 up the tunnels, how does it happen that these at Ottiiwa, which are more exposed than 
 at any otlier place, are still open and iu use ? And if we refer to those mentioned on 
 the Erie Canal, where the frost is quite as severe as at the Welland, what ground con 
 there be for drawing the general conclusion that tunnels are inadmissible in our cli< 
 mate ? The fact may now be stated, to which he has failed to refer, that on the Wel- 
 land Canal the tunnels would not be liable to tho action of frost, because, being always 
 coiisiderabLy under the surface of tli<> water, thoy ace not exposed to its influence as 
 are the chain-holes, or passages i' j iu the walls for the chains intended for working 
 the gates. If frost was any obje tu.n *o timnels, much more would it be to the chain- 
 holes which he himself has provid j(I. 
 
 Again, in considering the question of tunnels, he does not confine himself to t 
 simple idea of a culvert of masouiy. as suggested by the Board of Engineers, but in. 
 ports into it his own crude notions o;- wrought and cast-iron pipes, mixing up his view 
 with theirs, as if they were in some T/ay connected with their plan, and then states that 
 it would mvolve an additional outlay of fifty thousand dollars at each lock, or one mil- 
 lion of dollars for that purpose nlone. No details of this estimate are given. It is to 
 be taken entirely upon his own credibility. But that it is recklessly put forward to 
 cover the defects of his own plans, must be apparent to any one practically acquainted 
 with such matters if he considers that the statement amounts to this, that twenty-four 
 locks can be constructed on his plan, for one miUion dollars less than the twenty locks 
 proposed by the Board of Engineers ; which is absurd. 
 
 In my next letter I intend to refer to the question of cost, and bring this series of 
 letters to a close. 
 
 Dover Strkht, Piccadilly, 
 London, Skptembeb 22, 1874. 
 
 XI. 
 As promised in my last, I now proceed to examine 
 
 THE ESTIMATE 
 
 of the Chief Engineer, which ho laid before tlie Public Works Department, iu his re- 
 port of the 12th March, 1873, in support of his own plans. 
 
 In looking through this report for the basis upon ■which it rests, it will be found in 
 clause 97 that the tunnel system for the locks is charged with one million of dollars, 
 and with regard to the otlier million referred to in the lOBtli clause, one is only left to 
 conjecture that, as he reported that the line through Thorald would " (//// the vcrij heart 
 out «/■ //ie ^y/acr," and also render the Wellaud Bailway ^'practically worthless," the de- 
 struction of the village; and the purchase of the Railway are the two items to covered by 
 this amount. 
 
 If this be so, and I can see no otlier foundation for it, then I must refer to my pre- 
 vious letter to dispel auy apprehensions that might be entertained from the sensational 
 notions advanced in regard to tlie two latter subjects ; and will now proceed to consider 
 the first mentioned, the tunnel system for the locks, along with the whole question of 
 cost between the present plan, and that recommended by the Board of Engineers. 
 
 J#Il_ 
 
80 WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 For tlie purpose of arriving at a fair comparison of the two plans, the special require*- 
 ments of each may be distinguisod in the following manner : — 
 
 I. THE DEPARTMENTAL PLAN 
 
 Bequires twenty-four locks of 12 and 14 feet lifts, but as the whole fall to be overcome 
 between Thoriild and Port Dalliousie is 820 feet the average of the Ufts is 18^ feet- 
 This plan requires more than necessary. 
 
 ( a ) Four locks A\'ith four sets of lock gates and their machinery. 
 " ( i ) One pair guard gates. 
 
 ( c ) Four waste-weirs with four channels for them around the locks. 
 
 (d) The shifting of the line of the Welland Eailway into deep side cutting. 
 
 ( f ) Extensive retaining walls for the canal and water-courses, owing to the neces- 
 sity of crowding into the narrow gorge the railway, the canal, and the artificial channel 
 to be formed for the Ten Mile Creek. 
 
 (/) Heavy cutting in rock and clay through the ridge dividing the Ten and Twelve 
 Mile Creeks, instead of enlarging the old line. 
 
 ( (/ ) Tlie annual cost of four sets of lock attendants for day and night service for 
 all time. 
 
 ( /i ) The annual cost of repaii-ing and maintaining four locks, four waste weirs and 
 one pair of guard gates. 
 
 ( i ) And tinnlly this plan involves loss of time, with increased cost of wear and 
 tear for every vessel that passes through the canal hereafter, from the existence of four 
 unnecessary locks, of 20 per cunt. This is a very serious loss to which it is hardly 
 possible to assign any money value, but the amount of all previous items can be 
 approximately determiufd. 
 
 II. The plan suggested by the Board of Engineers requires twenty locks of the 
 unifomi lift of sixteen feet to overcome the same fall. 
 
 ( /,• ) For such uniform lifts the average increase in the height of the walls all 
 round is 2'^ feet, requiiing an addition of about 1,200 cubic yards of masonry for each 
 
 lock. 
 
 ( / ) The tunnel system for the locks, as before stated, does not increase the quan- 
 tity of masonry, because it is disposed of more advantageously ; but it requhes a better 
 class of it ui the lower part of the work. The quantity affected by the change is about 
 1,107 cubic yards in each lock, the value of which is about fifty per cent, more than 
 the other masonry. 
 
 ( m ) Four additional wicket gates to each lock for the tunnels. 
 
 ( n ) The purchase of two mills in Thorold, and the alteration of the machinery of 
 tln'ee more to suit the new levels, changing part of the line of the main street so as to 
 have the swing bridge at the foot of the second lock; also, purchase of village lots, and 
 damage to property on the line diverted. 
 
 III. Difference of cost for lor-ks. ,.: .... ...■■: 
 
 According to the prices at which the contracts for the new works on the ' 
 
 Welland Cainil have been let, the average cost of a lock on the pre- 
 sent pUui, including masonry, foimdations, excavation, filling about > 
 walls, lock gates and machinery, waste weirs, sluices, and channels 
 around locks, will be about $123,000 
 
 The probable cost of the re-arrangement of the locks for uniform hfts (A) 
 
 will be, each lock 14,400 
 
 The probable increased cost of masonry for the tunnel system (/) will be 
 
 each lock 7,000 
 
 The cost of additional wicketg (w?) each lock 1,000 
 
 Probable cost of lock, w. wei: , &c., on plan suggested $145,400 
 
 These elements afford the means of arriving at a fair approximation to the real 
 
 difference of cost between the two rival plans. 
 
 The official plan requires 24 locks, waste weirs, &c., at an average cost, 
 
 as above stated, of $128,000 $2,952,000 
 
 The plan suggested by the Board of Engineers requires only 20 locks, 
 
 waste weirs, &c., at an average cost of $145,400 each 2,908,000 
 
WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 81 
 
 7,000 
 1,000 
 
 Difference in favor of the latter 
 
 Add to this the cost of a pair of Guard Gates at Thorold (b) 
 
 Add changing the Hue of the Welland Railway (d) 
 
 Add retaining walls for canal, and artificial cha: nel for Ten Mile 
 Creek (e) 
 
 Add the difference of cost between enlarging the old canal above Thorold 
 and making an entierly new canal through the ridge dividuig the 
 Ten and Twelve Mile Creeks (./) 
 
 Add the capitalization, at six per cent., of the annual cost $4,820, of the 
 attendants to the four unneccssnry locks {;/) 
 
 Add the capitalization, at six per cent., of the annual cost of the repairs, 
 estimated at $1,200 for the four locks, the four waste weirs, and the 
 guard gates (/i) 
 
 $44,000 
 50,000 
 25,000 
 
 84,00a 
 
 Deduct from this the purchase and alteration of the mills, diversion of 
 of part of Main street, purchase and damage to property in excess 
 of new line («) ". 
 
 104,000 
 72,000 
 
 20,0uO 
 $849,000 
 
 90,000 
 
 Saving by plan suggested $259,000 
 
 beside the loss of time, &c., referred to in item (i). The items {d), (e), and (/) can be 
 definitely ascertained by reference to the sections in the canal office, but it is believed, 
 that the sums entered for them represent their cost with sufficient accuracy for the 
 present purpose. 
 
 It is unnecessary to take into account the cost of forming the canal and basina 
 between the locks, because there would really be little or no diti'erence on either line. 
 By the exercise of the best engineering skill in the location of the locks, and basins on 
 on the suggested line, the quantity of earthwork would be reduced to a minimum, and. 
 that minimum would not exceed the quantity called for by the present plans, especially 
 when we consider that as four basins would be saved by the enlargement of all the 
 basins, the banks dividing these basins would be saved. Therefore, in assummg the costs. 
 of the excavation to be the same on both lines, I cannot be accused of unduly favouring, 
 the changes recommended by the Board of Engineers. 
 
 Then, as regards the relative cost of the locks, it is to be observed that the esti- 
 mate produces the result that might reasonably have been expected. The twenty lockb- 
 of sixteen feet uniform lift cost nearly as much as the twenty-four locks of twelve and 
 fourteen feet lifts, the difference being about one and a half per cent, in favour of the 
 former. This is mainly owing to the fact, readily understood by practical engineers, 
 that heavier walls are required for greater liftt, so that although it is quite true, as 
 .stated in my eighth letter, that the four locks saved would cost upwards of half a 
 million of dollars, yet when the cost of twenty is balanced against twenty-four locks for 
 overcoming the same fall, the result proves the statement of the Board of Engineers to 
 be quite correct, that there is really no material difference in the cost of the two plans. 
 
 Thus after a careful and impartial examination of the estimate, it is proved that 
 mstead of the suggested changes involving an adchtional outlay of two millions of 
 dollars as stated by Mr. Pagr, or nearly furty per cent, on the cost of the new line, there 
 would really be a saving of upwards of a quarter of a million, or abont Jive jjer cent., by 
 following the better plan. 
 
 The total cost of the new Hne, as given in the general report of the 29th April,. 
 1872, is $5,180,000. In the interest of the pubhc it is to be hoped that this estimate' 
 given in bulk sum, will bear investigation better than the one I have just been dealing 
 with. 
 
 In summing" up, at end of his report of the 12th March, 1878, the Chief En- 
 gineer, in the 108th clause, emphatically states that "no advantage would be gained 
 by adopting any of the suggestions of the ' Engineers,' but on the contrary there is 
 good reason to beheve tHat if they were followed a less efficient canal would be con- 
 structed, and that, too, at an additional cost of two milhous of dollars." 
 
 -J 
 
I ■ 
 
 82 
 
 WBLLAND CANAL. 
 
 !*• 
 
 On the other hand, the Board of Engineers reported, in substance, that tlie 
 changes which they suggested would afford greater faciUties to the navigation, and that 
 they could be effected without any material difference in cost from the official plans. 
 
 Here then, two distinct and totally opposite opinions were submitted for the con- 
 sideration of the Department. The questions at issue were of vast importance, and 
 the decision to be arrived at involved very grave responsibility, but owing to the un- 
 usual course adopted by their responsible advisers in refusing a conference with the 
 Board of Engineers, the Department took action without having the benefit of such 
 full explanations and criticisms as I and ray colleagues could offer ; consequently with 
 out being sufficiently informed on the subject. 
 
 Those of my readers who have followed me through my previous letters on this 
 subject will now understari why I deplore as fatal to the best interest of the country 
 the determination of the Department to carry out the official jilans with all their im- 
 perfections, and how much it is to be regretted that the present Government does not 
 interfere to avert the injury. 
 
 The public should carefully weigh the import of this decision, as it involves cer- 
 tain heretical principles in engineering which are tl^ereby avowedly to be carried out 
 in our Public Works, not only on the Welland, but on the St. Lawrence Canals, and 
 which must materially affect their utility. 
 
 Since Mr. Page's plans have been adopted, without modification, the conclusion 
 inevitably follows that the Public Works Department sees » o advcintaae in having ample 
 basins on every reach for the proper working of the traffic ; no adiautaije in having all 
 the locks of the same uniform lift throughout ; no advantaijein the saving of four locks, 
 and the other works and expenses connected with then? ; no ad'antatje in the adoption 
 of such a modification of the official plan as wiU have tue effect of practically doubling 
 the capacity of the canal by reducing the time of passing the locks one-half ; and not 
 only that the Department sees no adrantatie from such beneficial changes as were sug- 
 gested, but that in supporting their responsible officer, they accept without question, 
 and adopt without proof, an estimate which is entirely fictitious. 
 
 Before bringing to a close my remarks on the official plans for the enlargement of 
 the Welland Canal, it is necessary to direct attention to one other defect, being one of 
 the "minor points " referred to, but not specially mentioned in the report of the Board 
 of Engineers. It is the vertical slope given to the face walls of the lock. With the 
 exception of the recesses for the gates, which are plumb, the same slope is given to 
 the chamber as to the entrances at either end, and all the face walls are in the same 
 plane. The slope is such that a lock of fourteen feet lift is twi'uty-uiue inches wider 
 at the top than at the base of the walls, and uniformly the same both at tlie quoins 
 and in the ehunber ; so that there is nothing to jirevent a vessel exceeding the 
 standard width of forty-five feet adopted for the navigation (or two vessels if locked 
 through at the same time), enterhig the lock and getting crushed between the wall, 
 when the water is drawn out. This is no imaginery danger. The occurrence of such 
 an accident some years since in the port of London from a similar condition of the 
 lock walls, induced the Engineer of the Millwall lock to make all the face walls of that 
 lock vertical. On the St. Lawrence Canals, where the chamber walls were sloped, 
 this danger is obviated by having a small portion of the face wall at the gates made 
 vertical, so that no vessel excce(Ung the standard width can be admitted into them. 
 
 I have now completed my task, and have endeavoured throughout the discussion 
 to confine my attention strictly to the engineering questions before me, and to treat 
 them in a professional, not personal manner : not offering mere opinions, but adducing 
 facts and arguments, leaving it to my readers to judge whether or not I am thereby 
 justified in the conclusions arrived at. 
 
 St. LEONAEns-oN-SfiA, Nov. 4, 1874. 
 
 Yom's truly, 
 
 SAMUEL IvEEFER, 
 
 M. List. C. E. 
 
 r. • ',.■:■. . .: ■..■:: ho' ■ .' h' 
 
bat the 
 tind that 
 plans, 
 the con- 
 ice, and 
 the un- 
 (vith the 
 , of such 
 itly with 
 
 )lves cer- 
 rried out 
 lals, and 
 
 inclusion 
 ng ample 
 laving all 
 )ur locks, 
 adoption 
 doubling 
 ; and not 
 were sug- 
 question, 
 
 ^anient of 
 ng one of 
 the Board 
 With the 
 s given to 
 the same 
 :hes wider 
 he quoins 
 eding tlie 
 i if locked 
 I the wall, 
 ce of such 
 ion of the 
 ills of that 
 ire sloped, 
 ;ates made 
 ) them, 
 discussion 
 nd to treat 
 t adducing 
 m thereby 
 
 it. C. E. 
 
 ...-.v.