& Son Limited 
 Private Library 
 
 Case ...M>...C.... Shelf .A..
 
 UCSB LIBRARY
 
 WATERWAYS 
 
 AND 
 
 WATER TRANSPORT 
 
 IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES: 
 
 WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE PANAMA, SUEZ, 
 
 MANCHESTER, NICARAGUAN, AND 
 
 OTHER CANALS. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. STEPHEN JEANS, M.R.I., F.S.S., 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'ENGLAND'S SUPREMACY'; 'RAILWAY PROBLEMS,' ETC. 
 
 E. & F. N. SPON, 125, STRAND, LONDON. 
 
 NEW YORK : 12, CORTLANDT STREET. 
 1890.
 
 INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE. 
 
 IT would probably be difficult to name any subject that is of more 
 importance to the material interests of a country than adequate 
 means of transport. Without such means, nations possessed of the 
 most abundant natural resources in many other respects would be 
 likely to decay. With ample facilities of transport, however, the 
 most limited natural resources may be made to go a long way, and 
 nations that are not possessed of great natural endowments may even 
 rise to a high place in the economy of human industry. 
 
 Transportation facilities naturally divide themselves into the two 
 categories of facilities by land and facilities by water. The former 
 category embraces highways and railroads ; the latter includes the 
 navigation of seas, lakes, rivers, and canals. 
 
 It is the purpose of this volume to deal with water transport only, 
 and more particularly that part of water transport which is carried on 
 by means of artificial waterways. Railway transport, therefore, will 
 only be incidentally referred to. Nor do we propose to expatiate to 
 any extent upon the navigation of seas and lakes, which is a matter 
 quite apart from canal and river navigation, and is usually carried on 
 under very different conditions. 
 
 Canals are usually ranged under one or other of three great 
 categories, namely : 
 
 1. For purposes of navigation. 
 
 2. For irrigation, and 
 
 3. For domestic water supply. 
 
 Under the first heading there are many different descriptions of 
 waterways, the more important being 
 
 a. Canals intended for the purpose of connecting oceans or seas, 
 such as those of Suez, Panama, the North Sea, and Nicaragua. 
 
 b. Canals for the purpose of bringing the sea to an inland town, 
 such as those of Manchester and St. Petersburg. 
 
 c. Canals designed to connect and complete communication
 
 iv Introduction and Outline. 
 
 between different rivers or lakes, like the Grand Canal of China, the 
 Erie Canal, and the Welland Canal. 
 
 d. Canals constructed for the purpose of enabling the obstructions 
 caused by falls or cataracts on natural waterways to be overcome by 
 artificial means. 
 
 As water transport by the most efficient and most economical 
 means practicable is the raison d'etre of the present work, we shall 
 speak for the most part of navigation canals only. 
 
 The chapters that follow will show, that canal navigation has not 
 only an interesting, but a very ancient history. It is, indeed, so long 
 since canals were first projected and constructed that it is extremely 
 difficult to trace their beginnings. 
 
 The Boeotian Canal, which is said to have drained the Lake Mceris 
 by several channels carried in tunnels through high mountainous 
 barriers, is of such fabulous age as to have led fiction to usurp the 
 place of history, and even of tradition, when describing the work at a 
 period of time so far back as prior to the conquest of Greece by 
 Rome. 
 
 The celebrated canals of China have been assigned an unknown 
 antiquity, but trustworthy representations have led authorities to 
 conclude that they are scarcely older than the works in the Deccan. 
 At all events, they date from less than 900 years ago, a century 
 subsequent to the first irrigation of Valentia. In Spain, the Moors 
 constructed canals to connect inland places with rivers, particularly 
 the Guadalquiver, and connecting Granada with Cadiz. They also 
 introduced, when they conquered that country, their own system of 
 irrigation, with the customs and laws relating thereto, which are 
 followed at the present hour without material change. 
 
 Cresy has pointed out that Pliny's correspondence with the 
 Emperor Trajan proves the importance attached to the subject of 
 waterways. " The consul in a letter points out such designs as were 
 worthy the glorious and immortal name of Trajan, ' they being no 
 less useful than magnificent.' He describes an extensive lake near 
 the city of Nicomedia, upon which the commodities of the country 
 were easily and cheaply transported to the high road, and thence 
 were conveyed on carriages to the sea coast at great charge and 
 labour. To remedy this inconvenience, he recommends that a canal 
 should be, if possible, cut from the lake to the sea, observing that 
 one had already been attempted by one of the kings of the country, 
 but whether for the purpose of draining the adjacent lands, or making
 
 Introduction and Outline. v 
 
 a communication between the lake and the river, was uncertain. 
 These useful works, in common with all others, fell into decay with 
 the decline of the Roman empire. During the disastrous period which 
 succeeded, until the time of Charlemagne, Europe is deficient in any 
 examples of similar undertakings : this sovereign commenced the 
 projects of uniting the Rhine to the Danube, and of opening a new 
 communication between the German Ocean and the Black Sea." 
 
 The Romans were great canal-makers. They were, indeed, as 
 their extant works in Italy, Spain, and other countries show to this 
 day, very capable hydraulic engineers. But in Roman times, canals 
 were constructed for irrigation and water-supply purposes, rather than 
 for purposes of navigation. It was not until some centuries after the 
 decline of the Roman power that navigation canals began to attract 
 attention. Previous to the time when locks, sluices, and other works 
 of engineering art became general, canals could only be carried 
 through comparatively level territories. Hence we not unnaturally 
 find that some of the earliest canals for navigable purposes were 
 constructed in Holland, where the configuration of the ground is 
 specially adapted to their construction. 
 
 Mr. Vignoles, in his address to the Institution of Civil Engineers 
 in 1870, remarked that, when the success of canals in the Low 
 Countries attracted the attention of Europe, a sort of mania arose in 
 France for inland navigation. Most of these were rendered abortive, 
 and became abandoned, " from uncertainty in the supply of water on 
 account of irregular rainfall, and from the pre-existing monopolies of 
 the millers, who appear at all times and places to have been, as they 
 still are, the natural enemies and thorns in the sides of the hydraulic 
 engineer." Navigation on the upper branches of rivers rapidly ceased, 
 but concessions for canals in France were then given, the Canal de 
 Briare being the earliest, and next the Languedoc Canal, though 
 neither was finished until about forty years after their first imperfect 
 commencement. So early as the twelfth century, large canals had 
 been cut in Flanders, though the great canal from Brussels to the 
 Scheldt was not completed until 1560. This, however, was about a 
 century before Louis XIV. had finished the earliest canal in France. 
 
 Probably the first canal constructed in England was the Exeter 
 Canal, a comparatively short waterway, completed in 1572. But the 
 regulation and canalisation of rivers had been attempted long 
 before that time. The improvement of the navigation of the Thames 
 was undertaken in 1423 ; of the Lea, in 1425 ; of the Ouse (York'
 
 vi Introduction and Outline. 
 
 shire), in 1462 ; of the Severn in 1503 ; of the Stour (Essex), 1504 ; 
 of the Humber, in 1531 ; and of the Welland, in 1571. 
 
 During the seventeenth century, again, many similar works were 
 undertaken. The Colne, the Itchin, the Wye, the Avon, the 
 Medway, the Wey, the Bure, the Foss Dyke, the Witham, the Fal 
 and Vale, the Aire and Calder, and the Trent were all more or less 
 canalised during the period between 1623 and 1699. 
 
 In the next century, projects for river improvement and canal 
 navigation proceeded apace. In 1700, the rivers Avon and Frome 
 were regulated. In the following twenty years improvements were 
 carried out on the Dee, the Lark, the Derwent, the Frant, the Stour, 
 the Nene, the Kennett, the Wear, the Weaver, the Mersey and the 
 Irwell. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal was commenced in 1720, 
 the Stroudwater Canal in 1730, and the Bridgwater Canal in 1737. 
 
 From this date, until 1794, canal navigation was extended rapidly, 
 while Acts of Parliament were obtained for the improvement of the 
 Ley, the Avon, the Cart, the Blyth, the Hebble, the Stort, and the 
 Clyde. Between 1763 and 1800 upwards of eighty different canal 
 projects were put forward, and most of them were completed. The 
 Trent and Mersey, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire, the Droit- 
 wich, the Coventry, the Birmingham, the Forth and Clyde, the 
 Oxford, the Monkland, the Leeds and Liverpool, the Chesterfield, 
 the Bradford, the Ellesmere, the Market Weighton, the Bude, Sir 
 John Ramsden's, the Gresley, the Dudley, the Stourbridge, the 
 Basingstoke, the Bedford, the Thames and Severn, the Shropshire 
 Union, the Andover, and the Cromford Canals were all undertaken 
 between 1767 and 1790. The following ten years, however, may be 
 regarded as the heyday of canal-making in England. In 1791 the 
 Hereford and Gloucester, the Leicester, the Manchester, Bolton and 
 Bury, the Leominster, the Melton Mowbray, the Neath, and the 
 Worcester and Birmingham Canals were commenced. Eighteen 
 more canals were undertaken in 1793, and twelve others in 1794. 
 
 The same year that witnessed the opening of the Stockton and 
 Darlington Railway, saw also the construction of the English and 
 Bristol Channels Canal, otherwise the Liskeard and Looe ; but the 
 number of canals constructed since 1825 has been very limited. 
 Eight different canals were opened between 1826 and 1830, in- 
 cluding the Macclesfield, the Birmingham and Liverpool, the Avon 
 and Gloucestershire, and the Nene and Wisbech ; but since 1830 the 
 only canals for which Parliamentary sanction was obtained, until
 
 Introduction and Outline. vii 
 
 the Act was passed for the Manchester Ship Canal in 1886, were the 
 Ellesmere and Chester Canal, and the Droitwich Junction Canal. 
 
 Since 1830 the canals of Great Britain have been under a great 
 ban. The superior speed and the greater punctuality provided by 
 railway transport have caused them to be neglected, and, with only a 
 few exceptions, more or less disused. The railway system has been 
 extended so rapidly, and has secured the carrying trade of the 
 country so completely, that canals have until lately been regarded as 
 practically obsolete and useless. Many miles of canal navigation 
 have passed into the hands of the railway companies, while a con- 
 siderable mileage has become derelict. 
 
 Although the railways have secured possession of some 1700 miles 
 of canals in Great Britain, they do not appear to have profited much 
 thereby. The Great Western Railway Company owns no less than 
 seven canals, on which they have expended a million sterling. In 
 1887 one of these canals earned 27oo/. profit, while the other six lost 
 1300/1, besides the whole of the interest upon their capital cost. 
 
 The experience of the other railway companies has been more or 
 less similar to that of the Great Western. The railways have been 
 nursed and developed ; the canals have been neglected and allowed 
 to perish. The railway companies have been accused of acquiring 
 canal property in order that they might destroy it, and thereby get 
 rid of a dangerous rival. This is probably not the case. The railway 
 companies are fully aware of the fact that water transport under suit- 
 able conditions is more economical than railway transport. It would 
 therefore have suited them, at the same rates, to carry by water heavy 
 traffic, in the delivery of which time was not of much importance. 
 But the canals, as they came into their possession, were really not 
 adapted for such traffic without being more or less remodelled, and 
 this the railway companies have not attempted. 
 
 When we consider the enormous disadvantages under which the 
 majority of the canals of this country now labour, the great matter for 
 wonder is, not that they do not secure the lion's share of the traffic, 
 but that they get any traffic at all. A railway is usually carried from 
 point to point by the most direct route possible, and the cases in 
 which there is any considerable diversion from the most direct route 
 are comparatively rare. But in laying out the canals the designers 
 and promoters appear to have endeavoured to take the longest 
 instead of the shortest route available. Thus, for example, the 
 distance between Liverpool and Wigan is thirty-four miles by canal
 
 viii Introduction and Outline. 
 
 \ 
 
 while it is only nineteen miles by railway. Again, the railway route 
 from Liverpool to Leeds is eighty miles, whereas by canal the 
 distance is not less than 128 miles. If the canal rates were very 
 much lower than the railway rates, these differences would still be very 
 much against them. But there is not really much difference between 
 them at present, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which is a fairly 
 representative one, charging a halfpenny to twopence per ton per 
 mile, according to the nature of the traffic. Then again, the speed 
 on British canals can seldom be carried above 2^ miles per hour, not 
 to speak of the delay in getting through the locks, of which there are 
 ninety-three between Leeds and Liverpool. 
 
 It would be the idlest of idle dreams to expect that the canal 
 system of this or any other country, as originally constructed, can be 
 resuscitated, or even temporarily galvanised into activity, in competi- 
 tion with railways. Canals as they were built a century ago have no 
 longer any function to fulfil that is worthy of serious consideration. 
 Their mission is ended ; their use is an anachronism. They do not 
 provide the means of cheaper transport, and they have no other 
 advantage to offer to the trader that would be a sufficient equivalent 
 for the tedium of their transport. The canals of the future must be 
 adapted to the new conditions of commerce. What we now require 
 is that our great centres of population and industry shall be made 
 seaports that Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, and other places, shall 
 not suffer hurt because they are inland towns. The existing canals 
 may serve as a valuable nucleus for the new departure. Their 
 importance as a means to this end has already been practically 
 recognised. The Manchester Ship Canal Company has acquired the 
 Bridgwater Navigation. For the purposes of the projected Sheffield 
 and Goole Ship Canal it is proposed to acquire several of the old 
 navigations, including the Dearne and Dove Canal, the Stainforth 
 and Keadby Canal, and other waterways. Other improved canals 
 have been suggested, and Mr. Samuel Lloyd has advocated the con- 
 struction of a great national canal which would connect all the 
 principal industrial centres of the kingdom with each other and with 
 the sea. There appears to be no insuperable difficulty in the way of 
 realising such a project. Capital alone is wanted. Whether that 
 essential will be forthcoming is, however, very doubtful. Much is 
 likely to depend on the extent to which the Manchester Ship Canal 
 is successful. It would be a mistake to go too quickly. If ship 
 canal transport is likely to be a means of salvation to British trade
 
 Introduction and Outline. ix 
 
 and commerce, we shall not be much the worse if we wait for it a 
 little longer. It is not well to do anything that would tend to 
 destroy or discount the value of the vast railway property of this 
 country. The traders have long been trying to " agree with their 
 adversary," in so far as they have differences with the railway 
 companies ; and if the latter are duly reasonable, the future may 
 still be theirs. 
 
 It has been objected that a canal could not provide large 
 manufacturers, mine owners, or others who now enjoy the advan- 
 tages of sidings, giving direct connection with the railway system 
 upon which their works or mines are situated, with the same 
 facilities as they are now possessed of. This, however, is a 
 mistake. The fact is that a wharf may be provided almost as 
 easily and as cheaply as a railway siding. On some canals, as for 
 example on the Birmingham system, the different works along the 
 route of the canal have been supplied in almost every case with 
 wharves, until they are now counted by hundreds. 
 
 Broadly stated, the problem that now presses for solution amounts 
 to this -In what way can we best take advantage of the well- 
 ascertained fact that under ordinary conditions a ton of goods can be 
 transported about 2000 miles by water for the same cost that it can 
 be sent 100 miles on land ? It is no unusual thing to find that a ton of 
 goods can be transported 40 miles by steamer for one penny, making 
 allowance for every charge.* It is not, of course, pretended that 
 goods can be carried by inland navigation for anything like this rate. 
 But it has been well established that even on canals, with all the dis- 
 advantages of slow speed, limited depth, small boats, frequent locks, 
 and other drawbacks, the transport of heavy traffic can be effected 
 for less than one-sixth of a penny per ton per mile, which is not one- 
 half of the lowest rates at which the railways of Great Britain carry 
 mineral traffic at the present time. It is necessary to add that canal 
 companies do not, in Great Britain at least, carry for anything like 
 the low rate stated, except perhaps on the Weaver Navigation, which 
 is quite exceptional. 
 
 An important question that naturally occurs to any one who has 
 studied the history of canal navigation in foreign countries is that of 
 how far it is the duty of the State to take such waterways under its 
 
 * Mr. Bailey, in his interesting address to the Manchester Association of 
 Foremen Engineers, in 1886, stated that he had found this to be the cost of trans- 
 port with a vessel of 2360 tons, including interest, depreciation, and insurance.
 
 x Introduction and Outline. 
 
 control This is really a political problem, which scarcely belongs to 
 that part of the subject which we have undertaken to consider. It 
 may, however, be observed that in the United States, in France, and 
 in one or two other countries, canals have been acquired by the 
 State, and made as free of tolls as the rivers. This, of course, affords 
 to canal transport in those countries a striking advantage over the 
 system in Great Britain. It has been calculated by a high authority * 
 that an expenditure of 12, ooo/. per mile would be required to put the 
 inland navigations of England into good order, and to adapt them 
 generally for larger traffic, with steam-tugs and barges or boats of 
 sufficient size. This would mean for the 3000 miles of canal already 
 constructed an expenditure of 24,000,0007. It is calculated that 
 about 2o,ooo,ooo/. have already been expended upon our water- 
 ways^ so that the total outlay, after the expenditure suggested by 
 Sir John Hawkshaw, would be about 44,000, ooo/. If the State were 
 to borrow this sum, it could procure it, no doubt, at 3 per cent., which 
 would mean that the total annual burden entailed upon the country 
 by the freeing of the canals would be 920,0007., or only a T ^ part 
 of our total national expenditure. This is certainly a small price to 
 pay for so desirable an object. But upon the proposal as just stated 
 there are two important remarks to be made the first, that the 
 suggested expenditure of i2,ooo/. per mile would only give us canals 
 adapted for the navigation of large barges or vessels of not more than 
 150 to 200 tons, whereas what is chiefly required is internal water 
 communication that would enable an ordinary merchant steamer to 
 sail right up to Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford, and other large towns ; 
 the second, that no such maritime ship canal has hitherto been con- 
 structed for less than i2o,ooo/. per mile, including all contingencies.! 
 The raising of this sum is a very different item from the raising of 
 1 2, ooo/. per mile. The most serious objection, however, would be 
 the outcry on the part of the railway interest that the Government 
 
 * Sir John Hawkshaw, in his evidence before the Select Committee on 
 Canals, 1883. 
 
 t The total expenditure has been variously stated. Smiles, in his ' Lives of 
 the Engineers,' puts it at one figure, while it was stated before the Select 
 Committee on Canals at another. 
 
 J The actual cost of construction of the Suez Canal was about this amount, 
 but the additional expenses incurred, and in the majority of cases necessary to 
 such an enterprise, brought the cost up to 2OO,ooo/., which was also the average 
 cost of the Amsterdam Ship Canal. The Manchester Ship Canal is estimated to 
 cost some 25O,ooo/. a mile.
 
 Introduction and Outline. xi 
 
 was entering into competition with private enterprise. This, of 
 course, would be no new thing. The New York State canals compete 
 with the railways, which are private property, and so do the canals of 
 France. The duty of the State stops at providing the waterway. It 
 does not, of course, undertake transportation. That business is left, 
 like the same business on the railways, to private enterprise. The 
 canals might, therefore, if acquired by the State, be regarded as so 
 many additional miles of navigable rivers possessed by the country, 
 or so many more miles of seaboard provided for the benefit of towns 
 that have hitherto been shut out from direct maritime advantages. 
 Canals are, indeed, entitled to be regarded in the same light as a 
 common turnpike road. The State would hardly be likely to permit 
 private ownership in turnpikes. The community at large are taxed 
 for their maintenance, and there has never been any serious conten- 
 tion that it should be otherwise. The time has come when it behoves 
 us to consider whether canals should not be similarly controlled and 
 administered, since they are, without doubt, as necessary for the 
 transport of goods as turnpike roads are for the passage of vehicles 
 and pedestrians. 
 
 As to the reasons that have led the author to undertake the pub- 
 lication of the present volume, a remark or two may be permitted. 
 In 1875 he undertook the preparation of a work* on the growth 
 of the railway system up to that time for the Directors of the North- 
 Eastern Railway, on the occasion of their celebration at Darling- 
 ton of the Jubilee of the Stockton and Darlington line the first 
 passenger railway constructed in this country on which locomotives 
 were employed. In inquiring into the history of that railway, he was 
 struck with the importance that was attached half a century before to 
 the possession of canal navigation, and with the great facilities that 
 it afforded to the districts through which it was carried. Since then 
 he has from time to time had occasion to look into the same subject, 
 and especially so in 1882, when he was required to give evidence 
 before the Select Committee on Railway Rates and Fares,t as to the 
 differences that exist on English and Continental railways in the 
 charges made for the transport of heavy traffic. He found also that, 
 notwithstanding the lower rates of transport on Continental railways, 
 very great importance was attached to the maintenance, in a high 
 state of efficiency, of the waterways of all other countries in Europe 
 
 * ' Jubilee Memorial of the Railway System,' Longmans, 
 t Report of Select Committee.
 
 xii Introduction and Outline. 
 
 except our own, and that in most other countries the State specially 
 charged itself with the duty of seeing that this was effectually done. 
 It was but a short step from the acquisition of this knowledge to the 
 natural endeavour to ascertain why English canals were not deemed 
 equally important to the trade and commerce of the greatest of 
 commercial nations. The results of that inquiry are set forth in the 
 following pages ; but the author has not been content to examine 
 the economic side of the case alone. Finding not only that the 
 canals of the world had a most interesting history, which has never 
 hitherto been set forth in the form of a continuous narrative, but that 
 one of the most remarkable movements of the present time was a 
 demand for artificial waterways, in order to reduce both the time and 
 the distance now required for the intercourse of different important 
 centres of our planet, and give inland towns a more direct connection 
 with the sea, he has devoted much research to the investigation of 
 the origin and growth of these enterprises, and has set down the 
 results in as interesting and useful a form as he could. 
 
 A good deal of attention has been given in this work to the 
 subject of isthmian canals. It has been suggested that a " ship 
 and barge " railway would be an improvement upon both railways 
 and canals in the joint advantages of economy and speed of trans- 
 port. This is an " American notion," which has not yet, so far as we 
 are aware, been put in practice, although it was put forward by the 
 late Captain Eads, in the form of a project for a ship railway across 
 the isthmus of Techuantepec, as the true solution of isthmian transit. 
 It has been claimed that such a railway " can be operated and main- 
 tained at less cost than the canal, employ a rate of speed five times 
 as great as is possible in the canal, can be operated for the whole 
 twelve months of the year instead of six or during the lake naviga- 
 tion, like the ship canal will require no breaking bulk, and through 
 freight can be hauled over it at 2^ cents, per bushel of wheat," i.e. 
 for a distance of about 340 miles.* On the other hand, however, 
 no one appears to have seriously prosecuted this enterprise since 
 the decease of its gifted author, while two ship canals have been 
 promoted across the American isthmus. 
 
 In the appendix will be found a large mass of information as to 
 
 the extent of the British canal system, and the dates at which the 
 
 principal canal and river navigations were executed. Some data as 
 
 to the extent and character of the principal river systems have also 
 
 * 'Transactions of the American Institute of Civil Engineers,' vol. xiv. p. 48.
 
 Introduction and Outline. xiii 
 
 been introduced in tabular form. It is not pretended that this latter 
 information is by any means complete. The merest epitome of the 
 rivers and river systems of all the countries of the world would itself 
 fill a volume ; but it is hoped that the most essential data have been 
 supplied with sufficient fullness ,and accuracy. 
 
 In the best interests of British commerce and industry, we cannot 
 do better than attempt to follow the excellent counsel given by 
 Aid. Bailey, of Manchester, when he urged * that we should " make 
 England to the world what London is to England : make every part 
 of the verge, fringe, shore, creek, bay, river, and inlet of our map as 
 equal as possible in relation to distance from the shores of foreign 
 countries ; increase the value of the silver streak, double the coast 
 line, resuscitate the ancient ports, extend some more inland, make 
 Britain narrower, shorten the distance from coast to coast, from sea 
 to sea, and increase the setting of Shakespeare's 
 
 ' Fortress built by nature for herself, 
 This little world 
 This precious stone set in a silver sea.' " 
 
 * Address to the Manchester Association of Engineers.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE 
 
 SECTION I. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 ENGLISH RIVERS 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ENGLISH CANAL SYSTEM 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF SCOTLAND 63
 
 xvi Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF IRELAND 74 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROJECTED CANALS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF FRANCE 93 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF GERMANY 116 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF BELGIUM 134 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF HOLLAND 145 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 THE WATERWAYS OF ITALY 153 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF SWEDEN 164 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF RUSSIA 172
 
 Contents. xvii 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 185 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES 191 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF CANADA .. 216 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA .. .. 229 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 CHINESE WATERWAYS 232 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF BRITISH INDIA 237
 
 xviii Contents. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 i 
 
 SHIP CANALS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE SUEZ CANAL 245 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 THE PANAMA CANAL , 274 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 THE NICARAGUAN CANAL 314 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 THE ISTHMUS OF CORINTH CANAL 346 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 THE RIVER THAMES 353
 
 Contents. xix 
 
 SECTION III. 
 TRANSPORT AND WORKING. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 I'AdK 
 
 RAILWAYS AND CANALS , 364 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 COMPARATIVE COST OF WATER AND LAND TRANSPORT .. .. 375 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 SYSTEMS OF TRANSPORT AND HAULAGE 391 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 LOCKS, PLANES, SLUICE-GATES, AND LIFTS 408 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 TUNNELS, VIADUCTS, EMBANKMENTS AND WEIRS 424 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 SPEED OF TRANSPORT ., .. 435 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 CANAL TRAFFIC; ITS CHARACTER AND ITS DENSITY .. .. 441
 
 xx Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX111. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE MAKING OF ARTIFICIAL WATERWAYS 447 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 CANAL BOATS 460 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE STATE ACQUISITION AND CONTROL OF WATERWAYS .. 469 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 I. CHRONOLOGY OF RIVER IMPROVEMENT AND CANAL NAVI- 
 GATION IN ENGLAND UP TO 1852 475 
 
 II. CANALS AND INLAND RIVER NAVIGATION IN ENGLAND, 
 WALES, AND SCOTLAND, DISTINGUISHING MILEAGE 
 UNDER, AND MILEAGE NOT UNDER, THE CONTROL OF 
 RAILWAY COMPANIES 478 
 
 III. THROUGH ROUTES OF CANAL AND INLAND NAVIGATION 
 
 IN ENGLAND AND WALES 485 
 
 IV. STATEMENT OF THE CANALS, &c., IN THE UNITED KING- 
 DOM, OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY RAILWAY COMPANIES 
 ON SIST DECEMBER, 1882, ARRANGED UNDER THE 
 DATES OF THE SPECIAL ACTS AUTHORISING THE 
 ARRANGEMENTS 490 
 
 V. THE PRINCIPAL RIVER SYSTEMS OF EUROPE AND 
 
 AMERICA 490 
 
 INDEX 495
 
 WATERWAYS AND WATER 
 TRANSPORT. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 THE WATERWAYS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM. 
 
 "Of all inventions, the alphabet and the printing press alone excepted, those 
 inventions which abridge distance have done most for civilisation." Macaulay. 
 
 THE history of transportation is largely, and of necessity, the history 
 of material progress. It is hardly possible to conceive of the pros- 
 perity of a people to whom the most precious possessions that the 
 arts and sciences have bestowed upon mankind for the purposes of 
 commerce were unknown. Such a people could, no doubt, exist, 
 and perhaps maintain a considerable amount of rude health. But, 
 like the aborigines of an unsettled and uncultivated territory, they 
 would find themselves shut out from participation in the advantages 
 which civilisation confers upon mankind. They would be exclusive, 
 uncultivated, ignorant, incapable of great effort, limited in their 
 capacity for enjoyment, subject to the constant danger of famine, 
 and without the command of those amenities which have created 
 such a gulf between the " rude forefathers of the hamlet " and the 
 happy possessors of all that civilisation can bestow. 
 
 Only a very perfunctory acquaintance with the physical con- 
 figuration of our planet is required, in order to show that the natural 
 arrangement of land and water is not the most convenient that 
 could be devised for the purposes of commerce and travel. The 
 oceans and seas do not afford in all cases the most direct and 
 desirable routes between one part of the world and another. Rivers 
 of otherwise gigantic dimensions are now and again found to be 
 possessed of rocky and shallow beds that are unsuited to navigation
 
 2 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 except by the tiniest craft. Promontories are projected into "the waste 
 of waters," compelling the navigator to sail for hundreds or thousands 
 of miles further than " the crow flies " in order to reach his destination. 
 Every here and there an isthmus is found to divide waters that 
 appear as if they were intended by Nature to be joined together. 
 
 The same remarkable absence of facilities for promoting the 
 requirements of commerce is apparent on land as on water. The 
 surface of the earth, and the divisions of land and water, appear 
 to have been left by Nature in such a condition as to tax the 
 highest powers and capacities of man. The knowledge of roads, 
 of bridges, of canals, has been laboriously acquired and slowly 
 applied. The aboriginal inhabitants of a country usually care for 
 none of these things. Beasts of burden are seldom used in the 
 most primitive conditions of existence, and, without these, roads are 
 not so much of a necessity. Man, however, found out, in course of 
 time, that it suited his interests and his convenience to establish 
 a system of interchange of commodities. The simple and self-con- 
 tained habits of the trapper and the hunter gave place to a more 
 composite order of being. Then it was that the primeval forest, 
 the jungle, the morass, and the prairie became rectangulated with 
 roadways over which traffic could be rudely transported on the backs 
 of mules, horses, or other beasts of burden. As exchange and barter 
 extended, the pack-horse was found inefficient. He could only 
 perform a very limited day's work, whether measured by quantity or 
 by distance. For transport over great distances he was virtually 
 useless. In the absence of any other system of transport, districts 
 near the sea, or placed on navigable rivers with easy access to the 
 ocean, became developed at the expense of other districts that had 
 equal, and perhaps greater, facilities otherwise except those of trans- 
 port. A notable case in point is that of the coal trade. For many 
 years the export coal trade of this country was limited to an area 
 within 1 2 miles of convenient ports, because coal could not be trans- 
 ported beyond that distance except at a virtually prohibitory cost 
 
 A hundred and thirty years ago, England was in a very different 
 position to that which she occupies to-day. So, also, was the rest of 
 the world. The woollen trade was the greatest of our national 
 industries. The cotton industry was just beginning to take a firm 
 root The quantity of coal produced in Great Britain was estimated 
 at five or six millions of tons per annum. The quantity of iron pro- 
 duced was believed to be about 100.000 tons. The only coalfield
 
 The Transportation Problem. 3 
 
 that had been developed to any extent was that of Durham and 
 Northumberland. The working of coal far from the seaboard was im- 
 possible on a large scale, because there were no means of transportation 
 that would allow of anything being carried more thar a few miles, 
 unless it were of the highest value. The cotton, wooilen, silk, and 
 other textiles were made by hand-looms, and for the most part in the 
 private dwellings of the workers. The modern factory system had 
 not come into being. 
 
 The condition of the roads, even so late as the middle of the 
 eighteenth century, was in a very large number of cases a matter for 
 just and serious complaint. Lord Hervey wrote from Kensington in 
 1736 that the road between that village (at that time) and London 
 had become so bad that " we live here in the same solitude as we 
 would do if cast on a rock in the middle of the ocean, and all the 
 Londoners tell us that there is between them and us an impassable 
 gulf of mud." In London itself the pedestrians who made use of the 
 public thoroughfares had to walk on the ordinary round paving- 
 stones which are still employed in some towns for the centre of the 
 road, pavements being unknown. The streets were lit with oil-lamps 
 sufficiently to make darkness visible, gas not having been introduced. 
 The common highway was also the common sewer. The ruts in the 
 thoroughfares, even in the streets of London, made it dangerous to 
 employ vehicles, which, indeed, except in the form of sedan-chairs, 
 had not yet come to be largely employed. 
 
 But these dangers and troubles, manifest and inconvenient though 
 they were, by no means exhausted the list. In the absence of a 
 proper system of police, and with streets enveloped in darkness, 
 there was serious danger incurred in stirring abroad after nightfall, 
 The public thoroughfares were infested by bands of footpads and 
 robbers. The main streets of London were the worst off, and so 
 serious was the danger of going out at night that it was the rarest 
 thing to find any one stirring after dark. So far was this system 
 carried that robberies took place in broad daylight. Even such 
 public places as Piccadilly and Oxford Street were not exempted 
 from the common danger. Horace Walpole relates that he was 
 robbed in this way, with Lord Eglinton, Lady Albemarle, and others. 
 Those who had to travel to the adjacent villages of Paddington and 
 Kensington were afraid to proceed alone. It was therefore customary 
 to wait until a sufficiently numerous band had been collected to 
 enable the pedestrians to resist any possible attack of footpads. The 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Vauxhall and Ranelagh Gardens, then the chief places of amusement 
 in the vicinage of the metropolis, had to employ patrols to keep the 
 way clear to London. 
 
 As m the metropolis, so in the provinces. The roads, both in 
 the towns and outside them, were in many cases as bad as bad could 
 be. Their not unusual condition was that of " a narrow hollow way, 
 little wider than a ditch, barely allowing of the passage of a vehicle 
 drawn by horses in a single line." This deep, narrow road was 
 flanked by an elevated causeway, covered with flags or boulder 
 stones, along which the traffic of the locality was carried on the 
 backs of single horses, so that "it is difficult to imagine the delay, 
 the toil, and the perils by which the conduct of the traffic was 
 attended." Under these circumstances, " there were towns, even in 
 the same county, more widely separated for all practical purposes 
 than London and Glasgow in the present day."* Business was done 
 slowly, and involved so great an expenditure of time and trouble 
 that prices were necessarily high. News travelled more slowly still, 
 and it was sometimes months before the people who lived at the 
 extremities of the island knew what had happened in the metropolis. 
 
 The reader who desires to obtain a graphic and eloquent 
 account of the circumstances of England previous to the canal era 
 could not do better than consult Macaulay, who, in the famous 
 third chapter of his ' History,' has devoted a considerable amount of 
 space to the consideration of the social and economic changes 
 that had come over the country since 1685. The description 
 given of the condition of the people in that year might almost be 
 literally applied to their condition in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century. The population had increased, it is true, and commerce 
 had been developed in the interval. But the facilities for rapid 
 and economical transportation had not been materially altered for 
 the better. The great mass of the people were as ignorant, as 
 superstitious, as shiftless as in the seventeenth century. Their 
 sanitary surroundings were as unwholesome, their industrial pursuits 
 as improvident, their habits as deplorable, their hardships as 
 irksome, their discomforts and inconveniences as tiresome. From 
 this remarkable record of the days of our forefathers we quote 
 the following passages as being specially germane to the subject 
 under consideration : 
 
 * Smiles's 'Lives of the Engineers,' vol. i. p. 180. 
 t Ibid., p. 184.
 
 The Transportation Problem. 5 
 
 " It was by the highways that both travellers and goods gener- 
 ally passed from place to place; and those highways appear to 
 have been far worse than might have been expected from the 
 degree of wealth and civilisation which the nation had even then 
 attained. On the best lines of communication the ruts were deep, 
 the descents precipitous, and the way often such as it was hardly 
 possible to distinguish, in the dusk, from the unenclosed heath and 
 fen which lay on both sides. Ralph Thoresby, the antiquary, was in 
 danger of losing his way on the great North Road between Barnsley 
 Moor and Tuxford, and actually lost his way between Doncaster and 
 York. Pepys and his wife, travelling in their own coach, lost their 
 way between Newbury and Reading. In the course of the same tour 
 they lost their way near Salisbury, and were in danger of having 
 to pass the night on the Plain. It was only in fine weather that the 
 whole breadth of the road was available for wheeled vehicles. Often 
 the mud lay deep on the right and the left, and only a narrow track 
 of firm ground rose above the quagmire. At such times obstructions 
 and quarrels were frequent, and the path was sometimes blocked up 
 during a long time by carriers, neither of whom would break the way. 
 It happened, almost every day, that coaches stuck fast, until a team 
 of cattle could be procured from some neighbouring farm to tug them 
 out of the slough. But in bad seasons the traveller had to encounter 
 inconveniences still more serious. Thoresby, who was in the habit of 
 travelling between Leeds and the capital, has recorded in his Diary 
 such a series of perils and disasters as might suffice for a journey to 
 the Frozen Ocean or to the Desert of Sahara.* 
 
 * Judging from the diary of Mr. Justice Rokeby, which has been recently 
 printed by Sir Henry Peek, in the time of William and Mary going circuit was 
 arduous work, and the arrangements for reaching the scene of his labours occu- 
 pied almost as much of a Judge's attention as the execution of the Royal commission 
 when he arrived. Mr. Justice Rokeby, according to this record (as abridged in 
 the Times), usually travelled in a four-horse coach with his chamber clerk, while 
 his groom or valet attended him on a saddle-horse, which also carried the Judge's 
 " portmantle." Generally both coach and horses were hired for the occasion, the 
 rate appearing to be about 22s. for each travelling day, and I2J. for each resting 
 day. Sometimes the learned Judge economised by "putting a pair of his own 
 horses to the wheel," and had his own coachman to drive. But more than once 
 it was necessary to take six horses in the coach, and occasionally a couple of 
 servants on saddle-horses were in attendance. In the spring of 1692-93, " after 
 the circuits were all settled and the term ended viz. February 25 there fell a 
 very great snow, which occasioned the King to issue out a proclamation, March 2, 
 1692-3, to alter all the circuits to later days but only the Norfolk and Oxford 
 circuits, which continued upon their first appointment." Mr. Justice Rokeby,
 
 6 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 "The markets were often inaccessible during several months. It 
 is said that the fruits of the earth were allowed to rot in one place, 
 while in another place, distant only a few miles, the supply fell far 
 short of the demand. The wheeled carriages were in this district 
 generally pulled by oxen. When Prince George of Denmark visited 
 the stately mansion of Pet\vorth,.in wet weather, he was six hours in 
 going nine miles, and it was necessary that a body of sturdy hinds 
 should be on each side of his coach in order to prop it. Of the 
 carriages which contained his retinue several were upset and injured. 
 A letter from one of the party has been preserved, in which the 
 unfortunate courtier complains that, during fourteen hours, he never 
 once alighted, except when his coach was overturned and stuck fast 
 in the mud." 
 
 A story is told of an old stage-coach driver who, finding that his 
 occupation had been seriously interfered with by the modern innova- 
 tion of railways, thought he would strike a blow for the old system 
 by attacking the railway in a vulnerable part. " Consider," he 
 argued, " what happens in case of a collision. If two stage coaches 
 come into collision, and thee is an upset, why, there you are. But 
 
 being unlucky enough to be going on the Norfolk circuit, derived no benefit from 
 the postponement, but ' ' by reason of the badness of the ways was forced to take 
 six horses," so that he was " out of purse" on the circuit above 52/. The pre- 
 vious summer the waters were out, and travelling in the valley of the Thames was 
 no easy matter. " I began my journey into this circuit (the Oxford) from 
 London," says the Judge, "on Monday, June 27, and baited at Maidenhead, but 
 the waters were so great upon the road that at Colebrook they came just into the 
 body of the coach, and we were forced to boat twice at Maidenhead, and we 
 boated the coach, and at the second time we boated ourselves, but the coach 
 came through the water, and it came very deep into the body of it, and that night 
 we lay at Henley-upon-Thames, where we were forced to boat the coach again." 
 For years afterwards we read that the way from Oxford to Gloucester was so bad 
 that it took 14 hours to accomplish the distance, though it was not more than 
 33 miles, while there was a " very bad and shaking way " from Monmouth to 
 Hereford ; and at an earlier stage of the circuit the Judge chronicles his safe 
 arrival at High Wycombe from London with the pious but significant ejaculation, 
 " Thanks be to God ! " Sometimes the Judges, apparently, hired a coach 
 between them, but Mr. Justice Rokeby had a little difference with his brother 
 Judge, Mr. Justice Eyre, on his second circuit, concerning the division of ex- 
 penses, and this probably led to his making independent carriage arrangements 
 subsequently. On this occasion Mr. Justice Rokeby was called back to town at 
 an early point of the circuit, and Mr. Justice Eyre declined to take on the coach, 
 but finished the circuit on horseback, and it was his demand to be paid a share of 
 the expenses of his saddle-horse which led to the difference of opinion.
 
 The Transportation Problem. 7 
 
 in a railway collision, where are you ? " In those days stage coaches 
 did not enjoy the immunity from disaster that they do in these, when 
 macadamised roads enable them to roll along almost as if they were 
 on a billiard table.* When the canal system was being fairly 
 started in England, only one stage coach ran between London and 
 Edinburgh, starting once a month. from each city, and taking ten 
 days for the journey in summer, and twelve days in winter. It took 
 fourteen days to travel between London and Glasgow. In 1760 it 
 took three days to travel from Sheffield to London, and in 1774 
 Burke travelled from London to Bath with what was described as 
 " incredible speed " in twenty-four hours. 
 
 Much of the .discomfort, the high range of prices, the general 
 existence of poverty, the limited extent of commercial operations, in 
 the early part of the eighteenth century was no doubt due to the 
 imperfect development of the modern processes of manufacture and 
 distribution to the production of textiles by the old hand-loom, of 
 iron by the old-fashioned type of blast-furnace, of steel by the costly 
 cementation process, of clothing without the aid of the sewing- 
 machine, and of agricultural crops without any of the mechanical 
 aids to husbandry that are now so general and so conducive to 
 economical working. But the high cost of transport had also much 
 to answer for. Before the period of Macadam, it cost 2s. 6d. per 
 mile to transport coal by the old pack-horse on an ordinary road. 
 At this rate, it would have cost from io/. to i5/. to transport a 
 ton of coals from the Midland coalfield to London, a service 
 which is now performed for 6s. to^ys. per ton. With only the old 
 pack-horse facilities it would have cost an almost incredible sum to 
 have performed the same service which the railways now render to 
 the people of the United Kingdom in the transport of minerals 
 and merchandise. 
 
 While the knowledge of the arts, and especially of the arts that 
 relate to transportation, were in so backward a state, it was inevitable 
 that the prices of commodities, should be high, and their interchange 
 limited. Having to pay so much for the articles that they did not 
 grow or produce themselves, the people of England, in the middle of 
 the eighteenth century, were extremely poor, as a rule, and had very 
 
 * The difference between macadamised and ordinary roads, in the cost of 
 conveyance, not to speak of comfort, is extraordinary. Nicholas Wood estimated 
 that the transport of coal by the old pack horse was reduced from about 2s. 6d. to 
 8d. per ton on a good road of this description.
 
 8 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 little chance to increase their wealth. The wages of the working 
 classes were very low. A shilling a day was deemed to be excellent 
 earnings. In Scotland the wages of a day labourer were only $d. 
 per day in summer and 6d. in winter. The price of bread was 
 ordinarily much higher than it is at the present time.* The prices 
 of clothing and of the usual requisites for domestic comfort and 
 convenience were very much more than at the present day. The 
 rates of wages were hardly enough to enable the great mass of the 
 people to keep body and soul together. Butchers' meat was all but 
 unknown, even among those who were tolerably well off.t Plain 
 homespun was almost the only description of clothing that was worn. 
 Shops were hardly known in the smaller towns or villages, and the 
 country people were mainly supplied with such requirements as they 
 were able to indulge in, outside of their own productions, by hawkers, 
 who carried packs everywhere, as they sometimes do in remote 
 country places in our own day. In localities where coal was not 
 produced, it was not to be purchased for love or money, unless at 
 seaport towns, and the fuel ordinarily used was either turf or wood. 
 
 From this condition of things England was largely rescued in the 
 latter part of the eighteenth century by the introduction and develop- 
 ment of internal waterways. This movement gave a remarkable 
 stimulus to commercial and industrial progress. It enabled raw 
 materials to be transported at about one- tenth of what they had 
 formerly cost, and facilitated the interchange of commodities between 
 the different parts of the kingdom to an extent previously un- 
 dreamt of. 
 
 It is remarkable what a large crop of important discoveries and 
 inventions were made about the time that canals began to be gene- 
 rally used as waterways. Robinson's project for working steam 
 locomotives on common roads was put forward the year after 
 Brindley commenced the Bridgwater Canal. In the same year the 
 manufacture of thread and gauze was commenced at Paisley, and 
 Jedediah Strutt made his first improvement on the stocking loom. 
 Two years later Arkwright obtained his first patent for the spinning- 
 frame, and Watt made his first experiments on the power of steam 
 
 * According to the tables in Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' (Book i. 
 chap. xi. ) the average price of wheat between 1637 and 1700 was 2/. iu. o^d. per 
 quarter ; from 1 700 till 1 764 it was 2/. or. 6--.,d. per quarter. 
 
 t Even so late as 1794, Hepburn, in his ' General view of the Agriculture and 
 Economy of East Lothian,' stated that, not long before, not a single bullock 
 was slaughtered in the butcher market at Haddington except at a special time.
 
 ^ke Transportation Problem. 9 
 
 with Papin's digester. It was in 1762 that the production of Wedg- 
 wood ware was first begun, and the same year witnessed a notable 
 development of the linen manufacture of Ireland, while in 1763 
 Hargreaves the weaver produced his spinning- jenny in his house 
 adjoining the print works of the first Sir Robert Peel. These are but 
 a few of the concurrent and collateral movements of the period. Of 
 the measure in which they were aided by internal transport we shall 
 have more to say by and by. 
 
 An examination of the geography of European countries will 
 disclose the fact that the United Kingdom is almost unique in 
 regard to its possession of a magnificent coast-line, studded with 
 harbours and docks, and approached by a large number of navi- 
 gable rivers, which afford easy communication with the sea. If 
 we compare our facilities with those of Germany, Austria, Belgium, 
 Holland, Italy, or indeed any other European country, we cannot 
 fail to be struck with their enormous superiority. Scarcely any part 
 of the United Kingdom is more than a hundred miles distant from a 
 good harbour. In many European countries there are important 
 towns that are very much further, while some countries, like Switzer- 
 land, have no seaboard at all, and others, like Austria, besides having 
 very few ports worthy of the name, are landlocked on more sides than 
 one. 
 
 Again, let us look at the recent history of European politics. Do 
 we not find that a more extensive seaboard is the ruling passion of 
 such nations as Germany and Russia, whose outlets are few and in- 
 convenient ? The half-suspected designs of Germany upon Holland, 
 and of Russia upon Turkish and Chinese territory, have been mainly 
 ascribed to this ambition. To obtain such an outlet for the Asiatic 
 part of her dominions, Russia is at the present moment laying down 
 a railway across Siberia, which will give her a closer connection with 
 China than the Chinese seem to care for, and is likely, in the opinion 
 of some shrewd politicians, to eventuate in her obtaining possession 
 of a large slice of the Celestial Empire. The neutralisation of certain 
 prominent waterways is, moreover, regarded as a matter of so much 
 importance, that costly and protracted wars have been undertaken 
 with a view to that end, nor would it be difficult to trace a connection 
 between the passion for more ports and the costly armaments which 
 have now for many years threatened the peace and impoverished the 
 resources of Europe. 
 
 Nevertheless, with a command of the sea that makes us at once
 
 io Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 the envy and the despair of rival nations, and has placed our shipping 
 supremacy on such a pinnacle of power and prosperity as the world 
 has never before been acquainted with,* we still require to pay more 
 for reaching our ports, relatively to the distance traversed, than any 
 other nation in Europe, and very much more than either the United 
 States of North America, or our own possessions of India and 
 Canada. It is not too much to say that if we possessed the same 
 transportation rates as some of these countries, our trade with the 
 rest of the world would be much greater than it is ; while if we had 
 the same distances to traverse as in these countries, at the existing 
 railway rates of our own, competition in neutral markets with the 
 low-rate countries of the Continent would be impossible. 
 
 In making these statements we impute no blame and make no 
 reflections. We are only concerned to state the simple truth. It 
 may be that the railway companies in this country cannot afford to 
 carry goods at cheaper rates. That is their look-out. They have un- 
 doubtedly incurred vast expense in providing the most ample and the 
 most admirable facilities of transport, short of the all-important item 
 of its cost. In no other country do we find such a splendid service. 
 No other country has better roads nor more capable administration, 
 nor quicker and more reliable dispatch, nor greater conveniences for 
 traffic of all kinds. Unfortunately, also, in no other country have 
 the railways been so costly ; so that for the same volume of traffic 
 English railways require to have higher rates, in order that the charges 
 on capital may be met.| But why should trade suffer, and freighters 
 find themselves in extremis, because British railways have made cheap 
 rates all but impossible ? There is sure to arrive, sooner or later, a 
 point which in England is seldom far distant when railway rates 
 become prohibitive. That point has almost been reached when traffic 
 can be delivered in England from the heart of Belgium at 5-r. per ton, 
 as compared with IQJ. and i2s. per ton for railway transport between 
 the Midlands and the metropolis. The real question now is Can 
 nothing be done to remedy this state of things, not in a spirit of 
 hostility to the railways, which may have done their best, but with a 
 
 * The writer has shown, in articles published in the Times on January 5th, 
 1887, and again on January 2nd, 1888, what are the extent and the distinguishing 
 features of this supremacy. 
 
 t The average cost per mile of the railways in England and Wales is about 
 5o,ooo/., as against I2,7oo/. in the United States, 21,000!. in Germany, 25,3oo/. 
 in Belgium, 27,5OO/. in France, and 2o,ooo/. in Holland.
 
 The Transportation Problem. 1 1 
 
 view to the preservation and increased development of British trade 
 and industry ? The nation is either hopelessly at the mercy of railway 
 boards, or it is not. Our trade and manufactures are either com- 
 pelled to pay every year an undue proportion of their hard earned 
 receipts to railway shareholders, or they are not. If they are not if 
 there is a way of escape from this bondage it is well that the nation 
 should know what it is, and how best to take advantage of it. This 
 is mainly the purpose of some of the chapters which follow. 
 
 Up to the period of the first Canal Acts, English waterways were 
 under the control of the State, or of authorities appointed by the 
 State for the conservancy of navigation ; and that such an arrangement 
 was, on the whole, not without its advantages, is proved by the 
 fact already referred to, viz. : that in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century the advantages with regard to water carriage enjoyed by 
 England enabled her to outstrip other countries in the development 
 of her manufactures. With the construction of the first canal began 
 the era of private enterprise in respect of inland navigation, which 
 owes its existence, as it is hardly necessary to remark here, to the 
 genius of Brindley, and to the unflagging determination of the Duke of 
 Bridgwater whose efforts in the. cause of progress were, like those 
 of Stephenson, and the pioneers of railway enterprise after them, at 
 first strenuously opposed by the public, and almost entirely neglected 
 by the State. 
 
 The turning point of public opinion, as regards both canals and 
 railways, was the discovery that money might be made out of them. 
 Brindley's grand project of uniting the four great ports of Liverpool, 
 Hull, Bristol, and London by a system of main waterways from which 
 subsidiary branches might be carried to the contiguous towns, had 
 been, to a large extent, successfully accomplished at the end of the 
 first quarter of the present century, and when canals began to pay 
 dividends, the nation began to admit their public utility. In a very 
 few years after Brindley's death in 1772, an immense number of 
 navigation Acts received the sanction of Parliament, canals began to 
 be freely quoted "on 'Change," and, in 1790, "the canal mania" 
 began.* The Gazette of August, 1792, contained notices of eighteen 
 new canals, and the premiums of single shares in companies had 
 reached such figures as 1557. (Leicester), 3507. (Grand Trunk and 
 Coventry), and ii7o/. (Birmingham). Canals began to be used for 
 passenger traffic; and we read in the Times of igth December, 1806, 
 * See a paper read before the British Association at Birmingham, 1887.
 
 1 2 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 of troops being despatched from London to Liverpool by the 
 Paddington Canal, en route for Ireland, a mode of transport which the 
 writer pointed out would enable them to reach Liverpool " in only 
 seven days!" In the four years ending 1794, some 81 canal 
 and navigation Acts were obtained, of which 45 were passed in the 
 latter two years, authorising an expenditure of over 5,ooo,ooo/. No 
 less than i,2oo,ooo/. was spent upon the construction of the 130 miles 
 of waterway connecting Liverpool, by way of Skipton, with the Aire 
 and Calder at Leeds (a work begun in 1770, but not completed till 
 41 years afterwards) ; and when the last canals in England were com- 
 pleted, in 1830, the total amount that had been expended upon our 
 waterways was about i4,ooo,ooo/. Out of some 210 rivers in England 
 and Wales, 44 in England have hitherto been made navigable.* 
 The Thames, the Severn, and the Mersey are connected by 
 648 miles of river and canal, the Thames and Humber by 537 miles, 
 the Severn and Mersey by 832 miles, and the Mersey and Humber 
 by 680 miles; the Fen waters have an extent of 431 miles, and the 
 remaining canals of England and Wales amount to 1204 miles.! This 
 fine system of waterways, with a total length of 4332 miles, furnishes 
 no less than 21 through routes for traffic between London and the 
 manufacturing districts, but, as it is scarcely necessary to observe, a 
 very large portion of it has ceased to be of any practical value, while 
 the utility of that which is still available to the public is constantly 
 diminishing, through the neglect due to the impoverished condition 
 of many of the canal companies and other causes. 
 
 In the eyes of engineers, the defects of natural geography were 
 made to be corrected by their skill, experience, and ingenuity. 
 Peninsulas and isthmuses, whether large or small, appear to be 
 designed only for the purpose of being pierced with artificial water- 
 ways. Hydraulic engineers are the high priests of science, whose 
 mission it is to publish the banns of marriage between seas and 
 oceans, and complete the nuptials in a way that no man may put 
 asunder. By their sacerdotal functions, the Mediterranean has been 
 married to the Red Sea, the Caspian to the Black Sea, the North 
 Sea to the Atlantic, the Adriatic to the Archipelago, and the Atlantic 
 almost to the Pacific, while we have seen many unions of less 
 distinguished members of the great maritime family. The importance 
 of these alliances to the trade, the wealth, the intercourse, the facility 
 
 * Report of House of Lords Committee on Conservancy Boards, 1877. 
 t Report of Select Committee on Canals, 1883.
 
 The Transportation Problem. 13 
 
 of intercommunication, and the general convenience of the world, not 
 to speak of strategical and political considerations, affecting individual 
 nations, can hardly be over-estimated. But much still remains to be 
 done. The high contracting parties are in some cases coy and 
 bashful, requiring more effective wooing before they can be won. 
 The prospective matchmakers must not forget that 
 
 "It's not so much the lover who woos 
 As the gallant's way of wooing." 
 
 There is a personal history belonging to the development of 
 canal navigation of a much more engrossing interest than can usually 
 be claimed for so unromantic a type of institutions. The annals of 
 that history extend over many centuries. They reach back even to 
 the times of ancient Egypt, the cradle of the sciences, and were con- 
 temporaneous with the building of the Pyramids. Menes, who lived 
 2320 years before the Christian era, constructed water courses, which 
 were simply canals, for carrying off the superfluous waters that 
 reduced the greater part of Egypt in his time to the condition of an 
 extensive marsh.* Sesostris, 1659 B.C., undertook the cutting and 
 embanking of canals on a more extensive scale, carrying them at right 
 angles with the Nile, as far as from Memphis to the sea, for the quick 
 conveyance of corn and merchandise.! Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus) 
 completed a canal, which had been commenced and continued by 
 several previous sovereigns, and which is said \ to have afforded a 
 connection with the sea ; while even at this early date, gates or 
 sluices were constructed, which opened to afford a passage through 
 the Egyptian canal to the sea.|| 
 
 In Roman times, again, Julius Caesar, Caligula, and Nero were 
 canal-makers, having each in his day attempted to unite the Ionian 
 Sea with the Archipelago, through the isthmus of Corinth an under- 
 taking which is only in our own day being consummated. The emperor 
 Trajan was also greatly interested in canals, as his correspondence 
 with Pliny proves, while all the principal Roman consuls and 
 generals appear to have possessed some knowledge of hydraulics, and 
 applied that knowledge to useful purpose. 
 
 Charlemagne attempted to unite the Rhine with the Danube, and 
 to establish water communication between the German Ocean and 
 the Black Sea. Leonardo da Vinci was equally great as a canal- 
 
 * Herodotus, lib. ii. c. Mix. t Diodorus Siculus, lib. i. c. iv. 
 
 t Strabo, lib. xvii. Diodorus Siculus, lib. i. c. i. 
 
 || Cresy's ' Encyclopaedia of Civil Engineering,' c. iv.
 
 14 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 maker and a painter, having constructed some of the earliest canals 
 in Italy. The Doges of Venice, " the City in the Sea," naturally 
 paid much attention to the same subject, which was, indeed, essential 
 to their convenience, security, and prosperity. 
 
 It is to the credit of many of the sovereigns of France that they 
 have sought to promote the security and welfare of their country by 
 similar means. Henry II. employed Adam de Crapone, about 1555, 
 to cut the Canal of Charolais ; and Henry IV. continued the work. 
 Louis XIV. engaged an Italian to construct one of the greatest of the 
 French canals that of Languedoc, which is elsewhere referred to. 
 In more recent times Napoleon Buonaparte and Napoleon III. have 
 interested themselves actively on behalf of canal navigation ; and.it 
 appears to have been by a mere chance that the latter did not 
 become a canal administrator in Central America, where he took 
 a keen interest in the proposed ship canal across the isthmus of 
 Nicaragua. 
 
 If we cast our eyes over the rest of the European Continent we 
 shall find that wherever artificial waterways have been provided, 
 Royal or Imperial encouragement has assisted in the operation. 
 Peter the Great and Catherine attached the utmost importance to 
 the development of Russia by this means. In Sweden, Gustavus 
 Vasa and his successors were equally solicitous, in a country full 
 of natural waterways, that these should be utilised and connected by 
 artificial means. 
 
 A system that has been instrumental in giving to Europe such 
 towns as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Venice, which has facilitated 
 the progress of commerce in a hundred different directions, which 
 was practically the only means of transport for nearly a century in 
 all the chief countries of the world, and which still makes provision 
 for the interchange of commodities at a cheaper rate than any other ; 
 which has involved the expenditure of hundreds of millions, and has 
 found employment for vast numbers of well-remunerated employes ; 
 which abridges distance and time, and brings into closer contact 
 different districts and countries, seas and oceans ; which has engaged 
 the attention of the greatest potentates and princes of recorded 
 history, and has in all times been deemed a fit subject for the exercise 
 of kingcraft ; which, in our more prosaic age, brings us cheap food, 
 cheap coal, and cheap commodities generally such a system is one 
 that can hardly be lightly esteemed, even now, notwithstanding that 
 its waning light has been eclipsed by the brilliance of that other
 
 The Transportation Problem, 1 5 
 
 system which has been so marked a development of our nineteenth 
 century civilisation. 
 
 Canal engineering, besides, has a very remarkable record, and 
 has achieved many notable triumphs. These have hardly received 
 the attention to which their importance entitles them. It is true 
 that no canal has been carried, like the Callao, Lima, and Oroya 
 railroad, in Peru, to the height of nearly sixteen thousand feet above 
 the level of the sea.* It has, however, on the Languedoc and other 
 canals been found easily feasible to carry a canal to a height of 600 to 
 1000 ft. above the sea. Canal engineers have not, perhaps, pierced 
 the Alps with a tunnel ten miles in length, as on the Saint- 
 Gothard Railway ; but they have carried a tide-water canal from the 
 Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and they have essayed to perform the 
 same feat through the Cordillera. Hydraulic engineering has, next 
 to railway engineering, been the most remarkable manifestation of 
 the applied science of modern times, and in canal construction it has 
 attained some of its most successful results. 
 
 Sufficient credit, moreover, has hardly been given to the canal 
 system for the important part which it has taken in opening up the 
 resources of different countries, and thereby bringing about the 
 remarkable development of commerce and industry which has been 
 so marked a feature of our own times. The Act for the construction 
 of the Bridgwater Canal was obtained in 1759, previous to which 
 time the internal commerce of the country, as we have seen, was 
 carried on by pack-horses or waggons, on common turnpike-roads. 
 Mr. Wood has calculated f that the average cost of conveying heavy 
 goods on macadamised turnpike-roads by this system was 8^. per 
 mile, while light goods cost is. per ton per mile. As that calculation 
 applies to a time when wages, fodder, and other items involved in 
 the expense of such transport, were lower than now, it is a fair 
 assumption that it will be at least as much to-day, and for facility of 
 reckoning we may take the average at the convenient and fairly 
 likely figure of 10^. per ton per mile over all. Now, the total quan- 
 tity of merchandise carried on the railways of the United Kingdom 
 in 1887 was about 269 millions of tons. No evidence exists as to 
 the total mileage over which this vast tonnage was carried, or, as it 
 
 * The railway starts from Callao at a height of 448 ft. above sea level, and at 
 104^ miles distance it passes through the summit tunnel at a height of 15,645 ft. 
 above that level. 
 
 t ' Practical Treatise on Railroads,' third edition, p. 684.
 
 1 6 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 is expressed in railway phraseology, of the ton-mile traffic. But if 
 we assume that the average charge for traffic carried by railway in 
 1887 was id. per ton per mile, the total movement would be repre- 
 sented by the enormous figure of 8962 millions of ton-miles. To have 
 carried the same traffic under the system of transport that preceded 
 the canals would have been impossible, but it would have cost the 
 country, if it had been practicable, no less a sum than 373^ millions 
 sterling, which is about one-third of the estimated amount of our 
 national income from all sources. But this, after all, is not the most 
 curious part of the calculation. In order to understand how impos- 
 sible our present transport system would have been under the old 
 regime, we must assume that a horse is capable, under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, of carrying one ton about ten miles a day. Working for 
 300 days a year, therefore, he would be able to carry a total weight 
 of about 3000 tons one mile in the course of twelve months. To 
 undertake the same work as that performed by our railways would 
 therefore require close on three million horses, or, practically, the 
 whole of the horses that exist in the United Kingdom at the present 
 time, for every purpose, including agriculture. 
 
 It was while we were depending exclusively upon this expensive 
 and tedious system of conveyance, when the internal development of 
 the country was rendered all but impossible by the heavy expense of 
 bringing produce to the sea, and when our export trade was conse- 
 quently of the most restricted dimensions, that canals came to the 
 rescue. They worked a marvellous change in the trade of the country 
 a change which can, perhaps, be best illustrated by the ordinarily 
 dry, but in this case almost thrilling, returns of our exports and imports. 
 Burke, in one of his greatest speeches,* spoke of a total exportation 
 of the value of 14^ millions, and a total importation of 9^ millions 
 sterling, as an index of extraordinary prosperity. In another equally 
 great oration | he said, speaking of the fact that we were then ex- 
 porting rather over six millions a year to our colonies, that " when 
 we speak of the commerce with our colonies, fiction lags after truth ; 
 invention is unfruitful, and imagination cold and barren." What 
 would he have said had he lived to see, as we have done, our exports 
 reach the vast total of 250 millions a year, with nearly 90 millions 
 of exports to our colonies ? Canals certainly did not complete this 
 
 * Observations on a late publication 'The Present State of the Nation,' 
 Bohn's series, vol. i. p. 198. 
 
 t Speech on conciliation with America, ibid., pp. 461-62.
 
 The Transportation Problem. i 7 
 
 revolution, but they had a very important share in giving it a start. 
 Between the time when the canal system was commenced, about 1760, 
 and the end of the first canal period, which may be put at 1838, 
 the export trade of the country advanced from 14 millions to about 
 50 millions per annum. This is poor progress, compared with what 
 has since been attained, through the development of the steamship, 
 the railway, the telegraph, and other modern adjuncts of commerce, 
 but it was deemed as remarkable for that day as we consider our 
 subsequent progress to be in ours. 
 
 It is practically impossible to arrive at a correct estimation of the 
 tonnage of goods of different kinds that goes to make up the inland 
 and the external trade of this country. We know that the railways 
 of the United Kingdom annually carry about 280 millions of tons 
 of minerals and merchandise (according to the Board of Trade 
 returns), but a considerable part of this tonnage is duplicated, in 
 consequence of passing over more than one railway. Of the 
 total tonnage carried by railway, the greater part probably 
 goes no farther. It is consumed on the spot, like the coal traffic 
 of London and the minerals supplied to our great ironmaking 
 centres. But a very much larger quantity is carried from inland 
 centres to seaports, and thence shipped for places of consumption at 
 home and abroad. The coastwise carrying trade of the United 
 Kingdom is now represented by 60 million tons a year. The foreign 
 shipping trade amounts to over 70 million tons a year. Only a 
 comparatively small proportion of these quantities is consumed at 
 the ports of shipment. The greater part is carried farther by railway, 
 thus breaking bulk twice once in moving it from the ship to the rail- 
 way wagon, and again in removing it from the railway wagon. Much 
 of it has to be carried from the ship in barges, and thence transferred 
 to the railway. All this means loss of time, loss of money, and deteri- 
 oration of quality, which adequate water facilities should do much to 
 obviate. 
 
 There is no class of property that has undergone a more remark- 
 able range of vicissitudes than canal ownership. In the early years 
 of the present centuiy, the value of canal companies' shares was much 
 higher than that of any railway property has been since that time. 
 The price of some canal shares rose to a hundred times their nominal 
 or par value. Enormous dividends were often paid. In other cases, 
 where the navigation had been neglected, the properties were very 
 lightly esteemed, and yielded unsatisfactory results. The Fossdyke
 
 1 8 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Navigation in Lincolnshire was leased about 1840, by the Corporation 
 of Lincoln, to a Mr. Elison for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, 
 at 75/. a year ! Six years later the executors of the lessee leased it 
 to the Great Northern Railway Company for 95 75/.* The Lough- 
 borough Canal shares, which were once worth 45oo/., are now scarcely 
 worth ioo/. ; and a still more notable decline is that of the Erewash 
 Canal, whose shares, now quoted at about 5o/., were once worth fully 
 3ooo/. 
 
 There are three great epochs in the modern history of canal 
 navigation, each marked by characteristics peculiar to itself, and 
 sufficiently unlike those of either of the others to enable it to be 
 readily differentiated. They may be thus described : 
 
 1. The era of waterways, designed at once to facilitate the 
 transport of heavy traffic from inland centres to the seaboard, and to 
 supersede the then existing systems of locomotion the wagon and 
 the pack-horse. This era commenced with the construction of the 
 Bridgwater Canal between 1766 and 1770, and terminated with the 
 installation of the railway system in 1830. 
 
 2. The era of interoceanic canals, which was inaugurated by the 
 completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, and is still in progress. 
 
 3. The era of ship-canals intended to afford to cities and towns 
 remote from the sea, all the advantages of a seaboard, and especially 
 that of removing and despatching merchandise without the necessity 
 of breaking bulk. 
 
 The second great stage in the development of canal transport is 
 of comparatively recent origin. It may, in fact, be said to date only 
 from the time when the construction of a canal across the Isthmus 
 of Suez was proved to be not only practicable as an engineering 
 project, but likewise highly successful as a commercial enterprise. 
 Not that this was by any means the first canal of its kind. On the 
 contrary, as we have shown elsewhere, the ancients had many 
 schemes of a similar kind in view across the same isthmus. The 
 canal of Languedoc, constructed in the reign of Louis XIV., was 
 for that day as considerable an undertaking. It was designed for the 
 purpose of affording a safe and speedy means of communication 
 between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean ; it has a total 
 length of 148 miles, is in its highest part 600 ft. above the level of 
 
 * The navigation had, however, been deepened in the interval for drainage 
 purposes, largely at the expense of the Land Drainage Commissioners, which 
 caused a considerable increase of traffic.
 
 The Transportation Problem. 19 
 
 the sea, and has in all 114 locks and sluices. In Russia, canals had 
 been constructed in the time of Peter the Great, for the purpose of 
 affording a means of communication between the different inland 
 seas that are characteristic of that country. The junction of the 
 North and Caspian Seas, of the Baltic and the Caspian, and the 
 union of the Black and the Caspian Seas, had all been assisted 
 by the construction of a series of canals which were perhaps without 
 parallel for their completeness a century ago. In Prussia a vast 
 system of inland navigation had been completed during the last 
 century, whereby Hamburg was connected with Dantzic, and the 
 products of the country could be exported either by the Black 
 Sea or by the Baltic. In Scotland the Forth and Clyde Canal, 
 and the Caledonian Canal, were notable examples of artificial 
 navigation designed to connect two seas, or two firths that had all 
 the characteristics of independent oceans ; and the Erie Canal, in the 
 United States, completed a chain of communication between inland 
 seas of much the same order. 
 
 But, although a great deal had been done in the direction of 
 facilitating navigation between different waters by getting rid of the 
 " hyphen " by which they were separated anterior to the date of 
 the Suez Canal, this grand enterprise undoubtedly marked a notable 
 advance in the progress of the world from this point of view. The 
 work was at once more original and more gigantic than any that had 
 preceded it so much so that in this country, as we have elsewhere 
 shown, it was generally discredited. Probably no other canal pre- 
 viously constructed had cost anything like the same large sum 
 that was set aside for that of Suez. The canal of Languedoc, con- 
 structed in the seventeenth century, is stated to have cost fourteen 
 millions of livres. The Erie Canal had cost fivemillion seven hun- 
 dred thousand dollars (1,140,0007.). The Caledonian Canal cost 
 1,035, 46o/. The Amsterdam Canal cost about the same amount. 
 The Suez Canal, however, was estimated to cost 8,ooo,ooo/. to 
 io,ooo,ooo/., or nearly ten times as much as the largest canals con- 
 structed up to that time. Nowadays this would not be regarded as a 
 large sum for such a purpose. We have got accustomed to big figures. 
 A hundred millions sterling is not an uncommon capital for a railway 
 company. The Manchester Canal, only some thirty miles long, is 
 estimated to cost about eight millions sterling, and more than sixty 
 millions have been sunk at Panama. But so little faith was felt in 
 the success of the Suez Canal, with such a large expenditure, that it 
 
 C 2
 
 2o Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 was seriously maintained in the " Edinburgh Review " that, " were it to 
 become the great highway of nations between the West and the East 
 even the Gates of the East, as it has been the fashion to call it 
 and were all the local advantages predicted for Egypt to be derived 
 from it, still, on account of the enormous expense of construction and 
 maintenance, it would not pay." 
 
 While these views were entertained about a waterway that pro- 
 mised to become the general and almost exclusive means of com- 
 munication between the West and the East, between Great Britain 
 and her Austr. lasian and Indian possessions, it is not much a matter 
 for surprise that other projects of a similar character remained in 
 abeyance. But the Suez Canal once completed and successful, other 
 ship canal schemes came " thick as autumnal leaves in Vallombrosa." 
 Several of these were eminently practical, as well as practicable. 
 The Hellenic Parliament determined on cutting through the tongue 
 of land which is situated between the Gulfs of Athens and Lepantus, 
 known as the Isthmus of Corinth. This isthmus divides the Adriatic 
 and the Archipelago, and compels all vessels passing from the one 
 sea to the other to round Cape Matapan, thus materially lengthening 
 the voyages of vessels bound from the western parts of Europe to 
 the Levant, Asia Minor and Smyrna. The canal is now an accom- 
 plished fact. Another proposal was that of cutting a canal from 
 Bordeaux to Marseilles, across the South of France, a distance of 
 some 120 miles, whereby these two great ports would be brought 1678 
 miles nearer to each other, and a further reduction, estimated at 
 800 miles, effected in the distance between England and India. The 
 Panama Canal (projected in 1871, and actually commenced in 1880) 
 is, however, the greatest enterprise of all, and in many respects the 
 most gigantic and difficult undertaking of which there is any record. 
 The proposed national canal from sea to sea, proposed by Mr. 
 Samuel Lloyd and others for Great Britain, the proposed Sheffield 
 Ship Canal, the proposed Irish Sea and Birkenhead Ship Canal, and 
 the proposed ship canal to connect the Forth and the Clyde, are but a 
 few of many notable examples of the restlessness of our times in this 
 direction. All these canals are intended to economise time and 
 space, which has become the greatest desideratum of our age. By 
 fulfilling this mission they facilitate commerce, cheapen the cost of 
 commodities, bring nations into closer touch, and materially lengthen 
 the sum of work and knowledge that can be crowded into the 
 average span of human life.
 
 The Transportation Problem. 2 1 
 
 We are now in the very throes of the revolution that appears to 
 be destined, before it closes, to secure for most of the great inland 
 centres of population a large share of the advantages that result from 
 being on the seaboard. The location of many of our large towns is 
 difficult to understand. Their prosperity, in spite of their location, 
 is still more unintelligible, on the first blush. Very few of our great 
 cities are on the seaboard. London is over 60 miles from the Nore. 
 Paris is 227^ miles from the sea at Havre, and Berlin, Vienna, and 
 Madrid are each over or nearly 200 miles. In England we have such 
 towns as Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, and Birmingham, situated at 
 long distances from shipping facilities, and flourishing in spite of that 
 disadvantage. But the fact has been recognised as a disadvantage, 
 none the less. Manchester, less unfavourably situated than some of 
 the towns we have named, has resolved to "burst its birth's invidious 
 bar " by the construction of the ship canal that is now being proceeded 
 with. Sheffield has initiated a project with the same end in view. 
 The people of Birmingham and the Midlands generally appear to 
 have made up their minds to have direct communication with the 
 Bristol Channel. In regard to all of these towns canal facilities of 
 an inferior kind already exist. These, however, are now held to be 
 quite unequal to the demands of modern commerce. They do not 
 give to any town the position of a seaport, and that is the main 
 requirement. The time has gone past when barges of forty or fifty 
 tons, plying on a canal 60 to 80 feet wide, could be seriously put 
 forward as contributing essentially to this end. The canal system 
 of a hundred years ago has been put to the trial, and has been 
 found wanting. We now carry millions where we then carried 
 hundreds and thousands of tons. 
 
 The great commercial characteristics of our time are to have 
 things done on a large scale, with the utmost practicable facility, and 
 at the lowest possible cost. The existing canal system is quite out 
 of touch with these desiderata. It "cumbereth the ground," and 
 must be got rid of. But the waterways that still survive may in 
 many cases be made the nucleus of a new and better system, under 
 which the great inland towns of Lancashire, Staffordshire, and York- 
 shire may find their lines cast in more satisfactory maritime places. 
 
 There are not a few people who regard the canal system almost 
 as they might regard the Dodo and the Megatherium. It is to them 
 an effete relic of a time when civilisation was as yet but imperfectly 
 developed. It is placed on the shelf of their memories and sym-
 
 22 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 pathies much as the old handloom, or the earliest forms of metal- 
 lurgical processes, might be j and if by accident an old canal happens 
 to cross their path, it is regarded with the same sort of curiosity as 
 would be bestowed upon the Great Wall of China or the Pyramids of 
 Egypt. 
 
 Canals do, indeed, belong to the past. In this respect they are 
 entitled to be regarded with interest, and even with veneration. The 
 Cnidians, according to Herodotus, the Boetians, according to Strabo, 
 the Babylonians, according to Ptolemy, and the Romans, according 
 to Pliny, were all skilled in the art of canal-making, and employed 
 their skill to good purpose. From those times until these the water- 
 ways of art have supplemented those of nature as handmaidens of 
 trade and commerce, as fertilisers of the soil, and as military and 
 strategical highways. That canals also belong to the present, Egypt, 
 the American isthmus, Manchester, Corinth, and other places, fully 
 prove; and, unless we greatly err, they are no less the heritage of 
 the future.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ENGLISH RIVERS. 
 
 " Rivers, arise ; whether them be the son 
 Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulphy Don, 
 Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads 
 His thirty arms along the indented meads ; 
 Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath ; 
 Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death ; 
 Or rocky Avon, or of sedgy Lee ; 
 Or coaly Tine, or ancient hallowed Dee ; 
 Or Humber loud, that keeps the Cythian's name ; 
 Or Medway smooth, or royal-towered Thame." Milton. 
 
 ONE of the earliest pioneers of inland navigation was Wm. Sandys, 
 of Ombersley Court, in Worcestershire, who, in 1636, applied for 
 Parliamentary powers to make the river Avon navigable for boats 
 and barges, from the Severn at Tewkesbury to the city of Coventry. 
 Part of the work which was executed in pursuance of the powers so 
 obtained exists to the present time. In 1661 Sandys sought for 
 Parliamentary authority to make the Salwarp navigable from the 
 Severn to his own town of Droitwich, and to make navigable the 
 'rivers Wye and Lug, and the brooks running into the same in the 
 counties of Hereford, Gloucester, and Monmouth. 
 
 Our great rivers, the Thames, Severn, Trent, Ouse, &c., were 
 the recognised means of transit long before the time of the Romans, 
 who were so far advanced in inland navigation as to cut canals of 
 forty miles in length, as instanced in the Caerdyke, between Peter- 
 borough and Lincoln (though now filled up), as also to build docks, 
 as shown in the old dock walls, &c., still standing at the outfall of 
 the Trym into the Avon below Bristol. 
 
 The Fossdyke navigation from Lincoln to the Trent is also of 
 Roman origin, and probably an extension of the Caerdyke, on their 
 route to York. Torksey, at the junction with the Trent, was a 
 Roman town and fort, and continued possessed of many privileges, 
 down to the Norman period, on condition that the knights who held 
 it should carry the King's Ambassadors, as often as they came that
 
 24 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 way, down the Trent in their own barges, and conduct them to York. 
 This is recorded in ' Domesday Book.' Itchin Dyke to Winchester 
 was also cut by the Romans. 
 
 It is usual to date the first beginning of canal navigation in 
 England from the time when Brindley constructed the famous canal 
 between Worsley and Salford for the Duke of Bridgwater. This, 
 no doubt, was the first important artificial navigation throughout. 
 But Sandys had practically undertaken canal construction about a 
 hundred years before. The Act of Parliament which sanctioned the 
 various enterprises that he had projected, authorised him to construct 
 new channels, and to set up, in convenient places, " locks, wears, 
 turnpikes, penns for water, cranes, and wharfs, to lay timber, coals, 
 and all other materials that shall be brought down ; " to have and use 
 " a certain path, not exceeding four feet in breadth, on either side of 
 the said rivers and passages," for the " towing, pulling, or drawing-up 
 of their barges, boots, leighters, and other vessels passing and re- 
 passing them, or any part of them, by strength of men, horses, lines, 
 ropes, winches, engines, or other means convenient ; " and "to dig, 
 carry, trench, or cut, or make any trench, river, or new channel, or 
 wharf," &c., after having arranged with the "respective Lords, 
 owners, or occupiers of the said lands." * 
 
 Sandys, however, did not succeed in carrying out the intended 
 navigation between the cities of Hereford and Bristol as he pro- 
 posed. He attempted to make the Wye navigable by locks and weirs 
 on the pound-lock system, which did not suit its rapid current. The 
 enterprise was accordingly abandoned, after a trial of several 
 years. 
 
 In 1688 the project of making the Wye navigable was revived. 
 It was now proposed to abandon the pound-lock system, to purchase 
 and remove all the mill-weirs and fishing-weirs between Hay, in 
 Herefordshire, and the sea, and to deepen the channels of the 
 shallow streams. The weir-owners rose in opposition to these pro- 
 posals, and for several years the subject was the occasion of a bitter 
 controversy. When the Bill was applied for in 1695, the city of 
 Hereford, and thirty-two parishes in the county, petitioned in its 
 favour ; while the towns of Ross and Monmouth, and thirteen parishes, 
 petitioned against it. The Bill, however, ultimately became law,f 
 and although, owing to the uncertainty of its depth and current, the 
 Wye was never adapted for regular navigation, it was so far improved 
 
 * A.U. 1661, Anno. 14 Car. Reg. ii. f 7 and 8 Gul. III.
 
 English Rivers. 2 ^ 
 
 that throughout the eighteenth century it was of great service to the 
 county of Hereford.* 
 
 One of the earliest to advocate river improvements in Britain was 
 Andrew Yarranton, an original genius, who had ideas and plans quite 
 a hundred years in advance of his times, f He occupied himself with 
 many different projects designed to effect improvements in means of 
 communication, and in developing the resources of the country 
 generally. At one time serving as a soldier, at another engaged in 
 the manufacture of iron ; now planning how to provide employment 
 for the poor, and again studying how to bring about more economical 
 processes of husbandry, Yarranton made a special hobby of the 
 improvement of navigation, undertaking surveys of the principal 
 rivers in the West of England at his own cost, and urging upon the 
 people the importance of opening up the facilities of communication 
 thereby available to them. 
 
 In 1665 Yarranton proposed to the burgesses of Droitwich to 
 deepen the small river Salwarp, so as to connect that town, now an 
 important centre of the salt industry, with the river Severn. He was 
 offered terms to carry out his plans, but the offer does not appear to 
 have been good enough. J 
 
 In 1666 Yarranton proposed to make the river Stour navigable 
 between Stourport and Kidderminster, and to connect it with the 
 river Trent by a navigable canal. He carried out this work so far as 
 to make the river navigable from Stourbridge to Kidderminster ; but 
 his scheme was not completely adopted for lack of means. He says 
 that he "laid out near iooo/.," and "carried down many hundred 
 tons of coal," although, on account of the novelty of his enterprise, 
 it was greatly ridiculed. At a later date Yarranton proposed to con- 
 nect the Thames and the Severn by means of an artificial cut, " at 
 
 * Papers relating to the History and Navigation of the Rivers Wye and Lug. 
 By John Lloyd, junr. 
 
 t Andrew Yarranton was born in the parish of Astley, Worcestershire, in the 
 year 1616. He wrote a work which is well known to economists, entitled 
 ' England's Improvement by Land and Sea, or How to beat the Dutch without 
 Fighting,' describing observations that he had made during his travels in Holland, 
 Saxony, and other countries. 
 
 \ Smiles states that Yarranton was offered 2507. and eight salt vats at Upwich, 
 valued at 8o/. per annum, with three quarters of aval in Northwich for 21 years, 
 in payment for the work. It is interesting to compare these terms with those on 
 which some of our modern sti earns have been deepened and improved. 
 
 YaiTaiitou's ' Improvement by Land and Sea.'
 
 26 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 the very place where, more than a century after his death, it was 
 actually carried out by modern engineers." * 
 
 Although the proprietors in what was called the "Old Quay 
 Company" had obtained an Act of Parliament in 1733 for improving 
 by weirs and cuts the rivers Mersey and Irwell, between Runcorn 
 and Manchester, the first association incorporated for making a 
 regular navigable canal in England was not till more than twenty 
 years later, six centuries after the first canals in Italy and Flanders, 
 and a hundred years subsequent to some of the chief canals of France 
 being in operation. It is but fair to add that England carried the 
 movement further than most other countries. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter into the history of the development of 
 the navigable resources of the rivers of the United Kingdom during 
 the last two centuries, even if it were possible, which, of course, it is 
 not in a work of this description. The dates when the several 
 principal navigation works were undertaken will be found set out in 
 Appendix I. But we may, nevertheless, bestow some consideration 
 upon the principal steps that have brought about the remarkable 
 facilities that England, Scotland, and, to a less extent, Ireland, 
 respectively enjoy at the present time in the matter of internal 
 transport. The Clyde, the Tyne, the Tees, the Wear, and other 
 prominent English rivers have been transformed from shallow brawl- 
 ing streams, some of them easily fordable at all states of the tide, 
 into magnificent waterways, capable of bearing on their bosoms the 
 largest vessels afloat. This work has necessarily involved great 
 engineering capacity, a large expenditure, and a judicious administra- 
 tion of their powers and resources by the public bodies through whom 
 it has been carried to completion. 
 
 THE MERSEY. 
 
 On the Liverpool side of the Mersey there are sixty docks and 
 basins of the ordinary type, having a total water area of 368 acres 
 and 25 miles of quay berthing. On the Birkenhead side, there are 
 164^ acres of docks, with 9^ miles of quayage, three graving docks, 
 having a total length of 2430 feet, and every facility for loading and 
 unloading ships. 
 
 The total expenditure incurred on this enormous provision for 
 
 * 'Industrial Biography,' by b. Smiles, p. 65.
 
 English Rivers. 27 
 
 shipping has been upwards of twenty millions, and the total annual 
 revenue of the Mersey dock estate is about a million and a half sterling. 
 
 The entire length of the Mersey is 56 miles. For the first 
 37 miles of this distance, the river has a tortuous course, ill-adapted 
 for navigation, and passes through an almost exclusively agricultural 
 country. From Runcorn to the sea, the form of the river is that of 
 a bottle, of which the wide expanse between Runcorn and Liverpool 
 forms the body, and the narrow part opposite Liverpool the neck. 
 Through this neck there annually passes nearly twenty million tons of 
 shipping, including entrances and clearances. 
 
 The unassisted efforts of nature have hitherto maintained the 
 navigable channels of the Mersey, so that the conditions of navigation 
 remain practically uniform. The bar, however, is gradually moving 
 in a seaward direction, while maintaining its general form and 
 characteristics. In Liverpool Bay there is a great range of tide, 
 which insures a depth of at least 30 feet over the bar once in every 
 twelve hours, even on the lowest neaps. Some two or three million 
 cubic yards of upland water every twelve hours are discharged into 
 the estuary, chiefly by the Mersey and the Weaver, which, with 7 1 o 
 million cubic yards on a high spring tide, maintains the normal 
 capacity of the estuary, and counteracts the process of silting. Some 
 17,300 acres of a deposit of sand in the estuary are above the low- 
 water mark. Through this the upland water forms and maintains a 
 channel in its course to the sea, and any serious exclusion of this 
 tidal water would be likely to so far injure the sea channels as to 
 interfere with the trade and shipping of the port. 
 
 The Mersey is the outlet for several important canal navigations, 
 including the Weaver Navigation Canal, near Weston Point, the 
 Bridgwater Canal at Runcorn, the Sankey Canal at Widnes, the 
 Shropshire Union Canal at Ellesmere, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal 
 at the Docks, and the Manchester Ship Canal, now under construc- 
 tion, at Eastham. The position of these several canals in relation to 
 the river may be traced in a map accompanying a paper read by 
 Mr. Lyster, the engineer, before the Institution of Naval Architects. 
 These canals are important factors in assisting the growth of the trade 
 of the Mersey. The Leeds and Liverpool is, however, the only canal 
 that has a direct connection with the Liverpool Docks. 
 
 By this canal Liverpool has water communication with the im- 
 portant town of Leeds, and thence, by the Aire and Calder Canal, 
 with Hull and the other ports on the Humber. By the Shropshire
 
 28 tVafenuays and Water Transport. 
 
 Union Canals the Mersey is connected with the network of canals in 
 the Midland Counties and with the River Severn. 
 
 In Camden's time Liverpool must have been a very obscure 
 place. The author of ' Britannia ' dismisses it almost in a sentence, 
 observing that "from Warrington, the River Mersey, spreading 
 abroad, and straightwaies drawing in himselfe again, with a wide 
 and open outlet, very commodious for merchandise, entereth into 
 the Irish Sea, where Litherpoole, called in the elder ages Lipen-poole, 
 common Lirpoole, is seated, so named, as it is thought, of the water 
 spreading itself in manner of a poole." 
 
 With the exception of the Thames which it rivals, and with 
 which for a number of years past it has run a neck-to-neck race the 
 Mersey is, so far as its volume of business is concerned, the most 
 important river in the world. This, however, is an attainment of 
 comparative modern origin. The first wet dock was constructed at 
 Liverpool, in 1708-9, on the site now occupied by the Custom House. 
 In the latter part of the same century several other docks were con- 
 structed. The dock estate has now an area of 1078 acres, the whole 
 of which is appropriated to basins, docks, quays, and premises worked 
 in connection therewith. 
 
 THE WEAVER. 
 
 The history of the navigation of the river Weaver, which adjoins 
 the Mersey in Cheshire, supplies a notable example of what may be 
 made of an originally insignificant and tortuous stream in order to 
 adapt it for the requirements of commerce. The river has been 
 canalised between Northwich and Chester, twenty miles of the navi- 
 gation being artificial navigation, and the other thirty miles being 
 river proper. 
 
 In 1721 three Cheshire gentlemen obtained the first Act of 
 Parliament for making the river Weaver navigable. The depth then 
 provided for was only 4 feet 6 inches, and boats of more than 40 to 
 50 tons could not enter. 
 
 About the year 1760, the navigation was carried down so as to 
 enable vessels to enter at nearly all tides, and in 1810 the river was 
 further improved by the Weston Canal, which is four miles long, 
 enabling vessels of much deeper draught to enter without navigating 
 a dangerous part of the old river. This canal forms a junction with 
 the Bridgwater Docks at Weston Point, and a dock was formed in 
 connection with it so as to enable vessels to wait for the tide.
 
 English Rivers. 29 
 
 In 1830 the depth was increased to 7 feet 6 inches, with locks 
 88 feet long and 18 feet wide, capable of taking cargoes of 100 to 
 150 tons. There were at this time eleven single locks on the river, 
 not including the entrances to the Mersey. About 1860, a second 
 set of locks, having 10 feet of water on the sills, and 100 feet long 
 by 22 feet wide, was placed by the side of the existing locks, and 
 the number was reduced to nine pairs. The larger size, owing to 
 the vessels being built almost to the shape of the lock, were capable 
 of passing vessels with nearly 320 tons on board. 
 
 This continued until about seventeen years ago, when it was de- 
 cided to replace these locks by some of very much larger dimen- 
 sions, and also to greatly reduce the number. With this object, locks 
 were built at Button and Saltersford near the site of existing locks, 
 and of sufficient height of walls to enable the two ponds above to be 
 thrown into one, thus doing away with the four smaller locks. The 
 same has been done at Hunts, and, more recently, at Valeroyal, above 
 Northwich. The locks at Button and Saltersford are entirely built of 
 masonry, having limestone sills and rubbling courses, with the inter- 
 mediate part sandstone. All the work on the river is of this description, 
 with the exception of the Hunts and Valeroyal large locks, which are 
 built of concrete. 
 
 When these improvements are completed there will be only four 
 locks on the twenty miles of navigation, the larger of each pair of 
 locks being 220 feet long, by 42 feet 6 inches wide, and having 
 15 feet of water on the sills. Most of the river is now dredged to 
 12 feet, there only being lo-feet bars at certain points. The ordinary 
 width is about 95 to 100 feet at water level, and 45 feet at the bottom. 
 More than a million tons of salt annually pass down the Weaver to 
 the Mersey. 
 
 THE TYNE. 
 
 This noble river, from Newcastle to the sea, is one of the 
 greatest triumphs of modern engineering. Good old Camden 
 quaintly remarks, that " where the wall (Roman) and the Tine 
 almost met together Newcastle sheweth itself gloriously, the very eye 
 of all the townes in these parts, ennobled by a notable haven, which 
 Tine maketh, being of that depth that it beareth very tall ships, and 
 also defendeth them, that they can neither easily be tossed with 
 tempests nor driven upon shallows and shelves." * 
 
 * ' Britannia,' Holland's Translation, 1637.
 
 30 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 No better example of what has been done within recent years in 
 the way of providing additional facilities for the wants of British 
 shipping, could be quoted than the case of the Tyne. That river 
 is the natural outlet of the great northern coalfield. It is also the 
 outlet for a very great trade in chemicals, engineering, iron and steel, 
 and other industrial products. But in order to adapt it for the 
 purposes of its large and rapidly-growing commerce, it was necessary 
 not only to provide several docks the more important of which, the 
 Northumberland and the Coble Dene, cost 352,0007. and 528,0007. 
 respectively but it was also requisite to expend over 1,300,0007. in 
 dredging the bed of the river, so as to provide access for the largest 
 size of vessels, to expend nearly three-quarters of a million on other 
 river works, to construct North and South Piers at a cost of over 
 82o,ooo/. ; and to incur a total outlay considerably exceeding 
 4,ooo,ooo/. The effect of these improvements and structural works 
 has been that the Tyne has been transformed from " a series of 
 shoals, with a narrow and generally serpentine channel between and 
 past them, through which vessels of about i5-ft. draught could get up 
 at high-water spring tides, whilst at low-water it was a not uncommon 
 occurrence for small river steamers, drawing from 3 to 4 ft. of water, 
 to be aground on their passage between Shields and Newcastle for 
 three or four hours," to a magnificent navigable highway, that admits 
 vessels of 3000 tons and upwards at all states of the tide with perfect 
 safety. At the time that the great work was commenced, and for 
 many years afterwards, the revenue from shipping dues was quite 
 insufficient to enable any substantial progress to be made, and the 
 trade grew so rapidly that it became imperative to either borrow 
 money in order to carry out the required works, or allow the shipping 
 to seek other ports, where better facilities were provided. The works 
 to the end of 1882 had, therefore, to be chiefly carried out by the aid 
 of borrowed money. As a matter of fact, only 426, ooo/. was ex- 
 pended out of income, while 3,673,0007. was borrowed. The results, 
 however, appear to have justified the course. The annual income 
 from dues and tolls has grown, within twenty years, from 91,0007. to 
 over 251,0007. 
 
 The Tyne Improvement Commission, chiefly under the presidency 
 of Sir Joseph Cowen, have deepened the river to a uniform depth 
 of nearly 30 feet, built training walls, dredged the bar, built new 
 channels, and otherwise revolutionised the old order of things. The 
 results have been extremely striking. In 1888 14,668 vessels, having
 
 English Rivers. 3 1 
 
 a total tonnage of 6,734,000 tons, cleared from the Tyne ports ; while 
 6093 ships, having 1,662,000 tons register, entered the same ports. 
 The people of Tyneside are proud of their river, as well they 
 may be. 
 
 THE RIBBLE. 
 
 Preston is a busy town and port in the county of Lancashire, 
 situated on the river Ribble, about seventeen miles from the sea. 
 The navigation of the port has hitherto been confined to coasting 
 vessels drawing about 14 feet of water. The amount of shipping 
 entering the port has been under 30,000 tons a year. The 
 Ribble rises in the West Riding of Yorkshire, at the east foot oi 
 Whernside, and arrives at Preston after a course of fifty-seven miles 
 With its tributaries it drains about 800 square miles of land, a great 
 part of which is moorland. The annual rainfall over this district 
 averages about 37 inches. Below Preston, the channel of the river 
 opens out into a broad sandy estuary, four or five miles in width, the 
 whole of which is covered at high water of spring-tides, and the 
 greater part of which is dry at low water. The course of the river, 
 after it leaves the trained portion, is along the northern shore of this 
 estuary to Lytham, whence the main navigable channel, called " The 
 Gut," bends in a south-westerly direction between the Salt-house and 
 the Horse-shoe banks to the Irish Sea. The width of the estuary 
 between the two forelands on the coast, Stanner Point on the north, 
 and Southport on the south, is five miles. The sands extend four 
 miles seaward beyond this line, and are uncovered at low water. 
 The depth at low water spring tides on the bar, or the portion of the 
 navigable channel with deep water, is four feet. Beyond this the 
 depth seawards rapidly increases, from 20 feet immediately beyond, 
 till, at the Nelson buoy which is two miles beyond the bar, and the 
 first buoy belonging to the Ribble navigation the depth is six 
 fathoms. The depth above the bar along the Gut channel, which is 
 rather tortuous and narrow, being shown on the Admiralty chart as 
 less than a quarter of a mile wide, varies from 4 to 24 feet. This 
 channel is buoyed out with eight buoys, which are shifted as the 
 channel varies. There are three other channels between Lytham and 
 the sea, called, respectively, the South Channel, the Penfold, and the 
 North Channel. These are more or less navigable; but the Gut 
 is the main sea-fairway. From Lytham a shallow channel runs near 
 the shore for about a mile to " The Dock," where ships can lie at
 
 32 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 anchor. Thence it winds towards the Wage through the sands. 
 This channel is continually shifting its course, owing to gales and 
 freshets. From this point the river has been trained by rubble-stone 
 training walls, put in about thirty-four years ago, which continue for 
 seven miles up to Preston. These walls rise seven feet above low 
 water, and are 300 feet apart at the top. Spring-tides rise 24 feet at 
 the bar, and neaps 17 feet, and at Preston the rise is 10 feet and 
 4 feet 6 inches. The project of constructing a dock at Preston has 
 been agitated for some years, and has been strongly advocated by 
 Mr. Garlick, M.I.C.E., who was the engineer to the Navigation 
 Commissioners. It was considered that by providing deep-water 
 accommodation to the town, its trade and prospects would be greatly 
 increased, having regard to the large manufactories by which it is sur- 
 rounded, the immense population in the immediate neighbourhood, 
 and the nearness of the Wigan coalfield. This work is now in 
 progress, including the division of the river ; the estimated cost being 
 about 440, ooo/. 
 
 THE SEVERN. 
 
 This famous river is navigable up to Welshpool, a distance of 
 155 miles by water, from the mouth of the Bath Avon river. The 
 extreme branch of this river may be traced for about 45 miles 
 above Welshpool, to Plinlimmon Hill, and numerous other branches 
 extend for great distances into the country on both sides. The 
 whole of this great length of navigation was, till lately, unimproved 
 by art, the river having no locks, weirs, or other erections through- 
 out its whole length, for surmounting the numerous shallows and 
 irregularities which the current over variable strata had formed 
 in its bed. The first or lowest 42 miles of this river, extending to 
 the city of Gloucester, are very wide for a great part of the way, and 
 have a most rapid tide; but the last 28 miles are so crooked, that 
 ships are said to be often several days in passing it; on which 
 account, a ship canal, calculated for vessels of 300 tons burthen, 
 was in the year 1793 projected and begun between Glcucester and 
 Berkeley, of 18^ miles in length, for avoiding these 28 miles of the 
 river. From Gloucester to Worcester the distance is 30 miles by 
 the course of the stream, the rise in this length being 10 feet, or at 
 the rate of 4 inches a mile ; from Worcester to Stourport the distance 
 by water is 1 3 miles, and the rise 23 feet, or at the rate of i foot 
 9 inches per mile; from Stourport to Bridgnorth it is 18 miles, and
 
 English Rivers. 33 
 
 the rise 4 if feet, or 2 feet 4 inches per mile on the average ; and 
 from Bridgnorth to the new town at the junction of the Shropshire 
 canal, called Coalport, the distance is about 7 miles, and the rise 
 about 19 feet, being a rate of about 2 feet 8 inches per mile. 
 William Reynolds, the founder of Coalport, caused an account to be 
 daily registered of the depth of the stream in the bed of the Severn 
 at that place, between the yth of October, 1789, and the 2jrd of 
 December, 1800, of which Mr. Telford has given the particulars, 
 except on twelve occasions when the river had overflown its bounds 
 and covered the usual marks (on Sundays during some part of the 
 time), the intervals of frost in which the river was frozen over, and for 
 three short intervals, when, unfortunately, the experiment was by 
 some accident suspended. During all the months of January, in the 
 above period of eleven years, ending the 6th of October, 1800, the 
 river does not appear to have exceeded the depth of 1 6 feet, that 
 being the greatest depth at any time recorded ; and several times, 
 when no depths are inserted to the great floods, it is stated in the 
 table that the water was above all the marks. Besides these, there 
 were thirty-two smaller floods, or times when the water had risen, and 
 was falling again for some days after ; the highest of these had a depth 
 of 13 feet (5th January, 1790), the lowest 4 feet, and the mean of the 
 whole of these floods is 7^ feet In the months of February there 
 were two of these overflowings, one of which (nth February, 1795) 
 followed a frost and continued for five successive days : nineteen 
 floods, the two highest of which were equal (i?th and 2oth February, 
 1799) to 12 feet 
 
 THE WITHAM. 
 
 On the Witham, for a distance of thirty miles, between Boston 
 and Lincoln, the river is practically a canal. The tide is stopped 
 by a sluice at Boston, and a weir and locks had to be constructed 
 at Bardney and Lincoln. The inland water is held up to a constant 
 height on the sill of this sluice by penstocks, for the purposes 
 of the navigation. The navigation having been taken over by 
 the Great Northern Railway Company, the works are maintained 
 in efficient condition ; but the obligation imposed by the original 
 Act of holding up the water seriously affects the drainage. The 
 river Slea, from Sleaford to the Witham, was made into a canal in 
 1792. The navigation on this river having almost entirely ceased, 
 the company was dissolved by an Act of Parliament. The Bane, 
 
 D
 
 34 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 another affluent of the Witham, was also canalised, forming a naviga- 
 tion from the Witham to the town of Horncastle; but the dues 
 obtained are insufficient to maintain the works in proper order. 
 
 THE NENE AND OUSE. 
 
 On the Nene, which is canalised from Peterborough to North- 
 ampton, the navigation is reduced to a few barges. The constant 
 floods on this river are ascribed in a great measure to the defective 
 condition of the works. The proprietors of the navigation, on 
 whom was cast the duty of maintaining the river, no longer have 
 the funds, and there is nobody to take their place. The same thing 
 has occurred on the Ouse between Earith and Bedford. 
 
 On some of the affluents of these rivers, which, under legislative 
 powers granted last century, had been converted into " navigations," 
 the proprietors have obtained Acts of Parliament relieving them of 
 their rights and liabilities, and there is now no jurisdiction over these 
 rivers, or anybody responsible for removing shoals or cutting weeds. 
 The beds of these streams have consequently become shallow, and 
 they are no longer capable of acting as efficient arterial drains. 
 Thus, on the Ivel, an affluent of the Ouse, the navigation trust, created 
 in the reign of George II., was abolished in 1876. The river is said 
 to have since diminished one-half in width, and one-half in depth, and 
 the bottom is being gradually raised to the level of the land. 
 In like manner, the Lark, another canalised affluent, has almost 
 entirely silted up since the navigation of the river ceased. The Ouse 
 itself, above Earith, is obstructed by numerous shoals, and an enormous 
 growth of weeds. These were originally kept down by the constant 
 passage of the vessels, and the shoals were removed by the trustees 
 of the navigation. 
 
 THE TEES. 
 
 The improvements that have been carried out for the purpose 
 of opening up the navigation of the river Tees, although less 
 considerable than those carried out for some of the larger rivers 
 of Great Britain, are yet entitled to take rank as among the most 
 notable river engineering achievements of the century. They are 
 also among the most recent. It was not until 1852 that the Act 
 was passed creating the Tees Navigation Commission. At that 
 time there were three or four channels in the estuary, all of them 
 very shallow. The shifting sandbanks caused great trouble and not 
 a little danger to navigation, and the depth of water near to
 
 English Rivers. 35 
 
 Middlesbro' did not admit of the passage of vessels of large size. 
 Since then, about twenty miles of low water training walls have been 
 erected for the purpose of confining the navigable channel. The 
 volume of water and its scour have thereby been much increased. 
 The river has been continuously dredged in order to secure a depth of 
 water that would allow of the passage of vessels of large tonnage into 
 the Middlesbro' Docks. About 23 million tons of material have 
 been dredged from the bed of the river, and the channel has been 
 generally straightened and widened. Breakwaters have been con- 
 structed on both sides, one of them, called the North Gare, being 
 about two miles and a half long. A remarkable feature of the work 
 is that these breakwaters have been constructed of slag, obtained 
 from the blast-furnaces in the neighbourhood. Some millions of tons 
 of slag have been employed in this way, the ironmasters having paid 
 to the Conservancy Commissioners a small sum for removing the 
 slag, the disposal of which had been a great source of difficulty 
 previous to this application. 
 
 As a result of the works that have been carried out for the 
 improvement of the navigation of the Tees, the shipping trade of the 
 river, and especially of the port of Middlesbro', has greatly increased. 
 The main element in this development has been the growth of the 
 iron industry ; but the second element has undoubtedly been the 
 increased facilities for navigation. The popular impression about 
 Middlesboro' is that only a single house stood in 1830, where there 
 is now a busy town of more than 70,000 inhabitants. This may or 
 may not be a legend, but there is no doubt about the fact that in 
 1850 there were only from two to three feet of depth on the bar of 
 the Tees, where it was possible to wade across at low water ; whereas 
 now there is about 20 feet of water, and a harbour of refuge has been 
 provided in which ships can ride in safety whatever the condition of 
 the usually stormy seas outside. 
 
 THE IRWELL. 
 
 This river has been partly canalised, in order to afford a means 
 of communication between Warrington, Manchester, and other large 
 towns, and Liverpool, but it was only adapted for light craft and 
 has consequently fallen largely into disuse. The Mersey and Irwell 
 Navigation was acquired by the Bridgwater Company, and has now, 
 with the rest of the Bridgwater property, passed under the control 
 of the Manchester Ship Canal Company. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 THE WEAR. 
 
 This river, which has its rise in the district that unites Durham 
 and Westmoreland, falls into the North Sea at Sunderland after a 
 course of thirty miles. The river is under the jurisdiction of the 
 Wear Commissioners from about nine miles from the bar to the sea. 
 Over this distance very considerable improvements have been carried 
 out during the last half century. These improvements have resulted 
 in making the Wear one of the foremost shipbuilding rivers in the 
 United Kingdom, and have given it the second place in the coal- 
 shipping trade. The revenue of the Wear Trust, which only averaged 
 about i4,ooo/. a year between 1840 and 1850, has within recent years 
 amounted to about 130,0007. a year. One of the most extensive 
 works undertaken on the river, besides graving docks, wharves, &c., 
 and the deepening of the bed, was the construction of a lock at the 
 sea outlet, designed to obviate the detention of screw-colliers when 
 waiting for the tide. This lock is 481 feet in length by 90 feet in 
 breadth, and has a depth of 29^ feet at ordinary spring tides. The 
 present docks can accommodate 200 ships of large size, drawing up 
 to 24 feet of water. The area of the docks is over 78 acres, and they 
 are fitted with nineteen coal spouts, at which 15,000 tons of coal can 
 be shipped daily. 
 
 In this chapter we have dealt with a few only of the more notable 
 examples of river improvement in modern times. The list might be 
 almost indefinitely extended. There is hardly a brawling mountain 
 torrent between Land's End and John o' Groat's that has not been 
 reclaimed, deepened, widened, or otherwise improved upon by the 
 art and the genius of the engineer. Nor has the work been confined 
 to modern times. The Romans are known to have constructed em- 
 bankments for the control of British rivers during the period of their 
 occupation, although for something like 1000 years afterwards their 
 example was not followed. The engineers and the local authorities of 
 the nineteenth century have done much to redeem this reproach. The 
 improvement and conservancy of rivers have now been reduced to a 
 science, founded mainly upon the following general principles * : 
 
 i. That the freer the admission of the tidal water, the better is 
 the river adapted for all purposes, whether of navigation, drainage, 
 or fisheries. 
 
 * Address of the President of Section G, British Association Meeting at 
 Dublin, 1878.
 
 English Rivers. 
 
 37 
 
 2. That its sectional area and inclination should be made to suit 
 the required carrying power of the river throughout its entire length, 
 both for the ordinary flow of the water and for floods. 
 
 3. That the downward flow of the upland water should be equalised 
 as much as possible throughout the entire year ; and 
 
 4. That all abnormal contaminations should be removed from 
 the streams. 
 
 Our tidal rivers are undoubtedly one of the chief sources of our 
 maritime supremacy. For this reason it is of the utmost importance 
 that they should be kept in good repair, free from unnecessary 
 obstructions, and well adapted to the purposes of navigation. As it 
 is, however, this is not always the case. The chief reason for existing 
 maladministration, where it exists, is the absence of a uniform 
 system of control. The Thames, for example, has been hitherto 
 controlled partly by the Thames Conservancy and partly by the 
 Metropolitan Board of Works. The Great Sluice, at Boston, in 
 Lincolnshire, was constructed in 1764 by Smeaton, for the purpose 
 of stopping the flow of the tide in the river Witham, and converting 
 the upper part of the river into a fresh-water canal as far as Lincoln. 
 As, however, the control of the river is divided one body dealing 
 with the tidal part from the Grand Sluice to the sea, and the other 
 with the canal and drainage of the land above each opposes the 
 schemes of the other, and the navigation has been ruined.* 
 
 There is one course whereby this condition of things, where it 
 exists, may be prevented. It has been suggested that a new Govern- 
 ment Department should be created, with entire charge of and 
 control over all estuaries and navigable channels, and presided over 
 by a member of the Cabinet. The interests at stake are sufficiently 
 large to justify this.f They are as vital to our commerce and 
 
 * Paper on " River Control and Management," by J. C. Hawkshaw, 'British 
 Association Report for 1878.' 
 
 t The following figures give the tonnage of the entrances and clearances in 
 the foreign trade (including British possessions) of the principal rivers in 1888: 
 
 River. 
 
 Entrances. 
 
 Clearances. 
 
 Total. 
 
 The Thames 
 Mersey 
 
 tons 
 7,471,000 
 5,368,000 
 
 tons 
 5,47I,OOO 
 4..Q4.I .OOO 
 
 tons 
 I2,942,OOO 
 10,309,000 
 
 Clyde (Glasgow only) 
 Tyne 
 
 994,OOO 
 2,8l8,OOO 
 
 1,154,000 
 A,. 3Q2,OOO 
 
 2,148,000 
 7,2IO,OOO 
 
 Tees (Middlesbro* only) . . 
 Humber 
 
 68l,OOO 
 1,897,000 
 
 555,000 
 1,503,000 
 
 1,236,000 
 3,400,000
 
 38 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 industry as any matter now dealt with by the State, affecting our 
 material well-being, and they are every year increasing in extent and 
 importance. As regards the principal rivers the Mersey, the Tyne, 
 the Tees, the Clyde, and the Wear especially they are now con- 
 trolled in accordance with the recommendation made by the Duke of 
 Richmond's Select Committee, that " each catchment area should be 
 placed under a single body of conservators, who should be responsible 
 for maintaining the river, from its source to its outfall, in an efficient 
 state." There are other rivers, however, that are administered rather 
 in the interest of the landed proprietors than in that of navigation, 
 and where these two come into conflict the State should have powers 
 that would enable the public interest, which is both national and 
 international, to be effectually protected. 
 
 The following table gives the area and length of some of the 
 chief rivers of England : 
 
 NORTH-EAST OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Area. Length. 
 
 Miles. Miles. 
 
 Coquet 240 40 
 
 Wansbeck 126 22 
 
 Blyth 131 16 
 
 Tyne 1,130 34 
 
 Wear 45$ 45 
 
 Tees 708 79 
 
 Esk 147 21 
 
 Humber 10,500 
 
 Hull 364 20 
 
 Foulness 133 14 
 
 Derwent 794 64 
 
 Ouse 1,842 40 
 
 Aire and Calder 815 78 
 
 Don 682 57 
 
 Tr^nt 4,052 147 
 
 Ancholme 244 25 
 
 Ludd 139 7 
 
 Withern Eau 189 13 
 
 EAST ANGLIAN RIVERS. 
 
 Area. Length. 
 Miles. Miles. 
 
 Bure 348 45 
 
 Yare , 880 48 
 
 Blyth 79 17 
 
 Aide 109 24
 
 English Rivers. 
 
 39 
 
 Deben 
 Orwell . 
 Stour ., 
 Colne ., 
 Crouch 
 Roding 
 
 Area. 
 Miles. 
 
 153 
 171 
 407 
 
 192 
 
 181 
 317 
 
 Length. 
 Miles. 
 
 27 
 
 16 
 
 45 
 24 
 
 15 
 33 
 
 OTHER RIVERS. 
 
 Withara 
 Welland .. .. 
 
 Nene 
 
 Great Ouse.. 
 Wissey, or Stoke 
 Nar, or Setchy .. 
 
 Area. 
 Miles. 
 
 1,079 
 
 760 
 
 1,077 
 
 2,667 
 
 243 
 
 Length. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 40 
 
 42 
 
 IOO 
 
 143 
 
 28 
 
 25 
 
 Many of the above rivers are not navigable for vessels of any size, 
 and are therefore not of much value to the transportation resources 
 of the country. In the majority of cases, also, the character of the 
 waterways, as regards locality, water-supply, &c., would not justify 
 any large expenditure in adapting them for purposes of transport.
 
 4o Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ENGLISH CANAL SYSTEM. 
 
 " Of famous cities we the founders know, 
 But rivers, old as seas to which they go, 
 Are nature's bounty ; 'tis of more renown, 
 To make a river than to build a town." Waller. 
 
 THE general circumstances under which artificial navigation came 
 to be adopted in our own and other countries have already been set 
 forth to a limited extent We have now to consider the special 
 circumstances that have led to the adoption of particular routes and 
 particular means of transport, as well as to make some attempt to 
 indicate the conditions under which canals may be used with 
 advantage. 
 
 The routes that are provided by canal navigations are usually 
 either local or national local, when they only connect two inland 
 centres ; national, when they afford access from manufacturing or 
 agricultural centres to the sea. In the earlier history of the canal 
 system both of these ends were kept in view. It was just as im- 
 portant to bring raw materials from their place of production to the 
 centres of consumption as to connect the centres of manufacture 
 with the outer world. 
 
 About the middle of the last century, the cost of goods by road, 
 between Manchester and Liverpool, was 40^. per ton ; whilst, by the 
 Mersey and Irwell route, the water rate was i2s. per ton. After 
 the opening of the Bridgwater Canal the cost was reduced to 6s. 
 per ton, and a better service was given than either of the previous 
 routes had afforded. 
 
 Again, the cost of carriage on coal by pack-horse from Worsley to 
 Manchester, which had been 65. to 8s. per ton, was reduced to 2 s. 6d. 
 per ton on the same canal. In fact, the Duke bound himself not to ex- 
 ceed that freight, although the old Mersey and Irwell Company still 
 held to their toll of 35. $d. for all the coal the Duke sent by their route. 
 
 The costs of transports throughout the country were on a similar 
 scale, except where held in check by the river traders, who, whilst
 
 The English Canal System. 4 1 
 
 competing, had still an interest in high freights. From Manchester 
 to Nottingham the charge was over 61. per ton ; to Leicester, over 8/., 
 and so on. These rates were reduced to 2/. and 2/. 6s. %d., respec- 
 tively, after the opening of the Trent and Mersey Canal, which also 
 reduced the cost of transport between Manchester and Hull to less 
 than 2/. per ton, owing to the back-carriage secured from that port, 
 together with the tide service of 80 miles up the Humber and 
 the Trent. 
 
 The real commercial prosperity of England dates from this period 
 of canal development and enterprise. Raw materials, manufactures, 
 and produce, were easily transported at a reasonable cost between 
 Liverpool, Manchester, Staffordshire, Nottingham, and places on 
 the route to Hull and Northern Europe. These advantages were 
 extended to the Severn route by the Staffordshire and Worcestershire 
 Canal Act, which was obtained during the year 1766, and by the 
 navigation of the Soar to Leicester.* 
 
 In 1761 .it was estimated that the quantity of traffic carried 
 between the two great cities of Lancashire Manchester and Liver- 
 pool was about 40 tons per week, or about 2000 tons a year. The 
 cost of transport, as we have just seen, was upwards of i s, per mile. 
 It is calculated that the traffic now carried on between the two towns 
 is not less than ten million tons, and the cost of transport is stated at 
 from 3-r. to Ss. per ton. But the present conditions of transport are 
 nevertheless regarded as unsatisfactory, and hence the movement for 
 the construction of the Ship Canal, which is expected to carry traffic 
 for less than one-half of the amount charged by the railway companies. 
 
 When the public mind became fully alive to the importance of 
 providing internal means of transport by water, there were not want- 
 ing those who were able to provide the ability and the experience 
 necessary to execute the plans proposed. The history of the Bridg- 
 water Navigation has been so fully related by Smiles, f that nothing 
 which we could say here would materially enhance the interest of the 
 story. For all practical purposes, this was the first great artificial 
 waterway in England. It was, indeed, so remarkable a work for the 
 time that we shall briefly recapitulate its history. 
 
 In 1758 the Duke of Bridgwater got his first Act of Parliament, 
 which awakened a general ardour for similar improvements among 
 the landowners, farmers, merchants, and manufacturers of the kingdom, 
 
 * 'Journal of the Society of Arts,' 1888. 
 t ' Lives of the Engineers.'
 
 42 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 and although there was not a Louis XIV. nor a Colbert to encourage 
 them, engineers were found fully equal to Riquet, so that England, 
 though late, began to make good use of the resources she possessed 
 in her inland provinces. 
 
 The history of the Bridgwater canal may fairly be said to 
 occupy, in relation to the annals of internal navigation, much the 
 same place that the Liverpool and Manchester Railway does in 
 relation to the development of the railway system. It is necessary 
 to review some of the circumstances connected with this enterprise 
 in order that the actual position of transport at that time may be 
 understood. 
 
 Although an Act of Parliament had been obtained many years 
 previously for the purpose of making the Mersey and the Irwell 
 navigable from Liverpool to Manchester, the facilities thereby 
 provided were defective and unsatisfactory in the extreme. The 
 freight charged for water transport between the two towns was i2s. per 
 ton, when the navigation was available, but this was not always at com- 
 mand. Boats could not pass between the lowest lock and Liverpool 
 without the assistance of a spring tide. There were many fords or 
 shallows in the Irwell, over which boats could not pass at all " except 
 in great freshes, or by drawing extraordinary quantities of water from 
 the locks above." The consequence was that most of the traffic 
 between the two towns was carried on by road, at a much higher 
 cost for rather over thirty miles. The new navigation, although it 
 promised to reduce this charge to 65. per ton, to abridge the distance 
 by nine miles, to provide wharfage that was not already available, 
 and to give transportation facilities at all times, was strongly de- 
 nounced and opposed. It was argued that the canal would cut 
 through and separate the land in the possession of several gentlemen 
 along the proposed line of route, that a great number of acres would 
 be covered with water and for ever lost to the public, that the canal 
 could confer no advantage not already secured by the Irwell and the 
 Mersey, that the taking from those streams of the water required for 
 the canal would greatly prejudice, if it did not totally obstruct, the 
 old navigation in dry seasons, and that the property of the old 
 navigation should not be prejudiced without full compensation being 
 made to the proprietors.* 
 
 * An excellent summary of these and other matteis connected with the early 
 history of this enterprise is given in a little work published in 1766, entitled 'The 
 History of Inland Navigation."
 
 The English Canal System. 43 
 
 A letter written in 1767,* at Burslem, states that "gentlemen 
 come to see our eighth wonder of the world the subterraneous 
 navigation, which is cutting by the great Mr. Brindley, who handles 
 rocks as easily as you would plum-pies, and makes the four elements 
 subservient to his will. He is as plain a looking man as one of the 
 boors of the Peake, or one of his own carters, but when he speaks all 
 ears listen, and every mind is filled with wonder at the things he 
 pronounces to be practicable. He has cut a mile through bogs, 
 which he binds up, embanking them with stones which he gets out 
 of other parts of the navigation, besides about a quarter of a mile 
 into the hill Yelden ; on the side of which he has a pump, which is 
 worked by water, and a stove, the fire of which sucks through a pipe 
 the damps that would annoy the men who are cutting towards the 
 centre of the hill." 
 
 The Bridgwater Canal has had a very remarkable career. It 
 was sold by Lord Ellesmere to the Bridgwater Navigation Company 
 for 989,6127., including plant valued at 150,0007. In 1886, the 
 Bridgwater Navigation Company sold the canal to the Manchester 
 Ship Canal Company for i,7io,ooo/. The Bridgwater Canal was 
 followed, after a few years, by a number of similar undertakings. 
 
 We cannot pretend in this chapter to write the history of the 
 canal movement ; but we may, nevertheless, rapidly pass in review 
 some of the prominent features of that movement, the better to 
 illustrate the development of canal navigation, and to show how it 
 came to be such as it is. 
 
 About the year 1769 we find that the counties of Lancashire, 
 Staffordshire, Cheshire, Leicestershire, and Warwickshire, were greatly 
 exercised concerning the proposal to cut a canal between the Mersey 
 and the Humber by way of Harecastle, Stoke, Burton, and Wilden, 
 near which latter place it was intended to effect a junction with the 
 Trent. Branches were proposed to Birmingham, Lichfield, Tarn- 
 worth, and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The canal, it was expected, 
 would develop the trade in white flint ware, " which is as strong and 
 sweet as Indian porcelain ;" in the noted quarries of Swithland slate, 
 in Leicestershire, " a beautiful and durable covering for houses ;" in 
 limestone, " on which the village of Breden, in Leicestershire, is 
 situated;" and "in that sort of iron-ore, commonly called ironstone, 
 proper for making cold-short iron, and which, when mixed with the 
 red ore from Cumberland, makes the best kind of tough or merchant 
 * ' History of Inland Navigations.'
 
 44 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 iron."* It is somewhat curious, at this time of day, to find that 
 the facilities which it would offer for the exportation of corn were 
 put forward as one of the principal arguments in favour of the new 
 navigation.! 
 
 THE HULL AND LIVERPOOL CANAL. 
 
 In the year 1755, the Liverpool Corporation authorised a survey 
 to be made with a view to the construction of a line of navigation 
 between Liverpool and Hull. Brindley made a survey of the same 
 route three years later, and he, in turn, was followed by Smeaton. 
 Brindley's plans were ultimately adopted. He proposed to com- 
 plete the canal " as far north as Harecastle, purchase the land, 
 erect locks, make towing paths, build bridges, and defray every ex- 
 pense, except that of obtaining the Act of Parliament, for yoo/. per 
 mile," but beyond Harecastle it was estimated that the works would 
 cost iooo/. a mile.+ Brindley proposed to make the canal 12 feet 
 wide at the bottom, and three feet deep on an average, with a depth 
 of 30 inches at the fords. The boats designed to be worked on 
 the canal were 70 feet long, 6 feet wide, drawing 30 inches of water, 
 and carrying 20 tons. Their cost was stated at 3o/. each. 
 
 It is interesting to record that when the proposal to construct a 
 canal from Liverpool to Hull was under consideration, about the 
 middle of the last century, one of the arguments used in its favour 
 was that it would enable American iron to be brought cheaper to 
 the manufacturing towns from the ports of Liverpool and Hull, and 
 so contribute to lessen the consumption of foreign European iron, 
 " to the great profit of this nation in general, and our own ironworks 
 in particular " ; while it was even suggested that, in order to develop 
 this branch of business between our then American colonies and the 
 mother country, a bounty should be offered on the import of 
 American pig-iron, thereby contributing to "clear the lands in 
 America," and "to preserve the woods in England." 
 
 * This refers to the South Staffordshire mine, which is hardly worked now. 
 The iron trade of that period was chiefly carried on in Staffordshire, and nothing 
 except a little charcoal iron was made in the Cumberland district, where the 
 annual production, including Furness, is now over a million and a half tons per 
 annum. 
 
 t It was thought a great thing that over five million quarters of corn were 
 exported from Great Britain in the five years ending 1750. 
 
 J 'The History of Inland Navigations,' &c., London, 1769. 
 
 Ibid., p. 58.
 
 The English Canal System. 45 
 
 The project to construct a new waterway through the manufac- 
 turing districts between Liverpool and Hull was strenuously opposed by 
 a number of Cheshire gentlemen, who were the owners of the Weaver 
 or Northwich Navigation, and who proposed to carry that waterway 
 to Macclesfield, Stockport, and Manchester. In 1765, a plan was 
 submitted for extending the navigation of the Weaver from Winsford 
 Bridge, in Cheshire, to the river Trent, in the county of Stafford, 
 there joining the Trent and the Severn by canals, and thereby 
 " opening an inland communication between the great ports of 
 Liverpool, Bristol, and Hull." 
 
 In view of the attention that has recently been given to the salt 
 industry, it may be stated that the transport of that commodity was 
 one of the principal reasons offered for the construction, in 1769, of 
 a canal between Liverpool and Hull, vid Cheshire. At that time 
 manufactured salt was carried on horseback "to almost all parts of 
 Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, 
 and Lincolnshire," and it was stated that " so great is the home 
 consumption of this article, that from the saltworks of Northwich 
 alone, a duty of 6,7ooo/. was last year paid into the Exchequer. 
 At Northwich and Wisford are annually made about 24,000 
 tons." * 
 
 THE LEEDS AND LIVERPOOL CANAL. 
 
 The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which was commenced in 1770 
 and completed in 1816, is one of the most important lines of 
 navigation in the United Kingdom, connecting, as it does, the Irish 
 Sea at Liverpool with the German Ocean at Hull. The works 
 were extended over a period of about forty-one years, and cost 
 altogether i,2oo,ooo/. The course of the canal from Leeds is 
 vid the Abbey of Kirkstall, Calverley, Woodhouse, Apperley Bridge, 
 Shipley, Bingley, Skipton, Burnley, Blackburn, Wigan, and so on to 
 Liverpool. It is the longest canal in Great Britain, and in some 
 respects, the most remarkable. It has many important works of art 
 on its course, the summit level of which is reached at an elevation of 
 411 feet above the Aire at Leeds, 41 miles from that town. At 
 Foulridge there is a tunnel 1640 yards in length, 18 feet high, and 
 17 feet wide. Near to this tunnel are two reservoirs for the supply 
 
 * In the same district over a million tons are now annually sent down the 
 river Weaver.
 
 46 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 of the canal. They cover an area of 104 acres, and store up 12,000 
 cubic yards of water. The canal is carried on aqueducts across the 
 Aire, the Colne Water, the Brown, the Calder, the Henbarn, the 
 Derwent Water, and the Roddlesworth Water. The total length of 
 the navigation is 127 miles, and the total lockage 844 feet 7^ inches, 
 while the canal basin at Liverpool is 56 feet above low-water mark 
 on the river Mersey. The canal has several important feeders or 
 branches.* 
 
 KENNET AND AVON CANAL. 
 
 The Kennet and Avon Canal starts from the port of Bristol and 
 runs to Bath, Dundas (for the Somersetshire Coal Canal), Bradford- 
 on-Avon, Semihgton (for the Wilts and Berks Canal), Devizes, 
 Honeystreet, Pewsey, Burbage, Hungerford, Newbury, Reading, 
 where it joins the Thames for Henley, Marlow, Maidenhead, Wind- 
 sor, Staines, and London. The distance from Bristol to Bath is 
 15 miles, from Bath to Newbury 57 miles, from Newbury to Reading 
 18^ miles, and from Reading to London 74 miles. 
 
 The river Avon, from Bristol to Bath, will admit of barges being 
 worked carrying 90 tons when the water is high, but in low water 
 this weight would be reduced to 50 or 60 tons, in consequence of 
 the want of cleansing and dredging. This part of the navigation is 
 under an Act of Parliament, 10 Queen Anne, 1711, and is to be free 
 and open for ever upon payment of toll. 
 
 The canal from Bath to Newbury (under an Act of Parliament 
 of George III.) has been constructed for vessels drawing five feet of 
 water, measuring 14 feet wide, and according to the present sound- 
 ings on the lock-sills, vessels of that draught ought now to navigate 
 the canal, but they are not able to do so from the great accumulation 
 of mud, which is seldom less than one foot in thickness, and generally 
 two feet or more. This not only prevents the barges from using the 
 canal for carrying full cargoes, but necessitates the employment of 
 extra towing power. One horse would tow a barge 2 to z\ miles an 
 hour, if the canal were kept in proper working order. At the present 
 time two or more horses are required to do what ought to be only 
 the work of one. Many of the lay byes throughout the canal were 
 originally made to enable vessels to turn ; nearly all of these are now 
 of no use, owing to their being full of mud and weeds, consequently 
 
 * A detailed description of this Navigation is given in Priestley's ' Historical 
 Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways of Great Britain,' p. 385.
 
 The English Canal System. 47 
 
 barges have often to go long distances beyond their proper destina- 
 tion in order to turn. Owing to the accumulation of mud on the 
 sides of the canal, barges can only pass one another with great 
 difficulty, causing much loss of time. The gearing of the paddles of 
 most of the locks is very insufficient and out of repair. On all 
 properly managed navigations, dredgers are kept almost constantly 
 at work cleansing out the mud, which rapidly accumulates, but on 
 this canal there are none. The only men employed on the canal are 
 a few labourers to clean out the weeds with rakes, which are deposi- 
 ted on the towing-paths, and allowed to remain for months, thus 
 obstructing the use of the paths. The pounds between the locks at 
 Devizes are nearly all full of mud and weeds. 
 
 The construction of the new port of Sharpness, opened in 1874, 
 is due to the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company, which con- 
 structed at the small promontory of that name, about midway between 
 Avonmouth and Gloucester, a large tidal basin, 350 feet by 300 feet, 
 a lock 320 feet long, with three pairs of gates of large size., and a dis- 
 charging dock 2200 feet long, and occupying an area of 13^ acres. 
 The entrance to the docks from the Severn is 60 feet wide, and the 
 depth at high water averages 26 feet. 
 
 The canal company, by this provision, has been able to retain 
 for Gloucester a great deal of the shipping which formerly, although 
 chartered for that city, has, owing to the old canal entrance being 
 too small, been obliged to discharge at one of the South Wales ports. 
 Almost simultaneously with this step, the Gloucester and Berkeley 
 Canal Company purchased the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, 
 thereby enabling water communication to be opened up with the 
 heart of the Midlands. 
 
 THE ELLESMERE CANAL. 
 
 The Ellesmere Canal, in North Wales, consists of a series of 
 navigations proceeding from the river Dee in the vale of Llangollen, 
 One branch passes northward, near the towns of Ellesmere, Whit- 
 church, Nantwich, and the city of Chester, to Ellesmere Port on the 
 Mersey ; another in a south-easterly direction, through the middle of 
 Shropshire towards Shrewsbury on the Severn, and a third in a south- 
 westerly direction, by the town of Oswestry, to the Montgomeryshire 
 Canal, near Llanymynech ; its whole extent, including the Chester 
 Canal, incorporated with it, being about 112 miles. The heaviest 
 and most important part of the works occurred in carrying the canal
 
 4 8 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 through the rugged hill country, between the rivers Dee and Ceriog, 
 in the vale of Llangollen. From Nantwich to Whitchurch the 
 distance is 16 miles, and the rise 132 feet, involving nineteen locks; 
 and thence to Ellesmere, Chirk, Pont Cysylltan, and the river 
 Dee, if mile above Llangollen, the distance is 38^ miles, and the 
 rise 13 feet, involving only two locks. The latter part of the under- 
 taking presented the greatest difficulties, as, in order to avoid the 
 expense of constructing numerous locks, which would involve serious 
 delay and heavy expense in working the navigation, it became 
 necessary to contrive means for carrying the canal on the same level 
 from one side of the respective valleys of the Dee and the Ceriog to 
 the other, and hence the magnificent aqueducts of Chirk and Pont 
 Cysylltan, characterised by Phillips as " among the boldest efforts of 
 human invention in modern times." 
 
 The Chirk Aqueduct carries the canal across the valley of the 
 Ceriog, between Chirk Castle and the village of that name. At this 
 point the valley is above 700 feet wide ; the banks are steep, with a 
 flat alluvial meadow between them, through which the river flows. 
 The country is finely wooded. Chirk Castle stands on an eminence 
 on its western side, with the Welsh mountains and Glen Ceriog as a 
 background ; the whole composing a landscape of great beauty, in 
 the centre of which Telford's aqueduct forms a highly picturesque 
 object. 
 
 The aqueduct consists of ten arches of 4 feet span each. The 
 level of the water in the canal is 65 feet above the meadow, and 
 70 feet above the level of the river Ceriog. 
 
 The proportions of this work far exceeded anything of the kind 
 that had up to that time been attempted in England. It was a very 
 costly structure ; but Telford, like Brindley, thought it better to incur 
 a considerable capital outlay in maintaining the uniform level of the 
 canal than to raise and lower it up and down the sides of the valley 
 by locks at a heavy expense in works, and a still greater cost in time 
 and water. The aqueduct is an admirable specimen of the finest class 
 of masonry, and Telford showed himself a master of his profession 
 by the manner in which he carried out the whole details of the under- 
 taking. The piers were carried up solid to a certain height, above 
 which they were built hollow with cross walls. The spandrels also, 
 above the springing of the arches, were constructed with longitudinal 
 walls, and left hollow. The first stone was laid on the i7th of June, 
 1796, and the work was completed in the year 1801.
 
 The English Canal System. 49 
 
 AIRE AND CALDER CANAL. 
 
 The Aire and Calder Canal, in Yorkshire, which is connected 
 with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Leeds Bridge, and thence 
 communicates with the Mersey at Liverpool, was originally con- 
 structed with locks 60 feet long by 15 feet wide, and with a 
 depth of 3 feet 6 inches. It has been subsequently twice recon- 
 structed in all its main features. In 1820, the diversion between 
 Knottingley and Goole was constructed, with locks 72 feet long, 
 18 feet wide, and with 7 feet depth of water; but this being found 
 inefficient, the whole of the works between Goole and Leeds, on the 
 Aire branch of the navigation, and Wakefield on the Calder, have 
 been again reconstructed, with locks of 215 feet long, 22 feet wide, 
 and 9 feet on the sills. In addition to this, the undertakers have 
 purchased and improved the Barnsley Canal, and also, to some 
 extent, as lessees, they have extended their improvements to the 
 Calder and Hebble Navigation. From time to time, the port of 
 Goole, which forms a part of the Aire and Calder Navigation, has 
 been improved, and its capacity enlarged, new docks and entrance- 
 locks have been built, and the channel has been generally improved. 
 
 The accompanying diagrams show the lines of canal communica- 
 tion between the Severn at Bristol and the Thames, and between the 
 ports of Liverpool, Goole, and Hull. They give the length and 
 profile of each canal, and require but little explanation. 
 
 The Aire and Calder Canal has been in many respects one of the 
 most remarkable in England. Its original capital was 150,0007., but 
 it is now stated to amount to 1,697,0007. The difference has mainly 
 resulted from accumulations of profit. After deducting the cost of 
 maintenance, the sum available for distribution in 1888 was 85,0007. 
 The gross yearly income is now as large as the original capital. 
 
 MIDLAND CANALS. 
 
 A glance at the canal map of England and Wales (p. 57) will show 
 that in the Midlands there are many existing canals, some of which 
 are still utilised to a large extent. The more important of these are 
 the Worcester and Birmingham, the Birmingham, and the Dudley 
 Canals. The first of these was constructed under an Act obtained 
 in 1791, which authorised the raising of a capital of i8o,ooo7. for the 
 purpose. The length of the canal is 29 miles, and it has 6 feet depth 
 of water and 42 feet of top width. The canal is exceptional in 
 

 
 The English Canal System. 5 1 
 
 passing through no less than five tunnels in its course the first at 
 West Heath, the second at Tardebigg, the third at Shortwood, the 
 fourth at Oddingley, and the fifth at Edgbaston. There is also a fall 
 of 428 feet in 15 miles by 71 locks, which are 15 feet wide and 
 1 8 feet long, to the level of the Severn. Priestley wrote of the canal 
 that it was " the channel for supplying Worcester and the borders of 
 the Severn down to Tewkesbury and Gloucester with coal, and, in 
 return, conveys the hops and cider of that part of the country north- 
 wards, and more particularly affords a ready means for the export of 
 the Birmingham manufactures, through the port of Bristol, to any 
 part of the world." 
 
 The general direction of the Dudley Canal is nearly north-west 
 by a crooked course of 30 miles in Worcestershire, a detached part 
 of Shropshire, and Staffordshire; it is situate very high; its two ends 
 are on the eastern side of the grand ridge, while its middle, by means 
 of two very long tunnels, is on the western side of the same. The 
 communication of this canal with the Stourbridge Canal, by the 
 Black Delph branch, and the terminating canals, occasions a con- 
 siderable carrying trade thereon. This canal commences in the 
 Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Selly Oak, and terminates in 
 the old Birmingham at Tipton Green. From near Dudley there is a 
 branch of two miles to the Stourbridge Canal at Black Delph in 
 Kingswinford ; there is another branch of i mile to near Dudley 
 town, and a branch from this last of three-quarters of a mile to the 
 Dudley collieries. From the Worcester and Birmingham Canal to 
 the Black Delph branch 10^ miles are level, thence to near the 
 entrance of the Dudley Tunnel, about three-quarters of a mile, there 
 is a rise of 3 1 feet by five locks, thence through the tunnel it is level, 
 and thence again in the last one-eighth of a mile a fall of 13 feet is 
 overcome by two locks to the old Birmingham Canal. The Black 
 Delph branch has a fall of 85 feet by nine locks to the Stourbridge 
 Canal; the Dudley branch has a rise of 64 feet in the first three-quarters 
 of a mile, the remainder being level. The depth of water in this canal 
 is 5 to 6 feet ; the width of the locks on the Black Delph branch is 
 7 feet. To near Lapal, or Laplat, the canal passes through a tunnel 
 3776 yards long; at Gorsty Hill it passes through another of 
 623 yards, under a collateral branch of the Grand Ridge ; and at 
 Dudley there is another tunnel of 2926 yards in length, near the 
 summit-level of the canal. The arch of this last tunnel has a height 
 of 13^ feet. At Cradley Pool a large reservoir exists for supplying the 
 
 E 2
 
 52 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 lockage of the Black Delph branch. It is provided, that level cuts 
 may be made from this canal towards any coal-mine to the extent 
 of 2000 yards. A stop-lock is erected at the junction with the 
 Worcester and Birmingham Canal, by which either company has a 
 power of preventing the other from drawing off their head of water. 
 The Black Delph branch was first executed, and this was then united 
 with the Dudley part of the canal, which had been constructed by 
 Lord Dudley and Ward ; these were completed and in use before 
 the extension or main length to Selly Oak was designed. The 
 company was authorised to raise a capital of 229,ioo/., the amount 
 of the shares being originally ioo/. each. Owing to the different Acts 
 under which the parts of the canal were progressively undertaken, 
 the rates of tonnage differ considerably. 
 
 CANALS IN WALES. 
 
 The principal artificial waterways in Wales are the Swansea 
 Canal, about 19 miles in length, which was opened in 1798, and 
 which connects the harbour of Swansea with the various copper and 
 other works between that point and Pen Tawe ; the Neath Canal, 
 which is about 14 miles in length, and which, commencing near 
 Abernant, and terminating at Neath river harbour, with a branch to 
 a short canal called the Briton Canal, near Giant's Grave, Pill ; the 
 Aberdare Canal, which, about 6 miles in length, connects the 
 Glamorganshire Canal with Aberdare, and runs through a district of 
 great mineral and manufacturing resources ; and the Glamorganshire 
 Canal, which in a total length of 25 miles has a rise of about 61 1 feet, 
 and which, commencing on the east side of the Taff river, and near 
 its entrance into Penarth harbour, terminates in the town of Merthyr 
 Tydfil. The canal was opened between Merthyr and Cardiff in 
 1794, and at the end of the canal, which terminates in the Taff river, 
 there is a sea-lock, with a floating dock, capable of admitting vessels 
 of considerable tonnage. 
 
 In May 1885 the Glamorganshire and Aberdare Canals, in South 
 Wales, were transferred to the Bute Dock Company, who formally 
 commenced working them in September 1887. The old system of 
 conducting the traffic on these canals was to charge toll rates, but 
 the Marquis of Bute has adopted the system of charging through 
 rates from any place on the Bristol Channel to Cardiff. 
 
 There are many continuous lines of water communication
 
 The English Canal System. 
 
 53 
 
 between different commercial points of importance in England, as, for 
 example, between London and Liverpool, Liverpool and Hull, 
 Birmingham and London, Leeds and Liverpool, &c. ; but it often 
 happens upon such through routes that there are great differences in 
 the sizes of the locks, which are shorter or narrower at one point 
 than at another. Thus, for example, between the Derbyshire district 
 and London, the canal communication is in the hands of seven 
 different companies, with four different gauges at least, the effect of 
 which is to limit the carrying capacity of the boats to the very low 
 maximum of 24 tons. A considerable number of canal boats con- 
 tinue to navigate these through routes in spite of all these drawbacks, 
 but they have very little encouragement to do so, inasmuch as the 
 different canal companies impose different rates of toll, the aggregate 
 of which comes to almost, if not quite, as much as would be paid to 
 the railway companies for the service. It is hopeless to expect to 
 see this condition of affairs quite remedied until all these through 
 routes pass into the hands of the same companies. It has been 
 computed by capable engineers that an average expenditure of 
 io,ooo/. or i2,ooo/. would enable the canal system of England to 
 become efficient, and it is probable that before long this expenditure 
 will be found worth while. 
 
 According to the most recent returns available, the canal mileage 
 owned by the principal railway companies in England and Wales, 
 and the number of employes thereon, were as under : 
 
 
 
 Miles of Canal 
 Owned. 
 
 No. of Employes 
 thereon. 
 
 
 
 Great Western 
 
 258 
 
 270 
 
 
 
 London and North- Western 
 Midland 
 
 488 
 CO 
 
 214 
 
 
 
 Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire 
 
 
 538 
 
 
 
 North Staffordshire 
 C aledonian . . . . 
 
 121 
 60 
 
 263 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The total number of employes on the canals of England and 
 Wales in 1884 was 1479 f r J 333 m iles owned, being an average of 
 little more than one employd to the mile. On the railways of 
 England and Wales for the same year the number of employes was 
 310,568 for 18,000 miles worked, being an average of 17 ' 2 employes
 
 54 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 per mile. As, however, there are no returns of canal traffic avail- 
 able, we cannot say how the two sets of figures compare in the 
 matter of results. 
 
 While several new canal projects are in process of incubation the 
 existing canal property of the United Kingdom, which has cost not 
 less than sixty millions sterling, has been allowed to go to rack and 
 ruin by reason of defects and neglect that are quite inexcusable, and 
 which seriously prejudice not only the canals themselves, but the 
 trade and commerce of the country as a whole. 
 
 The unsatisfactory condition of the waterways of the United 
 Kingdom is sufficiently proved by a few returns that were presented 
 to the Select Committee on canals* (1883). At that date there 
 were fifty-seven canals in England and Wales belonging to inde- 
 pendent companies, twenty-seven canals and navigations under 
 public trusts, forty-five owned or controlled by railway companies, 
 and fourteen that were either derelict, or had been converted into 
 railways. 
 
 Of the canals under the control of independent companies, a con- 
 siderable number were in anything but a flourishing condition, and 
 most of them, apparently, because they entirely failed to meet the 
 requirements of commerce. 
 
 So far as mere mileage is concerned, the waterways of England, 
 including canals and canalised rivers, are really of very considerable, 
 if not sufficient extent, as the following figures show : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Owned by public trusts 927^ 
 
 Independent canals I 44Si 
 
 Guaranteed and owned by railways .. .. 1333 
 
 Derelict n8 
 
 Ownership not known 36^ 
 
 Besides these, there have been about 120 miles of canals converted 
 into railways. But these canals are of very limited use, because of 
 the haphazard and unsystematic way in which they have been laid 
 out. Scarcely any two canals have a common gauge, and upon the 
 same canal several gauges of locks may often be found. 
 
 The four great industrial rivers of England, and the four most 
 
 important maritime outlets, are connected with each other by 650 
 
 miles of inland waterway. The Thames and the Humber, the Severn 
 
 and the Mersey, and the Severn, Mersey and the Humber, ought to 
 
 * Appendix to Report, p. 206.
 
 The English Canal System. 55 
 
 be placed in communication with each other by as perfect a system 
 of waterways as it is possible to provide. But this desirable end has 
 been frustrated by railway action. In the first group, 175 miles of 
 canal have been acquired by railway companies; in the second 
 group, 490 miles ; and in the third group, 360 miles. It has been 
 computed that the average cost of the canals in the first group 
 was 5ooo/., and in the second group gooo/. per mile. The railways 
 that connect the same four maritime points have a total mileage of 
 about 9500 miles, and an aggregate capital of about 360 millions. 
 
 The history of British canals, with all the most interesting 
 information bearing upon their extent, capacity, and traffic, has been 
 written by Priestley in a work that is to this day the standard 
 authority on the subject. The same subject has been dealt with very 
 extensively in Rees's ' Cyclopaedia,' under the heading of " Canals." 
 With these sources of information open to all the world, it would be 
 quite supererogatory to go into much detail relative to these water- 
 ways of Great Britain, except in so far as they are of cardinal import- 
 ance, or are likely to exercise an influence in the future development 
 of canal navigations. It will be understood, therefore, that in these 
 notes no attempt is made to afford minute details of the different 
 canals dealt with ; while many of the canals that have either been 
 abandoned, or have become the property of railway companies, 
 or have otherwise ceased to be of public importance, have been 
 entirely disregarded. 
 
 It is an axiom in water transport that the larger the vessel 
 employed, within certain limits, the more inexpensive is the cost of 
 the service performed. It has been calculated* that at the present 
 time, the cost of transporting fifty tons of material between London 
 and Liverpool, a distance of 180 miles, is 25/., or IQS. per ton 
 exclusive of tolls. But then the boats employed are only 2 5 -ton 
 craft, which take eight days on the journey, with one day to load, 
 and one day to unload, making, with two spare days, twelve days in 
 all. If, however, large craft were substituted, capable of carrying 
 120 tons each, and towed by a steam barge carrying 90 tons 
 making a total load of 450 tons the cost would be reduced to about 
 2s. 6^d. per ton, or about one-fourth of the existing cost, and the time 
 occupied by the journey would be lessened by two days. In both 
 cases profit is included, at the rate of 25 per cent. 
 
 , In order, however, to have this substitution generally effected, a 
 
 * Report of Canal Committee of 1882, Appendix No. 9, p. 230.
 
 56 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 large number of the existing canals would require to be deepened 
 and widened. The size of the craft suggested for the more economi- 
 cal trip would be 84 feet by 12 feet by 6 feet 3 inches draft. A 
 smaller vessel would not answer the purpose. Now, there are com- 
 paratively few canals that would at the present time admit of the 
 passage of such craft, and in some cases waterways that are nominally 
 adapted for even larger boats, are in such an imperfect condition of 
 repair that they are not suited for use. The canals of the inde- 
 pendent companies that profess to be adapted for vessels of this size, 
 and the size of craft which they severally admit, are 
 
 Canal. 
 
 Length of 
 Navigation. 
 
 Size of Craft. 
 
 
 miles. 
 80 
 
 97 
 
 16 
 24 
 
 ui 
 
 71 
 loj 
 
 9 
 
 72 
 
 ft. in. 
 212 O by 
 
 84 o 
 104 o ,, 
 163 o 
 88 o 
 87 6 
 86 o ,, 
 90 o ,, 
 
 100 ,, 
 
 94 8 
 90 o ,, 
 
 ft. in. 
 22 O 
 
 15 o 
 29 6 
 29 6 
 '5 6 
 15 6 
 23 o 
 15 o 
 13 6 
 
 22 8 
 
 15 o 
 
 Bridgwater 
 
 Bude* 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 Leicester and Northampton 
 Louth 
 
 Medway Navigation 
 Regent's and Hertford Union 
 Stort 
 
 Thames and Medway 
 Trent, River 
 
 Totalf 
 
 3061 
 
 
 
 Here then we have only 30 6 miles of canal suited to the passage 
 of craft 84 feet by 1 2 feet, including the river Trent, which, of itself, 
 contributes 72 miles to the total. In other words, only about twenty 
 per cent, of the total independent waterways of the country can admit 
 craft that would enable them to realise the full value of economical 
 
 * This, however, is not a canal of uniform size, and part of it will only admit 
 vessels 63 ft. by 14 ft. ^ in. 
 
 t This total does not include the Thames and Severn, the Wey, and the 
 Wisbech canals, because each of these has two dimensions, the smaller of which 
 is too limited to admit the passage of large craft, and they are therefore unsuited, 
 without trans-shipment of traffic, for the purpose in view.
 
 The English Canal System. 
 
 57 
 
 transport. Of the remainder, a great part of the navigations vary 
 from 60 to 75 feet in width, so that presumably they could be 
 adapted for the larger sizes of craft without very material expense. 
 
 The canals and navigations managed by public trusts are in a 
 decidedly better position. Commencing with the noble Severn, which, 
 for a great part of its canalised course of forty-four miles, admits 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE CANALS AND NAVIGATIONS IN ENGLAND AND WALES. 
 
 craft 270 feet by 35 feet, there are the Thames (from London 
 Bridge), the Lea, the Weaver, and the Wye, which are suited to 
 craft of considerable dimensions, but these for the most part can 
 hardly be described as canals proper. 
 
 The canals that have passed into the possession of the railway
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 companies are not, as a rule, so well adapted for navigation as those 
 controlled by independent companies. On the face of it, indeed, 
 there is a presumption that the railways could not have acquired the 
 property if it had been as it should have been. The only railway 
 canals that are capable of admitting craft exceeding 84 feet in length 
 are the Kennet and Avon, 85 miles long; the Grantham Canal, 
 33^ miles long; and the Nottingham Canal, 15 miles in length 
 about 133 miles in all. Out of a total of 1333 miles of the derelict 
 and converted canals, only the Melton Mowbray, 14^ miles in 
 length, was adapted for the larger size of vessels. 
 
 The preceding map shows the canals in England and Wales 
 that are in the hands of independent owners or public trusts, and 
 in the possession of railway companies, respectively. 
 
 Under the circumstances stated, it is perfectly evident that the 
 canals of England and Wales have not had a fair chance. Out of 
 a total of over 4000 miles of canal and river navigations, the pro- 
 portion that is suited to craft of 200 tons burden is almost fractional. 
 With such a size of vessel, cheap transport is difficult. 
 
 Between London and Birmingham the following canals form a 
 system of communication : 
 
 Canal. 
 
 Length of 
 Navigation. 
 
 Size of Locks. 
 
 Grand Junction, between Brentford and) 
 Braunston J 
 
 miles. 
 92 
 
 ft. ft. in. ft. in. 
 80 by 14 6 by 4 6 
 
 Oxford, between Braunston and Napton . . 
 Warwick and Napton, between those places 
 Warwick and Birmingham 
 
 Si 
 
 132 
 ail 
 
 no lock. 
 72 by 7 by 4 o 
 72 by 7 by 4 o 
 
 Paddington Arm of the Grand Junction . . 
 
 132* 
 13* 
 
 
 
 146 
 
 
 The diagram on the next page shows the section of the line of 
 canal navigation between the Mersey and the Thames by way of 
 Birmingham, the total distance being 260 miles. It will be observed 
 that the system is an extensive one, embracing no fewer than twelve 
 different waterways, the more important of which are the Trent and 
 Mersey, and the Grand Junction canals.
 
 
 \ 
 & 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 V 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 -II 
 
 \ 
 
 s, 
 
 
 \ 
 
 S3 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 
 \
 
 6o Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The principal advantages afforded by canals are thus concisely 
 stated by General Rundall : 
 
 1. They admit of any class of goods being carried in the manner 
 and at the speed which proves to be most economical and suitable 
 for it, without the slightest interference with any other class. 
 
 2. The landing or shipment of cargo is not necessarily confined 
 to certain fixed stations, as is obligatory on railways, but boats can 
 stop at any point on their journey to load and unload, and discharge 
 their cargoes direct over the ship's side. 
 
 3. The dead weight to be moved in proportion to the load is 
 much less. 
 
 4. The capacity for traffic is practically unlimited, provided the 
 locks are properly designed. 
 
 5. There is no obligation to maintain enormous or expensive 
 plant or establishments, as all those can, and would be, provided by 
 separate agencies and distinct capital. Thus a large outlay in first 
 cost and subsequent maintenance of rolling stock is avoided. 
 
 6. There is an almost total absence of risk, and the reduction of 
 damage to cargo in transit, and consequently of insurance, to a 
 minimum. 
 
 On the other hand, the defects, besides those of original con- 
 struction, in existing British canals, are : 
 
 1. A total absence of unity of management. For example, on 
 one of the routes from London to Liverpool there are seven different 
 canals and navigations: on another also there are nine, and on a 
 third ten different companies. 
 
 2. A want of uniformity of gauge in the locks, as well as in the 
 canals themselves. 
 
 3. With few exceptions they are not capable of being worked by 
 steam. 
 
 4. An unequal system of tolls. 
 
 5. The many links in the communications in the hands of the 
 railways paralyses any unity of action, and renders any scheme of 
 amalgamation between the several lines impossible. 
 
 If a restoration, or an extension of its ancient water lines, is to be 
 undertaken in Great Britain, it is essential that it should be devised 
 on the most improved principles. The chief points requiring attention 
 are the dimensions to be given to the main lines, with the best 
 relative proportion of width to depth; uniformity of gauge in the 
 locks or lifts, which should be so designed as to ensure changes of
 
 The English Canal System. 6 1 
 
 level being overcome in the quickest time; the remodelling of the 
 cargo boats ; the use of the electric light for night navigation ; a 
 readjustment of the rates of toll ; and suitable provision for loading 
 and discharging cargo. 
 
 The works of the canal and river engineer are of the most varied, 
 difficult, and onerous character. He has to deepen the beds of 
 rivers, so as to secure uniform depths and absolute immunity from 
 dangers of projecting rocks, reefs, or sandbanks. He has to divert 
 the beds of torrential streams, and construct new channels, as has 
 been done with the Thames, the Danube, the Tees, and many other 
 rivers. He has to overcome the obstacles to navigation presented 
 by cataracts like Niagara, St. Anthony's, and other falls, by laying 
 down a new waterway, where locks or lifts will overcome the differ- 
 ences of level or gradient represented by the cataracts. He has to 
 feed artificial waterways in such a fashion that they are never short 
 of water. He has to carry canals under mountains by tunnels, and 
 through valleys by aqueducts. He has to raise the level of his 
 waterways for navigation or for irrigation by barrage works, like 
 those that are now being carried out on the Nile at Damietta and 
 Rosetta. He has to overcome the differences of level in inland seas, 
 as has been done by the St. Mary's Falls and Welland Canals on the 
 American continent. He has to join together seas that have been 
 sundered by Nature, as in the case of the Suez, Corinth, Panama, 
 Nicaragua, and other canals. He has to build training-walls, close 
 passes, direct and confine currents, throw dams across minor channels, 
 concentrate low-water flows, rectify shifting sandbars, equalise and 
 distribute water-power, cleave through mountains (as in the case of 
 the Culebra Col, on the line of the Panama Canal), raise rivers to the 
 level of lakes, and lower lakes to sea-level (as in the case of the pro- 
 posed Nicaraguan Canal), and to deal with many other phenomena 
 that appear to the ordinary mind to be so many impossibilities. The 
 engineering history of some rivers is an epitome of engineering 
 achievements. The case of the Mississippi river, in the United 
 States, is a notable case in point. That splendid highway, with its 
 navigation of some 15,000 miles, and its infinite number of tributaries, 
 each of them a noble river in itself, has been regulated, canalised, 
 and otherwise improved at a hundred different points along its course, 
 with results that are notable in the annals of engineering precedents. 
 Most of our rivers, lakes, and canals have gone through the same 
 process. It has been the work of the engineer, and that alone,
 
 62 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 which has conferred upon them the advantages possessed by our 
 great maritime highways at the present day. The extent of that 
 work, and the means whereby it has been accomplished, are the 
 noblest memorial of nineteenth century science. 
 
 One of the most important applications of canal navigation has 
 been in enabling the navigation of important rivers to be continued, 
 where Nature had interposed a barrier in the form of impassable 
 cataracts or otherwise. Examples of this sort are the Welland Canal 
 between Lake Erie and Ontario, which provides a navigation parallel 
 to the Niagara river, rendered impassable by the Falls of that name ; 
 the Des Moines Canal, which overcomes the barrier interposed by 
 the Des Moines Rapids, on the Mississippi ; the canal that overcomes, 
 in the same way, the difference of level in the Mississippi caused by 
 the St. Anthony's Falls * near Minneapolis ; and the Gotha Canal, 
 which overcomes the difficulties of Trolhatta Falls on the Gotha 
 river in Sweden. 
 
 These achievements and responsibilities have not been carried so 
 far in Great Britain as in some other countries. The existing canal 
 system of that country is more primitive than that of any other leading 
 European State, and it is very much more imperfectly developed than 
 those of Canada and the United States. The Manchester Canal 
 project, described at a later stage of this work, will do something to 
 wipe away this reproach. 
 
 * At these falls 790,000 cubic feet of water drops from a height of 75 feet 
 every minute, giving some 112,000 horse-power, which is utilised in manufactures 
 of different kinds.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 " Former things 
 Are set aside, like abdicated kings." Ovid. 
 
 SCOTLAND has a number of rivers of the first importance, especially 
 the Clyde, the Tay, the Dee, and the Tweed. It has a large number 
 of smaller streams, most of them, however, having too tortuous a 
 course, too impetuous a flow, or too shallow a bed, to be used to any 
 extent for purposes of navigation. This remark does not, of course, 
 apply to the numerous lakes or lochs of Scotland, but these are, for 
 the most part, either situated in inaccessible regions, or in localities 
 where there is not trade enough to provide any considerable amount 
 of traffic. 
 
 The Clyde is pre-eminently distinguished for the extent of its 
 traffic, and for the improvements that have made it what it is. 
 
 Camden does not say much as to the condition of the Clyde in 
 his time, and he is almost equally reticent about Glasgow. " The 
 river Glotta or Clwyd," he says, " runneth from Hamilton, by Both- 
 well . . . and so straight forward, with a readie stream, through 
 Glasgow, in ancient times past a Bishop's seat . . . now the most 
 famous town of merchandise in this tract." In Camden's time the 
 other qualifications of Glasgow appear to have been that it had " a 
 pleasant site, and apple-trees, and other like fruit trees, much com- 
 mended, having also a very fine bridge supported with eight arches." 
 
 It is upwards of 300 years since the Magistrates and Town 
 Council of Glasgow made the first attempts to improve the Clyde, 
 then a shallow, brawling stream, which could easily be crossed on 
 foot even opposite Glasgow, and was only suitable for the navigation 
 of herring boats, and similarly small craft. In 1768 an engineer, 
 named Golborne, contracted the river by the construction of rubble 
 jetties, and the removal of sand and gravel shoal by dredging, &c. 
 
 From 1781 till 1836, the works carried on for the further improve- 
 ment of the river under the direction, consecutively, of Golborne, 
 Rennie, and Telford, consisted chiefly in the shortening of some, and 
 the lengthening of other of Golborne's jetties, the construction of
 
 64 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 additional jetties, the connecting of the outer ends of these jetties by 
 half-tide training walls on both sides of the river, so as to confine the 
 water and increase the ebb scour, and the removal of hard shoals by 
 dredging. 
 
 It was not till 1836 that the river from Glasgow to Port Glasgow 
 was treated as a whole, and a true appreciation shown of its future 
 by the Clyde Trustees' then Engineer Logan, in the laying down of 
 river lines, which, with some slight modifications and expansions, 
 have up till now formed the limits of the river's improvements. 
 
 Parliamentary plans on these lines approved of by James Walker, 
 Consulting Engineer to the Trustees, were submitted to and sanc- 
 tioned by Parliament in 1840 ; but so inadequate was the appreciation 
 of the depth required, that 20 ft at high water neap tides was 
 recommended by Logan as the extreme depth of the river and 
 harbour, and a clause in the Act empowering the deepening to 
 proceed until every part thereof shall have attained at least a depth 
 of 1 7 ft. at high water neap tides. 
 
 The depth in the harbour of Glasgow at the present time is from 
 25 ft. to 29 ft., and in the river from 27 ft. to 29 ft. at high water 
 neaps, high water springs being about 2 ft. higher. The average 
 tidal range of spring tides at Glasgow is 1 1 ft. 2 in., and at Port 
 Glasgow 10 ft. ; and of neaps at Glasgow 9 ft. 2 in., and at Port 
 Glasgow 8 ft. 3 in. 
 
 While jetties and training walls, or parallel dykes, performed a 
 useful part in the early improvement of the river, it is to persistent 
 dredging that the enormous increase in the magnitude of the river 
 since 1840 is due. 
 
 The early dredging was performed by large rakes, or porcupine 
 ploughs, as they were called, because they were provided with strong 
 iron teeth, wrought by hand capstans, which drew the material from 
 the bed of the river on to the banks. 
 
 Hand - wrought, and subsequently horse - wrought, dredges, with 
 small buckets on a ladder, succeeded the plough, and in 1824 the 
 first steam dredger was started on the river. It dredged, however, 
 only to 10 ft 6 in. Now several of the dredges employed can work 
 in 35 ft depth of water. 
 
 Mr. Deas, the engineer to the Clyde Trust, has stated * that it is 
 due to the application of steam power to dredges, and the subsequent 
 adoption of steam hopper barges for carrying the dredged material to 
 * Paper read in 1888 before the Institution of Naval Architects.
 
 The Waterways of Scotland. 65 
 
 the sea, that the rapid enlargement not only of the Clyde and the 
 Harbour of Glasgow, but of the Tyne, the Tees, and several other 
 similar rivers in recent years are due. But for the introduction of 
 the latter, it would have been physically, financially, and otherwise 
 impossible to have disposed, within so limited a time, of the enormous 
 quantities of material which have been dredged from these various 
 rivers and harbours. 
 
 Up till 1862, all the material dredged from the river Clyde and 
 harbour of Glasgow was loaded on punts holding eight cubic yards, 
 and deposited on the alveus or foreshores, or the low-lying laud 
 adjoining the river. Many acres were thus reclaimed, to the great 
 gain of the riparian proprietors, to whom the Trustees required 
 to hand over the ground free of cost. The adoption of steam hopper 
 barges, holding from 240 to 320 cubic yards each, removed these 
 obstacles, and enabled the deepening, widening, and straightening of 
 the river and harbour to be proceeded with more rapidly, without 
 seriously obstructing the navigation with steam tugs and trains of 
 punts. The result has been that while in 1861 the total quantity 
 dredged and deposited on land was 593,176 cubic yards, the total 
 quantity dredged in 1887 was 1,319,344 cubic yards, only 64,000 
 cubic yards of which was deposited on land. The total quantity 
 dredged during the forty -two years ending 1888 amounted to 32, 02 7, 834 
 cubic yards, the quantity in the first twenty-one years being 9,091,544 
 cubic yards, and in the last twenty -one years, 22,936,290 cubic 
 yards. 
 
 In 1755, tne Clyde at Glasgow was only 15 in. deep at low water, 
 and 3 ft. 8 in. at high water, while the depth at Marlinford, three 
 miles below the harbour, was 18 in., and at Erskine, or Kilpatrick 
 Sands, about eight miles below, and at Dumbuck Ford, ten miles 
 below, only 2 ft. at low water. In 1781, the depth at Dumbuck Ford 
 was 14 ft at low water; it is now 20 ft. In 1806, Telford reports 
 that on February i4th of that year the Harmony, of Liverpool, came 
 up with ordinary spring tide, drawing 8 ft. 6 in. of water ; but up till 
 1812, the river from the harbour downwards to Bowling was so 
 shallow, that the Comet required to leave Glasgow and Greenock, 
 respectively, at or near high water to prevent it grounding in the 
 river. Now, vessels drawing 23 and 24 ft. of water pass up the river 
 almost daily. The Clyde Trust, who are charged with the control of 
 the river, had expended thereon, up to the middle of 1887, upwards 
 of eleven and a half millions sterling, and had, besides, contracted a 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 debt" of over four and a half millions. The accompanying diagram 
 will show the depths of the channel in Glasgow harbour at different 
 dates, but the whole of the river has been dredged constantly from 
 that city down to Port Glasgow, a distance of nearly twenty miles, 
 and the bed of the river between these points is now virtually level 
 throughout 
 
 GLASGOW HARBOUR 
 
 DEPTH OF THE CLYDE AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. 
 
 The shipping industry has, in consequence, enormously increased. 
 In 1888, 8428 vessels, of 1,891,000 tons, entered, and 8053 vessels, 
 of 1,444,000 tons, cleared from Glasgow in the coasting trade; 
 while the total number of all vessels that entered in the same year 
 was 8217, with 2,416,000 tons register, the clearances being 8738 
 vessels, with 2,787,000 tons. 
 
 THE FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL. 
 
 This, the most important Canal in Scotland, commences in 
 Grangemouth harbour, in the small river Carron, about two miles, by 
 the low-water channel, above its mouth in the estuary of the Forth.
 
 The Waterways o/ Scotland. 67 
 
 The general direction of the canal is that of west by south. It at 
 first runs a considerable way on one level along the south side of the 
 Carron, with which it again communicates by a cut from it at Bains- 
 ford, to that river at the Carron Iron Works. 
 
 The main line then passes to the north-west of Falkirk, and 
 thence to Bonny Bridge, proceeding by the south side of Kilsyth, 
 and along the south bank of the river Kelvin, and over the Logic 
 Water by a stone aqueduct at Kirkintilloch. It then reaches Hamilton 
 Hill about two miles from the north-west quarter of the city of 
 Glasgow, to which there is a branch of two miles, and three quarters, 
 communicating with a branch from the Monkland Canal at Port- 
 Dundas Basin. The main line now proceeds Westerly, crossing the 
 Kelvin by an aqueduct, and then runs along the side of the Clyde, 
 
 Feet 
 
 Siver Clyde, 
 
 
 Torth 
 
 FORTH 
 
 CANAL 
 
 SECTION OF THE FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL. 
 
 till it at length locks down to that river at Bowling Bay. The main 
 line is 35 miles long, 56 feet wide at top, 27 feet at bottom, and 10 
 feet deep. In lof miles from Grangemouth to the summit, it rises 
 156 feet by 20 locks. The summit-level continues about 16 miles. 
 and from it to the Clyde there is a descent of 156 feet by 19 locks. 
 Each lock is 74 feet long by 20 feet wide. 
 
 At lock No. 1 6 from Grangemouth, this canal connects with the 
 Edinburgh, and Glasgow Union Canal. 
 
 Instead of having the eastern extremity of this canal in the 
 Carron, it was originally intended to have had it considerably farther 
 east, or lower down the Forth, in the deeper water at Borrowstoun- 
 ness. This would have been an improvement, but probably one not 
 so easily executed. The work was once really begun, and afterwards 
 abandoned, chiefly, it is presumed, from the difficulty of passing over 
 the river Avon, without raising the canal a good deal for several miles 
 
 F 2
 
 68 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 along the low carse lands. The remains of a bungled aqueduct 
 bridge for this purpose were lately to be seen on the banks of that 
 river. 
 
 The present canal joining the Forth and the Clyde was begun in 
 1768, but it was suspended in 1777, an d not resumed until after the 
 close of the American war. It was completed in 1 7 90. It was built on 
 a larger scale than any of the English Canals up to that time. Origi- 
 nally the canal was about 8 ft. 6 in. deep, but its banks were afterwards 
 raised, and the depth of water was increased to 10 feet. In complet- 
 ing this canal many serious difficulties were encountered. These, 
 however, were successfully overcome : and though unprofitable for a 
 while, it afterwards, for many years, yielded a handsome return to its 
 proprietors, the dividend having been at one time about 28 per 
 cent on the original stock. Swift boats were established on this 
 canal in 1832, and the waterway is historically interesting as having 
 been the scene of some of the earliest experiments in steam pro- 
 pulsion. 
 
 Reference has been made elsewhere to the proposals now under 
 consideration with a view to the construction of another canal from 
 the Forth to the Clyde. Should these proposals be carried out, the 
 future of the existing Forth and Clyde Canal could hardly fail to be 
 overcast, but as the canal is now virtually the property of the Cale- 
 donian Railway Company, that would not probably be greatly felt. 
 
 THE UNION AND MONKLAND CANALS. 
 
 There are two canals that are in the same locality as the Forth 
 and Clyde, already alluded to, but of greatly subordinate importance. 
 The Monkland serves the important iron and coal mining and manu- 
 facturing districts in the West, of which Airdrie and Coatbridge are 
 the principal centres, and gives access therefrom to the Clyde. The 
 Union Canal is really a feeder to, and branch of, the Forth and Clyde 
 Canal, some distance further east. 
 
 The Union Canal joins the Forth and Clyde Canal near Falkirk, 
 and stretches thence to Edinburgh, being 3 1 \ miles in length. It is 40 
 feet wide at the top, 20 at the bottom, and 5 deep, It was completed 
 in 1822, but has been, in all respects, a most unprofitable undertaking. 
 For many years the proprietors have not received any dividend, and 
 their prospects, we understand, are not improving.
 
 The Waterways of Scotland. 69 
 
 A canal intended to form a communication between Glasgow, 
 Paisley, and Ardrossan was commenced in 1807, but only that portion 
 connecting Glasgow with Paisley and the village of Johnston has 
 hitherto been finished. This part is about 1 2 miles long, the canal 
 being 30 feet broad at top, 18 at bottom, and 4^ deep. It was here 
 that the important experiments were originally made on quick travel- 
 ling by canals, which demonstrated that it was practicable to impel a 
 properly constructed boat, carrying passengers and goods, along a 
 canal at the rate of 9 or 10 miles an hour, without injury to the 
 banks. 
 
 THE CALEDONIAN CANAL. 
 
 A valley remarkable for its uniformity, straightness, and depth, 
 and extending from sea to sea, between two parallel ranges of steep 
 mountains, divides the Highlands of Scotland into two nearly equal 
 parts. The general direction of this chasm is from north-east to 
 south-west, making an angle of about 35 degrees with the meridian ; 
 and, besides being entered at each extremity by an arm of the sea, 
 viz., by the Moray Firth on the north, and Loch Linnhe on the south, 
 the rest of its bottom is for the most part occupied by a series of 
 rivers and lakes. The remarkably elongated form and contiguity of 
 these lakes had long ago suggested the facility of forming an inland 
 communication between the Atlantic Ocean and the German Sea. 
 In order to accomplish this important object, it seemed sufficient to 
 connect these lakes and the friths by several short canals amounting 
 together to 23 miles, and thereby obtain a navigable line to an extent 
 of more than 100 miles; and this was farther recommended by the 
 summit-level only rising 94^ feet above the sea. 
 
 So far back as the year 1773, this line had been surveyed by 
 James Watt, who reported favourably of it, and proposed that the 
 lakes should be connected by a canal of a very moderate size. 
 Nothing further, however, was done till early in the present century, 
 when the subject was taken up by Government, and new surveys 
 were made by Messrs. Jessop and Telford, who recommended a 
 canal of such dimensions as should admit frigates of thirty-two guns, 
 and the greater part of merchant ships, particularly that class which 
 trade between the Baltic and the ports of Ireland and the west coast 
 of Britain ; thus avoiding, it was hoped, a tedious, and often dangerous 
 navigation by the Orkneys. The dimensions proposed by Telford,
 
 70 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 and mainly adhered to, were a width of 50 feet at bottom, 120 feet at 
 top, and 20 feet deep; the locks from 170 to 180 feet long, and 40 
 wide, with a depth of 20 feet of water besides the lift, or rise. The 
 canal has, however, only been excavated to the depth of 15 feet in 
 the summit-level, though the width has been increased to 122 feet at 
 the top, with such a break in the slope that there is on each side 
 a horizontal shelf 6 feet broad at the depth of 2 feet under the 
 surface of the water. The design in this break in the slope of the 
 sides is to keep large vessels from approaching too close to the edge 
 of the canal, and destroying the upper part of the banks, either by 
 contact or by the eddy produced between the vessel and the sides 
 of the canal. On the north, the Caledonian Canal commences with a 
 sea lock at Clach-na-Carry, in a sheltered bay of Loch Beauly, which 
 is the more inland part of the Moray Firth. The sea-lock here is 
 about two miles north-west of Inverness, and three-quarters of a mile 
 west of the Ferry of Kessock, which is near the mouth of the river 
 Ness. In order to have sufficient depth of water at ordinary neap- 
 tides, it was necessaiy, on account of the flatness of the shore, to 
 place this lock 400 yards within sea-water mark, an operation 
 attended with difficulty on account of the softness of the bottom. 
 This lock is 170 feet long, 40 wide, with a lift of 8 feet ; and pro- 
 ceeding from it, the canal is formed by embankments till it passes 
 the sea-mark, where another lock of the same size, with a lift of 
 6 feet, is built on firm ground. On the south of this is the Muirton 
 basin, 967 yards long and 162 yards broad, with a wharf for the trade 
 in that quarter, being about a mile from Inverness. At the southern 
 extremity of this basin is a swivel or swing bridge for the public road 
 between Beauly and Inverness ; and then four locks, which, however, 
 from their being connected, have only five double gates in the whole. 
 These raise the canal 32 feet, which puts it on the ordinary summer 
 level of Loch Ness. Each lock is 180 feet between the gates, and 
 40 feet wide. The canal thence proceeds until it meets, and runs 
 along the north-west bank of the river Ness to the small lake 
 Doughfour, which is about 2100 yards long, and from 5 to 9 fathoms 
 deep, and is 6^ miles from Clach-na-Carry. It communicates with 
 Loch Ness by the pass of Bona Ferry. The intended line of canal 
 being on the west side of the river Ness, which in three different 
 places approached close to the steep sides of the hills on the west, it 
 was necessary to alter the course of that river, so as to obtain room 
 for the canal without cutting into the hills. At the entrance to Loch
 
 The Waterways of Scotland. 7 1 
 
 Doughfour is a regulating, or guard-lock, without any lift, to prevent 
 any overflow from the lake. It is 170 feet long, and 40 wide. It 
 was necessary to deepen this small lock in several places by dredging, 
 and to raise it 6 feet to the level of Loch Ness by a weir, and 
 embankment. The next part of this navigation, and by far the most 
 extensive lake in it, is Loch Ness, a fine sheet of water about 
 24 miles long, and from i to i^ miles broad. Its depth is so great 
 that it never freezes, being from 5 to 129 fathoms, and along the 
 middle it averages 100. It affords good anchorage at each end, and 
 also in a few bays, although the sides of this lake are generally 
 straight. It was proposed to introduce buoys for more convenient 
 moorings. There are nowhere in it either rocks or banks detached 
 from the shore. 
 
 Loch Ness receives the river Oich in its western shore not far 
 from its southern extremity, and a little south of this the canal leaves 
 the lake, whilst almost quite at the southern end stand the fort and 
 village of Fort Augustus. From this the canal ascends 40 feet by 
 five locks, and at Callachie, about 2\ miles further on, it rises 8 feet 
 by another lock. Three miles more bring it to Loch Oich, where a 
 regulating lock raises it 30 inches, so as to be even with that lake, 
 which is on the summit level. 
 
 To obtain a proper line for the canal upon the south-east side of 
 the river Oich, the channel of that river has been somewhat altered. 
 Loch Oich, which forms the summit-level of this navigation, is about 
 3 J miles long, and on an average a quarter of a mile broad. In one 
 place in the middle, and at both ends, it had to be deepened by 
 dredging. The water which falls into this lake, particularly from 
 the river Garry, affords at all times an ample supply for the canal. 
 Between Loch Oich and the next lake in the line, Loch Lochy, there 
 is no natural communication. The interval is about if miles, and 
 rises 20 feet above the Loch Oich, which, with the depth of the 
 canal, required a cutting of 35 feet. Loch Lochy, which was 21 feet 
 9 inches lower than Loch Oich, has been raised about 12 feet by an 
 embankment to. avoid rock-cutting, and the canal descends to it 
 9 feet 9 inches by two locks, one of which is also a regulating, or 
 guard lock. Loch Lochy is 10 miles long, and averages one in 
 breadth. In some places it is 76 fathoms in depth. About half a 
 mile of the course of the river Lochy had to be shifted into a new 
 bed to make room for the canal, which, now in its last stage, pro- 
 ceeds from the lake for 8 miles along the north-west bank of that
 
 72 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 river over a rugged surface to the shore of Loch Eil, which is the 
 more inland part of the Frith, called Loch Linnhe. A little south of 
 Loch Lochy there is a regulating lock ; and about a mile from Loch 
 Eil there are eight connected locks, called Neptune's Stairs, by which 
 the canal descends 64 feet. At Corpach shore it falls 15 feet by two 
 locks, and, after expanding into a basin 250 yards long and 100 
 broad, it finally descends 7 feet 9 inches by the sea-lock into Loch 
 Eil near Fort William. 
 
 The entire length of this navigation is 6o miles, and that of the 
 artificial part, including Loch Doughfour, is 23 miles. There are in 
 all twenty-eight locks. This canal has, as yet, been a most unprofit- 
 able speculation, not even paying the expense of its maintenance. 
 
 Before leaving the waterways of Scotland, it may be interesting to 
 remark that inland navigation occupied a good deal of attention from 
 James Watt,* although the great mechanician did not accomplish 
 so much in this direction as his contemporary, Brindley. Watt was 
 employed in 1767 to make a survey for a canal of junction between 
 the rivers Forth and Clyde, by what was called the Lomond passage, 
 and attended Parliament on the part of the subscribers, where the 
 Bill was lost. An offer was then made to him of undertaking the 
 survey and estimate of an intended canal for the Monkland Collieries 
 to Glasgow, and these proving satisfactory the superintendence of 
 the execution was confided to him. This was quickly followed by 
 his being employed by the Trustees for Fisheries and Manufactures 
 in Scotland to make a survey for a canal from Perth to Forfar, 
 through Strathmore ; and soon afterwards by the Commissioners of 
 the Annexed Estates, to furnish a report and estimate of the relative 
 advantages of opening a communication between the Forth of Clyde 
 and the western ocean, by means of a navigable canal across the 
 isthmus of Crinan,f or that of Tarbert. Business of this description 
 crowded upon him; and surveys, plans, and estimates, were suc- 
 cessively undertaken by him for the deepening of the river Clyde, 
 the rendering navigable of the rivers Forth and Devon, and the 
 
 * James Watt was born at Greenock on the igth January, 1736, and died 
 at Heathfield on the 25th August, 1819. His great invention was the steam 
 engine ; but he was an almost universal genius, having been almost equally at 
 home in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, medicine, and etymology, 
 architecture, music, and law, the modern languages, and Carman logic and poetry. 
 
 f This canal has since been carried out, and now forms an important link in 
 the chain of communication between the west of Scotland and Inverness, via the 
 " Royal," or West Coast route.
 
 The Waterways of Scotland. 73 
 
 water of Leven ; the making of a canal from Machrihanish Bay to 
 Campbeltown, and of another between the Grand Canal and the 
 Harbour of Borrowstounness. But the last and greatest work of the 
 kind upon which Watt was employed was the survey and estimate of 
 the line of the canal between Fort William and Inverness, since 
 executed, as we have seen, by Telford, upon a larger scale than was 
 at that time proposed. 
 
 Estuaries hardly come within the scope of the present work, 
 otherwise the Forth Bridge, recently opened by the Prince of Wales, 
 would demand and deserve an extended notice. That remarkable 
 engineering achievement, due to the genius of Sir John Fowler and 
 Sir Benjamin Baker, is likely for a long time to remain a unique 
 tour de force as a means of communication between the opposite 
 shores of an arm of the sea, and opens up a vista of possibilities in 
 regard to transport that were undreamt of until recently.
 
 74 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF IRELAND. 
 
 " Such was the Boyne, a poor inglorious stream, 
 That in Hibernian vales obscurely strayed, 
 And, unobserved, in wild meanders played." Addison. 
 
 IF there is one country more than another that ought to be 
 possessed of ample and complete water communication, that country 
 is surely Ireland. Surrounded on all sides by the sea, with a popu- 
 lation greatly inured to the conditions of living upon or by the water, 
 it should have at once the cheapest and the most comprehensive 
 system of water transport in the world. This, however, is far from 
 being the case. Neither in point of rivers, nor in point of canals, 
 does Ireland compare favourably with Scotland, not to speak of the 
 much more abundant resources of England. The actual waterways 
 that are of real importance besides the Liffey, are the Earne and 
 Shannon rivers, and the Grand Canal. About these we shall say as 
 much as may be necessary to indicate their general characteristics, 
 
 It has been said that the unfortunate Earl of Strafford, from 
 from having seen the utility of inland navigation in the Low 
 Countries, first suggested the improvement of river navigation in 
 Ireland. In 1703 the first Act of Parliament was passed for ren- 
 dering the Shannon navigable, and many improvements were pro- 
 jected. Nothing, however, was effected, although a useless expendi- 
 ture of I4o,ooo/. was made on the Shannon and Boyne in the year 
 1758. Various other large sums were afterwards granted, and 
 frittered away in partial improvements of the Shannon, Boyne, 
 Barrow, and Newry rivers, besides the Grand, Royal, Kildare, 
 Naas, and Lough Earne navigations. 
 
 THE SHANNON. 
 
 The Shannon river forms the most important feature in the 
 inland navigation of Ireland. For the first 144 miles of this water- 
 way, from the head of Lough Allen to the sea below Limerick, the
 
 The Waterways of Ireland. 75 
 
 Shannon is like a series of rivers and lakes. Issuing from Lough 
 Allen, it passes Leitrim, Carrick, Tarmonbury, &c., and then enters, 
 at Lanesborough, a very irregularly-shaped and extensive sheet of 
 water, called Lough Ree, about 17 miles in length. Leaving it, the 
 river, now greatly augmented, passses Athlone, and then winds by 
 Shannon Bridge and Banagher to Portumna, near which it expands 
 into Lough Derg, another narrow lake, 23 miles long, with deep bays 
 and inlets. From the southern extremity of this lake it flows on to 
 Limerick. In this extent of navigation we have first Lough Allen, 
 10 miles; thence to Lough Ree, 43 ; Lough Ree itself, 17 ; thence 
 to Lough Derg, 36; Lough Derg, 23; thence to Limerick, 15; 
 making together 144 miles. The mean height of Lough Allen above 
 the sea at Limerick is about 143^ feet, being on an average about a 
 foot of declivity per mile. Instead of the natural fall, however, the 
 water has been reduced by means of locks to a series of level pools. 
 The estuary or frith of the Shannon extends south-west about 
 70 miles beyond Limerick to its mouth, which is finally about 
 8 miles wide between Loop Head and Kerry Head, at the Atlantic. 
 
 The direction of the Shannon from Lough Allen to Limerick, 
 though generally south by south-west, is very circuitous, and broken 
 by many streams, islands, and rocks. The soundings are as various, 
 and both banks are liable to be overflowed by the river to a great 
 extent ; and the large expanse of the lakes would require a different 
 sort of vessel from those which navigate the river. The works which 
 have been constructed to overcome the natural difficulties of the 
 navigation are either insufficient or in a state of decay ; and it seems 
 to be generally admitted that very little real good can be effected 
 until the natural obstructions are removed, the number of lakes 
 reduced, and the channel deepened and improved in various parts ; 
 though it is still doubted if the navigation would even then be suit- 
 able for anything but steam-vessels. The Shannon connects with 
 the Royal Canal at Tarmonbury, and with the Grand Canal at 
 Shannon harbour, near Banagher. At Shannon Bridge it receives 
 on the west its principal tributary, the Suck ; on the east, the Inny, 
 the Upper and Lower Brosna, Mulkerna, Maig, Fergus, &c. 
 
 The Shannon river connects the tide water of the Atlantic in 
 Limerick with Dublin by two canals, the Grand and the Royal. It 
 passes by the towns of Limerick, Killaloe, Portumna, Banagher, 
 Shannon Bridge, Athlone, Lanesboro', Yarmon, Roosky, Drumsna, 
 Carrick, Leitrim, and Drumshambo.
 
 76 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The expenditure on the river up to 1878 was 8oo,738/. The 
 average cost of maintenance was 3300/1, and the total receipts from 
 tolls during the previous five years was 95 io/., being an average 
 yearly receipt of 19027. This sum, deducted from the average ex- 
 penditure of 33oo/., left a net yearly loss of I398/. At this average 
 rate for the previous thirty years the money loss by the Shannon 
 navigation amounts to 4i,94o/. 
 
 The depth of water for this navigation^ over 7 feet to io feet, is 
 maintained by eight wholly immovable weir-mounds. These weir- 
 mounds cause inundations, damaging 24,000 acres of land. This 
 damage during the last thirty years amounts to more than ioo,ooo/. 
 In the section between Limerick and Athlone, 68 miles, the average 
 receipts of tolls for the five years ending 1878 was 12747. Out of 
 that sum an engineer and eighteen lock-keepers had to be paid 686/., 
 together with repairs, which left from 3oo/. to 4oo/. a year profit. 
 
 In the section above Athlone, about 80 miles, the average receipt 
 of tolls in the same five years was ig7/., against the annual expenses 
 of repairs and the salaries of an engineer and ten lock-keepers, 
 amounting to 385 /. 
 
 The interests of the Shannon drainage do not, in Mr. Lynam's 
 view,* require to diminish the minimum depth of water under 
 5^ feet on the lock sills. These interests require merely that the 
 surface of the river and lakes shall be kept within a range of 5^ feet 
 to 8^ feet on the sills of all locks from Athlone to Limerick. The 
 bye-laws made by the Board of Works for the Shannon limit the 
 draught of boats to 4 feet 10^ inches. The river and locks are 
 maintained by the weir-mounds at levels that rarely are less than 
 7 j feet on the lock sills, and rise in floods to 9 feet. 
 
 The Earne and Shannon rivers have three features which render 
 them, in Mr. Lynam's opinion, peculiarly easy to regulate their floods, 
 and prevent inundations. They have large superficial areas of lakes. 
 Their channels between the lakes are wide and deep, so capacious 
 as to carry their floods with an inclination of less than an inch a 
 mile. Their floods rise slowly, 4 inches to 8 inches in twenty-four 
 hours, very rarely rising i foot in twenty-four hours. On the 
 Shannon, all the mill-weirs and fish-weirs have been purchased and 
 removed, and all the shoals have been deepened at a cost of 
 5 29, 7 1 6/. The lakes in the Lough Earne basin have an area of 
 about 50,000 acres. The shoals and straits, which obstruct the 
 
 * ' The Engineer,' Oct. II, 1878.
 
 The Waterways of Ireland. 77 
 
 river and cause the inundations, have an aggregate length of merely 
 6 miles. Only one mill-weir (which is the only fish-weir) exists, and 
 it is at the outlet, where there is a fall of 12 feet The Shannon 
 basin has lakes of the superficial area of 87,000 acres. In the length, 
 from the Battle Bridge above Carrick-on-Shannon to Killaloe Bridge, 
 of 128 miles, the lakes occupy 50^ miles; the broad, deep channel 
 extends for 73^ miles ; the confined portions of the channel occupy 
 merely 4 miles ; the portions of the channel confined so as to be 
 visible obstructions are but 2 miles long. Neither mill-weir nor 
 fish-weir stands in the way of the current The floods scarcely 
 ever rise i foot in twenty-four hours. The great floods are but 
 4 feet where deepest on the lands, and generally but 2 feet deep, 
 and merely 18 inches deep over large areas. Many damaging floods 
 are not more than 6 inches deep on the land. 
 
 From Lough Allen to the tide of the Atlantic Ocean at Limerick, 
 a length of 149 miles by the sinuosities of the river, the Shannon 
 has been made navigable for steamers with a depth of 6 feet of 
 water. The river lies naturally in eight separate levels, but the 
 lowest, at Limerick, is very small, and detached from the others by 
 a length of 5 miles and a fall of 90 feet. The upper level, at the 
 outlet from Lough Allen, has a fall of 20 feet in 6 miles. The lowest 
 level, between Castleconnell and Killaloe, contains only 641 acres 
 of lowland, rarely flooded in summer or autumn, and rarely covered 
 by more than i foot of water. To preserve the land from summer 
 and autumn floods the surface of the floods must be lowered 2 feet 
 nearly. A permanently solid embankment, used during many years 
 for a navigation horse tow-path, extends along one side of the river, 
 the only openings being four culverts for side drainage. 
 
 On the other side of the river there exists a natural ridge, which 
 is a little higher than the highest floods. It is not continuous, but 
 interrupted in five places. These circumstances are held by Mr. 
 Lynam to " render it very easy to protect the lowlands from all floods." 
 Very favourable sites exist for back-drains to carry off rain-water and 
 springs. The 641 acres of lowlands may be thus protected from 
 summer and autumn floods at a cost of 6ooo/., being io/. per acre. 
 This would allow of winter irrigation also, which the occupiers of the 
 lands particularly require. The system of river embankments is 
 much objected to as dangerous, and properly so, when it is proposed 
 to make 'high embankments. In this case the required embankments 
 are in existence for seven-eighths of the required length, so per-
 
 78 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 manently solid as to be absolutely safe, and the small portions to be 
 built need not be more than 3 feet to 5 feet high. The obstructions 
 are a rock-shoal near the middle of the length, an old bridge with 
 narrow arches and thick piers, and a shoal of solid limestone rock at 
 the outlet. 
 
 MINOR IRISH RIVERS. 
 
 The Barrow River has been rendered navigable from the tideway 
 below St. Mallins up to where it is joined by the Grand Canal at 
 Athy Bridge, a distance of 43 miles, falling 172 feet. But from Athy 
 to the mouth of the Barrow, in the estuary of Waterford Harbour, 
 and through that to St. George's Channel, the distance exceeds 
 60 miles. 
 
 The Blackwater River^ county Cork, is navigable from its mouth 
 at Youghall up as far as the tide reaches, or at most to Cappoquin. 
 
 There is another, and smaller Blackwater, connected with the 
 Tyrone Canal, and flowing into Lough Neagh. 
 
 The Boyne River is navigable from the Bay of Drogheda for 
 22 miles, up to Trim, in the last 7 miles of which it ascends from 
 Navan 189 feet by means of locks, which are from 80 to 100 feet 
 long and 1 5 feet wide. 
 
 The Corrib River and Lough, or Lake, form a navigable line, 
 commencing at the mouth of that iriver, in Galway Bay, and ex- 
 tending from Galway town in a north-westerly direction for about 
 24 miles. 
 
 The Earne River and Lough, or Lake, are navigable through the 
 lake from the upper part, where the river enters it, below Belturbet, 
 till it leaves it again at Enniskillen, where it is obstructed by weirs ; 
 but below the isle on which that town is built the river again expands 
 into the lower part of the lake, through which it is also navigable. 
 Thus far the entire distance is about 30 miles, and the navigation is 
 terminated by a fall, from which the river has a rapid course of 
 9 miles to Donegal Bay. 
 
 It has been proposed to construct a canal from Lough Earne, 
 beginning near Belturbet, and to follow along the valleys of the 
 Finn and Blackwater to Lough Neagh. 
 
 The Fergus River, county Clare, is navigable from its mouth, in 
 the Shannon, up to Ennis, the county town. 
 
 The Foyle River is navigable for i o miles from its mouth, in the 
 estuary of Lough Foyle, below Londonderry, up to Strabane.
 
 The Waterways of Ireland. 79 
 
 The Lagan Navigation commences in the tideway at Belfast, and 
 proceeds mostly by the course of the rivers as far as Lisburn, from 
 which it is continued by a canal by Hillsborough and Moira to 
 Lough Neagh. The total length is 28 miles. 
 
 The Lee River is navigable in the tideway up to the city of Cork, 
 and for small craft somewhat farther. Below Cork, however, the 
 navigation is principally an arm of the sea called Cork Harbour. 
 
 The Liffey River is navigable from its mouth in Dublin Bay for 
 about 3 miles up to Carlisle Bridge, at the farther end of the city of 
 Dublin. From the south side of this navigable part proceeds the 
 Grand Canal, and from the north side the Royal Canal, of which we 
 shall presently speak. 
 
 The Limerick Navigation commences at that city, and proceeds 
 in a north-easterly direction, partly in the Shannon and partly by 
 canals, for 15 miles, to Killaloe, at the south end of Lough Derg. 
 
 The Moig River, county Limerick, is navigable from its mouth in 
 the Shannon to near Adare. 
 
 The Moy River, county Mayo, is navigable for about 5 miles, 
 from Killala Bay up to Ballina. 
 
 The Neagh Lough, or Lake, being about 20 miles long and 10 
 broad, is generally of sufficient depth to be navigable to a con- 
 siderable extent in every direction. It communicates with Belfast 
 by the Lagan Navigation, with the Tyrone Collieries by the Black- 
 water, with Antrim by the Antrim river, and southward with the sea 
 by the Newry Navigation. 
 
 The Newry Navigation commences in the tideway of Lough 
 Fathom, 3 miles below Newry, which it passes, and proceeds 16 
 miles by a canal to the Upper Bann River, in which it continues to 
 Lough Neagh. The entire length is about 30 miles, generally in a 
 northerly direction. This, which has always been a very imperfect 
 navigation, was the first executed in Ireland. 
 
 The Slane, or Slaney River, is navigable from its mouth in Wex- 
 ford Haven, for 14 miles, to Enniscorthy. 
 
 The Suir, or Sure River, unites with the Barrow in the estuary 
 called Waterford Harbour, about 5 miles below the town, and is 
 navigable from that up to Carrick for sloops, and to Clonmel for 
 barges. At the town of Waterford the largest ships lie afloat in 
 40 feet water. 
 
 The Tyrone Colliery Canal commences at the south-west extremity 
 of Lough Neagh, proceeding by a short cut across the isthmus of
 
 8o Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Maghery to the Blackwater River, and, following it a short way, 
 passes by another cut of 3 miles to the Colliery Basin, from which a 
 railway extends to the mines. 
 
 THE GRAND CANAL. 
 
 The Grand Canal was begun in 1765 by a body of subscribers; 
 but they could not have completed the work without very large 
 advances from Government. The canal commences at Dublin and 
 stretches in a westerly direction, inclining a little to the south, to the 
 Shannon, with which it unites near Banagher, a distance of 85 statute 
 miles, and thence on the west side of the river to Ballinasloe, 4 miles 
 distant. But, exclusive of the main trunk, there is a branch to Athy, 
 where it joins the Barrow, a distance of about 27 miles, and there 
 are branches to Portarlington, Mount Mellich, and some other places. 
 There is also a westerly branch, more recently constructed, from the 
 Shannon to Ballinasloe, about 14 miles in length. The total length 
 of the canal, with its various branches, is about 164 English miles. 
 Its summit elevation is 230 feet above the level of the sea at Dublin. 
 It is 40 feet wide at the surface, from 24 to 20 feet at the bottom, 
 has 6 feet depth of water, and cost, in all, about 2,ooo,ooo/. The 
 tonnage on this canal for the eight years ending with 1837 varied 
 from 215,000 to 237,000 tons, while the tolls varied from 33,ooo/. 
 to 38,ooo/. The highest part of the canal rises 298 feet above 
 sea level. 
 
 Two errors are said to have been committed in the formation of 
 the Grand Canal ; it was framed on too large a scale for that time, 
 and it was carried too far north. Had it been 4 or 4^ feet, instead 
 of 6 feet deep, its utility would have been but little impaired, while 
 its expense would have been very materially diminished. 
 
 But the greatest error was in the direction of the canal. Instead 
 of joining the Shannon about 15 miles above Lough Derg, it should 
 have joined it below Limerick, and conversely would have avoided 
 the difficult and dangerous navigation of the upper Shannon. The 
 canal would then have passed through a comparatively fertile country, 
 and it would not have been necessary to carry it across the bog of 
 Allen, in which, says Mr. Wakefield, " the company have buried more 
 money than would cut a spacious canal from Dublin to Limerick." 
 The main line of the Grand Canal is 89 miles long, but there are 
 branches to Naas, Mount Mellick, Portarlington, and other places. 
 On the main line there are six locks, each 70 feet by 14^ feet.
 
 The Waterways of Ireland. 8 1 
 
 THE ROYAL CANAL. 
 
 The Royal Canal was undertaken in 1789. It stretches west- 
 wards from Dublin to the Shannon, which it joins near Tormanbury. 
 Its entire length is about 92 miles, exclusive of a branch of 5 miles, 
 from Kilashee to Longford; its highest elevation is 307 feet above 
 the level of the sea. At the bottom it is 24 feet wide, and it has 
 6 feet depth of water. It had cost, exclusive of interest on stock, 
 loans, &c., advanced by Government, in February 1823, 1,421,9547. 
 The tolls produced in 1826 25,i48/., the expenses of the canal for 
 the same year being u,9i2/., leaving only 13,236/1 net. The canal 
 has paid dividends over a number of years, although not on a high 
 scale. 
 
 This canal seems to have been wrongly planned, for throughout 
 its whole course it is nearly parallel to, and not very distant from, 
 the Grand Canal. There are consequently two large canals where 
 there ought not to be more than one. It is probable that one canal 
 of comparatively small dimensions would have been quite enough 
 for all the business of the district, though it were much greater than 
 it is, or is likely to become. 
 
 Besides the above there are some other canals, as well as various 
 river excavations in Ireland, but hardly one of them yields a reason- 
 able return for the capital expended upon it. They have almost 
 all been liberally assisted by grants of public money, and their 
 history, and that of the two canals now adverted to, has been said 
 to strikingly corroborate the caustic remark of Arthur Young, that 
 "a history of public works in Ireland would be a history of jobs."
 
 82 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROJECTED CANALS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
 
 " Where of late the kids had cropt the grass, 
 The monsters of the deep now take their place." Ovid. 
 
 ONE of the most notable features of the engineering and commercial 
 development of to-day is the movement, elsewhere alluded to, for 
 
 SKETCH OF THE PROPOSED NATIONAL CANAL. 
 
 making ship canals with the view of converting inland towns into 
 seaports. The Manchester Ship Canal, now well advanced towards
 
 Projected Canals in the United Kingdom. 83 
 
 completion, undoubtedly gave the first impulse and has since 
 supplied the impetus to this movement. Whether the movement 
 will proceed much farther than plans and prospectuses remains to be 
 seen. But at the present moment the principal proposals affecting 
 the United Kingdom are 
 
 1. The construction of a National canal, passing right through 
 from the Bristol Channel to the Humber on the one side, and from 
 the Thames to the Mersey on the other. 
 
 2. The conversion of the existing waterways into a ship canal, 
 between Sheffield and Goole. 
 
 3. The construction of a ship canal between the Forth and the 
 Clyde. 
 
 4. The construction of a canal from the Irish Sea to Birkenhead 
 through Wallesey Pool and the Wirral Peninsula. 
 
 5. The construction of a ship canal between the Mersey and the 
 city of Birmingham, connecting with the Manchester Ship Canal 
 and the Mersey, by way of the Weaver Navigation. 
 
 6. A canal to connect the city and district of Birmingham, with 
 the river Trent, and thereby with the North Sea. 
 
 7. An improved waterway between the Midlands and the Thames. 
 
 8. The improvement of the Wiltshire and Berkshire canal, so as 
 to give better inland water transport between Bristol and London. 
 
 THE FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL. 
 
 The most probable, and at the same time one of the most im- 
 portant of the foregoing proposals, is that designed to connect the 
 Forth with the Clyde, thereby enabling vessels of considerable 
 tonnage to pass from the one sea to the other, without passing round 
 the further extremity of the island. There is already a canal between 
 the two seas, but this waterway is too contracted to be of much use 
 for vessels of any size, and it is not, therefore, proposed to utilise the 
 existing canal in the new scheme. 
 
 The greatest height of the present canal is 141 feet. It is crossed 
 by about 30 drawbridges, and passes over 10 considerable aqueducts, 
 and 30 small ones, the largest being that over the Kelvin, at Mary- 
 hill, near Glasgow. The canal is supplied with water from eight 
 reservoirs, which cover 721 acres. The original cost of the canal 
 was about 3oo,ooo/., and 50 years after its opening the annual 
 revenue amounted to about ioo,ooo/,, and the expenditure to about 
 
 G 2
 
 84 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 4o,ooo/. In 1869, the canal passed into the possession of the Cale- 
 donian Railway Company, when, with the adjoining Monkland Canal, 
 it was valued at i, 141,0007. The Caledonian Company undertook 
 to pay an annuity of 9i,333/., being a guaranteed dividend of six and 
 a quarter per cent It was, however, like many other similar arrange- 
 ments made by railway companies in Great Britain, a very bad 
 bargain for the new proprietors, since the profits from the working 
 of the canal are now much less than they were. 
 
 Messrs. Stevenson, of Edinburgh, who have been consulted as to 
 the most practicable route for the proposed canal, have recommended 
 that the canal proper should begin at Alloa on the Forth, where 
 vessels would be raised by a lock to the level of Loch Lomond, 13 
 feet above high water, which would be the summit level of the canal. 
 The canal would proceed thence along the valley of the Forth to 
 Loch Lomond, through that loch to Tarbet, and would afterwards 
 be carried along the narrow neck of land to Loch Long, or, alter 
 natively, across to the opposite shore of Loch Lomond, near Arden, 
 and thence into the Forth of Clyde, near Helensburgh, The 
 average depth of cutting is stated at 47 feet, but there would be a 
 heavy cutting, some three miles long and 203 feet deep on an average, 
 which the engineers propose to make a tunnel, with 150 feet of head- 
 way. The estimated cost of the work is about 8,000, ooo/., or much 
 the same as the cost of the Manchester Ship Canal. The traffic is 
 calculated at 9,516,000 tons, and it is estimated that at is. 6d. per 
 ton, this traffic would yield a gross annual income of 7i3,748/. which 
 would be sufficient to yield 8 per cent, after deducting working 
 expenses, &c. It is proposed to make the canal 30 feet deep, and 
 72 feet wide at the bottom. 
 
 And the route has been recommended for the proposed ship 
 canal, which is termed the direct route, and which is 27 miles shorter 
 from Greenock than the proposed Loch Lomond route via Tarbet. 
 This route would start from the Clyde at a point near to Whiteinch, 
 join the line of the present Forth and Clyde Canal near Maryhill, 
 and thereafter proceed in the same direction to the junction of the 
 canal with the Firth of Forth. The shorter route would, however, 
 be the most difficult, inasmuch as there is a very steep hill imme- 
 diately after leaving the Clyde, between Whiteinch and Maryhill. 
 The height to be surmounted here is not less than 150 feet; and for 
 a ship canal, which ought to be a tide-level waterway, in order to be 
 satisfactory, this would be a serious drawback.
 
 Projected Canals in the United Kingdom. 85 
 
 It is contended that, being the shortest route between America 
 and the Baltic, the Continent, and the east coast of Scotland and 
 England, the through traffic would be considerable. This may be 
 true, but the gain in time would be reduced materially by the fact 
 that vessels in coming off the Atlantic would be required to sail up 
 the long forth (Clyde), and would probably require, particularly if 
 deeply laden, to wait on the tide to get to Bowling, which is some 
 distance up the river, or the channel would need to be deepened 
 and broadened, thus adding to the cost. For channel steamers 
 going from Ireland, or the west coast of Scotland, England or Wales 
 to the east coast or the Continent, the canal would be a decided 
 benefit, for not only would their voyage be shortened, but the rocky 
 and dangerous coast of the north of Scotland would be avoided. 
 The canal would pass through the coal and oil districts of Scotland, a 
 fact which has been adduced in favour of the scheme. 
 
 Another consideration which carries much weight is the facility 
 gained for the rapid passage of ba-ttleships from one shore to another, 
 rendering defence in time of war more effective. 
 
 THE PROPOSED SHEFFIELD AND GOOLE CANAL. 
 
 The town of Sheffield, with a population of some 300,000, and 
 extremely important and diversified industries, has hitherto been 
 practically landlocked. There is, however, a system of canals 
 actually in existence which gives communication with the sea. This 
 system embraces the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, 4 miles long ; the 
 Dun Navigation, 28^ miles ; the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, 
 12! miles; and the Dearne and Dove Canal, 14 miles, giving a 
 total of 59 miles of navigation. 
 
 In this chain of communication the most important link is the 
 Dun River Navigation, which begins near the village of Tinsley, and 
 proceeds thence by the Tinsley Cut, which was made to avoid a bend 
 in the river, under powers of the Act of i2th George I. There are 
 several other cuts in the river which have been constructed at various 
 times, their total length, from Mexborough Church to the Dearne 
 river, being not less than 2220 yards. The river has passed through 
 the hands of Vermueden, who, in the reign of Charles I., used it 
 to drain the low lands in the vicinity of Hatfield Chase. The total 
 rise of the Dun Navigation, by sixteen locks, from low-water mark 
 in the river, is 92}- feet. Writing in 1831, Priestley stated that "the
 
 86 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport.
 
 Projected Canals in the Untied Kingdom. 87 
 
 Dun Navigation is of the utmost importance for exporting the produce 
 of the extensive coal and iron works which abound at its western 
 extremity ; also, the vast quantity of manufactured iron goods and 
 cutlery which is annually produced in the populous town and neigh- 
 bourhood of Sheffield." This, however, was before the present 
 system of railways was completed, and before the waterways on this 
 route fell into the hands of their great rivals. Not more than half a 
 million tons now annually pass through the port of Keadby, which 
 is the connecting point between the Dun Navigation and the Stain- 
 forth and Keadby Canal, the latter being a continuation thereof, and 
 the river Trent. 
 
 It is not proposed to do more than improve the existing naviga- 
 tions to the extent of enabling them to take barges with a carrying 
 capacity of 700 tons, and sea-going steamers capable of carrying 300 
 to 400 tons, whereas at present they cannot carry boats of more than 
 80 tons. Such vessels could carry coal cargoes from the South 
 Yorkshire collieries situated upon this waterway, and London or any 
 other large consuming centre on the British shores. The existing 
 waterways are, however, in the hands of the Manchester, Sheffield, 
 and Lincolnshire Railway Company, which, of course, will have to 
 be consulted as to their acquisition. The accompanying diagram 
 shows the route of the proposed improved navigation. 
 
 THE PROPOSED IRISH SEA AND BIRKENHEAD SHIP CANAL. 
 
 A company was established in 1888 for the purpose of cutting a 
 canal, through the Wallasey Pool, from the Irish Sea to Birkenhead, 
 The object of this undertaking is to improve the approach to the 
 port of Liverpool, which is at present greatly prejudiced by the shifty 
 channel, the numerous sandbanks on either side of the bar, and the 
 risks and delays that are thereby entailed. The scheme is not a 
 new one entirely. On the contrary, Telford, Nimmo, and Robert 
 Stephenson, in 1838, reported upon a kindred project, and estimated 
 its cost at i,4oo,ooo/. The sum named, however, was too much for 
 the promoters to raise, and a modified plan was submitted, calculated 
 to cost about half the money. The Corporation of Liverpool, how- 
 ever, opposed the scheme, and privately bought up the land on either 
 side of the Wallasey Pool, with a view to frustrate its accomplish- 
 ment. Telford's plans have, however, quite recently been revived, 
 and it is now proposed to make a cut from an arm of the Wallasey
 
 88 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Pool which, running for about half a mile inland, has, notwithstanding 
 the enormous extension of dock accommodation all around, been left 
 in its natural condition to the west end of the Leasowe embankment, 
 near Dove Point, whence a tidal channel would be formed through 
 the foreshore to the Rock Channel, the ancient entrance to the port 
 of Liverpool. This tidal channel would be protected by a break- 
 water running from the Leasowe embankment to a point in the 
 Rock Channel west of the Dove Spit. An outer breakwater would 
 also run in an easterly and south-easterly direction for a distance of 
 5000 feet, sheltering the greater part of the Rock Channel, which is 
 to be dredged for upwards of a mile to a depth of 30 feet below low- 
 water mark. The scheme does not appear to be either difficult or 
 costly, but as it is objected to by the Corporation of Liverpool and 
 by the Mersey Harbour Board, it may not come to maturity. 
 That it would, if carried out, be a great convenience to the many 
 thousands who annually arrive at or depart from Liverpool for the 
 United States and other countries, is sufficiently manifest. 
 
 THE CANAL CONNECTION BETWEEN LONDON AND BRISTOL. 
 
 The Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal was acquired by some capi- 
 talists towards the close of 1889, with a view to working it in 
 competition with the Great Western Railway between London and 
 Bristol. The canal in question leaves the Kennett and Avon Canal 
 at Semington, a few miles on the Bristol side of Devizes, and proceeds 
 thence through Melksham, Wootton Bassett, Swindon, and Challow 
 to the Thames at Abingdon. Although the Kennett and Avon 
 Canal, which joins the Thames at Reading, is 23 miles shorter 
 between London and Avonmouth, it labours under the disadvantage 
 of rising to a much greater height, and therefore requiring twenty- 
 eight additional locks. It is also proposed to develop the Thames 
 and Severn Canal, which is connected by a short branch from 
 Swindon, through Cricklade, with the Wiltshire and Berkshire. 
 
 During the year 1888 attention was called to a project for the 
 union of the Bristol and English Channels by a ship canal, running 
 from Stolford, near Bridgwater, which has the advantage of being 
 opposite Cardiff, via Bridgwater, Taunton, and Exeter, to Langstone 
 Point, on the west side of Exmouth Bight, where the southern 
 harbour would be formed. 
 .- This route is described as offering every facility for the work, the
 
 Projected Canals of the United Kingdom. 89 
 
 chief elevation, White Ball Hill, which is 536 feet high, being turned 
 by following the course of the old Great Western Canal. A part 
 of the existing canals, or their remains, and the floating basin at 
 Exeter, with its 5^ miles of canal to the Exe, are intended to be 
 acquired, and "the deepest cutting on the whole system will not 
 exceed 200 feet. The canal would be on the level of the sea, taking 
 its supply chiefly from that source, with sea-locks only at each end. 
 The dimensions proposed are : length, 62 miles ; width at surface, 125 
 feet, at bottom, 36 feet ; and depth 21 feet, the figures being much the 
 same as those of the ship canal from Amsterdam to the Helder, which 
 admits loaded vessels of 1000 to 1500 tons, drawing 18 feet. Coal 
 from South Wales and adjoining fields would be likely to provide a 
 large revenue for a short cut to the English Channel, and thence to 
 London, say 355 miles, in order to better compete with the North 
 of England. The cost of the scheme has been set down at 
 3,o8o,ooo/. 
 
 PROPOSED WATERWAYS FROM BIRMINGHAM TO THE SEA. 
 
 Of all the towns in the United Kingdom that labour under the 
 disadvantage of being remote from the sea, none are so entirely 
 excluded from sea competition as the capital of the Midlands. Bir- 
 mingham is unlike most of the other cities and towns of the country 
 in this respect, that it is neither built upon a navigable river, nor 
 upon any other waterway that would be likely to secure for traders 
 some relief from their almost abject dependence upon railway trans- 
 port. And yet the town and district of Birmingham are not 
 altogether without the means of water transport. The locality is, in 
 point of fact, the centre of a network of canals, which, if they were 
 properly adapted to its requirements, would place it in direct com- 
 munication by water with all the principal ports and markets in the 
 kingdom. By the Birmingham, Warwick and Birmingham, Warwick 
 and Napton, Oxford, Grand Junction, and Regent's Canals it is 
 placed in communication with the metropolis, although the distance 
 is 163^ miles, as against only 100 miles by the shortest railway route. 
 It has two similar routes to the great port of Liverpool the first by 
 the Birmingham, Staffordshire and Worcestershire, North Stafford- 
 shire, and Bridgwater Canals, and the river Mersey ; the second 
 route by the same route as regards the Birmingham Canal, and thence 
 via the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal for a mile and a
 
 90 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 quarter, until the Shropshire Canal is broached, when the route is 
 continued over this waterway for a distance of 68 miles, until 
 the Mersey is reached. The distance by the first of these routes 
 is 106^, and by the second only 89^ miles, against 90 miles 
 by railway. Hull is in water communication with Birmingham by 
 way of the Birmingham, the Coventry, and the North Staffordshire 
 Canals, and thence by the open navigation of the Trent and the 
 Humber for a distance of 120^ miles. Finally, Birmingham has three 
 separate water routes to the Severn ports, all of them terminating in 
 the Gloucester and Berkeley section, after traversing the Severn for 
 30 to 44 miles the entire distance being 86 miles in two cases, and 
 95 miles in another. The nearest means of getting at the sea avail- 
 able at present to the people of Birmingham is, therefore, 86 miles. 
 But neither this nor any of the other routes indicated are of any real 
 value to the Midlands, owing to the limited size of the canals, and 
 the difficulty of working them as an unbroken chain of communica- 
 tion. Thus, taking the water route to London, the three first canals 
 the Birmingham, the Warwick and Birmingham, and the Warwick 
 and Napton have locks only 72 feet long by 7 feet broad and 
 4 feet draft. On the section of the Oxford Canal to be passed over, 
 only 5 miles in length, there is no lock, but on the Grand Junction 
 Canal, which has to be traversed for a distance of 101 miles, the 
 locks are 14 feet by 6 feet by 4 feet 6 inches, and on the Regent's 
 Canal, where the transport terminates, the locks are 90 feet by 
 15 feet by 5 feet. The same condition of things applies to the 
 physical characteristics of the waterways between Birmingham and 
 Liverpool. Hull might be more readily reached if only the Trent 
 were a little deeper, but as the average draft of the locks on that 
 waterway does not exceed 3 feet 6 inches, it is clear that no vessel 
 of large size could navigate it, and to dredge it to a reasonable depth 
 for the whole distance of 102 miles would be a most serious under- 
 taking. The most promising means of reaching the sea are therefore 
 those provided by the Severn route. The river itself is available for the 
 greater part of the distance on this route in one case, after traversing 
 26 miles of canal on the Birmingham, Stourb ridge, and Staffordshire 
 and Worcestershire systems. The average depths of the locks on 
 the Severn over the 44 miles that it has to be navigated by this route 
 is about 6 feet, while they are 99 feet long and 20 feet wide. These 
 dimensions would allow of the passage of really good-sized boats, but 
 as it is, with the broken gauge of the other canals, no boat can pass
 
 Projected Canals of the United Kingdom. 9 1 
 
 through to the Severn loaded beyond 33 tons. Another matter that 
 seriously militates against the water facilities of Birmingham is that 
 the different canals are, of course, under different administrations, 
 and each authority levies tolls capriciously and disproportionately to 
 the distance traversed and facilities afforded. Thus, it was given in 
 evidence before the Canal Committee of 1883 * that the Birmingham 
 Canal Company charged in respect of bricks \\\d. per ton for 6^- or 
 7 miles, whereas the adjoining Warwick Canal Company charged 
 6^d. for 37^ miles, and the Grand Junction Canal Company only 
 charged is, ^\d. for 101 miles. 
 
 At different times during the last two or three years proposals 
 have been put forward, having for their object to place Birmingham 
 in direct connection with the sea, either 
 
 1. By a ship canal, that would enable vessels of 200 tons at least 
 to proceed to the Bristol Channel. 
 
 2. By a canal that would enable canal boats to navigate the 
 lower Trent to the North Sea ; and 
 
 3. By the construction of an improved canal, between the Mid- 
 lands and London. 
 
 Each of these routes has been canvassed and considered over the 
 last few years ; and it is probable that some really effectual steps will 
 be taken before long, in order to realise the long cherished and most 
 desirable end of giving Birmingham a satisfactory outlet to the sea. 
 The people of the Midlands have really been more active in this 
 direction than those of any other locality. But they have apparently 
 sought too much from the State and trusted too little to themselves. 
 The Birmingham Town Council, in 1888, appointed a committee, 
 with instructions either to get clauses introduced into the Railway 
 Rates Bill, then under consideration, or to introduce a separate 
 measure with a view to the formation of Canal Trusts, &c. In May 
 of 1889, again, the Midlands sent a deputation to the Board of Trade, 
 in order to urge upon that department, the desirability of improving 
 the canal communication, between the Midlands and the sea. Besides 
 this, the traders and manufacturers of Birmingham, have met and 
 passed resolutions, calling upon the Government to inquire into the 
 canal system without delay, with a view to its acquisition by the 
 State. More real good would be done if the money were subscribed, 
 to open up a first class waterway to the sea, as has been done, with so 
 much spirit, by the people of Lancashire. Whether this waterway 
 * Report, Q. 251.
 
 92 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 should connect with London, with Bristol, or with the Mersey, or 
 whether it would be worth while to incur the expenditure required to 
 connect all three, is a matter that would have to be very carefully 
 considered. 
 
 As regards the proposal to provide an improved canal, between 
 London and Birmingham, it is suggested that it should have a 
 minimum top width of 45 feet, and a depth of 8 feet The number 
 of locks proposed is 90 instead of 154, but by adopting a partially new 
 route, so as to avoid the depression in crossing the valley of the 
 Avon, at Warwick, the number may be reduced to 75. The time of 
 transit between Birmingham and London would thereby be shortened 
 by 12 hours, and it is estimated that the additional facilities afforded 
 for the passage of steam-tugged trains of boats, would enable the cost 
 of haulage to be reduced nearly one-half. The carrying capacity of 
 the improved canal has been put at two millions of tons annually, 
 and the cost of the improvements at a million and a quarter. A 
 committee of traders in the Midlands has recently had this project 
 under consideration.
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF FRANCE. 
 
 WITHIN recent years, the advocates of water transport in Great 
 Britain and other countries, have been accustomed to point to 
 France as a notable example of the advantages of improving and 
 extending the internal navigations of a country. It is true that no 
 nation has done more with this end in view. From first to last, 
 France has expended a larger sum on canal navigation than any 
 other nation. Her system of water transport is also in some respects 
 more complete than that of any other country, having been designed 
 and carried out upon a systematic plan, which permits of the ways of 
 water communication being connected with each other, and with 
 the chief centres of population and industry. The waterways of 
 France, are, moreover, mainly owned by, or under the control of 
 the State, which has instituted elaborate inquiries from time to 
 time into the subject of their development and utilisation. It cannot, 
 nevertheless, be claimed for the canals of France, as a rule, that 
 they present any unusual economic or engineering features, although 
 they provide for a low cost of transport, of which we shall have 
 more to say when we come to deal especially with that branch of our 
 subject. 
 
 A glance at a canal and river map of France, is sufficient to show 
 that in the more important parts of the country, there is a very ex- 
 cellent system of communication by water. Between Dunkerque, 
 Gravelines, and Paris, there is a large traffic carried to the latter city, 
 through an elaborate system of main and lateral canals. The river 
 Seine connects Paris with the ports of Havre and Rouen. From the 
 Belgian frontier, quite a network of canals connect with Paris ; and 
 on the German frontier, near Nancy, the Canal de la Marne au de 
 Rhin gives access to the capital, both by the Marne river to the 
 Seine, and by the Oise, through the Aisne canal. 
 
 On the Mediterranean seaboard, the Canal du Midi connects 
 with the Canal des Etangs and the Canal de Beaucaire, and thence 
 by the Rhone and Saone, the Canal du Centre, the Canal de Briare,
 
 94 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 the Canal de Loing, and the Seine to Paris, taking Lyons, Chalons, 
 Dijon, Nivers, and other important towns en route. In the south of 
 France, the only important canal is that of the Midi, which connects 
 Bordeaux with Cette ; and on the west, the ports of Brest and St. 
 Nazaire are connected with the main line of communication already 
 described the former by the Canal de Nantes a Brest, and the latter 
 by the Loire river, the Canal Noyers du Berry, and the Canal 
 d'Orleans. It is, however, on the north that the canal system has its 
 greatest development, and especially on the Belgian frontier. The 
 system has been contrived to meet the requirements of all the 
 populous places on the line of route, so that it is very far from having 
 been arranged to save time and distance. This, however, is no dis- 
 advantage in cases where density of traffic was the point to be kept 
 in view. Some of the canals have at one end no outlet or through 
 communication. The Canal du Berry, for example, terminates 
 abruptly at Montlugon, the Canal de Roanne a Dijon at Roanne, 
 and the Canal de 1'Ourcq at Port-aux-Perches, but this is very ex- 
 ceptional. The system is generally designed to enable one waterway 
 to give immediate access to another, so that through routes are the 
 most characteristic and valuable feature which it presents. 
 
 The very elaborate statistics which the French people make it 
 their business to collect relative to all their mundane affairs enable 
 us to obtain information as to the character of the traffic on French 
 waterways, and the conditions of its movement, that are not accessible 
 for most other countries. In order that some light may be thrown 
 upon the problem of " how they manage these things in France," we 
 have been at some pains to get together the most important data 
 bearing on the subject. 
 
 Imprimis, then, it appears that the total tonnage carried on the 
 canals of France in 1887 there are no returns yet issued for a later 
 year was 21,050,180 tons. As this traffic was carried for a total 
 distance of 1762 millions of miles, it follows that the average distance 
 over which each ton was carried was 84 miles. 
 
 It is interesting to compare these returns with the corresponding 
 returns for the French railways, which carried 80,360,000 tons for a 
 total distance of 6801 millions of miles, giving an average transport 
 or lead of 84^ miles per ton. 
 
 There are no detailed returns at command of the amount of 
 expenditure at which the traffic on the waterways of France has been 
 carried on. In the nature of the case, indeed, there could hardly be
 
 The Waterways of France. 95 
 
 such information, seeing that the rivers, and to a large extent the 
 canals as well, are free of tolls, and the expenses of haulage will vary 
 in every case, according to the means employed, and other deter- 
 mining circumstances. On the French railway system, however, the 
 average rate charged for the transport of goods per ton per mile 
 amounted in 1887 to less than o*9</., taking the eight great com- 
 panies as a whole.* 
 
 Roughly, therefore, the average distance over which each ton was 
 transported on the waterways and railways of France was almost 
 exactly the same, but the railways carried almost four times as much 
 traffic as the waterways. This difference applied almost as much 
 to heavy as to light traffic. The total quantity of coal and coke 
 carried on the waterways was 5,964,000 tons, while on the railways it 
 amounted to 22,395,000 tons, being again nearly four times as 
 much. 
 
 The total length of the canals of France in 1887 was 4759 kilo- 
 metres, or 2998 miles. The average number of tons carried for 
 each mile of canal constructed was, therefore, 4005. The railways 
 of France had, at the same time, a length of 28,922 kilometres, or 
 18,095 miles, and the average number of tons carried per mile was 
 about 4400. The French waterways, therefore, had a somewhat less 
 density of traffic than the railways. 
 
 Many of the canals of France, however, have almost ceased to 
 be used, and their traffic has become so small that it is hardly worth 
 reckoning. 
 
 In the case of Paris, the second largest city in Europe, the 
 total quantity of traffic brought within the municipal bounds for the 
 use of the inhabitants amounted, in 1886, to 9,412,589 tons, of which 
 60 per cent, was received by railway and 40 per cent, by waterways. 
 Of the traffic sent out from Paris, amounting to 2,989,000 tons, 
 80 per cent, was despatched by rail, and 20 per cent, by water.f In 
 reference to the traffic entering Paris, it would seem as if the water- 
 ways competed with some measure of success with the railways, but 
 
 * This does not include the six small companies, whose united lines only make 
 up 217 kilometres, nor the reseau de PJLtat, which has 2164 kilometres more. Over 
 the latter system the number of tons carried one mile was 133 millions, and the 
 receipts therefrom amounted to about 12 millions of francs, which corresponds to 
 an average of o'^id. per ton per mile, showing that the independent companies 
 carry traffic cheaper than the State lines. 
 
 t ' Bulletin du Ministere des Travaux Publics,' Tome xviii. p. 329.
 
 9 6 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 as regards the traffic sent out from Paris, the railway is by no means 
 so successful. 
 
 The waterways that give access to Paris are mainly the High 
 Seine, the Low Seine, and the Canal de 1'Ourcq. The Seine carried 
 1,979.000 tons to Paris in 1886, as compared with 1,791,000 tons 
 carried on the canals as a whole. 
 
 These are the broad general facts of the situation in which Paris 
 is placed as regards her supplies of food, fuel, and other requirements. 
 The details of the movement of this traffic are equally interesting, 
 but we have no space to devote to them here. We may, however, 
 remark that from every part of the empire, from Belgium and the 
 Ardennes, from the north and the east, from Marseilles on the one 
 hand and from Rouen and Havre on the other, the traffic on which 
 Paris is dependent from day to day is carried as well by waterways 
 as by railways. From the coal basins of the Nord and of the Pas-de- 
 Calais the waterways carry almost as much fuel to Paris as the rail- 
 ways; from the basins of the Loire and of the Centre they carry 
 much more. Belgium, again, sends a large proportion of the total 
 quantity of coal that she supplies to Paris by water, but German and 
 English coal is received mainly by rail.* 
 
 It would be interesting to compare the quantities of merchandise 
 and food supplies of all kinds received by water and by rail in dif- 
 ferent large centres of population, but the materials do not exist for 
 a very exact comparison over a wide area. In no English city can 
 such materials be obtained, inasmuch as no record is available of the 
 different quantities that constitute the transit trade; but in several 
 German cities there are more accurate materials at command, and the 
 
 * The proportions of the total coal supply of 3,065,800 tons received by Paris 
 in 1886 were contributed thus : 
 
 
 By Water. 
 
 By Rail. 
 
 French coal 
 
 tons. 
 839 , 2OO 
 
 tons. 
 889 700 
 
 
 4O2 VX> 
 
 re 7 2OO 
 
 English ,, 
 
 26, 7OO 
 
 191 , too 
 
 German ,, 
 
 26,400 
 
 I 1 1 . 2OO 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 I .2Q4.6OO 
 
 1,771 2OO 
 
 

 
 The Waterways of France* 
 
 97 
 
 following figures show how the import traffic of Paris compares with 
 that of some German towns for the year 1887 : 
 
 Tonnage brought into 
 
 By Rail. 
 
 By Water. 
 
 Paris .. 
 
 tons. 
 5,64.7.000 
 
 tons. 
 376? OOO 
 
 Berlin 
 
 3. 04. OOO 
 
 3 7,18 OO2 
 
 
 I , 191 ,OOO 
 
 3, 221 OOO 
 
 
 I I 12 OOO 
 
 314 ooo 
 
 
 1,650 ooo 
 
 I I l8 OOO 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 I3,I24,OOO 
 
 11,766,000 
 
 During the year 1886 the traffic of the port of Paris amounted 
 to a total of 5,455,000 tons, which was transported in 35,291 boats. 
 The boats thus carried an average of about 155 tons.* This, how- 
 ever, was composed of a considerable range of variations, the boats 
 from the Sambre, on the canal of that name, carrying an average of 
 216 tons, while those on the canals of the Aisne and the Ardennes 
 only carried about 55 tons. On the Seine, from Oise to Paris, the 
 average size of the boats was 166 tons. 
 
 More than a fourth of the water-traffic entering Paris belongs to 
 the Ourcq Canal, which is connected with the Marne and with the 
 Seine, both above and below Paris, by means of the St. Martin and 
 the St. Denis Canals. These and the Ourcq Canals belong to the 
 Municipality of Paris, which has recently increased the width of the 
 swing bridge across the canal from 25^ to 50 feet, and has provided 
 an uniform depth of 10^ feet. 
 
 According to an interesting statement issued by the French 
 Minister of Public Works in i88o,f the length of the canals then 
 constructed in France was 2882 miles, of which 2248 miles were 
 described as principal lines, and cost about 10,3007. per mile, while 
 634 miles were secondary lines, and cost 72007. per mile. The total 
 amount expended on canals of both categories was about thirty-three 
 millions sterling. 
 
 * It is interesting to compare, or rather contrast, this with the traffic of the 
 port of London, where, in 1888, the entrances of shipping amounted to close on 
 12^ millions of tons, carried in 49,213 vessels, the average tonnage being over 
 700 tons. 
 
 t ' Album de Statistique Graphique.'
 
 98 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 There were besides, 4598 miles of rivers which had been adapted, 
 by canalisation or otherwise, for purposes of navigation, at a total cost 
 of about n millions sterling. About 1398 miles of river routes 
 were classed as principal lines, and upon these an expenditure of 
 7,9i8,ooo/. had been undertaken, or about 57oo/. per mile. About 
 3200 miles more were classed as secondary lines, and had been 
 improved for navigation at a total cost of 3,56i,ooo/., or ni3/. per 
 mile. On both canals and rivers the total amount expended had 
 been over 44 millions sterling. Besides this, however, 190 miles of 
 additional waterways had, up to 1880, been constructed and im- 
 proved, at an additional cost of 3,400,0007., and were described as 
 new waterways; and it may be added that, up to the same date, 
 about igf millions sterling had been expended on the ports of France, 
 especially those of Havre (3,300,0007.), Marseilles (2,8oo,ooo/.), 
 St. Nazaire (i,ioo,ooo/.), and Bordeaux (96o,ooo/.). 
 
 These figures appear large, but while it may very well be that 
 the amount expended upon canals fur et simple has been greater in 
 France than in our own and other countries, the expenditure upon 
 the rivers of France and upon the improvement of ports and harbours 
 is very greatly below that incurred in our own country. At Liverpool 
 alone the sums expended in this direction from first to last will pro- 
 bably exceed the total amount expended upon the harbours of France 
 up to the present time. France is, however, so fully aware of the 
 importance of providing good shipping facilities, that she has quite 
 recently undertaken a large expenditure in improving the harbours of 
 Havre and Calais, canalising the Seine, and other similar works. 
 
 At the end of 1886, there were thirty-one chief canals in opera- 
 tion in France having a total length of 3267 kilometres, and 1446 
 kilometres of smaller canals, making a total of 4713 kilometres. 
 The canals varied in their volume of annual traffic from over 
 3^ millions of tons each on the Deule (Haute) canal, 63 kilometres 
 in length, and on the St. Quentin canal, 93 kilometres in length, to 
 243,700 tons on the Lateral a la Garonne, 204 kilometres in length. 
 The total traffic carried on the canals from year to year has been 
 remarkably constant.* The canals have, moreover, carried a con- 
 siderably larger quantity of traffic than the rivers of France, notwith- 
 standing that the latter have a total length of 7825 kilometres, or 
 
 * Traffic on French canals: 1883, 11,975,000 tons ; 1884, 11,936,000 tons ; 
 1885, 11,102,000 tons; 1886, 12,027,000 tons.
 
 The Waterways of France. 
 
 99 
 
 66 per cent, more, and that one or two of them, especially the Aisne 
 and the Oise have been specially canalised.* 
 
 The waterways of France are classified by basins, and according 
 to the statistics published for 1886, the number of waterways in each 
 basin with the number of vessels of all kinds making use of them, 
 and the number of tons transported were as under : 
 
 FRENCH RIVERS AND STREAMS ONLY (CANALS NOT INCLUDED). 
 
 Basin of the 
 
 Number 
 of Lines. 
 
 Total Length 
 in Kilometres. 
 
 Number of 
 Vessels em- 
 ployed in 1886. 
 
 Tons of Traffic 
 carried. 
 
 Aa 
 
 I 
 
 29 
 
 12,778 
 
 1,308,564 
 
 Adour 
 
 9 
 
 257 
 
 19,903 
 
 423,666 
 
 Charcute 
 
 8 
 
 301 
 
 2O, 169 
 
 239,069 
 
 Escaut 
 
 8 
 
 219 
 
 42 , 242 
 
 8,184,233 
 
 Garonne 
 
 25 
 
 1752 
 
 30,952 
 
 1,096,482 
 
 Loire 
 
 22 
 
 l66o 
 
 17,669 
 
 1,084,542 
 
 Moselle 
 
 6 
 
 231 
 
 1,601 
 
 200,980 
 
 Ranee 
 
 i 
 
 16 
 
 1,832 
 
 66,498 
 
 Rhone 
 
 22 
 
 I73i 
 
 25,799 
 
 2,358,675 
 
 Sambre 
 
 I 
 
 54 
 
 2,589 
 
 580,761 
 
 Seine 
 
 18 
 
 1191 
 
 102,117 
 
 18,843,313 
 
 Vilaine , .. 
 
 4 
 
 'Si 
 
 4,450 
 
 2l6,6oi 
 
 Vire and Taute 
 
 3 
 
 "3 
 
 6,494 
 
 III, 207 
 
 We may now appropriately follow up the more general informa- 
 tion already afforded by some details as to the history and topography 
 of the chief canals and river works in France. 
 
 SOME FRENCH CANALS. 
 
 Briare, &c. The canal of Briare was begun in the time of 
 Henry IV. and the Duke of Sully, and was completed under Louis 
 XIII. and Cardinal Richelieu. Its length is eleven French leagues, 
 and it forms a communication between the Loire and the Loing, 
 which is one of the tributaries of the Seine. Under Louis XIV. 
 another canal was drawn from the Loire, near Orleans, which flowed to 
 
 * Traffic on French rivers: 1883, 8,873,000 tons; 1884, 8,936,000 tons; 
 1885, 8,353,000 tons ; 1886, 8,950,000. 
 
 H 2
 
 ioo Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 meet the first canal of Briare, near Montargis ; and as in summer 
 there was an insufficiency of water in the Loing to supply a con- 
 siderable navigation, under the minority of Louis XV. they deter- 
 mined to run another canal along the banks of the river to the 
 vicinity of the Seine, which is, properly speaking, the continuation of 
 the old canal of Briare. In this canal there are, in all, forty-two 
 sluices ; and in that of Orleans, twenty. In the reign of Louis XV., 
 and under the inspection of the celebrated Belidor, the canal of 
 Picardie was carried out, forming a junction between the Somme and 
 the Oise, which afterwards enters the Seine about five leagues from 
 Paris. 
 
 Languedoc. The famous canal of Languedoc, better known as 
 the Canal du Midi, which forms a communication from the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea to the Garonne and the Ocean is one of the best known 
 in France. By this canal, for many years, boats have passed in a 
 few days from the one sea to the other, traversing valleys and 
 hills, and ascending to the height of 600 feet above the level 
 of the two seas. The harbours of Bordeaux and Marseilles formerly 
 avoided, by this means, a circuitous route of communication of 
 several hundred miles. This great undertaking, projected under 
 three other kings, was at last perfected in the reign of Louis XIV., 
 after a labour of fourteen years, at an expense of eleven millions of 
 livres, without reckoning the additional expense of two millions 
 more, incurred in re-establishing the harbour of Celte. Andressi 
 first suggested the plan, and Riquet directed almost the whole 
 of its execution. He began the work in 1666. The canal 
 begins at a lake nearly four miles in circumference, which, collecting 
 the waters of Mont Noir, conveys them at Naurose into a reservoir, 
 of very considerable extent, whence the waters are distributed to 
 the right until they meet the Garonne near Toulouse, and to the left 
 as far as the Lake of Tau, which is near the port of Cette. The 
 breadth of the canal is 30 feet, its length is rather over 125 miles, 
 which equals 50^ French leagues. Nearly a sixth part of the 
 canal is carried over mountains deeply excavated ; and, at a spot 
 called the Mai Pas, it crosses a rock cut into the form of an 
 arch, eighty toises in length, four toises in width, and four and a half 
 in height. It h-s one hundred sluices, and a great number of 
 aqueducts and bridges. 
 
 Admiral Lord Clarence Paget undertook, in 1881, a canal voyage 
 through this Canal, of which he has supplied some interesting
 
 The Waterways of France. 
 
 101
 
 IO2 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 particulars. The yacht, the Miranda, was 85 feet over all, 1 1 feet 
 beam, and 4 feet 8 inches draught of water. She carried 6 tons of 
 coal, equal to about eight days' consumption, at full speed. 
 
 " Originally," writes Lord Clarence, " the canal, which immorta- 
 lised its constructor, P. P. Riquet, was only intended to connect the 
 head waters of the Garonne at Toulouse with the Mediterranean, and 
 it was opened with great pomp and ceremony by Louis XIV. in 
 1 68 1, but it was soon found inadequate to the purposes required, as 
 the Garonne was subject to all sorts of vicissitudes of drought and 
 floods. 
 
 " It was not, however, till our own times that the ' Canal Lateral,' 
 between Toulouse and near Bordeaux, has been completed, and, 
 curiously enough, just at the moment when the railway between 
 Bordeaux and Cette has almost entirely absorbed the traffic. So 
 here is this magnificent canal, with its 99 locks and its viaducts and 
 bridges comparatively unused, save by an occasional barge loaded 
 with wine. Nevertheless, it is kept in admirable order, and the 
 passage can be made, with certain precautions, without any 
 difficulty. 
 
 "A pleasant, though not very picturesque voyage of thirty miles 
 of river, brought us to the entrance of the canal. It was necessary 
 to put on our canal screw before entering, so we laid the vessel on 
 the ground, and entered on the following tide, through the lock, 
 which is double, or rather twin, so that two vessels can pass at the 
 same time. The dimensions of this, and indeed all the locks, are as 
 follows: Length, 28 metres; breadth, 5-80 metres; depth, 1*60 
 metres The height of the bridges varies, but no vessel is allowed 
 to pass which is higher above the level of the canal than 2*72 metres. 
 
 " Thus, it will be seen that we had about six feet of length, and 
 five feet of width, to spare, one foot of height, and one foot under 
 our bottom ; nor is this by any means too large a margin, since, how- 
 ever well a vessel may be steered, and however quickly stopped, it 
 is impossible at all times, particularly if there be a strong breeze, to 
 ensure her entry into the locks with exactly sufficient speed. More- 
 over it is quite necessary that a boat should be afloat, to make a 
 rope fast to the shore, where the canal has very sharp curves, as is 
 the case in the old part of it, between Toulouse and Cette ; and 
 inasmuch as the boat cannot be hoisted up to davits or inboards, it 
 will be manifest that room must be left for her in the lock. We had 
 just room under the stern for one 13 feet boat athwart. The safe
 
 The Waterways of France. 103 
 
 passage through the first lock and under the first bridge caused us 
 pleasant anticipations. 
 
 " We were satisfied to have accomplished our first lock, and made 
 fast opposite the house of the ' Chef du Section,' of which there are 
 seven on the canal. He and his lady paid us a visit, as did the curd 
 and principal inhabitants of La Reole. Next morning, the 28th, we 
 fairly tackled the business, and accomplished that day eleven locks, 
 stopping at Buzet. It would be tedious to describe our daily routine, 
 and I need only remark that we took advantage of all the daylight 
 at this season only about 8 hours and accomplished some 35 to 
 40 miles per day, always ascending, till we arrived at Toulouse on 
 the sixth day. This ' Canal Lateral ' follows much the course of the 
 Garonne. It is a splendid work, and is kept in beautiful order. The 
 grand features are the bridges which carry the canal across the 
 Garonne and other rivers. There are three, but by far the grandest 
 and most interesting is that at Agen, where we found ourselves in 
 mid-air, with the river, the railway, the high road, and part of the 
 town far beneath us. The centre arch is a hundred feet high. After 
 leaving Agen, the scenery became picturesque, and sometimes grand ; 
 but to really enjoy this trip it should be taken before the fall of the 
 leaf. The whole length of the canal is lined on either side by 
 poplar, plane, and other trees, many of them of great height, so as 
 almost to shade the vessels passing. The locks are admirably 
 managed, and it is surprising how little delay they cause always 
 supposing that there is no vessel to take precedence ; but whether 
 by chance, or that orders had been sent on to keep the road clear, 
 we were rarely detained, and the average time in passing through 
 was about five minutes. As we approached Toulouse, the air became 
 keen and the nights frosty. Our ' Chef du Section,' who always 
 accompanied us, informed me that some years since the canal was 
 frozen up in the middle of December, and we consequently delayed 
 as little as possible, and only spent a couple of days at Toulouse, 
 which I regretted, as, besides being a pretty town, it is especially 
 interesting as being the grand central depot of the canal, and the 
 junction with the old ' Canal du Midi/ a name which has outlived the 
 original title of Louis XIV., who christened it ' Canal de Languedoc.' 
 Here, or rather a few miles to the eastward, are the numerous 
 reservoirs and alimentary canals which bring the waters from the 
 ' Montagnes Noires.' We could not stop to see them in detail, but 
 could trace their outline far away in the distance.
 
 IO4 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 " When the celebrated engineer, Vauban, came to inspect these 
 works, he was astonished, and exclaimed that one thing was wanting 
 only, namely, a monument and statue to the founder. This has 
 since been rectified, and a grand obelisk is visible at the source of 
 the canal. The story of Pierre Paul Riquet is that of many, nay, of 
 most, great patriots. He met with scant assistance from the Govern- 
 ment, and strenuous opposition from his countrymen ; he was treated 
 as a madman, and died of a broken heart before the great work was 
 finished. His career seems to have been very similar to that of an 
 illustrious man of our own day Lesseps save and except that the 
 latter, happily, has been spared to see the final achievement of his 
 splendid work.* He had, however, one attribute which is not com- 
 mon among inventors he knew how to strike a bargain ; and his 
 contract still enriches several families, his descendants, especially the 
 Caramans. 
 
 " On December 5th, we arrived at the summit of the canal, and 
 it was interesting to observe the alimentation going both ways. 
 Here the whole character and structure of the works change ; instead 
 of many miles of straight reaches of uniform width of about 100 feet, 
 the canal becomes tortuous to a degree which is almost absurd, but 
 which is accounted for by the fact that, in Riquet's day there was no 
 law ' d'expropriation,' and he had to make a bargain with every little 
 landowner for permission to pass through his grounds, and being in 
 many cases refused, he had to cut away in another, and often oppo- 
 site direction. The locks here are also peculiar, being oval-shaped, 
 to admit of two abreast ; the effect of this is, that although on the 
 map, Toulouse is at least two-thirds of the distance from Bordeaux 
 to Cette, it is, by the canal, not quite half-way. 
 
 " These sharp curves are inconvenient, as it is necessary to turn 
 the corners very slowly, for fear of running into vessels coming in the 
 opposite direction, and often they are so very acute as to necessitate 
 stopping the engines and using poles, and sometimes ropes, to get 
 round the corners. 
 
 " Another peculiar feature of this part of the canal is the constant 
 recurrence of multiple locks. On the first approach to double, treble, 
 quadruple, and even quintuple locks, one feels somewhat like going 
 
 * Lord Clarence Paget here refers, of course, to the Suez Canal, since the 
 Panama Canal, which is dealt with elsewhere in this volume, is in quite a different 
 category.
 
 The Waterways of France. 105 
 
 over a precipice, but this soon wears off, and in reality, the ground is 
 got over quicker than with single locks. 
 
 " The famous octuple lock at Beziers only required half-an-hour 
 to accomplish, and it is one of the most wonderful features of this 
 canal, it is like going down a steep ladder from the top of a cliff to 
 the valley below. Our passage must have been a source of amuse- 
 ment to the natives, judging by the crowds which met us at each 
 stopping place. I never could quite understand the exact cause of 
 this. I asked M. Moffre, to whom I have already alluded as the 
 obliging and amiable chief, but he did not satisfy me by saying, ' It 
 is the first steam yacht we have had, except one which belongs 
 to the Emperor of Austria, and which passed through five years 
 ago.' . . . 
 
 " From Carcassone we descended rapidly by multiple locks to 
 the plain of Agde, having always as a grand back-ground to the south 
 the range of the Pyrenees, but this plain is anything but picturesque, 
 being rocky and barren. Here we pass what the ignorant and mis- 
 guided people of Riquet's days thought would be a barrier to his 
 great work. A sharp spur of the ' Montagnes Noires ' here juts out 
 into the plain, which looks like ' thus far, no farther,' but he was 
 equal to the task, and set to work to tunnel an imitation of the only 
 tunnel existing in those days, the grotto of Pausillipo at Naples, 
 which he visited on purpose, and it is exactly similar and about the 
 same length. Who does not remember the odd mysterious passage, 
 high enough to pass a line-of-battle ship through ? A part, unfortu- 
 nately, has given way, and necessitated arching the roof, which has 
 somewhat marred the effect, but it is still interesting and imposing. 
 From here, a sharp descent through several multiple locks, brings us 
 to the level of the Mediterranean, whose blue waters are seen in the 
 distance; and on Saturday, the loth of December, being our four- 
 teenth day since leaving Bordeaux, we emerged from the canal into 
 the Etang du Thau, at the mouth of which is Cette, giving access to 
 the Mediterranean." 
 
 The Crapponnc Canal. The authority to construct this canal was 
 conceded to Adam de Crapponne, an eminent engineer in the year 
 1554. It takes its water through sluices, from the river Durance, 
 near St. Esteve-Ianson, at an altitude of 492 feet above sea level. 
 There the river varies from 600 to 6500 feet in width, and the bed 
 consists of a succession of sand and gravel banks, and alluvial 
 deposits, intersected by numerous branches, which shift at every flood.
 
 io6 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Such a state of things cannot be considered as constituting the bed 
 of the river, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, and to have 
 constructed a permanent and fixed barrage across the river, to lead 
 the water through the sluices, would not only have been a costly 
 work at that time, but also one of considerable difficulty. Crapponne 
 constructed, therefore, what are termed " barrages volants " across 
 the river. These are formed where the depth of the water is about 
 two feet, by stakes with fascines, and filled in with stones. In the 
 deeper parts of the river, which may be sometimes 12 to 15 feet, 
 " chevalets " are driven in place of stakes. These consist generally of 
 trunks of trees cut near the point of the bifurcation of the principal 
 branches, and which are placed closer together in proportion to the 
 depth. The " chevalets " are bound by cross-pieces and supported 
 by fascines. These " barrages volants " are always placed obliquely 
 to the current of the river, for the purpose of causing the fascines 
 to press against the stones or the "chevalets." Such "barrages 
 volants" need continual repair, but their cost is comparatively 
 trifling. It is mostly a question of labour, as the material employed 
 is cheap. 
 
 The average cost of maintenance of the barrage for the Crapponne 
 canal is about 5oo/. per annum. This system, adopted by Crapponne 
 more than 300 years ago, has never been changed, and has been 
 found by experience to answer its purpose of diverting the Durance 
 waters through the sluices into the canal in all seasons, and the same 
 system is adopted for some other irrigation canals. The Crapponne 
 Canal, is the main canal from the river Durance to Lamanon, and is 
 14^ miles in length. At Lamanon the canal has two main branches, 
 one flowing south towards Salon and St. Chanas, and the other to 
 the west towards Aries. The total length of the canal is about 
 77 miles, not comprising the whole development of the branch to 
 Aries, which is a special property, independent of the original 
 canal. 
 
 The quantity of water supplied by the canal, is as follows : The 
 main canal is 26 feet wide, and 6*5 feet deep ; the mean velocity is 
 5 feet per second. The branch to Salon is 10 feet wide, and 6-5 feet 
 deep; the mean velocity is 6-5 feet per second. The branch to 
 Aries is 16-5 feet wide, and 3-28 feet deep; the mean velocity is 
 5 3 feet per second. The branch to Istres is 6 6 feet wide, and 
 3-3 feet deep ; the mean velocity is 6-6 feet per second. 
 
 The Alpines Canal. This canal, which was commenced in 1773,
 
 The Waterways of France. 107 
 
 takes its water, for the main channel, from the Durance at Mallemort, 
 and for the west branches, near Chateaurenard. The main canal is 
 considered one of the best in Europe as regards its utility. The 
 system consists of more than 194 miles of canal, disposing of 770 
 cubic feet of water per second, which, with the west branches of the 
 canal, irrigates more than 20,000 acres. The branches to Carascon 
 and Barbentane, have generally an inclination of i in 2000. In 
 some portions of the former branch, the inclination is i in 4500 ; 
 in other portions i in 1250, while over some of the aqueducts it 
 is as much as i in 154. The widths at the bottom of the west 
 branch canal vary from 7*8 to 9*2 feet, and for a branch to 
 Barbentane, between 5-2 and 6*2 feet. The inclinations of the 
 slopes varies from i to i, to i^ to i, in ordinary cuttings and em- 
 bankments. The west branches of the canal have passed through 
 considerable financial difficulties, and are now managed by an 
 independent company. 
 
 In order to develop irrigation, numerous syndicates have been 
 formed, as some of the land was held in small parcels by proprietors 
 and farmers who had neither the funds nor the power, in opposition 
 to intervening landowners, to obtain branches to conduct the water 
 from the main irrigating canal to their properties. The price 
 charged for the water is regulated by the price charged for corn on 
 the basis of i 66 bushel per acre irrigated. The quantity of water 
 given at the above rate, is fixed about 0*57 gallon per acre per 
 second, supposed to flow continuously during the irrigation season, 
 commencing on the ist of April and terminating on the ist October 
 of each year, which is equal to covering the ground for the total 
 number of irrigations to a depth of 66^ inches, and with 22,130 
 cubic yards of water. In 1874, the cost of irrigation was equivalent 
 to about nj. 6d. per acre, being the price of i'66 bushel of corn. 
 The price has recently been reduced to about Ss. per acre, for three 
 irrigations required during the season for such crops as corn and 
 olive orchards. The same reduced price per acre is also charged 
 for inundating vineyards during the autumn, as a preventive to the 
 phylloxera. 
 
 Lens la Deule Canal. Lens, a town of 11,800 inhabitants, and 
 the capital of the coalfields of the Pas-de-Calais, has recently been 
 connected with the existing system of navigable waterways by a canal, 
 which passes near a great number of pits belonging to the companies 
 of Lens and of Courrie'res, the most important of the district, and
 
 io8 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 serves the Lievin mines, which previously possessed no water com- 
 munication. The probable traffic on this canal has been estimated 
 at 290,000 tons, with a prospect of future increase. The canal starts 
 a little beyond Lens, and passes close to the town ; and after a course 
 of 4 miles 7 furlongs it joins the Souchez Canal at Harnes. This 
 canal, about 2 miles i furlong in length, was constructed about 1862, 
 and connects the Lens Canal with the Deule Canal a little beyond 
 Courrieres. The total fall of the Lens Canal is 31 feet 10 inches, 
 which is effected by three locks, the first by a fall of 8^ feet and the 
 other two of n feet 9^ inches. It has a bottom width of iyf feet in 
 the straight portions, and in the curved portions the width at the 
 
 bottom is regulated according to the formula ( iyf - ) feet; and 
 
 \ K / 
 
 its depth is 7^ feet for an available draught of 6^ feet. Crossing 
 places, 31 feet wide at the bottom and 360 feet long, have been 
 formed about every 5 furlongs ; and places for barges to wait in have 
 been constructed of the same width, at the commencement and end 
 of the canal, 2300 and 1800 feet long respectively. Above the third 
 lock the canal traverses fissured chalk for a distance of 1640 feet, 
 and has accordingly been lined with concrete up to i foot above the 
 water level at a cost of 2/. per yard ; and where the canal passes over 
 a marsh, filled up with stones from the pits, for about 330 feet, it has 
 been cut off from the marsh by a puddle-trench carried down into a 
 substratum of clay 13! feet below the water-level. The locks are of 
 the ordinary type, 17 feet wide, 126^ feet available length, and 
 8^ feet in depth, with sluices in the gates ; and the gates have iron 
 ribs and a wooden skin, and cost on the average 4/. per square 
 yard. The canal is fed by the river Souchez only 620 feet from 
 its commencement. The discharge of the river during the long 
 drought of the summer of 1886 did not fall below 4* 6 cubic feet 
 per second, whilst the traffic on the canal only required 2^ cubic 
 feet per second, allowing for losses from evaporation and leakage. 
 There is, therefore, an ample supply for other purposes, and for 
 increased demands for traffic. The canal was begun on the ist of 
 February, 1885, and was opened for traffic on the 3oth of October, 
 1886. The works, including land, cost 74,ooo/., or 15,2067. per 
 mile. 
 
 The Marne Canal. The original canal was constructed between 
 the years 1838 and 1853. It commences by a junction with the 
 Upper Marne Canal at Vitry le Frangais, and terminates by a junction
 
 The Waterways of France. 109 
 
 with the river 111 and the Rhine Canal, near Strasburg, thus connect- 
 ing the valleys of the Seine and the Rhine, and also the intervening 
 rivers, which include the Maas, Moselle, Soar, &c. Its length 
 between Vitry and Strasburg is 193^ miles, and it crosses the four 
 watersheds dividing the catchment basins of the Marne, Maas, 
 Moselle, Soar, and Rhine; there are, however, only two summit 
 reaches, as the divides between the Maas and Moselle, and the 
 Soar and the Rhine, are tunnelled through at Fory and Arzweiler, 
 respectively. There are altogether five tunnels, with a total length 
 of 5^ miles. 
 
 The level of the water above the sea is, at Vitry, 332*62 feet; 
 at the Mauvages summit tunnel, through the Marne-Maas divide, 
 922-75 feet; at Nancy, 648-10 feet; at the Vosges summit level, 
 873-93 feet; and at Strasburg, 444-18 feet. There are 177 locks 
 on the canal, and the mean rise of each is 8-60 feet. 
 
 Some years since it was contemplated to increase the water 
 supply, but the improvements were delayed by the Franco-German 
 war, which resulted in a transfer to Germany of the Alsatian portion 
 of the canal, and also of one of the most important sources of supply, 
 viz. the river Soar. To render the system independent of this latter 
 portion, in 1874 the construction of the East Canal was authorised. 
 This commences at Givet, on the Belgian frontier, joins the Rhine- 
 Marne Canal at Troussey, and again leaving the latter canal at 
 Toul, follows the course of the Upper Moselle to Epinal, where 
 it branches off in a south-westerly direction to its termination at 
 Port-sur-Saone. The depth of water in this canal was fixed at 6 feet 
 6 inches. 
 
 The Rhine-Marne Canal had originally a depth of 5 feet 3 inches, 
 a bottom breadth of 32 feet 10 inches, and sides sloped at i^ to i. 
 This depth has been increased to 6 feet 6 inches, the canal bed has 
 been cleaned and lined with concrete 6^- inches to 81- inches thick, 
 where necessary, and the headways of the bridges and tunnels has 
 been raised to 12 feet 2 inches above the new water-level. Through 
 the Mauvages tunnel a chain has been laid, and all the traffic is 
 worked by two chain steam-tugs with fireless boilers (Francq's 
 patent). 
 
 The most important of the new works are those for the additional 
 supply of water. They comprise pumping-stations at Pierre-la-Treiche 
 and Valcourt, near Toul, at both of which the pumps are actuated 
 by turbines, and a steam-pumping station at Vacon, as well as ducts
 
 no Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 for conveying the water from the pumping-stations to the canal, and 
 an impounding reservoir at Paroy. 
 
 Gallons. 
 The total amount of water required annually for the 
 
 Rhine-Marne canal is 1,364,620,000 
 
 The total amount of water required annually for the 
 
 East canal is 748,340,000 
 
 Total 2,112,960,000 
 
 In addition to which there is the Meurthe branch, re- . 
 
 quiring 462,210,000 
 
 Making a grand total of 2,575, 170.000 
 
 Besides the above artificial sources, the canals are fed by springs 
 at Vacon, and by the Moselle, &c. 
 
 The arrangements at Pierre-la-Treiche and at Valcourt are nearly 
 similar. There are two turbines, actuating force pumps, capable of 
 raising from 143 to 198 gallons per second to a height of 131 feet 
 
 3 inches, through a line of cast-iron pipes of 2 feet 7^ inches diameter, 
 delivering into an open duct connecting with the east end of the 
 Pagny Reach of the canal. This duct commences at Pierre-la- 
 Treiche, and is 8^ miles long, and feeds both canals. 
 
 
 
 The cost of these works was 51,920 
 
 Of which the pumping station at Pierre-la-Treiche cost .. . . 15,616 
 And the pumping station at Valcourt 26,908 
 
 The steam pumping-station at Vacon is near the west end of the 
 Pagny Reach. The pumps are 250 H.P., and capable of lifting 
 8,804,000 gallons per twenty-four hours to a height of 121 feet 
 
 4 inches, or no gallons per second. The water is conveyed into a 
 duct, which also carries the water from the Vacon springs, and 
 empties into the Pagny Reach. The reservoir at Paroy has an area 
 of 180 acres, and contains 376,371,000 gallons. The dam is 
 1378 feet long, and 18 feet 3 inches high; the cost of construction 
 was 2o,8oo/. The canal traffic in 1884 amounted to 634,936 tons.* 
 
 The Canalisation of the Moselle. The French Government, in the 
 period from 1836 to 1860, undertook the regulation of this river from 
 Frouard to the Prussian frontier by means of works parallel to the 
 
 * These details are abstracted from the ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Insti- 
 tution of Civil Engineers,' vol. 86, p. 419, ft sty.
 
 The Waterways of France. 1 1 1 
 
 existing river-bed, and by embankments ; but sandbanks and shoals 
 were nevertheless deposited which impeded the navigation, and led to 
 the proposal, in 1860, to erect a series of sluices and movable weirs 
 extending from Frouard to Thionville, which would, if constructed, 
 entail an estimated outlay of 1 1^ millions of francs, the total distance 
 being 92 kilometres, and the minimum depth of water to be main- 
 tained being set down as i 6 metre. Owing to the opposition of 
 some of the Communes, who dreaded the injury to their land by the 
 alterations in the water-level, the plans were modified, and only 
 certain reaches of the river, where the riparian conditions were favour- 
 able, were kept up by weirs and locks, side-channels fed from the 
 main stream being constructed to connect these deepened sections. 
 
 The Proposed Mediterranean and Biscay Canal. The project for 
 connecting the Mediterranean and the Bay of Biscay by a ship canal 
 has often been under discussion, and would, no doubt, if carried out, 
 prove of considerable utility. Not only would such a canal shorten 
 by several days the distance between the principal ports on the North 
 Sea and the eastern basin of the Mediterranean thereby bringing 
 England into closer contact with the far Orient but there would be 
 a greater security to shipping, as a result of avoiding the stormy 
 coasts of Spain and Portugal during the winter months. The pro- 
 posed canal has been variously named the " Canal de deux Mers" 
 the " Canal du Midi" &c., but it would practically be identical with 
 the Languedoc Canal already described, and by means of which 
 boats of small size are even now passed between the two seas.* 
 
 The route proposed for the Mediterranean and Bay of Biscay 
 Ship Canal is from Bordeaux to Cette by Agen, Montauban, Toulouse, 
 Carcassonne, and Beziers. The canal, after following largely the 
 course of the Garonne, from Bordeaux, would tap the Dorpt, the 
 Lot, the Aveyron, and the Tarn, whence it would draw its water 
 supply. From Toulouse, the canal would follow the course of the 
 South Canal, and would thence proceed by Beziers, to the Lake of 
 Thau, which would be transformed into an inland port. The financial 
 and other difficulties in the way of the project have, however, proved 
 insurmountable up to the present time. Both the City of Bordeaux, 
 which is the port chiefly interested, and the Government of France 
 have declined to aid in the realisation of the project ; and the State 
 
 * Lord Alfred Paget's paper, originally published in the 'Journal of the 
 Society of Arts,' giving an account of a yacht voyage which he made over this 
 canal, has already been referred to.
 
 112 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 has even refused to grant the necessary concession for its construc- 
 tion, on the ground that its cost would be quite out of proportion to 
 its utility, that it would isolate a large portion of French territory, 
 and that costly works would have, in any case, to be provided by 
 the Government at both ends of the canal. 
 
 It is pointed out,* on the other hand, and with some force, that 
 in the case of a maritime war between France and England, the pro- 
 posed Atlantic and Mediterranean Canal would allow of vessels 
 reaching the former sea without passing Gibraltar. Brest and Toulon 
 could also be brought into more rapid activity, and the concentration 
 of troops could be more readily effected. A plan and profile of the 
 proposed route appears at p. 101. 
 
 The Rhone Canals. At the mouth of the Rhone artificial water- 
 ways of considerable importance have been provided for navigation 
 purposes, the chief of which, the St. Louis Canal, has a draught of 
 water of igf feet at low sea-level ; its width is 100 feet at the bottom, 
 and 207 feet at the surface of the water. 
 
 The channel into the sea is 200 feet wide, at the bottom, from 
 the shore out to the 4-metre (13 feet) line, and 656 feet wide from the 
 4-metre (13 feet) line to the 6-metre (20 feet) line. The canal is 
 separated from the Rhone by a lock having a depth of water of 
 24!- feet, a depth of 72 feet, and an available length of 525 feet. 
 Below the lock, at the commencement of the canal, a basin has been 
 excavated, 30 acres in area, and with 20 feet depth of water. The 
 works were begun in 1863, and finished in 1873. 
 
 The St. Louis Canal is a work of far greater importance, as 
 regards navigation, than the results anticipated from the improve- 
 ment of the mouth of the Rhone, to vessels finding a sufficient depth 
 to get up to Aries. This depth was restricted to 6 feet at low- 
 water level. The St. Louis Canal Works afford access to the 
 Rhone for vessels up to 20 feet draught, and provide these vessels 
 with a harbour, opening into a sheltered bay, in which they are 
 able with ease to load and discharge their cargoes. 
 
 The project of the St. Louis Canal was from the first assailed by 
 the partisans of the embankment works, as well as by those who 
 considered that the proper expedient was to enlarge the canal from 
 Aries to Bouc. It was urged that the canal would soon be silted up 
 by deposits from the Rhone, both at the sea end and also at the lock. 
 The canal from Aries to Bouc was constructed in 1802, but as it has 
 f ftf. E. Couillard in ' Annales Industrielles,' June, 1887.
 
 The Waterways of France. 
 
 1 1 
 
 only a depth of 6J feet and a width of 26^ feet on the locks, it has 
 not been available for the craft usually navigating the Rhone since 
 steam navigation was established. 
 
 General Features of French Canals. The general characteristics 
 of the principal canals of France will be understood from the following 
 table, which gives the number of locks, the length of the locks, and 
 their average width and depth on fifteen of the principal canals in 
 the country, as recorded in the Government Reports on the French 
 Waterways : 
 
 STATEMENT showing the number of Locks, with their length, width, and 
 average depth, on the chief Canals in France. 
 
 Canals. 
 
 Number 
 of 
 Locks. 
 
 Length of Locks. 
 
 Width of Locks. 
 
 Average 
 Depth of 
 Locks. 
 
 DelaDeule 
 
 I 
 
 metres. 
 38-70 
 
 metres. 
 
 metres 
 
 Meuse 
 
 26 
 
 45 
 
 5'70 
 
 2-42 
 
 De la Sambre 
 
 38 
 
 37-60 
 
 5 '20 
 
 2'34 
 
 Del'Est 
 
 33 
 
 38 to 45 
 
 5-20105-70 
 
 2 '60 
 
 De 1'Aisne de la Marne . . 
 
 24 
 
 35 
 
 5-20 
 
 2-68 
 
 St. Quentin 
 
 35 
 
 34 
 
 5-2 to 6-40 
 
 2-29 
 
 Del'Ourcq 
 
 10 
 
 38-8010.63 
 
 5 -'20 to 6 20 
 
 
 De Briare 
 
 43 
 
 33 
 
 5-20 
 
 2-87 
 
 Du Muernais 
 
 116 
 
 33 
 
 ^5-10 
 
 2-07 
 
 Du Rhone au Rhin .. 
 
 73 
 
 30 
 
 5-13105-30 
 
 2-23 
 
 De Neufosse 
 
 6 
 
 34-801036-57, 
 
 5 -20 
 
 2-67 
 
 Del'Aire 
 
 I 
 
 37'95 
 
 5-20 
 
 2'OO 
 
 De la Somne 
 
 23 
 
 45 
 
 6-30 
 
 2-49 
 
 De 1'Oise et a 1'Aisne .. 
 
 35 
 
 34 
 
 52 to 8-40 
 
 2 '29 
 
 De la Haute Marne 
 
 34 
 
 25 1038-50 
 
 5 '20 
 
 3-10 
 
 The French Assembly adopted, in August 1879, a law which 
 decreed that the principal lines of canal communication ought to 
 have a depth of 2 metres, and locks not less tnan 38 metres 50 long, 
 by 5 metres 20 wide. In the South of France the only canals that 
 conform to these requirements are those of the Midi and the Aulize ; 
 in Central France, the Canal du Centre, the Canal Roanne a Dijon, 
 the Canal du Berry, and the Canal du Rhone au Rhin. The Canal 
 de Bourgogne, the Canal de Briare, and the Canal d'Orleans, are also
 
 H4 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 up to these requirements. In the north of France, and on the 
 Belgian frontier, it may be said that all the waterways are of the 
 required minimum dimensions. 
 
 Paris is the natural centre of the French canals. Barges find 
 their way there from the ports of Dunkirk, Gravelines, Calais, and 
 Havre, large quantities of coal, iron, and wheat being carried, and in 
 the fall of the year the cargoes of numerous timber vessels are made 
 into rafts and floated to their destination. Of late years, however, 
 the increasing quantities of planks and deals sawn in the north, are 
 loaded into the barges. The important coal and iron districts of 
 Belgium, at Mons and Charleroi, provide a good deal of freight for 
 Paris, which goes via Conde from the former, and via Landrecies from 
 the latter, the two routes uniting at La Fere, whence the Seine, at 
 Conflans, is reached by descending the river 1'Oise. The river 
 Rhine is communicated with at Saarbruck and Strasburg ; Switzer- 
 land at Bale, and the important ports of Marseilles and Cette by the 
 Yonne, the Burgundy Canal, and the rivers Saone and Rhone. The 
 western ports of Nantes, Brest, and Bordeaux have also canal 
 communication with Paris. 
 
 The large p'eniches of 270 tons, which are about 116 feet long, 16 
 feet beam, bluff at bow and stern, and almost flat bottomed, draw 
 i 80 metres when loaded. They are usually worked by two men 
 and the wife of the captain. The value of these craft, with their 
 equipments, is from 10,000 to 15,000 francs, and they are always 
 insured against damage or loss. In all rivers and places with the 
 slightest risk, the use of pilots is compulsory. 
 
 During the latter part of 1888, the French Chambers had under 
 consideration a proposal to reimpose the tolls that were formerly 
 levied on canals and navigable rivers, but which, within recent years, 
 have been removed. It was contended that the waterways, exempt 
 from tolls, were likely to be dangerous rivals to the railways. The 
 railway interest clamoured accordingly for what they called fair play. 
 The Budget Commission, however, refused to entertain the idea of 
 resuming the canal tolls, holding, as expressed by their spokesman, 
 that " by developing the waterways, and thereby serving industry in 
 the cheap transport of raw materials which were incapable of bearing 
 a high charge for carriage, production would be increased, and the 
 traffic of the railways in manufactured goods would be proportionately 
 augmented." 
 
 A considerable amount of light has been thrown upon the circum-
 
 The Waterways of France. 1 1 5 
 
 stances of the internal navigation of France by a census that was 
 recently taken of the boats employed upon the navigable rivers and 
 canals. This census showed that, at the end of 1887, there were 
 employed on the national waterways no fewer than 15,730 vessels, 
 having a total tonnage capacity of 2,724,000 metrical tons, or an 
 average of 173 metrical tons per vessel. Of these boats, 933, with a 
 total tonnage of 342,933, or an average of 370 tons per vessel, had 
 a length of 38 metres 50 and over ; 4863 boats, having a total tonnage 
 of 1,415,904 metrical tons, or an average of rather under 300 tons 
 each, had a length of 33 metres to 38 metres 50 ; while 9934, with 
 a total tonnage of 965,000 tons, or an average of 96 tons, were less 
 than 33 metres in length. Of the 15,730 vessels employed in the 
 inland navigation of France, 14,252 were found to have been con- 
 structed in the country, 1017 in Belgium, 339 in Germany, and 122 
 in other countries. It would thus appear that France retains in her 
 own hands the shipbuilding involved in the navigation of her own 
 waterways. Finally, it appears that 8537 boats, with a total tonnage 
 of 1,632,000 tons, were employed on the canals, and 7203 boats, 
 with a tonnage of 1,092,000 tons, on the rivers. 
 
 It would take up far too much of our time and space if we were 
 to attempt to speak of the resources of the principal rivers of France, 
 and of the means that have been taken by the State to maintain and 
 improve them. Much has been done in this direction within recent 
 years, and more is proposed in the near future. Until quite recently, 
 if not actually up to the present time, the cost of transporting a ton 
 of coal from Cardiff or Newcastle to Paris has been about 16 francs, 
 being 9 francs to Rouen, and 6 francs from Rouen to Paris, with 
 i or i francs for unloading into river boats at Rouen. The con- 
 sumption of coal in Paris is from z\ to 3 million tons a year, and 
 it has been argued that the cost of this coal could be reduced to 
 the consumers by some 6 francs if Paris were converted into a sea- 
 port by improving the Seine. One objection offered to this proposal 
 is that it would interfere with the French collieries in the Nord and 
 the Pas-de-Calais, if so obvious an advantage were given to English 
 coal ; and to meet this difficulty it has been proposed to have another 
 special canal from those districts, which would start from St. Denis 
 or Creil, and would communicate by two branches with Antin and 
 Lens. It is argued that the cost of conveying coal from the north 
 to Paris by this means would not exceed 2 to 2^ francs, or 4 francs 
 less than at the present time. 
 
 I 2
 
 1 1 6 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF GERMANY. 
 
 " How many spacious countries does the Rhine, 
 In winding banks and mazes serpentine, 
 Traverse, before he splits on Belgia's plain, 
 And, lost in sand, creeps to the German main." 
 
 Sir R. Blackmore. 
 
 THERE is perhaps no country that enjoys greater facilities of 
 transport than Germany, relatively to its area, its population, and its 
 commerce. This happy condition of things is due, partly to the 
 fostering care of a paternal government, which has taken transporta- 
 tion under its special care, and controls by far the larger part of the 
 ways of communication both by land and water ; partly to the com- 
 petition, at low rates of freight, between railways, rivers, and canals ; 
 and partly to the close attention which has been given by traders, 
 economists, and engineers to the problems that determine the ulti- 
 mate economy of transport under different conditions. With a 
 railway system that has now been completed to the extent of 25,000 
 miles, with 17,000 miles of rivers, and with 1250 miles of canal 
 navigation that is soon likely to be considerably increased, the 
 German Empire offers facilities for the study of the transportation 
 problem that entitle it to the serious attention of all who are 
 interested in the matter. This is all the more obvious that Germany, 
 although possessed of very moderate natural resources otherwise, has 
 attained a front rank among commercial nations. 
 
 River Systems. The chief river systems of Germany are those of 
 the Rhine, draining an area of 76,000 square miles, and having a 
 course of 850 miles; the Elbe, which drains an area of 55,000 square 
 miles, and is, next to the Rhine, the most important of the German 
 rivers ; the Oder, which has a drainage basin of 50,000 square miles, 
 and a course of 550 miles ; the Vistula, which rises in the Carpathian 
 mountains, 2000 feet above sea level, has a drainage area of 74,000 
 square miles, and a length of 600 miles ; the Niemen, which has a 
 drainage area conterminous with that of the Duna, and of about the
 
 The Waterways of Germany. 117 
 
 same extent, i. e., 35,000 square miles ; the Weser, which has a 
 drainage area of 18,000 square miles, and a course of 355 miles; 
 with the Ems and one or two smaller streams. The flow of the 
 chief streams is as follows : 
 
 River. Sea. 
 
 The Danube The Black Sea. 
 
 Rhine, Elbe, and Weser The North Sea. 
 
 Vistula, Oder, Memel, and Pregel .. The Baltic. 
 
 Of the Danube we shall speak at some length when we come to 
 deal with the waterways of Austria, to which that river mainly belongs. 
 But most of the other rivers of Germany have been more or less 
 canalised, and we shall therefore refer to some of the changes thereby 
 effected in river transport. 
 
 The Rhine. The lowest velocity of the Rhine is 2 62 feet per 
 second ; the highest 1 1 1 5 feet per second, and, at Diisseldorf, 
 5*24 to 6-56 feet, with 9^84 feet mean-water on the Cologne gauge. 
 The width of the river at St. Goar is 180 yards, and the depth 
 98 feet ; at Diisseldorf it is 275 yards wide, and 72 feet deep. These 
 are the two greatest depths of the river. In the Rheingau and the 
 Lower Rhine, the width increases to about 770 yards. At Wesel the 
 proportion of volume of low and high water is i 14. 
 
 The steamers now employed to navigate the Rhine are 
 constructed for cargoes of about 800 tons. The first improvement- 
 works were carried out from 1847 to 1850; in 1868, with low 
 water equal to 4*92 on the Cologne gauge, the channel from 
 Bingen to Coblenz was clear to an equal minimum depth of 6 56 feet ; 
 from Coblenz to Cologne 8-2 feet ; and from Cologne to Rotterdam, 
 9 84 feet. 
 
 In 1874, the 8' 2 feet channel was extended from Cologne to St. 
 Goar. With the improvement works, the width of the river channel 
 is now from 100 to 160 yards; below Cologne it expands to 330 
 yards. The cost of the works has been as under : 
 
 
 
 Previous to 1851 650,000 
 
 1881-1861 225,000 
 
 1861-1879 475,000 
 
 The remaining works are to be completed within eighteen 
 
 years at an estimated cost of 1,100,000 
 
 Making the total expenditure .2,450,000
 
 1 1 8 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Down to Cologne the banks rise above water level. Further sea- 
 wards the ground is low-lying, and dykes have to be employed. 
 These commence near Diisseldorf. 
 
 The traffic carried on the Rhine is very considerable, especially 
 between the Dutch ports and the Westphalian manufacturing districts. 
 It embraces large quantities of coal, iron ore, iron and steel manu- 
 factures, &c., and the cost of its transport compares favourably with 
 railway rates. 
 
 The navigable length of the Rhine is 435 miles, and on this 
 length it has a yearly traffic of about 5500 vessels, averaging some 
 200 tons each. The Rhine has a greater density of traffic than the 
 Danube, on which only some 800 vessels are employed, also 
 averaging some 200 tons ; but the Danube, which is navigable to 
 Regensburg, 281 miles from Vienna, has a much longer navigation. 
 It is believed that chain traction could be carried as far as Ulm, 
 which is 131 miles farther. 
 
 The Ems. This river has a limited interior communication, the 
 tide flowing for not more than 15 to 20 miles. The Ems takes 
 its rise only in the territory of Munster, receiving the river Hase, a 
 little above Meppin, and the Soste at Leer, and it is navigable at no 
 great distance in its current. It then runs by the Dollart, a sort of 
 bay betwixt Embden and the Dutch coast, into the North Sea, in two 
 branches ; one called the eastern, the other the western Ems, forming 
 betwixt them the island of Borcum. Formerly the river passed close 
 by Embden, from a cut being made to force the current of the river 
 that way, but, being neglected, it has taken its course by the coast of 
 Groningen. A narrow channel from Embden is, however, kept 
 clear, in consequence of four sluices in the town, which are opened 
 whilst the ebb tide continues. 
 
 The Ems has enjoyed a considerable degree of celebrity, not so 
 much from its extent as from its local advantages, and from the 
 political situation of Holland. It enjoys a free navigation by its 
 neutrality, it is under the protection of Prussia, and it is contiguous 
 to Delfzyl, an excellent entrance into Holland, by a canal which 
 runs through the northern provinces, by the city of Groningen, into 
 the Zuyder Zee. It thus communicates with all Holland and Flanders, 
 the trade of which countries, and some parts of Germany and France, 
 were formerly largely carried on by it. 
 
 The Mosel. The canalisation of the Mosel from Frouard to 
 Diedenhofen, nearly 57 miles, is a portion of an intended navigable
 
 The Waterways of Germany. 1 1 9 
 
 communication from Louisenthal, on the Rhine-Marne canal system, 
 to Saar-Kohbenbecken, on the Saar. From Frouard to Arnaville, 
 about 25 miles, it was carried out by the French Government between 
 1867 and 1870 ; and from Arnaville to Metz by the Prussian Govern- 
 ment, under Herr J. Schlichting, between 1872 and the present time. 
 The canalisation from Mctz to Diedenhofen, and the proposed con- 
 nection between the Nied canals'of the Mosel, the Saar, and the Maas, 
 remain to be completed As the main object of this canalisation was 
 to provide a navigable passage for craft having a draught of 5 9 feet, 
 the minimum depth of water was fixed at 6^56 feet. The bottom 
 width of the canal is 39*4 feet. 
 
 Of the 25-15 miles of river dealt with by the French, only 
 3 '14 miles were rendered navigable. The remainder of the main 
 course adapted for navigation consisted of four portions of canal, in 
 all 17 miles in length. In addition there were 1-25 mile of short 
 canals, connecting the main course with the Mosel. Corresponding 
 to the canals there are four movable weirs in the Mosel at Custines, 
 Marbache, Dieulouard, and Pont-a-Mousson, which maintain the 
 necessary water-level in dry seasons. The fall from the Rhine-Marne 
 Canal at Frouard to the Mosel system is 26-25 ^ eet > an ^ ^ e ^H fr m 
 Frouard to Arnaville is 48 6 feet, overcome by six locks. The cost 
 of these 20 miles of navigable channel is stated by the French 
 engineers to have been 2o8,ooo/. The German works recently 
 executed include a continuation of the main canal from Arnaville 
 to Noveant, where it debouches into the Mosel for a length of 
 i 05 mile ; the canalisation of the Mosel itself thence to Jouy-aux- 
 Arches, 3 ' 38 miles long, where a movable weir maintains the water- 
 level in this reach ; and a main canal thence to Metz on the right 
 bank of the river, 5 '55 miles long. The branch canals are com- 
 paratively independent of the above. One of them is situated on the 
 left bank at Ars, and consists of a rectification of a side channel of 
 the river, 2 '54 miles long, intended solely for the use of the iron 
 foundries of that town ; a feeder of this, being on low-lying ground, 
 requires special protective embankments. The other, 1258 yards 
 long, connects the main canal with a basin at the railway terminus at 
 Metz. The portion of the Mosel from the embouchure of the Ars 
 branch canal down to the island of Vaux is made into a navigable 
 basin for the use of the foundries, a movable weir at the latter place 
 giving the necessary increased depth of water. 
 
 The Rhine and Danube Canal. In 1834 an elaborate report was
 
 I2O Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 made by C. T. Kleinschrod, of Munich, relative to the feasibility of 
 constructing a canal to connect the Rhine and the Danube.* The 
 proposal was to proceed from the Rhine by way of the Main as far 
 as Bamberg, and there commence a canal which should proceed by 
 Nuremberg to Keeheim, where it would effect a junction with the 
 Danube. The total length of the artificial waterway between these 
 two points, Bamberg and Keeheim, was stated at 23^ German miles. 
 The writer of the pamphlet made an elaborate estimate of the 
 probable cost of the undertaking, which had the support of the King 
 of Bavaria, and it was demonstrated that at that time, when there 
 were hardly any railways in Germany, it would be attended with a 
 great economy of transport. Owing, however, to the competition of 
 railways, and the extent to which they soon afterwards met the 
 requirements of the country, the project was not entirely successful. 
 The canal was completed in 1844. It is no miles long and 7 feet 
 deep. 
 
 The Danube, which is practically navigable from the town of 
 Regensburg, 281 miles westward of Vienna, and the Black Sea, is 
 the chief important waterway of Austria. Communication is obtained 
 with Prussia by the Danube-Oder canal, and it is now proposed to 
 establish a communication between this canal and the Elbe, in which 
 case, traffic could be carried from Vienna to Hamburg by water 
 all the way. It has been suggested to have communication made 
 between the Danube and the Rhine either by Dilligen, 31 miles 
 below Ulm, via Konigsbronn, 1640 feet above sea-level, to the 
 Neckar, and from Cannstadt to Mannheim, and alternatively by 
 Kehlheim, Nuremburg, and Bamberg, an ascent of 1375 feet to the 
 Main, whence Mayence would be reached via Frankfort. 
 
 The Oder and the Elbe Canal. At an early period in the history 
 of European trade, the desirability of having the Oder and the Elbe 
 connected by an artificial waterway was discussed. This was even 
 more of a desideratum about a century and a half ago than it is to- 
 day. At that time, Stettin, which is built on the west side of the 
 Oder, about 46 miles from its mouth, was perhaps the leading com- 
 mercial city in Germany, having a large trade with England, France, 
 and other countries on the west, with Scandinavia, and with the 
 Baltic countries. The importance of joining such a port with Berlin, 
 
 * Those who are interested in perusing this Report will find it contained in a 
 volume of pamphlets in the Library of the Royal Statistical Society.
 
 The Waterways of Germany. 1 2 1 
 
 Hamburg, Dresden, and with other cities either upon or near to the 
 Elbe, was manifest. 
 
 The first canal built for this purpose was that of Plaven, com- 
 pleted in 1745. This canal joined the Havel with the Elbe at Parcy. 
 It is about twenty English miles in length, 40 to 50 feet in width, 
 and has three sluices. It reduces by more than one half the length 
 of the navigation between the Oder and the Elbe. About the same 
 time the canal of Finow was constructed to connect the same rivers 
 by the Finow and the Havel. There are thirteen sluices on this 
 canal. Another canal, called the Frederick William, joins the Oder 
 and the Spree above Frankfort, and, uniting with the Havel near 
 Brandenburg, connects the latter with the Elbe. It is fifteen English 
 miles long, and has ten sluices. 
 
 The Holstein Canal was begun in 1777, and was completed on 
 the 4th of May, 1785, but was opened in 1784. The cost of the 
 undertaking was 2,512,432 rix dollars. There are six sluices, which 
 cost 70,000 rix dollars each. This canal, on the side of the Baltic, 
 commences about three English miles north of Kiel, at a place called 
 Holtenau, where there is a sluice, another at Knoop, and a third at 
 Rathmansdorf, till it comes to the Flemhude Lake, which is the 
 highest point ; and from this lake, on the side of Rendsburg, there 
 are three other sluices one at Konigsford, another at Kluvensiek, 
 and the last at Rendsburg. These are on what is called the Upper 
 Eyder, and the Lower Eyder is from Rendsburg to its mouth, run- 
 ning by Tonningen, below which place it falls into the sea between 
 Eyderstadt and Dithmarschen. The distance is about 100 English 
 miles, and vessels must either sail or tide it, or both ; whilst from 
 Rendsburg to Holtenau, nearly at the mouth of Kiel Bay, upon the 
 Baltic, it is only about 25 English miles, which can be navigated in 
 all weathers, except during a strong frost, as horses can be had, if 
 required, at fixed rates. The vessels are let through a sluice in little 
 more than eight or ten minutes each. For each sluice they pay only 
 4 schillings Danish, or about so many pence English. The surface 
 breadth of this canal is 100 feet, and at the bottom 54 feet Danish 
 measure, and the depth is at least 10 feet throughout. Vessels can 
 pass through the sluices 100 feet in length, 26 feet in breadth, and 
 9 feet 4 inches draught of water, Danish measure, and which, for the 
 regulation of the British merchant and shipowner, as well as the master, 
 it may be observed, corresponds in English measure to vessels of 
 95 feet 4 inches length ; 24 feet 9 inches breadth ; and 9 feet depth.
 
 122 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 An increase and improvement of the waterways of Germany is 
 looked upon as a pressing present necessity by many, and provision 
 has been made for the commencement of three great canals the 
 connection of the Baltic with the North Sea, of the Spree with the 
 Oder, and of the Ems with the Rhine. The first mentioned is to be 
 built chiefly from military considerations, so that the German iron- 
 clads can get from Kiel to the Atlantic. The two others are to be 
 constructed for commercial purposes. In connection with these 
 there will also be canals built from the Rhine to the Elbe, and from 
 the Oder to the Silesian Mountains. The agricultural interest very 
 strongly opposed the Spree-Oder and Ems-Rhine Canal, because 
 they feared the foreign grain would be more plentifully brought into 
 the empire thereby, but their opposition was not successful. 
 
 Besides these works the river Weser is being deepened, and a 
 new channel has been constructed between Bremen and the sea a 
 distance of about 50 miles. 
 
 The North Sea and Baltic Ship Canal. This new ship canal is to 
 be international as well as national in its character. It will reduce 
 the sea passage, as compared to the Sound route, by 237 sea miles, 
 shorten the journey of sailing vessels by at least three days, and that 
 of steamers by about twenty- two hours in normal weather, and these 
 advantages are to cost the shipowners gd. per registered ton when 
 the canal is navigable. About 35,000 vessels pass through the Sound 
 annually. It is, moreover, intended to strengthen the offensive and 
 defensive power of Germany. It may, however, be remarked that 
 Count Moltke never from the first gave the plan his cordial support 
 from a strategical point of view, maintaining then, as now, that the 
 money which the canal is to cost would have been more judiciously 
 spent if employed to strengthen the national navy. 
 
 The Baltic Ship Canal begins at Holtenau, a small village just 
 north of the royal dockyard of Kiel, on the Baltic, and enters the 
 Elbe 15 miles above the North Sea, near Brunsbuttel. It will have 
 a total length of 75 to 80 kilometres, as seen on the sketch-map at 
 page 125. Its width is to be, on the water surface, 60 metres; on 
 the bottom, 26 metres ; its depth is to be 8 metres, and its total cost 
 156 million marks, as estimated. The canal may be looked upon as 
 a mere cutting, in which the water-level is to be that of the Baltic 
 Sea, and there will only be floodgates or sluices where it enters the 
 river Eider and at its termination in the Elbe ; these will be, as 
 a matter of fact, open all the year round. For the convenience of
 
 The Waterways of Germany. 123 
 
 the Royal Marine, rather extensive works will be carried out at the 
 Elbe embouchure, consisting of large and small locks, and eventually 
 a floating basin for at least four large armour-clads, besides coaling 
 stations at either end of the canal. The four railways crossing the 
 canal, as well as the two main post roads, will be carried over it by 
 means of iron swing-bridges ; and steam and manual pontoons will 
 serve for the other various crossing-points of the canal. There are 
 no engineering difficulties to contend with, excepting perhaps a boggy 
 portion not very remote from the Elbe. The highest point of cutting 
 is about 24 kilometres distant from the Elbe, and here it will be 
 30 metres distant from the bottom level of the canal, otherwise the 
 ground to be removed is mostly sand or sandy loam. 
 
 This canal will unite the Gulf of Kiel with the mouth of the 
 Elbe, and will run by way of Rendsburg to a point midway between 
 Brunsbiittel and St. Margarethen, a few miles below Hamburg. It 
 will, when completed, be 61 miles long, 196 feet broad at the water 
 level, 85 feet broad at the bottom, and 28 feet deep, and it will have 
 but two locks one at each end. .The canal will take in the largest 
 warship that has been or will be constructed in Germany, and will, 
 moreover, take her at all states of the tide and in less than eight 
 hours it will be possible for her to proceed by it from Kiel to the 
 Elbe, or vice versd. The canal, therefore, will enable Germany to 
 regard with some degree of indifference the possession of the mouths 
 of the Baltic. She will always have her own entrance into that sea, 
 and will be in a position at very short notice either to reinforce her 
 squadrons there with ships from the North Sea, or to draw ships 
 thence to reinforce Kiel and the Elbe. It is proposed to supplement 
 this strategical waterway by means of a further canal, which shall 
 traverse Hanover from Neuhaus, on the Elbe, opposite Brunsbiittel, 
 to Bremerhaven, at the mouth of the Weser. It will then be possible 
 for the whole voyage between Kiel and Wilhelmshaven to be per- 
 formed in what are practically inland waters. This last section of 
 canal is, indeed, necessary for the thorough completion of the scheme 
 of coast defence; for the position of Great Britain at Heligoland 
 renders a blockade by her of the mouths of the Elbe and Weser 
 comparatively easy, unless provision be made for the safe concen- 
 tration at will, either at Brunsbiittel or at Wilhelmshaven, of a fairly 
 formidable fleet. 
 
 The Eyder, which divides Schleswig from Holstein, flows through 
 territory to be regarded as permanently German into the North Sea
 
 124 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 at Tonning, From Rendsburg, to which place the Eyder is 
 navigable, the Eyder or Schleswig-Holstein canal was dug towards 
 the close of the last century to Kiel Bay, on the Baltic. It is from 
 10 to ii feet deep, and has locks. Vessels, though of no great 
 burden, can thus at present pass from the one sea to the other. As 
 soon as Prussia occupied the Danish Duchies, proposals were enter- 
 tained by it for an increase of the depth and width of this canal. 
 Its maintenance, as it is necessitates a large expenditure on dykes, 
 and the contemplated improvements, of which the charge would fall 
 wholly or mainly on Prussia, must inevitably be -exceedingly costly. 
 When they were fully carried out, they might not answer the com- 
 mercial needs of the chief centres of German trade, and might even 
 divert custom from them. Hamburg wants a canal nearer to its end 
 of the peninsula. It will be likely to attain its wish by the measure 
 which has now been sanctioned by the Imperial Parliament. By this 
 scheme the two German seas will be united at points most convenient 
 for the accommodation of the entire Empire. 
 
 In addition to the Eyder Canal, a second but more indirect 
 water communication between the Baltic and North Seas has 
 existed for five hundred years in the Steckenitz Canal, by which the 
 Hanse city of Lu'beck connected the Steckenitz and Delvenau with 
 the Elbe. But this is not the route which wins engineering or 
 political favour. The line most strongly supported is from Kiel, 
 south-westwards to Brunsbiittel, at the mouth of the Elbe, opposite 
 Cuxhaven. It would satisfy the demands of Hamburg, which, though 
 it seems to be jealous of Altona, practically embraces within the 
 limits of its port the whole Elbe estuary. Kiel has a rising commerce 
 which is likely to be greatly expanded by the undertaking. In the 
 eyes of German statesmen, the plan has commended itself as giving 
 the principal war harbour of the Empire an independent outlet to the 
 North Sea. The Northern Powers might, as things now are, if 
 hostile, seal up the German Navy in the Baltic. They hold the keys, 
 and could convert the sea into a lake. Whatever the German naval 
 strength at Bremerhaven, on the Elbe, and at Kiel, it could be 
 cut in half, and prevented from co-operating at the discretion of 
 Scandinavia. 
 
 This is, as we have seen, a reason of the highest State for under- 
 taking the new waterway. German ships, unprovided with a water- 
 way between the German Ocean and the Baltic, have been exposed 
 to extraordinary risks. This fact alone is, in the eyes of Germany,
 
 The Waterways of Germany. 
 
 125
 
 126 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 a sufficient reason for such an enterprise. But there are also the 
 . equally cogent reasons of trade, and the preservation of shipping 
 and human life. 
 
 The Kattegat and Skager Rack are computed to cost Germany a 
 yearly loss of five hundred lives by wreck, and half a million sterling. 
 The pecuniary damage through the trade which is turned back, and 
 does not dare to defy the peril, must be much more considerable. 
 Germany at large has finally to defray the major part of these 
 charges, positive and negative. The saving of them is likely to yield 
 very ample interest on the seven or eight millions to be spent. 
 Venerable Liibeck would alone have cause to murmur at a work 
 which threatens it with more grievous competition than even now it 
 has to meet from the competition of Kiel for the Baltic trade. A 
 writer in the Times has, however, pointed out that Liibeck, though 
 it has fallen behind in the race with Hamburg, has its own intrinsic 
 sources of prosperity, and is not likely to let them slip. The one 
 real drawback to the attractions of the project is the unaccommo- 
 dating character of a North German winter. Ice, which seriously 
 obstructs the navigation of the tidal rivers, would be harsher still to 
 the sluggish surface of a fresh-water canal in Holstein. 
 
 The North Sea and Baltic Canal will be of the following 
 dimensions : Breadth at surface 200 feet ; at bottom 85 feet. 
 Depth 27 feet TO inches. 
 
 This size will allow the heaviest ships in the German navy to 
 make use of the waterway, and it is estimated that 18,000 ships out 
 of the 35,000 that annually pass the Sound, will use the canal, which 
 will shorten the distance between the Baltic and London by 22 hours; 
 Hull by 1 5 hours ; Hartlepool by 8 hours ; Newcastle-on-Tyne by 
 6 hours ; and Leith by 4 hours. It is expected to affect the English 
 coal trade with Baltic ports, by giving readier access to German coal 
 ports, and in addition to saving time in transit, it will relieve vessels 
 from the danger of doubling the Skaw. The work is likely to be 
 completed in 1893 or 1894. 
 
 The cost of the canal is estimated at between seven and eight 
 millions sterling, of which 2^ millions are to be provided by Prussia. 
 
 It is the inevitable result of every new addition to the transporta- 
 tion facilities of a country to benefit more or less some places at the 
 expense of others. The North Sea Canal is likely to prove dis- 
 advantageous, as we have seen, to the ancient city of Liibeck, in 
 consequence of a diversion of its traffic. To meet this drawback,
 
 The Waterways of Germany. \ 2 7 
 
 it has been proposed to construct a new canal through Holstein, 
 connecting the Trave with the Elbe. Negotiations have been 
 carried on between Liibeck and Prussia, with this end in view. The 
 canal would be 72 kilometres in length, and is estimated to cost 18 
 millions of marks (9oo,ooo/.). With this canal, Liibeck is expected 
 to retain its considerable trade with North-eastern Europe. 
 
 The Rhine-Ems Canal. The proposed Rhine-Ems Canal is 
 expected, by bringing the Rhine and the Ems into more direct con- 
 nection with the Westphalian coalfield, to bring German into very 
 close competition with English coal at the North Sea and Baltic 
 ports. The plan is a very old one, and was resuscitated some thirty 
 years ago, but nothing came of the project till three sessions ago, 
 when the Chambers voted a large sum to carry it out under Govern- 
 ment, provided the interested country districts through which the 
 canal was to pass, beginning at Dortmund, would acquire the 
 requisite land through which the canal was to be cut, and hand 
 it over for the common good. The money has been coming in since 
 by driblets, slowly and reluctantly, from one township and the other, 
 but at last it seems probable that it will ultimately be subscribed, 
 and for this eventuality English coalowners must be prepared. A 
 glance at a map will show that from Dortmund to Emden, and thence 
 through the North Sea and Baltic Canal, a direct route] to the East 
 seaports will be opened up ; and as the Westphalian coal can then 
 be placed at Emden at the same price as the English at one of the 
 east coast shipping ports, and the distance from Emden to the Baltic 
 by the new ship canal is twenty-three hours less than from Hull, 
 twenty-seven from Hartlepool, thirty from Newcastle, and thirty-six 
 from Leith, it is evident that a sharper rivalry may be established. If 
 the ship canal be not used, the difference in time between Emden and 
 the Baltic will be less by thirty-eight hours from Hull, thirty-six from 
 Newcastle, thirty-five from Hartlepool, and forty from Leith. No 
 steps have yet been taken with regard to the continuation of the canal 
 from Dortmund to the Rhine, which would then open up a new and 
 shorter waterway from South Germany and Switzerland to the Baltic. 
 
 The Dortmund and Emden Canal is designed to develop the com- 
 munication between the Westphalian coalfield and the harbour at the 
 mouth of the Ems, and comprises (i) the completion of the canal 
 direct from the collieries, and joining the Ems at Papenburg, and (2) 
 the improvement of the navigation at Emden harbour. The canal 
 follows, at the outset, the Emscher valley to Henrichenburg, whence
 
 128 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 it is intended to construct a branch of about 5 miles to the Rhine ; 
 the length of this section being about 9^ miles, with a fall of about 
 45 * 3 feet. The section of 38 miles past Minister, is unbroken by 
 locks, but falls of 50 feet to Bevergern, whence the previously 
 existing Haulken Canal is followed as far as Meppen. The fall from 
 Bevergern to Papenburg is 130*9 feet: and the distance 68 miles; 
 the total fall from Dortmund to Emden being 226*2 feet, with 
 twenty-six locks. 
 
 From Papenburg the Ems is navigable for the largest barges ; 
 but at Oldersum, about 6 miles from the mouth of the river, the 
 channel becomes exposed to northerly storms, and from this point, 
 therefore, a new cut, closed from the river by a lock, joins the new 
 harbour, which, however, is yet unfinished, and is capable of con- 
 siderable extension. The dimensions of the work are : 
 
 Canal. 
 
 Width of bed .. 
 
 ,, at water level 
 Depth 
 
 ft. in. 
 
 52 o 
 
 78 o 
 
 6 6 
 
 Locks. 
 
 Length 
 
 Clear width of gates . 
 Depth on sill 
 
 ft. in. 
 
 22O O 
 
 28 3 
 
 8 3 
 
 The aqueducts, by which the canal is carried over the Lippe and 
 Stever valleys, having also a depth of 8 feet 3 inches, the canal can 
 
 SECTIONS AND DETAILS OF COST OF THE DORTMUND AND 
 EMDEN CANAL. 
 
 Section. 
 
 Length 
 in 
 Miles. 
 
 Cost of Works. 
 
 Total Cost 
 (including land). 
 
 Per Mile. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Per Mile. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Dortmund to Henrichenburg 
 
 9i 
 
 
 
 26,082 
 
 
 243,000 
 
 
 
 34,373 
 
 
 
 320,500 
 
 Branch to Herne (5 miles).. 
 
 .. 
 
 17,468 
 
 84,500 
 
 2i,574 
 
 104,500 
 
 Henrichenburg to Bevergern 
 
 59* 
 
 ji8,354 
 
 1,092,500 
 37,5oo 
 
 20,608 
 
 1,228,500 
 37.5oo 
 
 Bevergern to Papenburg . . 
 
 68 
 
 H.973 
 
 1,019,500 
 
 15,939 
 
 1,093,000 
 
 River (Ems) from Papen- 
 burg to Oldersum 
 
 } i9i 
 
 
 
 
 
 Eldersum to Emden 
 
 Si 
 
 25,760 
 
 147,000 
 
 28,738 
 
 164,000 
 
 Emden Harbour 
 
 Total distance, Dortmund to 
 Emden Harbour 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 295,000 
 
 
 295,000 
 
 }l62f 
 
 
 
 2,919,000 
 
 
 
 3,233,000
 
 The Waterways of Germany. 
 
 129 
 
 at any time be dredged to this depth throughout. The navagation 
 can be worked by steam-power, and when the harbour is completed, 
 so that the coal can be brought direct from the collieries, the freight 
 charges will probably be reduced to 2$. $d. or 2S. 6d. per ton, as 
 against 3-r. 6d., the lowest now charged. The preceding table is a 
 statement of the details of this undertaking. 
 
 Scheldt and Rhine Canal. For a considerable time past, a 
 canal has been in course of construction between the Scheldt and 
 the Rhine. The undertaking has been jointly promoted by Holland, 
 Belgium, and Germany. The two former countries are said to have 
 completed their part of the new waterway, but the German section 
 of the work has been allowed to stagnate for lack of support, and in 
 1887 the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce applied to the German 
 Government for assistance, with a view to its completion. At the 
 present time, the Rhine is one of the most important waterways in 
 Europe in reference to the extent of its traffic. The port of Rotterdam 
 is, however, the only one open by this route, while the new canal 
 would give access to the magnificent port of Antwerp, whence 
 cheaper freights are obtained to North America than from any other 
 European port. 
 
 Oder and Upper Spree Navigation. The old Friedrich-Wilhelm 
 Canal, constructed over two hundred years since, was till recently 
 the only means of water communication through this district ; but 
 the dimensions of the channel, as well as the locks, were too small 
 for present requirements, and in preference to reconstructing the 
 whole work, it was decided to cut another channel, joining the Oder 
 a few miles further from Frankfurt. The country traversed is easier 
 than in the case of the Ems, and as the Oder does not take such 
 large vessels as the Ems, the dimensions of the canal are smaller ; the 
 limit being for 400 ton barges : 
 
 Canal. 
 
 Width of bed 
 
 ,, at water level 
 Depth 
 
 ft. 
 
 46 
 
 76 
 
 6 
 
 Locks. 
 
 Length 
 
 Clear width of gates . 
 Depth of sill 
 
 ft. in. 
 
 180 o 
 
 28 3 
 
 8 3 
 
 The total length of this navigation is stated at 54$ miles, and the 
 cost is estimated at n,592/. per mile. 
 
 It is now proposed to connect the North Sea at Hamburg with 
 Vienna, and thence, by the Danube, with the Black Sea and the 
 Orient generally, by a canal from Kosel to the Danube. The 
 
 K
 
 1 30 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Prussian canal system now allows of water transport all the way from 
 Hamburg to Breig, whence the canalisation of the Oder to Kosel, 
 now being carried out, will be completed in 1894. Prussia would 
 continue the canal thence to the Austrian frontier if it was completed 
 to the Danube, 273 kilometres further, by others, and efforts have 
 recently been made to bring this about. 
 
 This navigation improvement will bring the coalfields of Eastern 
 Silesia into direct communication with Berlin. 
 
 In 1885, a project was brought forward in Prussia for the con- 
 struction of a canal that would join the Rhine, the Ems, the Weser, 
 and the Elbe. The length of this waterway was estimated at i8i 
 miles, the depth at 6 feet, 8 inches, and the width at 53 feet, 4 inches 
 at the bottom, and 80 feet on the water-line. The canal is intended 
 to accommodate vessels not exceeding 500 tons burden. The 
 outlay proposed for this and collateral canals was estimated at 
 4,050,000^ 
 
 TRAFFIC ON GERMAN WATERWAYS. 
 
 The quantity of traffic carried on the waterways of Germany has 
 been calculated at 11,797,000 tons, of which North Germany 
 furnished 11,249,000 tons, and Southern Germany 548,000 tons.* 
 
 This, however, does not include the Rhine and the Main, which 
 would raise the figures for North Germany to about 16^ millions 
 of tons, while other waterways in Southern Germany bring up the 
 traffic in that division of the empire to about three millions of tons, 
 being a total for both divisions of about twenty millions of tons in 
 round figures, or approximately the same traffic as the waterways of 
 France in the same year. 
 
 Dealing only with those waterways of Germany, in which the 
 transportation of traffic is regularly carried on, and disregarding the 
 streams or canals that are practically unused for this purpose, it 
 
 * The different river basins contributed the following proportions : 
 
 Basins. Tons. 
 
 The Elbe 7,767,000 
 
 The Vistula, Niemen, &c 2,227,000 
 
 The Oder 861,000 
 
 The Weser and Ems 394,000 
 
 Lake of Constance 338,000 
 
 The Danube 210,000 
 
 Total .. .. 11,797,000
 
 The Waterways of Germany. 1 3 1 
 
 appears that the total length of internal navigation in Germany is about 
 3384 miles,* but it is important to remark that about 18 millions of 
 the 20 millions of tons of traffic carried annually on these waterways 
 make use of only 2360 miles, or 69 per cent, of the whole, leaving 
 a million and a half to two millions of tons for the remaining 31 per 
 cent 
 
 The latest returns at command appear to show that the water- 
 ways of Germany were used by 17.885 sailing ships, of a total tonnage 
 of 1,625,000 tons, or an average of 90 tons each; and by 830 steam 
 ships, of a total tonnage of about 33,000, being an average of 53 tons 
 per vessel. 
 
 The total number of vessels employed in carrying merchandise, 
 on the waterways of Germany, in the form of tugs, kedges, and 
 steamers, in addition to the above, is given as 483, having an indi- 
 cated horse-power per boat varying from an average of 280 on the 
 Rhine to one of only 53 on the Oder. 
 
 It is clear from these returns that the waterways of Germany 
 employ a large number of very small craft. It is equally clear that 
 under these circumstances, the cost of transport cannot be so cheap 
 as it otherwise would be. If the average tonnage of all the vessels 
 employed under steam is only 53 tons, there must be a number of 
 very small craft indeed employed on the other waterways, in order to 
 make up for the considerably larger average of the vessels employed 
 on the Rhine. 
 
 In Germany, as in France and Belgium, it is chiefly traffic of the 
 heavy kind that makes use of the waterways. About 28 per cent, of 
 the total traffic carried on the canals and rivers of the Empire takes 
 the form of coal and coke. On the Rhine, almost one-half of the 
 total traffic carried is mineral, but on the Elbe, mineral traffic only 
 constitutes 18 per cent, of the whole. But on this, and the other water- 
 
 * The distribution of this navigation is as follows, according to basins : 
 
 Basin. Miles of Navigation. 
 
 The Rhine 931 
 
 The Elbe 870 
 
 The Oder 497 
 
 The Weser 280 
 
 The Danube 248 
 
 The Ems .. .. 196 
 
 Other waterways 372 
 
 Total .. .. 3384 
 
 K 2
 
 132 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 ways as well, timber, stone, clay, and lime, are carried in considerable 
 quantities, as well as vegetables and leguminous plants.* It is 
 estimated that eight millions of tons of traffic in Germany use both 
 waterways and railways, and on the Rhine alone over five millions of 
 tons are carried in this way. 
 
 The average traffic carried per mile on the Rhine is not less than 
 7400 tons. On the 2484 miles of waterways that are regularly navi- 
 gated in Germany, the density of traffic is about 7200 tons per mile. 
 On the railways of Germany, however, the density of goods traffic 
 only amounts to about 4864 tons per mile. The French waterways 
 have a density of 7246 tons per mile, as against a density of 4500 
 tons on their railways. It is impossible to speak of the density of 
 the traffic on English waterways, inasmuch as no regular returns are 
 collected of the canal business of Great Britain ; but as the canals 
 have for the most part been allowed to get very much out of repair, 
 it is safe to assume that the existing water transport will not compare 
 favourably with the traffic carried by railway. 
 
 An interesting statement has recently been compiled, showing the 
 quantities of traffic carried on the railways and waterways of 
 Germany, to and from the principal centres of population. It 
 appears from this return that the total quantity of traffic carried by 
 water to and from Berlin, Hamburg, Magdeburg, Mannheim, and one 
 or two other cities of importance, compares not unfavourably with rail 
 transport. The particulars are given in the table on the following page. 
 
 It is the practice in Germany for the Government to maintain the 
 inland navigations, charging only 6s. for lockage. This allows of very 
 cheap transport so much so, indeed, that it is stated that between 
 Hamburg and Berlin, notwithstanding that the railway rates are 
 extremely low, all heavy traffic is carried by barges or steamers. 
 
 On the fourteen principal waterways in Germany, including the 
 Oder, the Spree, the Elbe, the Rhine, and the chief canals, the 
 17^ million tons of traffic carried in 1887 was transported in 
 132,863 boats that were full and 35,989 boats that were not full. 
 The average tonnage carried on the same waterways between 1881 
 and 1885 was 14,318,000 tons. As compared with the vessels em- 
 ployed, and the tonnage carried, in preceding years, there was an 
 
 * On the railways of Germany in 1886 coal traffic was 48^5 per cent, of the 
 whole; timber, 5 '8 per cent.; stone, 7 '5 per cent.; and grain 6*2 per cent. 
 About 84 '7 per cent, of the whole was heavy traffic. The total railway traffic 
 was about 5J times that of the total water traffic of the empire.
 
 The Waterways of Germany. 
 
 TRAFFIC ON THE RAILWAYS AND WATERWAYS OF GERMANY. 
 
 Cities. 
 
 Number of 
 Inhabitants. 
 
 Tons of Goods Carried 
 
 Number of 
 Tons per 
 Head of 
 Popula- 
 tion. 
 
 By Rail. 
 
 By 
 
 Water. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Berlin 
 
 1,200,000 
 
 3,504,000 
 
 3,348,COO 
 
 6,852,OOO 
 
 5-7I 
 
 Breslau 
 
 27O,OOO 
 
 1,237,000 
 
 350,000 
 
 1,587,000 
 
 5'88 
 
 Hamburg 
 
 410,000 
 
 I,I9I,OOO 
 
 3,22I,OOO* 
 
 4,442,OOO 
 
 10-7 
 
 Magdeburg (includ- 
 ing Buckau and 
 Neustadt) 
 
 165,000 
 
 1,650,000 
 
 I,Il8,000 
 
 2,768,OOO 
 
 I6'7 
 
 Dresden 
 
 22O,OOO 
 
 1,411,000! 
 
 534,ooo 
 
 1,945,000 
 
 8-8 
 
 Bremen 
 
 II2,OOO 
 
 776,000 
 
 184,000* 
 
 960,000 
 
 8-5 
 
 Ports of Rhine I 
 Rhurort, Duisburg, > 
 and Hochfeld) ) 
 
 70,OOO 
 
 5,427,000 
 
 4, IO7,OOO 
 
 9,554,000 
 
 136-0 
 
 Cologne (including) 
 Deutz) / 
 
 l6o,OOO 
 
 1,132,000 
 
 314,000 
 
 1,634,000 
 
 lO'O 
 
 Mannheim and Lud-1 
 wigshafen . . . . / 
 
 75,000 
 
 1,776,000 
 
 2,041 ,oco 
 
 3,817,000 
 
 50 - o 
 
 advance of 15*4 per cent, in the number of the boats, and of 22^7 
 per cent in the amount of traffic carried. 
 
 In the year 1878 it was announced that over 1045 miles of new 
 canal navigation had been ordered throughout Germany, in addition 
 to the 1289 miles then open, and the 4925 miles of navigable rivers 
 available.t This fact sufficiently indicates the great importance that 
 is attached in Germany to adequate water communication, and it is 
 all the more notable that very few countries are possessed of equally 
 cheap railway transport. 
 
 * Not including sea tonnage. 
 
 t Exclusive of arrivals and departures by rail from Dresden and Breslau. 
 
 t Report of Messrs. Meyer and Werneigh.
 
 134 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF BELGIUM. 
 
 THE little kingdom of Belgium enjoys the advantage of having both 
 a complete railway system and an excellent system of canal trans- 
 port. There is, indeed, no country in Europe where the conditions 
 of economical transportation have been more closely and more 
 effectually studied. To this fact is largely to be attributed the unique 
 position which Belgium holds among the industrial nations of the 
 world. With limited coal resources, which are much behind those of 
 some other European countries, alike as regards their quality and the 
 economical conditions under which they can be mined ; with iron ore 
 supplies that are almost exhausted, and which only meet her own 
 consumption to a very limited extent ; with hardly any other mineral 
 resources worth speaking of, excepting only certain deposits of zinc 
 ores, Belgium has relatively a larger industrial population than any 
 other country in Europe, and enjoys a degree of prosperity that is 
 rare even in countries more liberally endowed with Nature's gifts. 
 
 Belgium possesses twenty-nine different canals or canalised water- 
 ways, of which three the Escaut, the Lys, and the Meuse are 
 each over 100 kilometres in length. The total length of the water- 
 ways of Belgium in 1885 was 1634 kilometres, or 1013 miles. The 
 total number of tons of traffic carried on the Belgian waterways 
 was 31,362,000, and the total number of tons transported one 
 kilometre was 726,359,000, so that the average length of transport 
 per ton was 23-2 kilometres.* There are, however, cases in which 
 the average length of lead is much under this figure, as for example 
 that of the " Raccordement a Gand," where it is only i 8 kilometre. 
 For a number of years past the canal traffic has been tolerably steady, 
 
 * The chief elements of this traffic were : 
 
 Tons transported 
 one kilometre. 
 
 Coal and coke .. .. 147,402,000 
 
 Other minerals and metals 200,606,000 
 
 Agricultural products, wood, &c. .. 130,571,000 
 Industrial products, and others .. .. 247,780,000
 
 The Waterways of Belgium. 135 
 
 but between 1879 and 1884 there was a decrease of absolute quantity, 
 although not of the kilometric tonnage. 
 
 The Belgian Ship Canals. Belgium has two excellent ship canals 
 one from Terneuzen to Ghent, and the other from Ostend to 
 Bruges. The improvement of the ship canal from Ghent to Terneuzen 
 was begun in 1874, and concluded in 1879. Originally the canal 
 had many bends, which rendered navigation difficult, and it was also 
 of too limited dimensions to admit the large size of craft that was 
 desired. The depth of the canal up to 1873 was r 4 ^ eet 4 inches, 
 and its width was 98 feet 6 inches at the water-level. The improve- 
 ment works then undertaken were designed to increase the depth to 
 21 feet 3 inches, and the width to 103 feet 9 inches on the water- 
 level. 
 
 There is much traffic in the Upper Scheldt from Antwerp to 
 Ghent, the water being tidal to the latter town, with a depth of 6 to 
 8 feet, working the river with the tide. The Terneuzen Canal is 
 35 kilometres in length, and is used by some twenty steamers from 
 England weekly, taking coals, pig iron, and other articles, and loading 
 manufactured iron and other goods from all parts of Belgium. The 
 inland harbour at Ghent has been much enlarged of late, and the 
 lock has been removed, thus rendering access more easy. It is now 
 a waterway of ample depth and great width, with locks at Terneuzen 
 on the Scheldt, and at Sas van Gent, near the Belgian frontier. There 
 is a pilot station at Terneuzen, the men taking their turns to and 
 from Ghent. English coal may be bought for 15 to 18 francs a ton 
 at Ghent, being carried at a very low freight for want of cargo on the 
 outward voyage. Vessels of the following dimensions can use this 
 canal: Length, no metres; breadth, n'5o metres; and draught, 
 5-85 metres. Their speed en route when exceeding 2*75 metres 
 draught, is 145 metres a minute; when under 1*50 metres draught, 
 250 metres a minute. 
 
 The enormous difference that results to the prosperity of a city 
 from the possession of facilities for the navigation of vessels is v/ell 
 illustrated in the case of the old town of Bruges in Belgium, as com- 
 pared with that of her rival Antwerp. Nay, the point is forcibly 
 brought home by the history of Bruges herself. 
 
 This "Venice of the North" lay formerly near the sea, on a gulf 
 of large extent and considerable depth ; she was easily accessible, noi 
 only to the ordinary run of vessels, but even to the largest of ships. 
 That her port of Damme was large is evident from the fact that m
 
 1 36 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 1213 Philip Augustus, at the head of 1700 sail, closed in it with the 
 allied English and Flemish fleets. This fact alone will give an idea 
 of the importance of Bruges harbour, then one of the largest in 
 Europe. As long as these means of communication with the sea 
 remained open, Bruges maintained her commercial power. The 
 successive accumulations of clay in the Zwyn and in the havens of 
 Damme and Sluys, the outer ports of Bruges, were the causes of the 
 lamentable state of things which followed. 
 
 About the beginning of the I3th century, vessels sailed into 
 Damme, the port of Bruges, from all quarters of the world, and 
 poured into her markets the trade and wealth of the South and East. 
 Less than a century later the inhabitants of Bruges were compelled 
 to lengthen their maritime channel to Sluys, a small town situated on 
 the Zwyn, about eight miles beyond Damme. The new canal was 
 so constructed as to give access to vessels of from 400 to 500 tons, 
 the largest then built; it passed by Dudzeele and Westcapelle. 
 Hardly had it been opened when the commercial movement of 
 Bruges took a fresh start; from 1420 to 1470 Bruges was the mart 
 of the world, and her fortune had reached its climax. By the Sluys 
 Harbour, into which entered in 1468 with one tide as many as 250 
 vessels, Bruges was in communication with the North and South of 
 Europe ; she was also the only market city for the Netherlands and 
 the Hanseatic League. But from 1470 onwards, i. e. twenty-two 
 years before the discovery of America, the accumulation of clay in 
 the Zwyn again made its disastrous effects felt. Caracks, galleys, 
 and other large vessels could no longer enter the channel. Charles 
 the Bold, in order to deepen it, had the polder * of the Zwartegat 
 opened, but without avail Twelve years later, in 1482, matters 
 stood in a much worse condition, and vessels of large draught had 
 completely ceased to appear. No work such as cleansing was carried 
 out, no artificial sluices for such a purpose constructed ; and the Sluys 
 Canal, that bold work which during one whole century had main- 
 tained the marvellous prosperity of Bruges, now wellnigh useless, 
 became entirely choked up, and like the harbour of Sluys itself, dis- 
 appeared in the depths of the vast gulf, under the clayey mud and 
 deposits of its alluvia-bearing waves. Bruges was thenceforth con- 
 demned to a long decline. 
 
 In 1622, during the reign of Albert and Isabella, the opening of 
 
 * This was an extensive plain in the Netherlands, protected by dykes, which 
 was formerly covered by the sea.
 
 The Waterways of Belgiiim. 1 3 7 
 
 a canal from Bruges to Ostend, via Plasschendacle was for the first 
 time determined upon. Twenty years later was dug the canal from 
 Bruges to Nieuport and from Nieuport to Dunkerque. In 1646 
 Dunkerque was given up to France, and consequently the Flemings 
 were obliged, in 1664, to direct their attention towards Ostend. 
 The dimensions of this canal were now largely increased, and the 
 sluices of Plasschendacle replaced by those of Slykens, much nearer 
 the sea. In 1717, a powerful society, known as the Compagnie 
 des Indes, was organised at Ostend. The undertaking met with 
 wonderful success at its very beginning, and would probably have 
 given back to Bruges some of its former movement and life, 
 had not the Treaty of Paris of 1727, inspired by the jealousy of 
 Holland and England, suspended for seven years the grant of the 
 company, and later on forbidden all commercial intercourse between 
 the Austrian Netherlands and the Indies. Four years later the Treaty 
 of Vienna of 1731, stipulated expressly Sec. 4 of the Act, dated 
 from the Hague, 2oth February, 1732 "That all commerce and 
 navigation from the Austrian Netherlands to the East Indies, as also 
 that all commerce and navigation from the East Indies to the 
 Austrian Netherlands, shall cease for ever." 
 
 In 1783, Joseph II., wishing to end the state of subjection that his 
 provinces were labouring under, conceived the idea of linking the 
 waters of Flanders with those of the sea, by means of canals to be 
 dug exclusively in Flemish ground. He failed in the attempt, and it 
 was only after the Netherlands had been joined to the French 
 Empire that the work which the inhabitants of Bruges had been in 
 vain seeking for centuries was again attempted. At their urgent 
 request, Napoleon ordered a canal to be dug from Bruges to Sluys 
 via Damme ; this it was intended to lengthen later on, as far as the 
 Scheldt, somewhere near Breskens. The works unfortunately were 
 carried on with extreme slowness, and the fall of the empire pre- 
 vented their completion. In 1818 the canal was opened. 
 
 In 1829, King William found out the inefficiency of the issues 
 of the Zwyn ; he resumed the scheme of Napoleon I., and decided 
 to push the new canal on to Breskens. The works were on the 
 point of being ordered, when, in 1830, the Revolution broke out, 
 and Bruges saw the realisation of her hopes again deferred. 
 
 Since 1470, then, three principal efforts have been made to bring 
 Bruges into communication with the sea; first, in 1622, via Ostend; 
 second, in 1640, via Dunkerque ; third, in 1810, via Breskens. The
 
 138 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 two last failed through political events, which took away from Belgium 
 the two principal points : Dunkerque scarcely five years after the 
 canal was completed ; Breskens before the works were even begun. 
 One disadvantage to be noticed with regard to these two towns is the 
 considerable distances at which they lie from Bruges Dunkerque at 
 over forty, Breskens at more than twenty miles. Moreover the 
 works, comparatively speaking, were on a very small scale. As for 
 the Ostend scheme, the canal necessarily encountered the same fate 
 as the harbour itself one continual struggle against alluvia. The 
 case seemed hopeless, and Bruges in despair had resigned herself to 
 her melancholy fate, when in 1877 M. A. de Maere Limnander 
 started and publicly advocated a scheme which- was intended to open 
 for Bruges, once more a seaport town, a fresh era of prosperity. The 
 work which he published on the subject, the result of long inquiry, 
 has met with general approbation. 
 
 In the construction of the ship canal from Ostend to Bruges, the 
 spot chosen for the outer port lay in the neighbourhood of Heijst, to 
 the south-west of the mouth of the Sebzate and Schipdonek canals, at 
 about 1250 metres (4114 feet) from the Heijst sluices. The motives 
 for selecting this place are twofold Firstly, the minimum of clearing 
 to be executed in opening the downs, the depth of which is here of 
 not more than from 50 to 60 metres (164 feet to 197 feet) ; secondly, 
 the minimum of length to be given to the piers, the depth of seven 
 metres (23 feet) at ebb tide being here very near the shore. This 
 part of the coast, moreover, is also one which has stood in constant 
 danger of irruption on the part of the sea, and has only recently 
 needed strengthening. To maintain the depth at the entrance to the 
 harbour the westerly pier is made the longer of the two, and slightly 
 bent in towards the end ; its length is fixed at noo metres (3620 feet), 
 viz., 840 metres (2769 feet) from the base to the bend, and 260 metres 
 (855 feet) from the bend to the end ; that of the easterly one at 
 800 metres (2633 feet); the width at the entrance to the port at 
 300 metres (987 feet), and that at the base of the same at 1000 metres 
 (3291 feet); the surface of the harbour thus amounts to 60 hectares 
 (6000 acres, or 29,040,000 square yards). The masonry con- 
 sists of artificial blocks of the largest possible dimensions, never 
 weighing less than from 40,000 to 90,000 kilogs. from about 
 85,000 Ib. to about 180,000 Ib. M. De Maere also advocates the 
 construction along the outer side of the westerly pier of a breakwater, 
 made of a single row of stakes. One or two lighthouses are to light
 
 The Waterways of Belgium. 139 
 
 the entrance to the harbour. The cost of this section of the works 
 was estimated at 9,000,000 f. = 360,0007. 
 
 The canal runs in a straight line from the sea to the docks at 
 Bruges. Its length is 12 kilos. about 7^ miles; its floor width is 
 20 metres 65 feet ; its width, measuring at the water-line, of 
 62 metres 204 feet; its depth from the water-line of 7 metres 
 23 feet. The slopes have a slant of i metre 3 feet 3^ inches for 
 every 3 metres 9 feet, 10^ inches. This lessens the expense of 
 keeping in repair, and, where the necessity is felt, makes the 
 widening of the bottom possible. The canal is exclusively fed with 
 sea-water, and is so constructed as to allow of the Ghent-Heijst Canal 
 being easily joined to it later on below the future sluice. The 
 amount of earth dug out of the canal was about 8,887,000 cubic feet, 
 and the cost of clearing it some 2,500,000 f. ioo,ooo/. 2,700,000 
 cubic metres of earth were employed in the construction of banks or 
 dykes along the canal. This necessitated the expropriation of 
 170 hectares 17,000 acres, or 82,280,000 square yards of land, at 
 the rate of 10,000 f. 4oo/. per hectare, or 1,700,000 f. 68,ooo/. 
 for the 170 hectares. 
 
 Other features of the canal include a sea-sluice, constructed 
 below the downs, with a double bridge, one-half of which will be 
 devoted to the Blankenberghe-Heijst Railway ; the other half to 
 general use. The bridge is 8 metres about 26 feet wide, and the 
 opening at the sluice, as also at the bridge, is 20 metres (about 
 65 feet), thus enabling several ships to enter at a time. Another 
 sluice-gate is fixed some 200 metres (about 7900 feet) lower, and the 
 part of the canal between will be made quite secure by means of a 
 flood-gate. The cost of these works amounted to about 2,000,000 f. 
 (8o,ooo/.). The plans also provided for two bridges, one on the Lisse- 
 weghe-Dudgeele, the other on the Lisseweghe-Heijst high roads, and 
 four syphons for the draining of the low waters of the country, to 
 run under the canal at a depth of eight metres (about 26 feet) below 
 the water-line.* 
 
 The river Rupel, which is about 12 miles above Antwerp, leads 
 from the Scheldt to Willebrock, opposite the town of Boom. From 
 here a canal with five large locks leads to Brussels. This canal, 
 which had its origin in the year 1415, but which was only completed 
 in 1561, is of considerable importance. The traffic on it is heavy, 
 and it is worked by the Corporation of Brussels, the result usually 
 * These particulars are mainly abstracted from the Engineer, January 3rd, 1879.
 
 140 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 leaving a profit The tolls on this canal are First class, '06 franc ; 
 second class, -04$ francs; third class, -02 franc per ton. In all 
 cases a cubic metre is reckoned as 1000 kilogrammes, or one metri- 
 cal ton. In the first class is reckoned merchandise, &c. ; in the 
 second class, bricks, firewood, stone (wrought or unwrought), salt, 
 &c. ; and the third class, unladen vessels. 
 
 There is a depth of from somewhat over 10 feet of water, but 
 this is limited to an effective depth of 3-10 metres where it passes 
 over a small stream by a brick aqueduct. A line of steamers belong- 
 ing to Messrs. Thomas & Co., of London, runs to Brussels regularly, 
 and several Dutch lines of steam barges use this route. Sailing 
 vessels and lighters are worked on the canal by means of the chain 
 system, with remorqueurs, twenty to thirty being thus easily towed. 
 The locks are large, and as many vessels pass at the same time, the 
 trains are made up accordingly. When two meet, the ascending 
 tug drops the chain, the train keeps on its right side, and the chain 
 is again picked up by a grapple when the descending train has 
 passed. With this system the vessels are easily steered by the men 
 at the helm. When approaching a lock, the chain is thrown off in 
 proper time, and the vessels' way being checked, they gradually 
 settle side by side in the lock. Great skill and care is used by the 
 men, damage by collision rarely occurring. One great advantage 
 attending this system of towage is that the tugs make no wash, 
 which so much destroys the banks of canals. The tolls are light, 
 and the rates for towage very low. Empty vessels only pay 20 c. 
 for a laissez passer vide ; this ticket, as in France, can be taken 
 from any bureau de navigation to any other place in the kingdom or 
 in the Republic. 
 
 Belgium has made a substantial contribution to the more im- 
 portant engineering features of canals by the construction of the La 
 Louviere Canal lift on the Terneuzen Canal, which is illustrated 
 on the opposite page. 
 
 This canal lift was constructed for the Belgian Government by 
 the Societe Cockerill, of Seraing, from the designs and under the 
 superintendence of Messrs. Clark, Stanfield, and Clark, of Westminster, 
 consulting engineers to the Government, and the patentees of the 
 system. The difference between the levels of the upper and lower 
 canals that is, the height the boats are raised is 50 feet 6j inches. 
 The lift consists of two pontoons, or troughs, each 141 feet long by 
 19 feet broad, with 8 feet draught of water, and are capable of
 
 The Waterways of Belgium. 
 
 141
 
 142 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 holding the largest size of barge that navigates on the Belgian broad- 
 gauge canal system. Such barges are capable of taking 400 tons of 
 coal or other cargo, so that the total weight of the trough, water, 
 and barge is not much under 1000 tons. This immense weight is 
 supported on the top of a single colossal hydraulic ram of 6 feet 
 6| inches diameter and 63 feet 9^ inches long, working in a press of 
 cast iron, hooped continuously, for greater security, with weldless 
 steel coils. The working pressure in this press is about 470 Ibs. to 
 the square inch. The time actually occupied in lifting or lowering is 
 only two and a half minutes. The La Louviere lift is said to be the 
 largest in the world. 
 
 The Scheldt Navigation In the recent history of the shipping 
 industry, the city of Antwerp has played a prominent part, thanks 
 partly to the facilities afforded by the river Scheldt, partly to the 
 easy means of access to other parts of Belgium and Holland by sea 
 and canal, and partly to the very low rates charged for transport by 
 both systems of navigation. 
 
 Up to the year 1863, the Dutch Government levied a tax upon 
 all vessels using the Scheldt. This tax was found to be so onerous, 
 that treaties were entered into in that year by which, in consideration 
 of certain specific payments made by the various countries concerned 
 in the navigation of the river, the King of Holland renounced his 
 right to levy such duties.* Since then the trade of Antwerp has 
 advanced by "leaps and bounds." Between 1862, the year previous 
 to the abolition of the taxes on shipping, and 1887, the importations 
 into Antwerp had increased by 335 per cent., and the exportations 
 from Antwerp had increased by more than 500 per cent In the 
 general transit trade the increase was equally striking, amounting to 
 about 400 per cent. The tonnage of vessels entering the port of 
 Antwerp within the same period advanced by about 600 per centf 
 
 * The sum total of these amounts was 17,141,640 francs, or 685,666/., of 
 which more than one-half was paid by Great Britain, and fully one-sixth by the 
 United States. 
 
 f The figures are so remarkable that it will probably be interesting to put 
 them on record in a tabulated form : 
 
 Year. 
 
 Importations by Sea. 
 
 Exportations by Sea. 
 
 Tonnage of Ships 
 entering Antwerp. 
 
 1862 
 1886 
 
 tons 
 568,871 
 2,438,178 
 
 tons 
 177,702 
 821,753 
 
 tons 
 
 599.899 
 3,658,900
 
 The Waterways of Belgium. 143 
 
 Economical Conditions of Water Transport in Belgium. The 
 abolition of the taxes levied previous to 1863 has had the effect, 
 coupled with a judicious development of the shipping facilities of 
 the port, of placing Antwerp at the head of the maritime ports of 
 Continental Europe, as regards both the volume of its trade and the 
 low rate of freights that may be obtained thence for nearly all the 
 other ports of the world. 
 
 There is no country that enjoys the advantages of such cheap 
 railroad transportation, excepting some instances in the United 
 States, as Belgium, and yet, as we have seen, there is no country 
 that makes a more extensive use of its canal communications. The 
 cost of transport on the canals from the Belgian coalfields to Paris 
 amounted to cr 2qd. in the spring, and o* 34^. in the autumn of 1883, 
 not including interest* The lowest rate of transport on English 
 railways for the same description of traffic is 49^. per ton per mile. 
 The canal transport of Belgium, therefore, averaging the summer 
 and winter rates, is i&d., or 58 per cent, cheaper f than that of the 
 London coal traffic, which is pointed to in this country as a remark- 
 able example of economical transport, and which certain authorities 
 declare to be carried at a loss to the companies.^ 
 
 Extent and Income of Belgian Canals. We have seen that the 
 total length of the canals of Belgium is over 1634 kilometres, of which 
 the principal were the Communal Canal from Brussels to Rufel (28 
 kilometres), the canal from Brussels to Charleroi (24 kilometres), the 
 Haut-Escaut Canal (115 kilometres), the Bas Escaut Canal, from Gand 
 to the Dutch frontier (118 kilometres), the Ghent and Ostend Canal 
 (70 kilometres), the Ghent and Terneuzen Canal (17 kilometres), the 
 Meuse and Escaut Canal (86^ kilometres), the Lys Canal (113 kilo- 
 metres), the canalised Meuse from Givet to Liege (113^ kilometres), 
 the Mons and Conde Canal (20 kilometres). Altogether there are 
 forty-five canals in Belgium, which in 1886 carried 763,108,000 kilo- 
 metric tons equal to about 480 million ton miles. The total 
 tonnage carried on the canals, as a whole, is returned at about 
 33^ millions, including the Meuse, and the average distance over 
 which each ton was carried was 22*8 kilometres. The principal 
 
 * Minutes of Proc. Inst. C. E., vol. 68, p. 484. 
 
 t Subject, of course, to the charge for interest, which, however, will be very 
 trifling. 
 
 J Mr. F. R. Conder maintains that the London coal traffic is carried at a loss 
 to the railways of 822, ooo/. per annum, or 40 per cent, on the traffic.
 
 144 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 elements of the canal traffic are shown in the appended statement 
 of tons carried one kilometre : 
 
 Kilometric Tons. 
 
 Coal and coke 167,221,000 
 
 Iron, iron ore, building materials, &c. 210,600,000 
 
 Agricultural produce 117,217,000 
 
 Industrial products, &c 268,400,000 
 
 The annual income of the Belgian canals, notwithstanding that 
 the facilities for canal navigation have been considerably extended 
 and improved, has not increased during recent years. On the con- 
 trary, while the annual income between 1841 and 1850 was 2,885,000 
 francs, and from 1851 to 1860, 2,974,000 francs, the average of 
 1871 to 1880 had fallen to 1,676,000 francs, and in 1887 it was 
 only 1,266,000 francs. The latter fall, however, must be due to a 
 decrease in rates, as the amount of traffic carried between 1881 and 
 1886 increased from 30,562,000 tons to 33,419,000 tons. The 
 ordinary expenses of maintaining the canals of Belgium have been 
 reduced from 2,600,000 francs in 1881 to 2,100,000 francs in 1886. 
 For a number of years past there has been a considerable extra- 
 ordinary expenditure on the canals, the special credits for this purpose 
 having been as much as \2\ million francs in 1883.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF HOLLAND. 
 
 "Jupiter, surveying earth from high 
 Beheld it in a lake of water lie." Ovid. 
 
 HOLLAND, the land of dykes and ditches, is completely cut up into 
 small islands by its extensive system of canals, which cross and inter- 
 lace each other like the threads of some large fishing net. Owing to 
 the level condition of the country, the construction of a canal involves 
 but comparatively little labour and expense, and many of them are 
 used as substitutes for public highways, while in the winter, their 
 frozen surfaces offer convenient roads for skaters. The North 
 Holland canal was, until recently, the finest work of its kind in 
 Europe, and was built during the years 1819-23, at a cost of 950, ooo/. 
 Since not only the surface, but the beds of many of these canals are 
 above the level of the land, drainage is a matter of great importance, 
 and is effected by means of windmills working pumps. 
 
 Phillips* speaks of Holland as being intersected by innumerable 
 canals. " They may," he says, " be compared in number and in size 
 to our public roads and highways, and as the latter with us are con- 
 tinually full of coaches, chaises, waggons, carts, and horsemen, going 
 to and from the different cities, towns, and villages, so on the former, 
 the Hollanders, in their boats and pleasure barges, their breckshuyts 
 and vessels of burden, are continually journeying and conveying 
 commodities for consumption or exportation, from the interior of the 
 country to the great cities and rivers. An inhabitant of Rotterdam 
 may, by means of these canals, breakfast at Delft or the Hague, dine 
 at Leyden, and sup at Amsterdam, or return home again before 
 night. By them, also, a most prodigious trade is carried on between 
 Holland and every part of France, Flanders, and Germany." The 
 same author declares that the 400 miles of inland navigation open in 
 Holland in his time, yielded an average income of about 6257. per 
 mile, which he declares to be, " almost beyond belief." What would 
 
 * ' History of Inland Navigation.'
 
 146 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 he have thought had he lived in our time, and seen canals producing 
 an income of 3o,ooo/. to 4o,ooo/. per mile ? * 
 
 The Haarlem Canal was constructed about fifty years ago, for the 
 purpose of draining the Meer or lake of that name. This lake had 
 been formed by an inundation in the end of the sixteenth century, 
 and in the beginning of the eighteenth century it had covered an 
 area of 45,000 acres. Seeing that the lake was gaining upon the 
 land, it was resolved to take effectual means for draining it. This 
 course was precipitated by two furious hurricanes, one in November 
 1836, which drove the waters of the lake upon the city of Amsterdam, 
 and another in December of the same year, which submerged the 
 lower parts of the city of Leyden. The first step incidental to 
 draining the lake a work which was undertaken by the Government 
 in 1839 was to dig a canal round about it for the reception of the 
 water, and to accommodate the great traffic which had hitherto been 
 carried on by its means. This canal was made 38 miles in length, 
 130 feet wide on the west side, and 115 feet on the east side of the 
 lake, and 9 feet deep. All the inlets into the lake, were then closed 
 by large earthen dams ; and various works were executed to facilitate 
 the flow of water into the sea. These preliminary works occupied 
 till 1845. To give some idea of the magnitude of the undertaking, 
 it may be mentioned that the area of water enclosed by the canal 
 was rather more than 70 square miles, and the average depth of the 
 lake was 13 feet 1*44 inches. The water had no natural outfall, 
 being below the lowest possible point of sluiceage, and, including 
 rain water; springs, &c., during the time of drainage, it was calculated 
 that probably 1000 million tons would have to be raised by mechanical 
 means. After drainage, too, the site could only be kept dry by 
 mechanical power, so that the annual drainage might amount to 
 54,000,000 tons, to be raised on an average 16 feet, and it might 
 happen that as much as 35,000,000 tons of that amount would have 
 to be raised in one month. 
 
 The North Sea Canal was constructed for the purpose of 
 facilitating the navigation of the Zuyder Zee, which, by reason of its 
 numerous shallows, was very intricate and difficult, and in order that 
 vessels might avoid the Pampus a bank that rises where the Y J oms 
 the Zuyder Zee, and formerly compelled large vessels to load and 
 unload a part of their cargoes in the roads. These obstacles 
 frequently detained vessels for as much as three weeks, f 
 
 * The Suez Canal gives this return. 
 
 t M'Cullough's 'Commercial Dictionary,' Art., Amsterdam.
 
 The Waterways of Holland. 1 4 7 
 
 M'Cullough spoke of this canal as " the greatest work of its kind 
 in Holland, and probably in the world."* It was begun in 1819, and 
 completed in 1825. The length of the canal is about 50^ miles ; 
 the breadth at the surface, 124^ English feet, and at the bottom 30 
 feet, while the depth is 20 feet 9 inches. It is a tide-level canal, and 
 is provided with two tide-locks at each end. Intermediately, there 
 are two sluices, with flood-gates. The locks and sluices are double. 
 The canal is crossed by about eighteen drawbridges. The cost of 
 the undertaking was about million sterling. 
 
 At the further end of the canal, at Niewdiep, a harbour was con- 
 structed, which has been very much frequented by the shipping of 
 Amsterdam. About eighteen hours were formerly occupied in towing 
 ships from Niewdiep to Amsterdam. 
 
 The Amsterdam Ship Canal, The Amsterdam Ship Canal, 
 designed by Mr. Hawkshaw, and Heer J. Dirks, of Holland, is a 
 gigantic example of engineering compressed within a limited extent. 
 The burgesses of Amsterdam had spent millions in improving the 
 access to that great commercial port first, on long previous opera- 
 tions in the Zuyder Zee, and, subsequently, on the North Holland 
 Ship Canal, which stretches nearly due north from their city to the 
 Helder, between which point and the Texel Island opposite is the 
 entrance from the North Sea, which was then the only available 
 channel for large vessels. 
 
 The exigiencies of their trade calling imperatively for further 
 improvements, the engineers furnished them with the design for a 
 new ship canal, which reduces the navigable distance to 15^ miles, 
 on a course about west from Amsterdam to the North Sea, available 
 for larger vessels than formerly entered the port and has provided 
 a new harbour on the coast, with an area of 250 acres, bounded by 
 breakwaters formed of concrete blocks set in regular courses, with 
 853 feet of entrance between the pier heads, and 26^ feet minimum 
 depth of water. The width of the sea canal is 197 feet at the 
 surface, and 88 feet at the bottom; minimum depth, 23 feet; the 
 locks are 59 feet wide, and of proportionate length. 
 
 There are three locks or entrances at the north end of the canal 
 from the new harbour. Eastward, and below the city and wharves 
 of Amsterdam, there is an enormous dyke to shut out the Zuyder Zee, 
 pierced with three locks, besides sluices. These are built upon such 
 a lake of mud as to require nearly 10,000 piles in their foundation. 
 Thus the canal is approached by locks at each end, not for the 
 
 * M'Cullough's ' Commercial Dictionary,' Art., Canals. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 purpose of locking up, but for locking down, as the surface water of 
 the canal has to be kept twenty inches under low-water mark. To 
 accomplish this, in addition to the locks and sluices, that can only 
 avail at low tides, pumping power was required at the dyke, which 
 bars out the Zuyder Zee. The three large centrifugal pumps by 
 Messrs. Eastons, Amos, and Anderson, were constructed to lift 
 together 440,000 gallons of water per minute. The works on this 
 canal took nearly ten years to complete. They included the con- 
 struction of branch canals to the several towns and ports on the 
 borders of the lakes, which, although of smaller sectional area, 
 exceeded the sea canal in their total extent. Mr. Vignoles, in his 
 Presidental Address to the Institution of Civil Engineers,* from 
 which most of the above particulars are taken, has stated that the 
 Amsterdam Ship Canal resembled the Suez Canal, in passing through 
 large muddy lakes, similar to Lake Menzaleh. (See Suez Canal). 
 
 The ship canals communicating with Rotterdam are described 
 by a recent writer \ on the subject as follows : 
 
 1. The Voorne Canal running from Helvoetsluis through the 
 island of Voorne to the river Maas. The resolution of March Qth, 
 1880, resettled the police regulations for this route; the maximum 
 dimensions of vessels using it being length, no; beam, 13-70; 
 draught, 6 metres. 
 
 2. The Niewe-waterweg, or direct entrance from the North Sea to 
 the Maas, which is without sluices, and is cut through the Hoek van 
 Holland, thus forming a new outlet to the Maas. 
 
 Besides these approaches, there is another route to Rotterdam, 
 to which great attention has been paid of late years, but the railway 
 bridge across the river at Rotterdam causes a certain inconvenience 
 to vessels using it. Vessels coming from the sea by the Holland- 
 schdiep, enter the narrow passage of the Kil near the great Moerdyke 
 railway bridge, and passing Dordrecht, the Maas is reached above 
 the Rotterdam railway bridge. The Nieuwe-Haven, just above this 
 bridge, is a most convenient port for small steam-yachts visiting 
 Rotterdam. 
 
 There are two other important ship canals, giving access from 
 the river Schelde to the inland waters of Holland : 
 
 i. The Walcheren Canal, about seven miles long, from the new 
 port of Flushing to Veere, which place, formerly known as Campvere, 
 
 * ' Proceedings,' vol. xxix., p. 289. 
 
 t Report of the Conference on Inland Navigation at the Society of Arts, 1888.
 
 The Waterways of Holland. 1 49 
 
 was a free port of the Scotch, who had a factory or trade station there 
 for 300 years, from the year 1506. The maximum dimensions for 
 vessels using this canal are: Length, 120; breadth, 19 '75; and 
 draught, 7*10 metres. 
 
 2. The South Beveland Canal, from the West Schelde at Hans- 
 weert to the East Schelde at Wemeldmge, is five miles in length. 
 The regulations of this canal, fixed by the resolution of May 2 8th, 
 1880, allow vessels of the following dimensions to use it, viz. length, 
 100; breadth, 15*75 ; draught, 7*10 metres. 
 
 The former of these two canals is not much used, but there is a 
 great traffic of the large Rhine arks, and the inland steam barges and 
 sailing vessels of Holland, going to and from Antwerp, Brussels, 
 Ghent, and other towns of Belgium. The locks, like the others in 
 the more important canals, take in thirty to forty of these vessels at 
 once, all masters having to show their papers before passing. These 
 ship canals are all State property, and are under the management of 
 the Minister of the Waterstaat, Trade, and Industry. Many of the 
 smaller inland navigations are under State control, but others belong 
 to the communes through which they pass. The water-level, which 
 is so all-important in the Netherlands, is regulated by the Amsterdam 
 mark, called the A. P. (Amsterdamsche Peil). 
 
 The following navigations, with some others, are also regulated 
 by police rules, fixed by resolutions of the State : 
 
 1. The Af waterings Kanaal^ from the Noordervaart and the 
 Neeritter, near Venlo, for vessels length, 24; breadth, 3*70; 
 draught, i metre. The use of steam is forbidden. 
 
 2. The canalised river Ijssel, from the river Lek, opposite to 
 Ijsselmonde, to Gouda, whence there is canal communication with 
 the river Amstel, to Amsterdam, and also by the old Rhine, via 
 Leiden and Haarlem, to Spaandam, to the North Sea Canal. There 
 is a great traffic in the former of these two routes, there being always 
 a great collection of craft at the sluices at Gouda, waiting their turns 
 to pass. Large and improved locks are said to be urgently required 
 at this place. The depth of water on this route is at least six feet. 
 
 3. The Keulsche Vaart, from Vreeswijk, on the river Lek, via 
 Utrecht, the Vecht, and Weesp, to the river Amstel and Amsterdam. 
 Vessels of a breadth of 7*50 metres, and draught of 2'io metres, 
 can use the route. The sluices take in the very long Rhine craft. 
 The pace allowed for steamers is 130 metres a minute for those of 
 i '50 draught, to 180 a minute for those of i metre draught.
 
 150 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 4. The Meppelerdiep, Zwaartsluis to Meppel, for vessels of length, 
 60; breadth, 7-80; draught, i'8o metres. 
 
 5. The Drentsche, Hoofdvaart, and Kolonievaart, from Meppel 
 to Assen, for vessels drawing i'6o metres, between Paradijssluis 
 and Veenebrug; in other parts vessels of only 1-25 metres are 
 allowed. 
 
 6. The Willemsvaart, from the town canal at Zwolle to the river 
 Ijssel, by the Katerveer, for vessels of the following dimensions 
 length 100, breadth 11-80, and draught 3 metres. 
 
 7. The Apddoorn Canal, from the Ijssel at the sluis near Dieren 
 to the same river at Hattem, for vessels of the following d imen 
 sions length 30, breadth 5*90, and draught 1*56 metres. 
 
 8. The Noordervaart, between the Zuid Willemsvaart at sluis 
 No. 15 and the provincial canal at Beringen, in the commune 
 Helden, for vessels having a length of 51, a breadth of 6, and a 
 draught of i 50 to 1-65 metres. 
 
 9. The Dokkum Canal, from Dokkum (in Friesland) to Stroobos, 
 and the Casper Roblesdiep or Kolonelsdiep, being the inland route 
 from Friesland to Groningen. 
 
 A deep-water canal communicates between Groningen and 
 Delfzijl, in the estuary of the river Ems, whereby the inland 
 navigation of Germany may be entered, and, finally, the Baltic. 
 
 The Elbing Highland Canals. This system of canals, constructed 
 between the years 1844 an ^ 1860, connects the group of lakes 
 around Mohrungen and Preussische Holland, at a height of about 
 328 feet above the Baltic, with the Drausen Lake, whence flows the 
 river Elbing, emptying itself into the Frische Haff, on the Gulf of 
 Dantzic. The whole length of the canal navigation and branches is 
 1 23^ miles, of which 28 miles is artificial, and the remainder lake 
 and stream. 
 
 The Puniau lakes are situated at a distance of 10 miles from, and 
 its waters were originally at a level of 343 feet 9 inches (104-8 
 metres) above, the Drausen lakes. When the canal was first con- 
 structed, the water-level of the Puniau lake was lowered to the extent 
 of 1 7 feet 5 inches, thereby reducing the difference in level between 
 the two lakes to 326 feet 4 inches. Commencing from the Drausen 
 Lake, the canal continues level for a length of i^ miles, and in the 
 next 2-17 miles, rises a height of 45 feet 3 inches. This difference 
 of level was surmounted in the first instance, by five locks, which 
 have recently been abolished and replaced by an inclined plane. In
 
 The Waterways of Holland. 1 5 1 
 
 the following 4-66 miles the remaining height of 281 feet is attained 
 by four inclined planes. 
 
 The cost of original construction was 212,3257. (4,246,500 marks), 
 and, assuming it to have been spent entirely upon the artificial 
 portion of the canal navigation, which is 28 miles in length, would 
 amount to 7,5837. per mile (94,376 marks per kilometre). Of this 
 outlay 7o,ooo/. was expended on the four inclined planes, exclusive 
 of the earthwork, which latter cost 27,ooo/., or an average of 24,2507. 
 for each incline. The total height surmounted by these five locks 
 and the four inclined planes being 326^ feet, the cost of each foot of 
 rise for the whole length of the canal amounts to 
 
 212,3257. 
 . , 
 326-33^- 
 
 The cost of maintenance of the whole system (including the lake 
 portion) of the canal and works between the years 1861 and 1875 
 averaged annually 277. 2s. per mile for the lake portion, and i2o7. 4$. 
 per mile for the artificial canal portion. 
 
 The Dutch canals, like those of Belgium and Germany, provide 
 exceptionally low transport. The butter of Friesland is conveyed by 
 canals in small boats to the home markets, whence it is carried twice 
 a week to Harlingen and shipped to the London and other large 
 places of consumption. 
 
 One of the most remarkable features in the landscape of Holland 
 is the large number of windmills that are everywhere to be seen. 
 In one province not more than 60 miles long, there are said to be 
 more than 200 of these primitive appliances. The windmills are 
 largely employed in spring time to drain the water from the low lying 
 lands and raise it into the canals, but they are " contrived the double 
 debt to pay " of drainage and agricultural work. 
 
 The Dutch canals, which are for the most part elevated above 
 the surrounding country, in order that they may the better carry off 
 the water that inundates the land, are provided with strong dams or 
 banks, which it is the care of the inhabitants to keep in good order. 
 A system of militia was long maintained for the purpose of keeping 
 the banks in repair. The ringing of a bell, or some other signal, 
 brought the members of this force together, and, when the waters 
 threatened danger, every man was found at his post, ready to repair 
 any possible damage to the dykes. It is still the custom to assign to
 
 152 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 every family a certain length of embankment, which they are required 
 to maintain. 
 
 It is, of course, essential that a system of water communication 
 so complete and so important to the wellbeing of the country as that 
 of Holland should be subject to very strict regulation. There are two 
 principal sets of regulations the first adopted on the 5th February, 
 1879, for the Government canals generally; and the second adopted 
 on the 6th August, 1880, applying specially to the North Holland 
 Canal. There is also a series of special regulations for the Walcheren 
 Canal, which communicates between Flushing and Veere. These 
 regulations have been translated into English, and may be easily 
 acquired by any one who desires to possess them.* 
 
 * They are appended to a work which has recently been published, entitled 
 ' On Dutch Waterways,' by G. C. Davies.
 
 ( 153 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF ITALY. 
 
 " Though Tiber's streams immortal Rome behold, 
 Though foaming Hermus swells with tides of gold, 
 From Heaven itself, though sevenfold Nilus flows, 
 And harvests on a hundred realms bestows, 
 These now no more shall be the Muse's themes, 
 Lost in my fame as in the sea their streams." Pope. 
 
 THERE is no characteristic of the ancient Roman Empire that is 
 more striking at the present day, after the lapse of nearly twenty 
 centuries, than the proficiency that the people had attained in the 
 arts and sciences, and more especially in the arts of architecture and 
 engineering. The aqueducts which they built for the supply of water 
 for domestic purposes were vast structures that have hardly been 
 equalled in any subsequent period, and the canals which they con- 
 structed for the drainage of morasses, or the transport of armies, were 
 hardly less remarkable. 
 
 Early Canals. Among the earlier navigation works, perhaps the 
 most remarkable was the canal which the Romans constructed for 
 the drainage of Lake Fucino, illustrated on p. 154. 
 
 This canal, which was commenced by order of the Emperor 
 Claudius, is said by Pliny to have occupied 30,000 men for ten years. 
 The lake is surrounded by a high ridge of mountains called Celano, 
 which are stated to be nearly fifty miles in circuit. The passage of 
 the waters from the lake into the canal was witnessed by a vast 
 number of persons, when the undertaking was completed, but the 
 canal was not sufficiently deep to allow the water from the lower part 
 of the lake to drain off, and although it was sought to correct this 
 defect in Nero's reign, the project was never really finished. As far 
 as it went, the work is described by Tacitus,* while Virgil speaks of 
 the lake now no longer covered with water as well known, f 
 
 Hydraulic engineering formed so important a part of the business 
 of the ancient Romans that the pro-consuls were charged to lay 
 
 * Ann., lib. xii. cap. 56. t -'En., t. v. 563.
 
 154 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 before the emperors the best methods of changing the course of 
 rivers, for the purpose of facilitating the approaches from the sea to 
 the centres of the various provinces. Thus, we find that Lucius Verus, 
 General of the Roman army in Gaul, undertook to unite the Saone 
 and the Moselle by a canal. He is also said to have undertaken to 
 connect the Mediterranean Sea and the German Ocean by means of 
 
 SECTION THROUGH SIDE. 
 
 the Rhone, the Saone and the Moselle, but the project was never 
 completed. Emilius Scaevius, more successful, united the waters of 
 the Po, near Placentia, for the purpose of draining the marshes round 
 about. Other rivers in Italy were straightened, deepened, widened, 
 or othenviscd improved, while Rome was still " the mistress of the 
 world."
 
 The Waterways of Italy. 155 
 
 Some twelve centuries later the Italians were the canal makers of 
 Europe. Alberto Pittentino, in 1188, converted the Mincio, from 
 Mantua to the Po, into a canal, thus restoring it to the course from 
 which the Romans had diverted it in the time of Quintus Curtius 
 Hostilius. 
 
 The use of locks on canals may be said to date from this time. 
 It is related that in the canalisation of the Mincio, Pittentino so 
 regulated the rise and fall of the river that boats could ascend to 
 Mantua and descend to Po, the depth being so equally maintained 
 that the river was navigable for about twelve miles. This must have 
 involved the employment of locks, however rude.* 
 
 The Lake Maggiore is the source of the Tesino, which in its 
 course is divided into several streams, which, however, are reunited 
 before it enters the Po, near Pavia. For the whole distance it is 
 navigable, although at Pan Perduto, where the fall is considerable, it 
 is sometimes hazardous. Immediately below this spot commences 
 the canal to Milan, which at Abbiate divides into two channels. 
 The entire length of the excavation is about 32 Italian miles, and its 
 breadth 70 Milanese cubits. 
 
 The Canal della Martesana, by some supposed to have been 
 executed by Leonardi da Vinci, was made in the year 1460, under 
 the Duke Francis Sforza. Leonardi da Vinci joined the two canals 
 some time during the reign of Francis I. The Canal della Marte- 
 sana, which is drawn from the Adda, is 24 miles in length, and in 
 width about 1 8. cubits; but when constructed at first, the water it 
 
 * " Before the introduction of locks, contrivances called conches were in use to 
 moderate the too ^reat declivity of the rivers, and which were opened to allow 
 vessels to pass through. These openings were 16 or 18 feet in width ; a balance 
 lever, loaded at the end, was made to turn on a pivot, and with it three hanging 
 posts, united by an iron bar, which crossed them immediately above the sill ; 
 besides these three perpendicular hanging posts were two others, let some inches 
 into the side walls. These five posts were all on the same face, and the spaces 
 between them were all equal. When the balance beam turned upon its pivot, the 
 three middle posts alone opened, and allowed the boats to pass, after which the 
 balance beam was turned back to its former position. At a little distance was 
 placed another balance beam, having attached to it a wide plank, to allow the 
 lock keeper to pass over, as well as to place in the grooves of the hanging posts 
 the small planks which served to exclude the water, by closing up the intervals ; 
 these were on the side opposed to the current, and in number sufficient to keep 
 the water at the required level. Such gates, or contrivances for damming up the 
 waters of a river, were in use at a very early time in Italy, and two such were 
 constructed at Governolo, in the twelfth century, to pen up the waters of the 
 Mincio on the side of Mantua." Cresy's ' Cyclopaedia of Engineering.'
 
 156 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 contained was barely sufficient for navigation for more than two 
 days in the week, and this only when all the openings for the pur- 
 poses of irrigation were closed. 
 
 One of the branches of this canal was carried for several miles 
 by a stone dyke, and afterwards passed through a deep cutting. The 
 other branch had its course through the rock, after which it was 
 supported on one side by a lofty embankment, where it crossed the 
 Molgara river by an aqueduct of three stone arches. 
 
 Early in the thirteenth century, Bassanallo had a canal 1 1 miles 
 long, which was navigated by the vessels that brought building stones 
 to Venice. One of the several canals in the lagunes, on which the 
 latter city is built, is 36 miles long. Between Padua and Venice, 
 again, there is a canal some twenty miles in length, which has a fall 
 of 50 feet, to overcome which four locks are provided. 
 
 Milan, like Venice, is the centre of a network of canals. Here 
 unite the great canal of Tesino and the branch from Pavia; the 
 Muzza Canal, which commences at Cassano and ends at Castiglionc, 
 after traversing a distance of 40 miles ; the canal of Abiato, made 
 in the thirteenth century, which has a top breadth of 130 feet, and a 
 bottom breadth of 46 feet ; and the canal which connects Buftblaro, 
 Biagrasso, and Arsago with Milan. 
 
 Nor is Piedmont less rich in monuments and resources of the 
 same description, having more than half a dozen canals which com- 
 municate with the Po at different points. Most of these canal are, 
 however, of limited extent, the longest, called the Naviglio d'Inea, 
 being 38 miles in length. 
 
 The canals, large and small, in the Papal States, are so numerous 
 that it would be wearisome to enumerate them. None are of great 
 length, and most of them have been constructed rather with a view 
 to drainage or irrigation than to navigation. 
 
 Pagnani has left us an account of the levels and other operations 
 of art, undertaken by former engineers, to ascertain whether some 
 navigable canals might not be projected in Lombardy ; and, above 
 all, to determine the practicability of joining the Lake of Como with 
 the neighbouring lakes. In the first place they found that the 
 surface of the lake of Como was 48 braces lower than the surface 
 of the lake of Cevate, 62 braces lower than that of the lake 
 of Pusiano, and about 100 braces below that of the lake of Lugano; 
 further, that the lakes of Como and Lugano are, at the point of 
 their nearest approximation, in the valley of Porlezza, about six miles
 
 The Waterways of Italy. 1 5 7 
 
 distant from each other ; and that they are separated by a very high 
 ridge, which would render any attempt at a navigable canal very 
 arduous, even independently of the very great difference in the levels. 
 The general map of Lombardy will, on a slight inspection, show these 
 several places. 
 
 The same engineers found that the scheme of running a canal 
 from the lake of Lugano by the valley of the Olona to Milan was 
 impracticable. It might, however, be possible to render the Olona 
 navigable below Tredate, provided the waters were retained in the 
 last trunk by means of some well-situated locks, and the upper mills 
 were so placed as not to interrupt the bed of the river. In the 
 project to render navigable the Tresa, which is the outlet by which 
 the lake of Lugano discharges itself into the Lago Maggiore, these 
 engineers found difficulties from the deficiency in the body of the 
 water, and from the too great slope of the Tresa ; to which it may 
 be added that several torrents which enter it carry into it stones and 
 gravel. It has been considered strange that these engineers never 
 thought of another project, of which the execution would be easy, 
 as well as convenient and useful namely, to make navigable the 
 Boza, which is the outlet of the little lake of Varese into the Lago 
 Maggiore. 
 
 The scheme of conducting a navigable canal from Milan to Pavia 
 is of a much older date, having been designed for the purpose of 
 joining the two canals of Milan with the Tesino, the Po, and the sea. 
 Galeazzo Visconte, the father of Azzon, began its excavation. In 
 1564, the completion of the work was made the subject of con- 
 siderable discussion. It was imagined that the expense could not be 
 very great; and that by giving the sluices the common height, a 
 great number would not be required. The enterprise was abandoned 
 afterwards, because the canal of Bereguardo, although it did not 
 reach the Tesino, was found sufficient to keep up the commerce 
 between the two cities of Milan and Pavia. Pagnani, in the 
 Treatise already referred to, mentions some other projects of a similar 
 nature. 
 
 The Tiber. In Italy another great undertaking has been agitated, 
 namely, to render the Tiber navigable from Ponte Nuovo, below 
 Perugia, to the entrance of the Nera, from which the navigation 
 begins to be free and without interruption, to the sea. MM. Boltari 
 and Manfredi reported on an inspection which they made of the 
 Tiber in 1732. In this report they laid it down as a first principle,
 
 158 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 derived from experience, that to navigate any river with facility, 
 particularly against the stream, it is requisite that the slope should 
 not exceed 3 Roman palms per mile (a Roman palm is about 
 8 English inches). 
 
 Now, as the fall of the Tiber is 8 or 9 palms, they calculated that 
 it would be very difficult to steer the boats down the river, and still 
 more difficult to conduct them up against so rapid a stream, espe- 
 cially in some places where the fall was even greater, and where, 
 consequently, the stream must, they held, remain impassable. They, 
 moreover, pointed out the difficulties and the dangers which must be 
 encountered in adopting the different expedients that had been pro- 
 posed for reducing the excessive slope by weirs, for removing the 
 detached stones by manual labour, for blowing up the obstructing 
 rocks by mines, and for removing the bed, in certain places, by 
 changing its course, or by contracting or enlarging its dimensions. 
 
 The schemes proposed for rendering the bed of the Tiber navi- 
 gable having been thus discredited, the same engineers inquired 
 whether a canal for boats of a moderate size and suitable burden 
 might not be formed parallel with the river ; observing the nature of 
 the soil through which the canal must pass, the different crossings that 
 would be required from one side to the other, the number of dykes 
 and sluices that would be wanted, and the other works that would 
 be necessary to secure the navigation against all accidents, and 
 particularly those from floods. This undertaking they regarded as 
 very difficult of execution, and they advised that it should not be 
 attempted. They next examined the plan of making the Tiber navi- 
 gable to Rome, proposed by the engineer Chiesa, in a report 
 printed in 1745, but nothing came of these proposals. 
 
 Within the last two years, a new project has been brought forward 
 with the view of rendering the Tiber navigable to the sea, and it is 
 possible that this work will before long be attempted. 
 
 The Villoresi Canal. The water for this canal is derived from the 
 Ticino, at a place called " Rapida del Pamperduto," by means of a 
 weir thrown across the river. This weir is 290 metres (951*2 feet) 
 long, and 24 metres (78-72 feet) broad, and of sufficient height to 
 raise the water in the Ticino 3-75 metres (12-30 feet) above the 
 ordinary low-water level. Below the right abutment the river-bank 
 is protected by a wall for a distance of 50 metres (164 feet), whilst 
 up stream, on the same side, an embankment, partly in masonry and 
 partly in earthwork faced with stone pitching, has been constructed
 
 The Waterways of Italy. \ 5 9 
 
 for a distance of 600 metres (1968 feet), in order to confine the 
 river to its present bed. At right angles to the weir is a lock, with a 
 drop of 6 metres (19*68 feet), the largest in Italy, which serves for 
 the passage of boats from a channel below, 10 metres (32-8 feet) 
 wide, and about one kilometre (0-62 mile) long, from the canal to the 
 Ticino. The channel is supplied with water from the basin below 
 the measuring weir by means of four sluices 0-80 metre by 1-20 
 metre (2*62 feet by 3*93 feet) placed in the wall which separates 
 the basin from the canal. On the side of the basin, opposite the 
 weir, are two buildings, the first containing the sluices, which admit 
 8 cubic metres (282 '52 cubic feet) per second of water into a canal 
 belonging to the Visconti family; and the second, which forms the 
 entrance to the Villoresi Canal, serves to regulate and maintain the 
 level of the water in the basin constantly at 0*90 metre (2*95 feet) 
 above the crest of the weir. It consists of a three-storied building, 
 in the lower part of which are six sluices," 2 30 metres (7*45 feet) 
 wide), and 3 metres (9 '84 feet) deep, with iron gates, worked by 
 suitable mechanism from the floor above. The headworks, which 
 are on the left bank, consist of a building 67 metres (219-76 feet) 
 long, 6 metres (19*68 feet) wide, and 12*80 metres high, provided 
 with thirty sluices, each of 1*50 metre (4*92 feet) clear width, and 
 3*25 metres (10*66 feet) high, the cills of which are placed at 2*75 
 metres (9*02 feet) below the level of the crest of the weir. These 
 sluices are capable of admitting 190 cubic metres (6710*13 cubic 
 feet) per second into the canal from the river, of which 70 cubic 
 metres (2472*15 cubic feet) per second is the amount granted by 
 the concession to the Villoresi Canal. The remaining 120 cubic 
 metres (4237*98 cubic feet) per second have to be returned to the 
 Ticino by a specially constructed measuring weir established at 600 
 metres below the headworks, in order to respect the existing rights 
 of others further down the stream. The passage of boats from the 
 Ticino to the canal is provided for by means of a channel with a lock 
 8 metres (26*24 f eet ) wide. 
 
 The Canals of Venice. In speaking of the canals of Italy, it would 
 be unpardonable to omit due reference to those which give to Venice, 
 the " mistress of the Adriatic," her peculiar and pre-eminent position. 
 Founded in the year 452, soon after Attila invaded Italy, Venice is 
 built upon a number of small islands, and is divided into two nearly 
 equal parts by the " Grand Canal," 1200 yards in length, and 100 feet 
 in breadth. Many smaller canals branch off from the Grand Canal.
 
 1 60 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 These are crossed by some five hundred bridges, many of them of 
 considerable architectural pretensions. 
 
 The construction of the canals of Venice was a work that would 
 be naturally unlike that of laying out a canal in the ordinary course. 
 The whole city, built on a number of small islands, is more or less 
 constructed on piles ; there is an almost dead level throughout ; and 
 the waterways would, no doubt, in the majority of cases, be naturally 
 formed, at least to a partial extent. There is, however, very little 
 information extant as to the circumstances under which the work 
 of adapting the canals to the requirements of the population was 
 carried out. 
 
 Irrigation Canals. It would hardly be proper to pass from the 
 canal system of Italy without making some remarks on the excellent 
 system of irrigation canals that has been provided in Lombardy and 
 Piedmont. Navigation canals take priority over irrigation canals in 
 Lombardy in point of origin, but not to a great extent. The 
 Vettabbia Canal, which is supposed to have been used for naviga- 
 tion previous to the eleventh century, is claimed as the oldest 
 existing canal in Lombardy. In the latter part of the twelfth century, 
 the Cistercian monks of Chiaravalle obtained possession of this canal, 
 and applied its waters to irrigation purposes. Not very long after- 
 wards the same order of monks constructed the Ticinello, a canal 
 derived from the Ticino at Tornavento, and it was used exclusively 
 for irrigation until 1177, when it was enlarged and partly opened 
 for navigation. In 1257, the same canal was so far enlarged as to 
 connect Milan with Lake Maggiore, and the waterway is now known 
 as the Naviglio Grande. 
 
 One of the most important irrigation canals in Italy, which may 
 be briefly described as illustrative of the system generally, is that of 
 the Cavour Company, in Piedmont, which is derived from the left 
 bank of the Po, near the town of Chivasso, and was constructed for 
 the purpose of irrigating the provinces of the Vercellese, Novarese, 
 and Lomellina. It was Francesco Rossi, a land surveyor of Vercelli, 
 who, in 1844, fi rst proposed to employ the waters of the Po for 
 irrigation purposes. It was a good many years later, however, 
 before the project was undertaken. The head works of the Canal 
 Cavour are situated about 400 metres below the bridge over the 
 river, on the road which connects Chivasso with the military road 
 from Turin to Casale. The full discharge of this canal is no cubic 
 metres per second, and its supply is obtained by means of a
 
 The Waterways of Italy. 1 6 1 
 
 temporary dam of timber carried across the river. The sluice- 
 house for regulating the supply of water to the canal is built 
 across the canal, which is 40 metres in width, and consists of 
 twenty-one openings separated by granite piers. Each opening is 
 provided with three sluice-gates, which work in grooves cut in the 
 granite piers, and can be easily raised or lowered by the sluice- 
 keeper by means of a lever. The remainder of the building is 
 constructed principally of dressed stone and bricks, and the con- 
 trast betwen the granite used for the quoins and the red brickwork 
 has an excellent effect. Another sluice-house, placed at right angles 
 to that of the main canal, communicates with that of the " Scari- 
 catore," or discharge channel, by means of which the surplus waters 
 in times of floods may be discharged into the Po, and any deposit 
 of gravel and sand on the floors in front of the entrance to the main 
 canal can be effectually swept away by the velocity of the water 
 discharged into the " Scaricatore," which has a rapid fall, and 
 enters the Po again, about 2 kilometres below the headworks. 
 
 The quantity of material used in the construction of this im- 
 portant work was : 
 
 Excavation 695,000 cubic metres. 
 
 Bricks 2,000,000. 
 
 Dressed stone 3000 cubic metres. 
 
 Stone for revetment .. . . 3000 square metres. 
 
 Lime 3500 tons. 
 
 Oak piles 2200. 
 
 Oak sheet piles 8100 square metres. 
 
 Ironwork 39, 780 kilos. 
 
 The width of the canal, which is 40 metres wide at the com- 
 mencement, is gradually lessened until it reaches the aqueduct over 
 the Dora Baltea near the loth kilometre of its course, when its width 
 becomes 20 metres. The sides, when not protected by retaining 
 walls, have an inclination of 45. Crossing the valley of the Dora, 
 which is about 2 kilometres in width, on a high embankment, and 
 the actual bed of the same river, by means of an aqueduct consisting 
 of nine arches of 1 6 metres span each, the canal takes a north-easterly 
 direction nearly parallel to the railway from Turin to Milan, which 
 it crosses near the station of San Germano. At the 4oth kilometre 
 the canal passes in syphon under the torrent Elvo. This syphon is 
 built in brickwork, and consists of five elliptical openings, 5 metres 
 in width and 2 30 metres in height. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The next work of importance is the embankment and aqueduct 
 over the torrent Cervo, and differs but little from that over the Dora. 
 The most important work on the whole canal, with the exception of 
 the headworks, is the syphon for passing underneath the torrent 
 Sesia. It is similar in section to that previously described for the 
 Elvo, but considerably longer, and is probably one of the largest 
 works of this class in Italy. 
 
 The next works in importance are the aqueducts for crossing the 
 torrents Roasenda and Marchiazza, and syphons under the torrents 
 Agogna and Terdoppio, near Novara. The width of the canal up to 
 the 62nd kilometre is 20 metres, and as, at this point, a considerable 
 quantity of water is introduced from it into the Roggia, Busca and 
 Rizzo-Biraga, the canal is reduced to 12-50 metres in width to the 
 74th kilometre, when its section is again reduced, and after passing 
 under the Terdoppio at which point the new branch canal "Quintino 
 Sella" is derived its width is only 7-50 metres The fall of the 
 canal between the headworks at Chivasso and the Dora Baltea varies 
 from o- 50 to o- 25 in 1000, and over the remainder with the excep- 
 tion of aqueducts and syphons, when in some cases it is greater the 
 gradient is '25 per 1000. The total fall is 21-73. Besides the 
 works just described, 480 of less importance, consisting of bridges for 
 roads, aqueducts, syphons for the passage of existing watercourses and 
 acnals of irrigation, watchhouses, &c., were constructed. 
 
 The River Po. The Po, which takes its rise at Mont Viso, 
 crosses the whole plain of Upper Piedmont, a plain formed of a 
 deep alluvial soil, very fertile, and well cultivated. Passing through 
 territory of Turin, it receives the drainage of the rich meadows, 
 as also the sewage of that town, and before reaching Chivasso it 
 receives the rivers Dora Riparia, Stura, Oreo, and Malone. The 
 waters of the Po in floods are dense with rich alluvial matter, of 
 the fertilising properties of which evident proofs may be observed 
 throughout the course of this river. After great floods, as if by 
 magic, bare shoals of gravel become covered with a deep strata of 
 alluvial soil, on which the seeds of trees and shrubs carried down 
 by the waters soon take root, and in a very short time they are 
 covered with a luxuriant vegetation. The waters of the Po on this 
 account are highly valued for irrigation, as also from the fact of its 
 temperature being higher than that of its tributaries. The fertilising 
 properties of this water are now fully appreciated in Lomellina, where 
 large tracts of land which were formerly bare and arid wastes, are
 
 The Waterways of Italy. 163 
 
 now converted into rich meadows and rice fields, through the agency 
 of the waters which have been brought to bear upon them by the 
 Canal Cavour, already alluded to. 
 
 Even in the Vercellese, where the want of water is not so much 
 felt, the waters of the Po, introduced into the existing canals, and 
 mingling with those of the Dora, tend to modify the extreme cold- 
 ness of the latter river, due to its origin in the glaciers of the Val 
 d'Aosta and the siliceous-magnesian sands that its waters contain in 
 suspension. It is, therefore, with just pride that Italians have named 
 the Po the "Nile of Italy." 
 
 Although the Po is the only extensive river basin in Italy, there 
 are many other rivers in that country that are more or less navigable, 
 some of them inclined to the Tyrrhenian Sea, and some to the Ionian 
 Sea, but most of them, including the Po, to the Adriatic. 
 
 Projected Canals. Among the proposals recently put forward for 
 extending, by artificial means, the commerce and navigation of 
 Italy, one of the most important is designed to provide for the con- 
 struction of a ship canal to connect the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the 
 Adriatic, near Fano and Castro. The distance to be traversed by 
 this canal would be 175 miles, and the cost has been estimated at 
 about 20 millions sterling. It is claimed that the proposed canal 
 would be of great advantage to the navigation between the east and 
 the west coasts of the Peninsula. 
 
 In 1889 a company was formed in London for the purpose of 
 establishing a system of canal, lake, and river navigation in the north 
 of Italy. This company expects to carry a very large share of the 
 traffic at lower rates than those quoted by the railways. 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF SWEDEN. 
 
 " From his side two rivers flowed, 
 The one winding, the other straight, and left between 
 Fair champaign, with less rivers intervened." Milton. 
 
 ALTHOUGH Sweden is possessed of an admirable system of lakes, 
 which facilitates transport over a wide area, and although the com- 
 merce of the country is limited, and the population sparse, the canal 
 navigations are by no means unimportant. On the contrary, they 
 have been carried out over a wide area, with great enterprise and 
 skill, and at a very considerable expenditure. The two principal 
 canal systems are those of Gotha and Dalsland the former con- 
 structed for the purpose of connecting the two most important towns 
 in the kingdom, Stockholm and Gothenburg ; the latter intended to 
 afford a means of communication between the province of Dalsland, 
 with its productive forests and admirable command of water-power, 
 and the rest of Sweden. 
 
 The Gotha Canal is one that has a very interesting history, and 
 its ultimate completion may be said to make an epoch in the history 
 of canal engineering, the obstacles to be surmounted being of a 
 character that engineers had had but little experience of up to the 
 commencement of the present century. 
 
 In Sweden, Gustavus Vasa fulfilled the same destiny in regard to 
 artificial waterways, as Peter the Great did in Russia. The ambitious 
 but generally utilitarian plans of the sovereign included that of con- 
 necting Gothenburg with Stockholm, by means of the Wenner, 
 Hielmar, and Mselar. Eric XIV., the son of Gustavus Vasa, after 
 his father's decease, caused a survey of the waters connecting with 
 those lakes to be made, in order that they might be joined for 
 purposes of navigation. Nothing further was done during his reign, 
 but the design was revived by Gustavus Adolphus, who, however, 
 could not find persons capable of carrying it out, and Charles XI. 
 was advised by some Dutch engineers that the project was 
 impracticable.
 
 The Waterways of Sweden. 165 
 
 It was reserved for Charles XII. to commence the serious under- 
 taking of rendering navigable the Gotha and the falls of Trolhatten, 
 but the work was not completed in his lifetime. The projected 
 work, as proposed by the engineer Polhem, was to connect the 
 Maelar and the Hielmar, the Hielmar and the Wenner, and the 
 Wenner with the German Ocean. 
 
 Difficulties occurred in the way of completing the connection 
 between Lake Wenner, or Wenmon, and the Baltic; and in 1806 
 Thomas Telford was consulted, at the instance of the King of 
 Sweden, as to the best means of carrying out the communication. 
 Telford* made a complete survey, and prepared plans which were 
 adopted. In 1810, he again visited Sweden for the purpose of 
 inspecting the excavations then begun, and took with him a number 
 of English navvies and lockmakers, in order that the Swedes might 
 be instructed in the work. As designed by Telford, the Gotha 
 canal was 120 miles in length, including the lakes, of which 55 miles 
 were artificial navigation. The locks are 120 feet long, and 24 feet 
 broad. The width of the canal at the bottom is 42 feet, and the 
 depth of the water is 10 feet. 
 
 The completion of the Gotha canal was justly regarded at the time 
 as one of the most important and able engineering works of the day. 
 Previous to Telford's time, an artificial waterway, called the Carlsgraf 
 Canal had been constructed in the time of Charles IX., and under 
 his direction, to connect the Wenner with that part of the river 
 Gotha where it is first navigable. From the end of this canal to the 
 village of Trolhatta, a distance of five miles, the navigation of the 
 river was uninterrupted, but when the cataracts of Trolhatten locally 
 spoken of as the " Gulf of Hell " were approached, all farther 
 navigation became impracticable through a space of about two miles. 
 The river is here divided into four principal cataracts, separated by 
 whirlpools and eddies, and descending through a perpendicular 
 height of 100 feet. Several attempts having been made to con- 
 struct a canal here, some of which ended in complete failure, while 
 others, including that made in the time of Gustavus III., threatened 
 
 * Thomas Telford, born in Dumfries-shire, Scotland, in humble circum- 
 stances, was, next after Brindley, the greatest English canal engineer. He con- 
 structed the Caledonian, Ellesmere, Gloucester and Berkeley, Grand Trunk, 
 Birmingham, Macclesfield, Birmingham and Liverpool Junction, and other canals. 
 He also constructed a number of harbours, docks, roads, and bridges, including 
 the Menai Bridge and St. Katherine's Docks. He died in 1834, and was buried 
 in Westminster Abbey.
 
 1 66 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 to involve so much expense, that that monarch, after visiting the 
 works, ordered them to be suspended, a wooden road was constructed 
 alongside the river, from the beginning to the end of the cataracts, 
 in order to facilitate the conveyance of merchandise to Gothenburg. 
 The following data relative to the Gotha Canal are extracted from 
 the large atlas of plates published along with the life of that engineer 
 for the purpose of illustrating the principal works of Telford. 
 
 DETAILS OF THE GOTHA CANAL. 
 
 
 Distance. 
 
 Lockage. 
 
 Canal. 
 
 Lake. 
 
 Fall. 
 
 Rise. 
 
 
 miles 
 
 yards 
 
 miles 
 
 yards 
 
 
 ft. in. 
 
 Canal from Lake Wenern to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 the Wiken , 
 
 22 
 
 1039 
 
 
 
 
 
 158 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 west end 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 ?ig 
 
 ( 
 
 of 
 
 Canal at Edet 
 
 .. 
 
 534 
 
 
 o 10 
 
 i 
 
 summit. 
 
 Lake 
 
 
 
 
 e-je 
 
 
 
 Canal 
 
 
 581 
 
 .. 
 
 jjj 
 " ( 
 
 East enc 
 
 
 
 
 Lake 
 
 
 
 
 II7< nf 
 
 
 Canal near Forsvik 
 
 
 496 
 
 
 1 
 
 summit. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ft. in. 
 
 
 Lake Boltensjon 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 803 
 
 9 9 
 
 
 Canal at Rodesund 
 
 .. 
 
 486 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lake Wettern 
 
 
 .. 
 
 19 
 
 1136 
 
 
 
 Canal between Wettern andl 
 Lake Boren J 
 
 2 
 
 841 
 
 
 
 
 49 9 
 
 
 Lake Boren 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 1 14.O 
 
 
 
 Canal from thence to Roxen 
 
 14 
 
 63 
 
 
 
 130 9 
 
 
 Lake Roxen 
 
 
 
 1C 
 
 I A 1 ) 1 } 
 
 
 
 Canal from thence to As-\ 
 plangen j 
 
 4 
 
 446 
 
 *-> 
 
 *4*J 
 
 19 6 
 
 
 Lake Asplangen 
 
 .. 
 
 .. 
 
 3 
 
 208 
 
 
 
 Canal from thence to the\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Baltic near Soderkoping ) 
 
 IO 
 
 494 
 
 
 
 
 
 86 6 
 
 
 Total length of canal .. 
 
 54 
 
 1460 
 
 
 
 .. 
 
 296 3 
 
 
 Total length of lake navigation 
 
 
 
 
 62 
 
 400 
 
 
 296 3 
 
 Total length of canal and! 
 
 
 miles 
 
 yards 
 
 
 
 454 3 
 
 lakes in English miles ../ 
 
 
 117 
 
 IOO 
 
 

 
 The Waterways of Sweden. 167 
 
 About a mile below the cataracts, the course of the Gotha was again 
 interrupted by a fall called Akerstraeum ; and at the end of last 
 century a canal 182 feet long, and 36 feet broad, was constructed 
 here, through a bed of rock, until, at the other end of the cataract, 
 the river is clear to Gothenburg. Before the construction of the 
 Gotha Canal, the traffic for Gothenburg was unloaded at the cataracts, 
 carried over the wooden road to the end of the falls by horses, and 
 again put on board vessels which carried it through the Akerstrjeum 
 Canal to its ultimate destination.* 
 
 At Trolhatta, about i \ mile below the point where the river Gota- 
 Elf leaves the Wenner Lake, there occurs a series of falls and rapids, 
 the river descending 108 feet in a length of about 4590 feet. The 
 works which were commenced at this place early in the last century, 
 were well advanced in 1755, when an unusually heavy flood caused 
 much destruction and loss of life, and the abandonment of the 
 works, never since resumed. The intention was to surmount the 
 difference of level, viz., 108 feet, at the falls above mentioned, by 
 three locks only, with a rise of 36 feet each. In the canal, as con- 
 structed in 1800, there is a chain of eight locks (still in service), but 
 these being insufficient for the traffic, a second set of eleven were 
 constructed alongside the former in 1844. These are cut in the solid 
 granite. There are sixteen locks in all, with a fall of 142 feet on 
 this canal (Trolhatta), which is 22 miles long. The breadth of the 
 canal-bottom is 39 feet in soil and 23 feet 5 inches in rock, with a 
 depth at mean water-level of 1 2 feet 8 inches. The number of vessels 
 passing annually is about 7000. 
 
 The West Gota Canal, connecting the Wenner and Wetter lakes, 
 rises from the former by a series of nineteen locks, or a height of 
 154 feet 6 inches, to the summit level, which is 300 feet above the 
 sea, and the descent from here to the Baltic, via the East Gota canal, 
 is by thirty-nine locks. The breadth of the bottom of these canals 
 is 46 feet 9 inches with a mean depth of 9 feet 9 inches. These two 
 canals were completed in 1832 at a cost of 887, 5oo/. The length 
 of navigation is n6| miles, of which 54^ miles are artificial canal, 
 and 62^ miles lake channel. The traffic is from 4000 to 5000 vessels 
 per annum. 
 
 The Dalsland Canal. The eastern spurs of the high range 
 dividing Norway from Sweden run in the south through the small 
 province of Dalsland towards Lake Wenern, and from numerous 
 
 * Cox's ' Travels,' vol. iv.
 
 1 68 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 valleys, which descend more or less abruptly to the shore, and serve 
 as channels for many torrents from the mountain ridges. There are 
 often considerable falls, which supply a vast motive power to works 
 of various kinds, chiefly bar-iron forges and saw-mills. There was 
 one serious drawback to this industry. Lake Wenem afforded the 
 only means of communication between Dalsland and the outer world ; 
 and to reach that lake from the various works, a long and costly land 
 transport was the sole resource. This became more and more an 
 obstacle as increased facilities were developed in other parts of 
 the world. Hence, some forty years ago, the question of utilising the 
 Dalsland water-courses as a means of transport was broached, and 
 this was accomplished in the year 1 868. Along the Norwegian frontier, 
 northward, in the province of Wermland, there is a lake, the StoraLee, 
 20 miles long, with an extreme width of 3 miles, which joins Lake 
 Wenern by a water-course, having eleven continually descending 
 basins, together constituting a fall of 200 feet. At the northern 
 extremity of the Stora Lee are the Toksfor works. At a distance of 
 12 miles southward, where there is a fall of 28 feet, are the iron 
 works of Lennartsfors. At this point the Stora Lee is joined by Lake 
 Leelangen ; and lower down, at the junction with Las Lake, motive 
 power is supplied by a fall to the Billingsfors works. Farther on, 
 towards Lake Wenern, there are the Gustafsfors Ironworks and the 
 Skapfors Sawmills, where several falls occur, the highest being a fall of 
 about 30 feet at Upperud Ironworks. 
 
 The Dalsland Canal Company having been formed, with the 
 governor of the province, Count Sparre, as president, the directors in 
 1864 succeeded in engaging the assistance of the late Baron Nils 
 Ericson, Colonel of Engineers. His plan to some extent varied from 
 former projects, and comprised the following main conditions : The 
 construction of a canal at Hofverud, near Upperud, instead of a 
 railway, so as to avoid unloading and reloading ; a route from Las 
 Lake, past the Billingsfors works to Leelangen ; the adoption of the 
 same dimensions for the whole length of the canal from Upperud to 
 Stora Lee, viz., a depth of 5^ feet, a width of 13 feet at the bottom, 
 and a length of 100 feet between the lock gates ; and an increase in 
 the number of locks between Lake Wenern and Stora Lee to twenty- 
 five instead of fifteen, as proposed. The contract for constructing 
 the canal according to this plan, including excavations round the fall 
 at Hofverud and an aqueduct over the stream at that place, was 
 taken at about 76,0007. sterling, raised chiefly by shares and, to some
 
 The Waterways of Sweden. 169 
 
 extent, by state subventions. It was stipulated that the dimensions 
 of the canal should be such that vessels of 75 feet in length, 13 feet 
 beam, and drawing 5 feet of water should be able to navigate it. 
 Consequently the locks were mainly of the following dimensions : 
 
 Ft. In. 
 
 Minimum length between the gates .. .. 100 o 
 
 width in the flood gate 14 o 
 
 depth of water on the sill . . . . 5 2 
 
 height of the gate wall over the sill 6 7 
 
 width of the sill . . 60 
 
 length of the gate wall . . . . 70 
 
 Radius of the sill and of the left wall .. .. 16 o 
 
 Length of gate recess 170 
 
 Radius 50 o 
 
 Slope of the lock chamber sides 5 to I. 
 
 Versed sine of the exterior of the inner wall 2 o 
 
 ,, outer ,, 30 
 
 The gate-walls and recesses were all constructed with Wargo 
 cement. The sides of the lock-chambers are of masonry in 
 cement, supported by an earthen embankment. The gates are single, 
 and have wooden bolts ; the sills are formed of wooden beams 
 10 inches by 12 inches. Timber drawbridges are employed through- 
 out, placed in front of a lock immediately before the recess or 
 entrance. 
 
 The canal is of the following dimensions : 
 
 Ft. in. 
 
 Minimum width at bottom 13 o 
 
 ,, depth 56 
 
 Height of the bank above water level .. .. 20 
 
 Width of the bank at top 80 
 
 ,, towing path 5 
 
 At the Waterfalls of Hofverud, the most interesting point of this 
 canal, the rock on one side is almost perpendicular for 150 feet, 
 while the other side of the stream is occupied by the ironworks of 
 Hofverud. For this reason Ericson constructed an iron aqueduct 
 over the fall of no feet span. This aqueduct has the form of an 
 open box. The two sides for carrying the weight are wrought-iron 
 bow girders, 10 feet deep at the middle and 6^ feet at the ends, of 
 English iron plate \ inch. The bottom and top flanges are i-inch 
 and |-inch thick respectively, formed of three layers of plates bolted 
 together. The top flange serves as a pathway as well. 
 
 The Dalsland canal rises 192 feet 6 inches by twenty-five locks,
 
 1 70 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 the summit level being 338 feet above the sea. The length of the 
 navigation is 155 miles; but the actual length of the works that were 
 needed to complete the system is only 4 8 miles. 
 
 The locks on this canal are each about 98 feet 6 inches long, with 
 a breadth of 13 feet 8 inches, and a depth over the sill of 5 feet 
 4 inches. The breadth of the bottom is 14 feet 6 inches and 15 feet 
 7 inches, in soil and rock, respectively. The canal is navigated by 
 vessels of 70 tons, and steamers of 45 tons and 25 H.P. The traffic 
 amounts to about 4000 vessels per annum. It was completed in 
 1868 at a cost of 8i,5oo/. 
 
 The Kinda Canal rises 171 feet by fifteen locks to a level of 277 
 feet above the sea. The length of the navigation is 49^ miles, of 
 which 22! is either artificial canal or trained river. The length of 
 the locks is 90 feet 6 inches, breadth 1 8 feet 4 inches, and depth 
 over sill 4 feet io inches. The traffic is from 3000 to 4000 vessels 
 per annum. It was completed in 1871 at a cost of 72,5007. 
 
 The Orebro Canal. One of the most recent canal undertakings 
 in Sweden is the Orebro Canal, which is designed to bring down to 
 the town of that name the traffic from the Malar and Hjelmar 
 Lakes, instead of being compelled to cart it from the old harbour of 
 Skeback, two or three miles distant. There is no special engineering 
 feature about the canal, which was commenced in June 1886, and 
 opened in 1888. For some distance it follows the bed of the 
 Svarta, and is subsequently divided into two branches, one of which, 
 the main branch, to the south, has a length of 4600 feet, and the 
 other, to the north, is 2600 feet long. The former is designed for 
 passenger and lighter traffic, and the other is specially arranged for 
 the transport of grain, coal, timber, &c. The main canal has a 
 width of 80 to 90 feet at the water line, and has 8^ feet depth. The 
 lock at the commencement of the canal is 125 feet long and 25 feet 
 broad, and at the northern end of the canal, where there is a high 
 granite quay, 1200 feet long, the canal is 150 feet wide. The water 
 on the canal is enclosed by a dam of 200 feet long, and the total 
 cost of the undertaking is about 4o,ooo/. The enterprise is mainly 
 interesting as an example of the local application of water power 
 with a view to economy of local transport. 
 
 Projected Canals. At the present time a canal is projected 
 whereby it is intended to connect the Kattegat with the Lake of 
 Wenern, thus bringing into direct water communication the towns of 
 Uddevalla and Genersborg. The length of this canal will be about
 
 T/ie Waterways of Siveden. 171 
 
 twelve miles, some four miles of that distance being through lakes. 
 The level of the canal will be raised above that of Lake Wenern by 
 three sluices. The depth of water in the Uddevalla harbour and in 
 the Venersborgvik would limit the depth of the canal to about 
 21 feet, but this would be sufficient to admit vessels of about 
 3000 tons. The sluices proposed would be 350 feet long and about 
 45 feet in width. The canal would be a natural outlet for a large 
 traffic in timber, iron, and wood pulp, now so largely employed in 
 the manufacture of paper.
 
 172 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF RUSSIA. 
 
 "The servitude of rivers is the noblest and most important victory which 
 man has obtained over the licentiousness of Nature." Gibbon. 
 
 THE Russian Empire is, in many respects, the most remarkable in 
 the world. With an area of more than eight and a half million of 
 square miles, and a population of no millions, it is larger than the 
 whole of the British Empire, including India, Canada, and Australia, 
 and is about seventy times the size of the British Islands alone. It 
 is natural that the internal transport of such a vast territory should 
 present problems of deep interest, and should tax the resources of 
 the engineers that have been from time to time occupied with their 
 determination. This has been more than ordinarily difficult because 
 of the vast distances to be traversed, and the inclement character of 
 the climate, which practically seals up navigation entirely over a 
 great part of the Empire for about six months of the year. Happily, 
 the Empire is provided with a very ample river system, having, 
 indeed, longer and deeper rivers than any other country in Europe, 
 which means, of course, that water transport is available over long 
 distances, without making any special or costly provision for that 
 purpose. 
 
 The enormous distances over which merchandise has been carried 
 in pre-railway times, throughout the Russian Empire is justly regarded 
 as one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of transporta- 
 tion. For many years previous to the commencement of the present 
 century, large quantities of iron, salt, gold and silver, furs and skins, 
 tallow, leather, marble and precious stones, in addition to the special 
 products of China, were carried from the latter country to St. Peters- 
 burg, a distance of fully 2000 miles. The route adopted appears 
 to have been by the Selenga to the Baikal Lake, and thence by the 
 Angara to the Yenisey, where the merchandise was unloaded and 
 carried overland as far as the river Ket. By this stream it was 
 carried to the Obb, and thence up the Irtish and the Tobol, where it 
 was again unloaded, and carried overland to the Tchussovaia, where
 
 The Waterways of Russia. 173 
 
 it was put on vessels, and whence it was carried to the Kama and 
 finally into the Volga. Such a system of transport is probably un- 
 equalled for extent and variety in any other part of the world, but 
 the frequent removals and trans-shipments on this and on other 
 principal routes rendered it a matter of urgent importance to connect 
 the different waterways by canal navigation, whereby the leading 
 maritime routes could be joined together. 
 
 When we consider the condition of the Russian Empire at the 
 time of Peter the Great, the semi-barbarism of its inhabitants, and 
 the comparatively limited resources at his disposal, the work planned 
 and achieved by Peter the Great * in the construction of canals is 
 little short of marvellous. It was he who planned the grand scheme 
 for uniting the Caspian and the Baltic with the Black Sea, by the 
 junction of the Volga and the Don. It was he, also, who began the 
 Ladoga Canal in 1718, although it was not completed until the reign 
 of the Empress Anne. This canal, as constructed, connected the 
 Volkof with the Neva in a navigation of 67^ miles, with a uniform 
 breadth of 70 feet, and a mean depth of 10 feet in spring and 7 feet 
 in summer. Peter the Great connected Astracan and Petersburg by 
 the canal of Vishni-Volotchok, although the canal was afterwards 
 considerably improved by the Empress Catherine.! Peter the Great, 
 who was the founder of Cronstadt, also constructed a canal giving 
 access to the harbour of that place. It was not, however, completed 
 in his lifetime. This canal, called after its founder, is lined with 
 brick, as is also another canal, completed soon after the death of 
 Catherine II., in order that vessels might be able to load and unload 
 stores at the gates of the magazines built on both sides. J 
 
 In the time of Peter, and under his direction or sanction, many 
 other waterways were projected or improved in Russia. It was the 
 aim of that monarch to render transport universal and economical 
 throughout his wide dominions, and if his resources had been equal 
 to his plans, Russia would have taken the foremost place in every- 
 
 * Peter the Great, as is well known, was a keen observer of everything that 
 tended to open up the internal commerce of a country, and especially of all that 
 tended to advance maritime progress, in which he took a deep interest. When 
 Peter was residing in England canal navigation was hardly yet begun, but many 
 rivers had been canalised, including the Aire and Calder, the Trent, the Witham, 
 and the Medway. 
 
 t For additional information on this subject consult Tooke's ' View of the 
 Russian Empire,' vol. i., and Cox's ' Travels in Poland and Russia,' vol. iii. 
 
 \ Article " Canals," in ' Rees's ' Encyclopedia.'
 
 1 74 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 thing relating to water communication. In 1718, finding that the 
 mouth of the Vistula was so choked up with sand that even a small 
 vessel had often difficulty in passing over it, he caused a canal to be 
 constructed, about three-quarters of a mile in length, directly into 
 the bay, having a breadth of 120 to 180 feet in some places, and a 
 depth of 13 to 15 feet. From the end of this canal, next the sea, 
 there were piers running out about 500 yards into the bay, whence 
 ships could enter the canal with almost any wind, and be perfectly 
 secure as, indeed, the bay of Dantzic may usually be reckoned, 
 having an excellent anchorage ground, and being safe against all 
 storms, those from the north-east and east only creating any danger. 
 
 At the top of the canal just described, there were constructed 
 flood gates, or a sluice, to prevent the waters of the Vistula running 
 in, or choking it with sand. In the month of October, 1804, this 
 sluice was finished. It will admit vessels of 36 feet beam, and 
 drawing not more than 10 to n feet water. The ships thereby pass 
 into the Vistula, and thence they may proceed up to the mouth of the 
 Mottlau ; or to the town, about four English miles ; or they may lay 
 in the Vistula close to the shore, in a good depth of water. 
 
 A canal for heavy goods was constructed from Lubeck to the 
 Elbe, where it falls in at Lauenburg, passing through Moellon, being 
 a distance of from 35 to 40 English miles. Oddy reported in 1820 
 that "there are about 100 boats constantly employed on this canal, 
 and as many more may be procured, nearly of an equal size and the 
 same construction, long and narrow, carrying about 90 shlb. of 
 280 Ibs. each. These vessels are generally from ten to twelve days 
 going from Lubeck to Hamburg, having only three men to navigate 
 them, without the assistance of horses. The freight is generally 
 reckoned for the whole of one of these vessels, 100 marks current, 
 from Lubeck to Lauenburg on the Elbe, and generally from thence to 
 Hamburg, one third more ; for which the boatman are responsible 
 against damage or robbery. This canal has the advantage of never 
 suffering delay for want of water in summer, with which it is supplied 
 from the fine lake of Katzburg." * 
 
 An extraordinary access of enterprise appears to have occurred in 
 Russia in or about the year 1796 in the construction of waterways 
 designed to connect the different rivers and seas within or bordering 
 upon the European dominions of that State. The Beresinski Canal 
 was commenced in 1797 ; the Swir Canal in 1795 > the Maria Canal 
 * Oddy's ' European Commerce,' p. 292.
 
 The Waterways of Russia. 175 
 
 in 1796; the Kamushuiski Canal was examined and ordered to be 
 completed in the same year; while in 1797 the State undertook the 
 construction of a canal from the Diina, below Riga, for the purpose 
 of joining the Bay of Riga with the Bay of Finland. To the same 
 period belong the project of a canal between Petersburg and Arch- 
 angel ; the Verroi Canal, designed to unite the Lake Waggola and 
 the Black Rivulet ; the Welikoluki Canal, designed to unite the rivers 
 Neva and Dnieper with the Diina a canal 8 1 miles in length ; and 
 the canals of Orel, designed to unite the rivers Bolwa and Shisdra ; 
 the Sna and Zon, and the Nerussa with the Kromii. This pro- 
 gramme, comprehensive and liberal in its design, was only partially 
 carried out, owing to the want of sufficient resources. 
 
 The Baltic and the Caspian Seas were united more than half 
 a century ago by three different systems of canals the first uniting 
 the Neva with the Volga by Lake Ilmen and the canal of Vishni 
 Volotchok ; the second uniting the Neva with the Volga, by the 
 Ladoga Canal, and by the canals of Tichwin and Sjas ; and the third 
 joining the same rivers by Lake Onega and the Maria Canal, which 
 unites the rivers Wytegra and Kowspaga. 
 
 The first of these three systems connects the Caspian and the 
 J^ack-Seas in a navigation of some 1434 miles. Ships or barges / 4 
 laden at Astracan ascend the river Volga to Twer, and thence pro- 
 ceed up the Twerza. After passing through the canal here, they 
 descend the Msta to Novgorod, and proceed thence down the 
 Volkhof to the Ladoga Canal, which connects with the Neva at 
 Schlusselburg. Once on the Neva vessels can proceed direct to 
 St. Petersburg without unloading cargoes. 
 
 In the second canal system referred to there are three different 
 artificial waterways those of the Tichwin, Sjas, and Swir. The first 
 of these was constructed for the purpose of connecting the Sominka 
 with the Lid, which falls in the Tschagadosh, and thence into the 
 Mologa, which is connected with the Volga. The Swir Canal is a 
 continuation of that of the Ladoga, which unites the Volkhof with 
 the Sjds river. The Swir Canal was completed in 1801, and in that 
 year, according to Oddy,* 650 vessels of all sizes passed through it. 
 The chief member of the third system is the Marian Canal, which 
 was completed in 1801. The Onega Canal, designed to join the 
 rivers Wytegra and Swir was built in 1808 to 1810. The Swir Canal, 
 connecting the rivers Swir and Sjas was completed in the year 1806. 
 
 * Oddy's European Commerce.'
 
 1 76 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The Baltic and the Black Sea, like the Baltic and the Caspian, 
 were connected in the early part of the century by three different 
 systems of canal communication, which are equally remarkable. 
 The first of these, the Beresinski Canal, unites the Diina with the 
 Dneiper, and thereby joins the Bay of Riga with the Black Sea. 
 The second unites the Njemen with the Dneiper by the Ognisky 
 Canal, and the Courland Canal. The third system unites the 
 western Bug with the Dneiper by the King's Canal. 
 
 The Beresinski Canal was commenced in the year 1797. The 
 principal part of the navigation was completed in 1801, but the 
 canal was not entirely finished until 1809. It forms a junction with 
 the Dneiper, first by the river Ulla, which falls into the Diina, then 
 by the Sergatcha, which falls into the Beresina, and finally into the 
 Dneiper. The lakes Beloje and Beresina, lying on the route, are 
 utilised to facilitate the connection. 
 
 The Ognisky Canal, which was finally completed in 1803, was 
 built largely at the expense of the Count of that name during the 
 latter years of the Polish republic. It is thirty-four miles in length, 
 and has ten sluices. For many years it afforded a passage for small 
 craft between Konigsberg and the Black Sea. The canal joins the 
 rivers Szzara and Jasiolda, the first of which falls into the Njemen, 
 and the latter into the Pripecz, thereby opening a communication 
 via the Dnieper with the Baltic and the Black Seas. The Govern- 
 ments of Lithuania, Volhinia, Little Russia, and Polish Ukraine, 
 have long sent their produce by the Njemen to Konigsburg and 
 Memel, near which latter place it falls into the Baltic. Nearly a 
 hundred years ago it was proposed to unite the Njemen with the 
 Bay of Riga by a canal of ten versts in length, which would unite 
 the Nevesha with the Lavenna at the mouth of the great Ada. 
 
 The last King of Poland began the canal which unites the 
 western Bug with the Dneiper, and which for that reason was called 
 the King's Canal. It unites the Prima and the Muckawetz, but it 
 has not been very successful. As originally constructed, the canal 
 had no sluices, and being short of water in the summer, and frozen in 
 winter, it was only navigable in the spring months. 
 
 Another important maritime connection, to which great import- 
 ance was attached in the early part of the century, was that of the 
 Bay of Riga with the Bay of Finland. This connection was arranged 
 for first, by joining the rivers Pernau and Narova by means of the 
 Lake Peipus and the canal of Fellin ; second, by uniting the rivers
 
 The Waterways of Russia. 177 
 
 Diina and Neva, by Lake Ilmen and the Welikoluki Canal ; and 
 third, by joining the Diina and Narova with the Peipus Lake, and 
 the Verroi and Riga Canals. 
 
 Peter the Great attached much importance to effecting a junction 
 of the Black and the Caspian Seas. The distance between these 
 two maritime highways is about 400 miles, and the enormous 
 trade that has recently been developed in petroleum at Baku, on 
 the Caspian Sea, would have created a traffic for such a waterway 
 that was never dreamt of in the time of that Czar. The Iwanoff 
 Canal was begun by Peter in 1700 for the purpose of uniting the 
 Don by means of Lake Iwan, with the river Shat, which passes 
 through the Upa into the Oka. The canal had been carried from 
 the Don into the valley of the Bobrucki, towards Cape Iwan, and 
 twenty-four sluices had been completed, when the work was suddenly 
 stopped, most probably because the means were insufficient for its 
 completion ; but early in the present century the completion of the 
 canal was ordered by the Government. In 1716, Peter commenced 
 the Kamiishinski Canal, designed to unite the Don and the Volga, and 
 thereby to connect the Black and the Caspian Seas. Like the 
 Iwanoif Canal, this undertaking had been partially finished when it 
 had to be discontinued, apparently for engineering as well as for 
 financial reasons, nor was it until 1796 that its construction was 
 again resumed. 
 
 The Poutiloff Canal. One of the most important canals in the 
 Russian Empire, as well as one of the most recently constructed is 
 that known as the Poutiloff Canal a waterway built for the purpose 
 of converting the city of St. Petersburg into a port. This has hitherto 
 been rendered impossible by the defects of the bar of the river Neva. 
 Hence all traffic arriving at St. Petersburg from the interior, or at 
 Cronstadt from abroad, has had to be transhipped at great cost, and 
 with so much delay that Newcastle coal has often taken as long in 
 transit from Cronstadt to the capital, a distance of 18^ miles, as 
 from the North of England to Cronstadt. In 1872 a Commission 
 reported upon this canal, and the plan finally adopted was sanctioned 
 and contracted for in 1874 ; but, owing to losses of plant conveyed 
 from England, the works were not commenced till 1877. The canal 
 starts from the Neva at St. Petersburg, and, diverging from the 
 estuary-channel, it proceeds in a south-westerly direction for about 
 2 miles, and then curving gradually round towards the north-west, it 
 runs in a straight line to Cronstadt. The canal is 207 feet wide at 
 
 N
 
 178 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport.
 
 The Waterways of Russia. 179 
 
 the bottom for the first part of its course, and has a continuous 
 embankment on the side of the Gulf of Finland, and at places on the 
 land side ; at the termination of the curve it unites with a branch 
 canal, which will eventually rejoin the Neva above St. Petersburg, 
 and thence its navigable width is increased to 275 feet, its depth 
 being 22 feet throughout. The first part of the straight portion is 
 embanked on both sides, but for the last 10 miles a navigable 
 channel, 275 feet wide, has been dredged through the Gulf, which 
 has a depth there of only from 12 to 15 feet, while no banks have 
 been made. 
 
 Three basins, formed by widening the canal at certain places, 
 have been provided for the export and import trade, having a total 
 area of 430 acres ; but it is considered that these will not afford 
 sufficient accommodation. Between 1877 and 1882, 5,304,000 cubic 
 yards were excavated, out of a total of about 8,700,000 cubic yards. 
 The working season, however, at St. Petersburg is short, and only 
 one hundred and twenty-five days can be reckoned upon in the year, 
 making an average of 8480 cubic yards per day. Water was 
 admitted into the canal in the presence of the Emperor Alexander 
 III. in November 1883; but the canal was not made available for 
 the passage of vessels until 1884. The canal is reported to have 
 greatly promoted the commercial prospects of the capital. This was 
 much required, as, previous to the construction of the Poutiloff 
 Canal, only vessels of very small size and light draught could ascend 
 the Neva for the purpose of loading and unloading at St. Petersburg, 
 while those of more than very limited draught were compelled to 
 stop at Cronstadt, and discharge or load there. The cost of 
 sending goods from Cronstadt to the capital was calculated at more 
 than the freight from England,* without taking into account the loss 
 of time, which often amounted to ten or fourteen days, and some- 
 times more. 
 
 The Poutiloff Canal was constructed by the Russian Government, 
 at a cost of about a million and a quarter sterling, and has been 
 thrown open free of tolls. The points A and B on the plan, where 
 warehouse accommodation has been provided, are in communication 
 by rail with all the railways going out of St. Petersburg, and can 
 also be approached by lighters with cargo for transport. It is 
 
 * Report by Her Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg, Commercial series, 
 No. 2 1884. 
 
 N 2
 
 1 80 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 expected that the canal will cause merchant-ships ultimately to 
 abandon Cronstadt entirely. 
 
 At the St. Petersburg end of the canal, a Government Commis- 
 sion recommended some years ago, that two basins would be required, 
 each 22 feet deep, and capable of holding 90 steamers and 70 sailing 
 vessels, with a third basin, having a depth of 10^ feet, in order to 
 accommodate the barges arriving from the interior. The cost of 
 these works has been estimated at over a million sterling. There 
 has been a good deal of controversy as to the proper location for 
 the port of St. Petersburg at the end of the canal. The original 
 proposal was to erect the docks and basins at the head of the canal, 
 close to the Poutiloff Ironworks, but the Ministry of Finance is 
 reported to have favoured a project for constructing a port on the 
 opposite side of the river that is on the right bank on the ground 
 that it would be much less expensive. But the utility of the canal 
 has already been so greatly proved, that the docks originally pro- 
 jected will be likely to be insufficient before long. About 2500 
 ships are stated to be annually employed in the foreign, and 700 in 
 the local transport trade of the capital.* 
 
 The Perekop Canal is another recent undertaking of the Russian 
 Government. According to ' Reports of the Consuls of the U.S.A.,' 
 dated July 1888, Russia had then begun with the excavation of the 
 Strait of Perekop, which connects the Crimea with the Russian 
 continent. The canal is to go from Perekop to Goutschar, Sivash, 
 and Geriitschesk, and is to be in versts long. It will be 65 feet 
 broad and 12 feet deep. At each end of the canal a port will be 
 built. It is stated that the 85,000,000 roubles necessary for the 
 undertaking have been found. The shortest road from Genitschesk 
 to the northern ports of the Black Sea will be through the canal. 
 The voyage from Odessa to Maripol is at present 434 sea miles 
 long; through the canal it will be only 295 miles. The work will 
 take five years to complete. When the canal is finished, it will be 
 easy for Russia to send her ships through the Sea of Azof to 
 Otschakow, to the mouth of the Dnieper, and to Odessa, because they 
 will no longer have to sail round the Crimea, and they will thereby 
 avoid the risk of being captured by foreign ships in case of war. 
 The chief reason for building the Perekop Canal is stated to be the 
 necessity for getting coal from the Don districts for the Russian fleet. f 
 
 * Paper read in 1886 before the Society for Promoting Russian Trade, 
 t London Economist, July 14, 1888.
 
 The Waterways of Russia. 1 8 1 
 
 The Baltic and White Sea Canal. The latest project put forward 
 with a view to extending and completing the canal system of Russia 
 is that of .an artificial connection between the Baltic and the White 
 Seas. The principal port on the White Sea is Archangel, which is 
 situated on the Dwina, about 30 English miles from its mouth. The 
 building of St. Petersburg took away from Archangel a considerable 
 part of its trade with European countries. The harbour of Archangel 
 is, moreover, none of the best, and the bar at the entrance of the 
 Dwina is said to have only about 14^ feet of water, so that ships 
 which draw more water must be loaded out in the roads by lighters. 
 Nevertheless, the shipping trade of Archangel is still considerable, 
 and it is believed that it would be greatly promoted by a direct 
 connection with the Baltic. The projected canal is estimated to cost 
 10 millions of roubles (i,ooo,ooo/.), and the length of the canal will 
 be 210 versts. General Ignatieff is said to have declared in favour 
 of the undertaking, and the Russian engineers who have reported 
 upon it state that it is easily feasible. 
 
 Lake Onega Canal. Another project that has for some time 
 past found a great deal of favour in Russia is that of a water- 
 way from the White Sea to the Baltic by way of Lake Onega. 
 Communication already exists between the two seas, but it is by a 
 roundabout water route, starting from Archangel, and running up 
 the Dwina to a point near Vologda. A canal would reduce this 
 distance of nearly 1500 miles to about one-third of that figure. The 
 estimated cost of the canal is about 75o,ooo/. The project is one 
 that received the consideration of Peter the Great, who, as we have 
 already seen, was the greatest canal-maker that Russia has produced. 
 
 The Volga and Don Canal. 'The new canal between the Volga 
 and the Don will be 53 versts in length, and is estimated to cost 
 2,780.0007. The canal will commence at the Volga, 7 feet below 
 the level of the Black Sea, and will terminate at a point of the river 
 Don which is 119 feet higher than that water. At its tenth verst 
 from the river Don the canal will traverse the river Karpooka, and 
 at the twenty-fourth verst it will pass the Krivomoozquiski Station of 
 the Volga-Don Railway. Here a basin for shipping will be provided. 
 The canal subsequently runs parallel with the railway until it reaches 
 the river Tchervlenoi, a branch of the Karpooka. From this point 
 the watershed of the Volga and the Don will be cut through, the 
 deepest cutting being 140 feet. The soil, however, is sandy, and is 
 easily dealt with. A rapid descent is made at the end of the canal,
 
 1 82 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 where there will be a fall of 270 feet in 6 miles, and where thirteen 
 locks, each 6 metres deep, will be constructed. The total amount 
 of earth to be excavated is estimated at 2,780,000 Russian cubic 
 fathoms. It is proposed to construct each lock large enough to 
 contain at one time two vessels, severally 210 feet long, 42 feet 
 broad, and 7 feet deep. 
 
 The Hyegra and Kovja Canal. In July 1886, a new canal, which 
 forms an important link in the chain of canals that connect the 
 Caspian and the Baltic was opened. This canal is 15 miles in 
 length, 70 feet wide, and 7 feet deep. It joins the rivers Hyegra 
 and Kovja. Upwards of 20,000 labourers were employed in the 
 undertaking, together with three dredging machines, but the greater 
 part of the work was done by hand. The quantity of excavation 
 required was upwards of 270,000 Russian cubic fathoms of earth. 
 Some of the cuttings were 30 feet in depth. The undertaking did 
 not, however, present any engineering difficulties of importance. 
 
 The traffic of the Caspian Sea is now very considerable, having 
 been enormously increased within recent years by the development 
 of the petroleum trade of Baku, and of the wealth of the minerals 
 and other natural productions that are common to that region. The 
 Baltic is a natural and the most convenient outlet for a great part 
 of this trade, although pipes have been laid from the Caspian to the 
 Black Sea, in order to discharge the petroleum into ships navigating 
 that waterway. 
 
 The Proposed Black Sea and Azov Canal. During the summer 
 of 1888 the Russian Government complied with a demand for a 
 concession, made by the Black Sea and Azov Canal Company, for 
 the right to construct a canal intended to connect the Don basin and 
 the Sea of Azov with the Dneiper basin and the Black Sea. The 
 length of the proposed canal is stated to be a little over 26 English 
 miles, and the cost is estimated at 3^ millions sterling. The mean 
 depth proposed is about 14 feet. The work of construction is ex- 
 pected to occupy about four years. 
 
 It has been remarked as a singular phenomenon that whereas the 
 canal traffic of England has relatively diminished, that of other 
 countries has been maintained. This has been explained by the fact 
 that in other countries the distances are generally greater, and the 
 canals are more like rivers than the narrow waters usual in our own 
 country. On Russian canals, for example, barges range in length
 
 The Waterways of Russia. 183 
 
 from 100 to 300 feet, and, instead of being mere lighters, they are to 
 all intents and purposes the counterparts of ocean-going steamships. 
 Large-sized steamers can proceed from the Neva through the canal 
 system to the Volga, and descend thence to the Caspian Sea. Again, 
 it is no unusual thing for barges of 500 or 1000 tons burden to start 
 from some stream in the Ural Mountains with the floods of spring, and 
 reach the river Neva in the autumn a journey of nearly 1000 miles. 
 The canals of Russia were for a long time, and are still to a con- 
 siderable extent, largely navigated by flat-bottomed barques, of con- 
 siderable length, but seldom more than 4 feet in depth, and drawing 
 from 20 to 30 inches of water. " Their rudder," it is said, " is a long 
 tree like an oar. In case of leakage, instead of a pump they put up 
 a rough cross-bar, from which is slung, by means of a rope, a wooden 
 scoop, with which they throw out the water. These vessels are 
 rudely constructed, purposely for conveying only one cargo. They 
 cost from 100 to 300 roubles each (2o/. to 6o/.), and when they 
 arrive at Archangel, Petersburg, or Riga, and their cargoes are dis- 
 charged, they are sold or broken up for firewood or other purposes, 
 seldom fetching more than from 20 to 50 roubles." ' 
 
 The Canals of Finland. Finland has a considerable wealth of 
 lake navigation, which has been connected by canals to the great 
 gain of local commerce. One of these is the canal of the Samia, 
 which connects a chain of lakes with the Gulf of Finland by a water- 
 way 37 miles long, with a fall of 260 feet. The fifteen locks are all 
 of substantial masonry, and are fitted with wooden gates, the use of 
 iron in connection with the stone-work being dispensed with as much 
 as possible, on account of its considerable changes of volume, due to 
 the great range of temperature to which it is exposed. The masonry, 
 though built in hydraulic cement, suffered considerably from the 
 severe cold of winter; but in the year 1870 the plan was adopted of 
 covering the lock chambers by means of 2-inch planks, and allowing 
 the water to flow perpetually through the two gate sluices. Snow is 
 allowed to accumulate over the temporary covers, and as the water 
 running through has a mean temperature of 39 Fahrenheit, the lock 
 chambers are readily kept at a temperature a little above the 
 freezing-point. The levels between the locks are kept full all winter. 
 The practice of running out the water is stated by a recent writer to 
 be destructive to the banks. 
 
 * Oddy's ' European Commerce,' p. 69.
 
 1 84 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The canal of the Pielis connects two lakes ; it is 40 miles long, 
 and has a fall of 62 feet, surmounted by ten wooden locks. The crib- 
 work of the walls is loaded with stone, and not clay or earth, as is 
 commonly the case, in consequence of which the woodwork is not 
 forced out of place by the expansion of the frozen filling, and does 
 not rot so quickly. 
 
 From all that has already been put forward, it must be evident 
 that Russia has long been fully alive to the importance of developing 
 her maritime resources, and especially her system of inland water 
 transport. The total canal mileage of Russia has been estimated by 
 Sir Charles Hartley at about 200 miles (?), and he remarks that, " in 
 most instances, they have been formed with but little difficulty across 
 the gentle undulations of the great watershed, thus uniting the head 
 waters of rivers which have their outlets at opposite extremities of the 
 Continent." * 
 
 The River Systems of Russia. No reference to the water trans- 
 port of Russia would be complete unless it included the river-system 
 of that interesting country, which is stated to be navigable to the 
 extent of 19,000 miles. Rafts, however, can use such waterways to 
 the extent of 38,000 miles. The chief rivers of Russia are the 
 Volga, with a drainage area of 563,000 miles, and a course of over 
 2000 miles, making it the longest river in Europe ; the Ural, with a 
 drainage area of 95,000 square miles, and a course of 1446 miles ; 
 the Dwina, with a drainage area of nearly 100,000 miles, and a 
 course of 650 miles; the Petchora, with a drainage area of 127,000 
 miles and a length of 915 miles; the Don, with a drainage area of 
 170,000 square miles, and a length of 980 miles ; and the Dneiper, 
 with a drainage area of 204,000 square miles, and a length of 1060 
 miles. In the summer these rivers, with their collateral canals, 
 transport immense quantities of raw material to the south and west, 
 and carry back manufactures of different kinds in exchange. In 
 the winter, however, their navigation is generally closed, and traffic 
 is carried either by railway or by road. There are, of course, many 
 smaller streams, such as the Diina, 470 miles long; the Neva, 
 34 miles long ; the Dneister, 640 miles in length ; and the Bug, with 
 a course of 430 miles. 
 
 * 'Inland Navigation in Europe,' March 1888.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 
 
 " Th' expanded waters gather on the plain, 
 They float the fields, and overtop the grain." Ovid. 
 
 THE great waterway of Austria is the Danube, which rises in the 
 Black Forest, at an elevation of about 3600 feet above the sea, and 
 drains an area of 316,000 square miles, its total length being 1750 
 miles. Three hundred tributaries, or more, feed this noble river, the 
 seven more important streams having a length of 2900 miles, and 
 draining about one-half of the whole extent of the Danube Basin. At 
 Ulm, 130 miles from its source, the Danube becomes navigable for 
 flat-bottomed boats. In its lower reaches it is traversed by an almost 
 innumerable fleet of steamers and barges, which are the main means 
 of communication between this part of Europe and the Black Sea. 
 
 Danube Regulation Works. The improvement of the channel of 
 the Danube, near Vienna, is one of the most important river engineer- 
 ing works of modern times. A new channel, 10 miles in length, 
 has brought the river i^ mile nearer to the city, and at a ground 
 depth of 10 to 12 feet below ordinary low-water level, at a cost of 
 3,250,0007. The principal object of the scheme was to protect 
 Vienna from floods, but it has also considerably assisted navigation. 
 
 Around Vienna the ground is generally flat, and the Danube, with 
 various branches, was, in times of flood, accustomed to inundate the 
 country for many miles round about, doing a great deal of damage 
 both to the city and its suburbs. In order to remedy this condition 
 of things, a commission was appointed which proposed to collect all 
 the branches of the Danube into one channel. 
 
 The plan attached hereto shows the character of the undertaking. 
 The new channel is nearly 9^- miles in length. It starts from Nuss- 
 dorf at the foot of the well-known hill called the Kahlenberg, and 
 passes through the flat lands of the Prater, or great public park of 
 Vienna, with a slight curve towards the city, in order that the 
 navigable channel, holding generally to the outside of the curve, 
 should be nearest Vienna, and as close to it as possible, thereby 
 facilitating the shipping on the quays.
 
 1 86 Waterways and Water Transport.
 
 A ustria- Hungary.
 
 1 88 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The Locks of Nussdorf. To prevent winter accumulations of ice 
 from entering the new canal, and to divert floods, locks were con- 
 structed at Nussdorf, which are indicated in the drawings here- 
 with. The side walls are founded on cylinders sunk down to the 
 gravel to a depth of 31 feet below zero, and the tops of the abutment 
 of the lock are 15 feet 6 inches above the same level. The distance 
 between the side walls is 155 feet 10 inches. The entrance to the 
 lock is closed by a caisson, the lock being closed only in winter. 
 The invert of the lock is of be'ton, set in Portland cement, 4 feet 
 i inch thick, the foundation being of piles, as shown on the plan. 
 The level of this invert is 1 2 feet 9 inches below zero ; below that 
 part of the invert, at the entrance to the lock, the floor is made of 
 heavy stonework laid at the same level. The foundations of the 
 barrage at Nussdorf consist of iron caissons, that on the right bank 
 being rectangular in form, and 81 feet long by 18 feet 7 inches wide, 
 while the wall on the left bank is 99 feet long, by the same width as 
 the other, with an enlargement on the side towards the canal for the 
 lock gates. 
 
 Joining the old bed of the Danube at the Bridge of Stadlau, and 
 following its course as far as the island of Wiedenhaufen, through 
 which it passes, the channel line enters the river again opposite the 
 village of Albern. On the left side of the river a protecting dyke 
 was erected in order to guard against flood the great plains of 
 Marchfeld. 
 
 The new channel is 933 feet wide, 8-3 to 11*4 feet in depth, and 
 has a mean slope of i in 2272, the speed of the current varying 
 according to the state of the river. The side slope has an inclination 
 of 2 to i, and is riveted throughout in stone 9 inch thick, with a 
 banquette on the top 39 inches wide. The ground on the right bank 
 has been raised so as to reach the same height as the dyke on the 
 left, thus protecting the country round about from inundation. 
 
 The above works cost over two millions sterling. The quay walls 
 locks, and other operations were described in a monograph published 
 in 1878 by M. Hersent, one of the contractors, and reprinted in 
 Engineering, from which the foregoing particulars have been mainly 
 reproduced. The total amount of earthwork was 23,575,928 cubic 
 yards, divided as follows : 
 
 Excavators 4)775.334 
 
 Dredgers 9,491,254 
 
 Barrows 9009,340
 
 A ustria- Hungary. 
 
 189 
 
 
 TD 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 >> 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 " 
 
 
 3 
 
 CT 1 
 
 3 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 'S 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 
 t-N ** H 
 
 
 
 U) 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 VO 
 
 o 
 
 <i^ 
 
 ~a 
 o 
 
 8 
 
 , 2 
 
 vO Ox 
 
 8 
 
 g 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 t 
 
 8 
 
 VO 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 OX T 
 
 oo 
 
 . 
 
 ^ 
 
 VO 
 
 CO 
 
 o" 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 Ox 
 
 CO CO 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 W 
 
 c< 
 
 
 
 
 rf 
 
 CO 
 
 
 O 
 
 H VO 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 Ox 
 
 
 
 
 c\ 
 
 VO 
 
 
 CO 
 
 Ox CO 
 
 
 vo 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "P 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 -S 
 
 
 
 
 
 'O 
 
 
 e 
 
 ,d 
 
 - - 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 x 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 j3 
 
 CT 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 < 1 
 
 
 
 Jo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 oo 
 
 CO 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vO 
 
 "H 
 
 
 vo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vO 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 co" 
 
 10 "J- 
 
 
 O 
 
 nT 
 
 
 
 
 
 VO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 ON t^ 
 
 
 co 
 
 CO 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 t 
 
 U) 
 
 ,0 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 * 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 i ~~~ < 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 u 
 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 Ul 
 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 j!^ 
 
 
 
 >*-. 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 ON 
 
 VO 
 CO 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 M 
 
 : 
 
 vO~ 
 
 VO 
 
 ro 
 
 8 
 
 Q 
 
 VO 
 
 o 
 
 * 
 
 c? cT 
 
 
 , 
 
 tC 
 
 , 
 
 
 " 
 
 *"* 
 
 co" 
 
 cT 
 
 1> 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^j- 
 
 vO 
 
 
 
 
 VO 
 
 ^f 
 
 CO 
 
 M 
 
 t^- 
 
 
 N 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V0~ 
 
 o" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 >i 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,0* 
 
 r = 
 
 _ 
 
 ^3 
 
 ^ 
 
 jS 
 
 .; 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 Qj 
 
 3 
 
 CT 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 O 
 
 
 r>. vo 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 Ox 
 
 OO 
 
 
 <tl 
 
 V 
 CO 
 
 4-1 
 
 1 
 
 8O 
 o 
 
 ro vO 
 
 vO Ox 
 
 N Tj- 
 
 co 
 
 CO 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 oo 
 
 
 o 
 
 vo 
 
 vo 
 
 ,H 
 
 vo" 
 
 \f) t*^ 
 
 vo 
 
 vo 
 
 ^* 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (u 
 
 00 
 
 ON ^* 
 
 
 vo 
 
 ^ 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 oo 
 
 oo N 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'rt 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 * 
 
 o 
 
 ; 
 
 = |: 
 
 CJQ 
 
 
 V 
 
 u 
 
 a 
 
 cu 
 
 s 
 
 & 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 Nature 
 
 arthwork .. 
 
 rdinary dredging 
 
 estruction of old 
 cines, piling, &c 
 
 rawing piles . . 
 emoving scaffold! 
 
 evetments 
 
 rotection for slop 
 
 rt 
 
 o 
 C 
 
 O 
 
 oundations by co: 
 
 iles driven 31 ft. 
 
 M 
 
 cjO 
 
 'S. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 (U 
 CJO 
 
 "O 
 
 
 
 CJO 
 
 a 
 
 
 W 
 
 Q 
 
 Q & 
 
 
 
 PH 
 
 ^ 
 
 t-H 
 
 PH 
 
 C7D 
 
 fc 
 
 M
 
 190 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The average work done by each excavator was 1538 cubic yards 
 per day over the five years ending 1874, the maximum being 1951 
 and the minimum 613 cubic yards. The excavators were of the 
 same type as those employed on the Belgian Ship Canal works, 
 illustrated elsewhere in this work, and are known by M. Condreux's 
 name. 
 
 It is proposed to connect the Danube with the North Sea by a 
 new canal, 273 kilometres in length, which is referred to at p. 130. 
 This canal, if constructed, will, like the Prussian canal system 
 generally, be 21 metres in width, 2 metres deep, and have locks 
 8-60 metres wide and 55 metres long. These will admit barges 
 carrying 600 tons. 
 
 The other principal rivers of Austria-Hungary include the Pregel, 
 the Elbing, the Vistula, and the Oder, inclined to the Baltic ; the 
 Elbe, the Saale, the Moldau, the Weser, the Ems, the Main, the 
 Neckar, inclined to the North Sea ; and the Pruth, the Theiss, the 
 Temes, the Inn, and the Iser, inclined, like the Danube, to the Black 
 Sea. About a dozen waterways, mostly small, are also inclined to 
 the Adriatic. 
 
 In Hungary, there are two canals of importance the first being 
 the Bega, which joins Temesvar with the Theiss at Tetal, a little 
 above its junction with the Danube, and has a total length of 75 
 miles ; while the other is the Franz Josef Canal, extending for a 
 distance of 69 miles, from the Danube at Battina by Zombor, to the 
 Theiss near Foldvar. The great waterway of Hungary is, however, 
 the Lower Danube, which is navigated by the Imperial and Royal 
 Danube Steam Navigation Company. About 800 barges are 
 employed for this purpose, the greater number having a carrying 
 power of 250 tons. The improvements that have been made s on this 
 stream, under the Commission appointed for that purpose, between 
 1860 and 1883 have tended to increase the trade from 680,000 gross 
 tons in 1859 to 1,530,000 tons in 1883, and to lower the charges on 
 shipping from an average of 20^. per ton for lighterage before the 
 deepening of the Sulina mouth to less than 2 s. per ton register at the 
 present time. Sir Charles Hartley claims that the Danube improve- 
 ment works had, up to 1884, effected a saving of over 20 millions 
 sterling.* 
 
 * ' Inland Navigations in Europe,' p. 155.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 "The Erie Canal, conceived by the genius, and achieved by the energy 
 of De Witt Clinton, was, during the second quarter of this century, the most 
 potent influence of American progress and civilisation. It developed the north- 
 west, by giving an outlet to the commerce of the great lakes, and it made New 
 York the Empire State, and New York City the imperial mart of the New 
 World." E. Sweet, in the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 
 for 1884. 
 
 A GLANCE at a map of the United States will suffice to show that it 
 has unique natural facilities for water transport. Its great lakes, 
 which are inland seas of no inconsiderable dimensions, now connected 
 together by the Erie and St. Mary's Falls Canals, its magnificent 
 rivers, such as the Mississippi and the Missouri, and the natural 
 configuration of the country, create an ensemble for cheap transporta- 
 tion such as no other country can surpass. Besides these resources, 
 however, the United States have now a railway system of over 
 160,000 miles. 
 
 The same favoured country has a large number of noble rivers, 
 as well as a magnificent system of lakes. Of these, the most im- 
 portant is the Mississippi, which has a drainage area, estimated 
 at 1,261,000 miles, and which, including its tributaries, has about 
 15,000 miles of navigable waters. A large portion is, however, closed 
 at low water. From the source of its great tributary, the Missouri, 
 to the Gulf of Mexico, its outlet, the Mississippi has a length of 
 4194 miles. It may, however, be maintained that the Mississippi is 
 less a single river than the outlet of a number of rivers, each of 
 considerable importance. The Missouri river has a drainage area 
 of 518,000 square miles, and 3500 miles of navigable waters, while 
 the Ohio river, which has the next most important basin, drains an 
 area of 214,000 square miles, and has 5000 miles of navigation. 
 The smaller tributaries include the Arkansas river, the Med river, 
 the Yazoo, and the St. Francis. The navigation of the Mississippi 
 river has for a number of years past been under the control of a 
 special Government Commission, by whom the mouth of the river
 
 192 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 has been dredged, training walls have been built, shifting sand-bars 
 have been regulated, and dams thrown across to concentrate the 
 low-water flow in the main channel. On the Upper Mississippi, 
 St. Anthony's Falls oppose a barrier which has been overcome by a 
 canal and locks. 
 
 In no country has there been a longer or more severe struggle 
 between canals and railroads than in the United States of North 
 America. In no country have both systems of transportation had a 
 more eventful, instructive, and interesting history. In no country 
 have railroads and canals been afforded equally free scope for 
 development, and in no country have transportation rates been cut 
 so fine and reduced so low. We may, therefore, by a consideration 
 of the conditions of transport in the United States, and especially by 
 seeking to ascertain how far the two great systems of internal com- 
 munication have competed with each other, learn something that 
 will throw a good deal of light on this problem. 
 
 Washington, himself, was one of the first to appreciate the 
 importance of canals. In his early life the father of his country was 
 a land surveyor, in which capacity he became very familiar with the 
 requirements of the region of the Potomac. Both in this employment, 
 and subsequently, when in 1754 he commanded a military expedition 
 to the Monongahela river, Washington was constantly seeking to 
 improve transportation facilities. He was especially eager to have 
 a waterway opened between the Chesapeake and the Ohio. The 
 War of Independence for a time diverted his ideas from this purpose, 
 but when the war was over he obtained a charter for a waterway 
 between the great lakes and the Hudson, and became the first Presi- 
 dent of the company formed for its construction. Washington, there- 
 fore, stands, in relation to the waterways of the United States, in the 
 same position as the Duke of Bridgwater does in regard to the canal 
 system of our own country, Peter the Great in reference to the canal 
 system of Russia, and Louis XIV. in relation to the canal system of 
 France. It must be admitted that in every case the system has 
 had a worthy sponsor. 
 
 In 1792, an Act was passed by the Legislature of the State of 
 New York, incorporating two companies one, the " Western Inland 
 Lock Navigation Company," charged with the duty of constructing 
 a canal, with locks, between the upper waters of the Mohawk and 
 those flowing into Lake Ontario ; the other, the " Northern Inland 
 Lock Navigation Company," charged with the construction of a
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 193 
 
 similar work from the Hudson to Lake Champlain between which 
 there is a remarkable depression in the general surface of the country. 
 This Act, drawn up and mainly carried through the exertions of 
 General Schuyler, was the first and most important step taken towards 
 the construction of a general system of public works for the country. 
 The objective point aimed at by the Western Company was Lake 
 Ontario, at Oswego, by way of Wood's Creek, Oneida Lake, and the 
 Oswego River. At that time, however, the great enterprise which 
 was to follow a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie was not 
 dreamt of. The purposes of the promoters were as distant from the 
 ultimate result as those of Edward Pease and George Stephenson 
 were when they planned the Stockton and Darlington Railway. 
 
 In 1796, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company was 
 formed in the United States for the purpose of opening up some of 
 their projected inland waterways. This company constructed several 
 small canals, but its operations were unsuccessful, and in 1808 it 
 surrendered all its rights and property to the State for the sum of 
 140,000 dollars (28,ooo/.), which was only one quarter of their 
 original cost. 
 
 During the existence of the company, freight designed for Lake 
 Erie and the West took the route of Lake Ontario to the mouth of 
 Niagara river. From that point to the head of the Falls was a 
 portage of 28 miles. The charge for transporting a bushel of salt 
 for this distance, according to the report made by Mr. Geddes in 
 1809, was 75 cents ; and for a ton of general merchandise 10 dollars. 
 All that can be said of the works of the Western Inland Navigation 
 Company is, that they led the way to the construction of the Erie 
 Canal. They never held the route of any considerable commerce. 
 For a long time after their construction, the farmers of Central and 
 Western New York, for want of other means, sent their produce to 
 market down the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers in arks, which 
 were broken up when the destined market was reached. In the 
 meantime, the subject of a canal better adapted to the wants of 
 commerce than that of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Com- 
 pany was by no means lost sight of. In 1807, in a series of articles 
 published at Canandaigua in the Ontario Messenger, Jesse Hawley, 
 their author, urged the construction of a canal from Lake Erie, 
 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep, " to be laid on an inclined plane" from 
 Buffalo to Utica ; thence down the channel of the Mohawk ; thence 
 across the portage to Albany to be constructed at the expense of 
 
 o
 
 194 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 the National Government. This plan of an inclined plane, strange 
 as it may seem, was, notwithstanding its gross absurdity, favourably 
 received, and proved for a long time, from the great difficulties it 
 involved, a serious obstacle to the early beginning of any work of 
 the kind. 
 
 In February, 1808, Mr. Joshua Forman, a member of the Legis- 
 lature from Onondaga, and subsequently one of the efficient promoters 
 of the canal, proposed the appointment of a joint committee " to take 
 into consideration the propriety of exploring and causing an accurate 
 survey to be made of the most eligible and direct route for a canal to 
 open a communication between the tide-waters of the Hudson river 
 and Lake Erie." On the 2ist of March, 1808, Mr. Gold, of the com- 
 mittee, made a report, enlarging upon the importance of the proposed 
 work, " in drawing together and preserving in political concord the 
 distant parts of a widely extended empire," and closed with a resolu- 
 tion that the Surveyor-General cause an accurate survey to be made 
 of the rivers, streams, and waters in the usual route of communication 
 between the Hudson river and the western waters, and such other 
 contemplated routes as he may deem proper. For such survey the 
 sum of 600 dollars was appropriated. The action under the resolution 
 of Mr. Forman was the first step taken by the Legislature with a view 
 to the construction of the Erie Canal. In 1810 commissioners were 
 appointed to examine the route of the proposed canal. In 1811 the 
 commission reported in favour of a canal, which, in order to produce 
 the inclination of six inches to the mile to Schenectady was to cross 
 the Genesee river by a viaduct 83 feet above the water, and the 
 outlet of Cuyaga Lake at an elevation of 130 feet. In 1812 the 
 commission made an estimate of the probable tonnage that would 
 come upon the canal, and of the tolls that would accrue therefrom. 
 They expressed their opinion that not improbably the canal, in 
 twenty years from that time, would bring down 200,000 tons of 
 traffic ! * 
 
 In 1817, the Act for the construction of the Erie Canal was finally 
 passed. The money was to be raised on the credit of the State. In 
 1825 the canal with its adjuncts was completed. The latter event 
 was signalised by a holiday, and unusual rejoicings. It was regarded 
 as a great thing that the news of the opening of the canal was con- 
 veyed to New York from Buffalo, by a discharge of cannon, whose 
 
 * In 1880, the Erie canal carried 4,608,651 tons of traffic and earned 
 1,120,691 dols. of income.
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 195 
 
 reverberations were repeated along a line of 5 13 miles in one hour and 
 twenty minutes. The communication which the Erie Canal afforded 
 between the vast inland seas of the United States and the Atlantic 
 Ocean was, indeed, the greatest event in the history of transportation 
 in that country up to the end of the first quarter of our century. 
 
 The opening of the Erie Canal was followed by the initiation of 
 many other schemes of a similar kind. The real date of the era of 
 canal building in the United States was 1825-30. Pennsylvania, 
 following directly upon the heels of the Erie, constructed a work 
 which was partly railway, and partly canal, and upon which the State 
 expended no less a sum than 50 millions of dollars (10,000, ooo/.)* 
 This line, however, was not successful. " The works, although of 
 great local use and value, never became factors of any importance in 
 the general commerce of the country, "f 
 
 The State which, next to New York, achieved the greatest success 
 in the construction of canals was Ohio. In 1832 two lines were 
 opened through that State one from Cleveland to Portsmouth, on 
 the Ohio, the other from Toledo to Cincinnati. Their capacity did 
 not allow the passage of boats carrying cargoes exceeding thirty tons. 
 At its highest point, in 1857, their traffic reached 1,635,744 tons. 
 The line which separated the tonnage going north to the lakes, and 
 that going south to the river, passed east and west very near the 
 centre of the State the tendency of breadstuffs, on the whole, being 
 toward the lakes, to seek their outlet through the Erie Canal ; and 
 of provisions of all kinds to the river, to seek their outlet through 
 New Orleans. Of the exports of beef from Cincinnati in 1851, the 
 year of the opening of the Erie railroad, and twenty-seven years after 
 the opening of the Erie Canal, 97 per cent., went down the river 
 to New Orleans, and only 2 per cent, northward to the lake. Of 
 Indian corn, 96 per cent went down the river, and only 3 per cent, 
 to the lake. Of flour, 97 per cent went down the river, only i per 
 cent, to the lake. Of lard, 83 per cent, went down the river, and 
 9 per cent, to the lake. Of pork and bacon, 79 per cent, went down 
 the river, and 5 per cent to the lake. A very small amount of these 
 articles went up the river to Pittsburgh, the first great manufacturing 
 city that grew up off the line of the sea-board. Taking the whole 
 
 * The main line of this canal was sold in 1857 to the Pennsylvania Railway 
 Company for 7j million dollars, and the branches were sold to various private 
 companies for five million dollars more. 
 
 t Poor's 'Manual of the Railroads of the United States,' 1881. 
 
 O 2
 
 196 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 State, two-thirds of its wheat went north, seeking an outlet by the 
 way of the Erie Canal. Of corn and provisions, nineteen-twentieths 
 went down the river to New Orleans. One reason, probably, for the 
 excess of the southward movement of provisions was, that the animals 
 were slaughtered in the autumn, too late to have their products 
 forwarded by canal. Corn was grown chiefly in the southern part 
 of the State. Live animals were never moved, either on the Ohio or 
 on the New York canals. The provision trade, which now forms so 
 enormous a traffic on the railroads running to tide-water, is wholly 
 the creation of these works. The canals of Ohio maintained a 
 considerable traffic until the construction of competing lines of rail- 
 roads, when it declined so rapidly that, in 1856, the expense of their 
 maintenance became greater than their revenues. They have long 
 since been practically abandoned as routes of transportation. 
 
 The State of Indiana, following the lead of Ohio, constructed, 
 with the aid of its creditors, a canal from the junction of the Miami 
 Canal to the city of Evansville, completing it in 1855. Only the upper 
 portion of this work came into considerable use. The whole system 
 was abandoned upon the construction of railroads along its line. 
 
 The State of Illinois constructed a canal from Lake Michigan to 
 Lasalle, at the head of navigation on the Illinois river, a distance of 
 100 miles from Chicago. It was originally intended to make the 
 cut deep enough to feed the line from the lake. This project was 
 abandoned from the cost of its execution, to be subsequently carried 
 out by the city of Chicago for sanitary purposes. The canal had at 
 the outset a considerable traffic, which, however, was lost upon the 
 introduction of competing lines of railroads. 
 
 The preceding works include all the great water-lines constructed 
 by the States for the purpose of giving direction to the general com- 
 merce of the country. Several considerable private works were 
 executed, the most important of which was the Delaware and Raritan 
 Canal, to connect the Delaware River with the harbour of New York, 
 a work of large capacity, which still retains an extensive traffic. 
 Several works of the kind were constructed, chiefly in Pennsylvania, 
 for the transportation of coal works which, upon the construction 
 of railroads, lost all the importance they once enjoyed. The 
 Chesapeake and Ohio, and the James River and Kanawha Canals, 
 upon which large sums were expended, and for which great expecta- 
 tions were raised, were never completed, and do not require par- 
 ticular remark. The canal system of the country has now become
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 197 
 
 so completely subordinate, that few are aware of its magnitude pre- 
 vious to the construction of railroads which caused a great part of it 
 to be abandoned. At one time there were 5000 miles of canal lines 
 in operation, built at a cost of 150,000,000 dollars, or 30,000, ooo/. 
 
 The growth of the traffic on the waterways of the United States 
 was steady for a number of years. In 1837 it was nearly \\ million 
 tons; in 1847 it was nearly three millions; and in 1857 it was 
 3,344,000 tons. In the latter year the traffic of the canals as a 
 whole was 772,000 tons less than in the previous year. This decline, 
 which occurred almost for the first time in the history of the system, 
 created considerable alarm all the more so that it fell coincidently 
 with a large increase in the railway traffic. Up to 1851 the railways 
 had not had a free hand. Laws were enacted imposing canal tolls 
 upon railroad tonnage, and prohibiting any roads from carrying 
 freight. The State authorities looked upon the canals as a trust 
 confided to their keeping, and protected them against the railroads. 
 But in 1851 these laws were repealed, and from that date the rail- 
 roads entered upon a career of development such as they had not 
 previously known. 
 
 From the first the struggle was vastly unequal. The railroads 
 not only offered a much higher rate of speed, but very low rates as 
 well. They entered into arrangements "with lines of propellers 
 (steamers) on the lakes, and steam and tow boats on the Hudson, 
 forming connected lines from the seaboard to Detroit, Cleveland, 
 Sandusky, Toledo, and other western ports, to divert all the freight 
 possible from the canals over their roads," and practically " con- 
 tracted to carry freight on the propeller for nothing, for the sake of 
 getting and securing the freight of it upon their roads." * 
 
 This is only a repetition of an experience that has been perfectly 
 familiar in the transportation annals of England and other countries. 
 But in no other country did the State take up an attitude of hostility 
 to one interest in order that the other might be advanced. The 
 proposal gravely made in the United States on behalf of the State was 
 that railroad tonnage should be specially taxed, in order that it might 
 be handicapped as against the canals. The Committee of Ways and 
 Means did not seem to entertain any doubt that this species of 
 tyranny was within their power. " The Legislature," they said, 
 "has the power to move them (the railroads) in such form, and 
 subject them to such charges and restrictions, as it may deem it the 
 
 * Report of the Committee of Ways and Means.
 
 198 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 interest of the State to require." And then followed the astounding 
 non sequitur that "the State has the power to prohibit them 
 altogether from the carriage of freight ! " The keen competition 
 which had been going on between the canals and the railroads had 
 no doubt seriously affected the trade and revenue of the canals, " and 
 through them," added the State engineer, "the interest of every 
 taxpayer in the State." This was greatly deplored, as the conse- 
 quence of unnecessary rivalry. "The passenger travel belongs 
 exclusively to the railroads, while the transport of cheap and heavy 
 articles of freight belongs to the canals ! " 
 
 It is not too much to say that if the report and recommendations 
 of this Committee had been acted upon in the spirit in which they 
 were made, there would have been a revolution in the United States 
 compared with which the Boston tea riots were a mere fleabite. As 
 it was, no such drastic remedies were adopted. The friends of the 
 canals were shortly found "clothed and in their right mind." 
 Instead of making ad misericordiam appeals for State intervention, 
 they were soon afterwards setting their house in order. Attention 
 was given to the increased use of steam as a propelling power, and 
 the rates of toll were gradually reduced, until the canals were carrying 
 much more cheaply than the railways, and in 1880 the canals were 
 enfranchised and tolls were altogether abolished, since which time 
 they have been able to compete with the railroads on still easier terms. 
 
 Judging by the ultimate quantities of traffic carried, there is 
 only one opinion possible concerning the issue of this memorable 
 struggle. The railroads have won all along the line. The total 
 tonnage carried on the railroads of the United States in 1880 was 
 290,897,000 tons; the canals in the same year carried only 
 21,044,000 tons. The income of the railroads in 1880 was 
 580^ million dollars; that of the canals was only 4^ million dollars. 
 The canals had only one-fourteenth part of the traffic of the railroads, 
 and scarcely more than -^-g- of the gross income. 
 
 These results are very remarkable when the records of the 
 charges made under each of the two systems are examined. When 
 the controversy between them was raging most fiercely, the railroads 
 were charging about three cents per ton per mile, while the canals 
 only charged -799 of a cent.* It was not, therefore, on the ground 
 of greater cheapness that the railroads claimed or received the traffic. 
 It was the same with through as with local traffic. During the six 
 
 * Poor's Manual for 1881, p. xxxviii.
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 1 99 
 
 years ending 1884, the receipts of grain and flour at New York by 
 lake, canal, and Hudson River fell from 64 to 45 million bushels. 
 In the same interval the quantity carried by rail only declined from 
 8 5 J to 83 million bushels.* Between 1868 and 1884 the total 
 traffic carried on the New York State canals fell from about 6^ 
 million to little more than 5^ million tons. On the competing rail- 
 roads the New York Central, the New York, Lake Erie, and 
 Western, and the Pennsylvania Railroad division it increased from 
 10,476,000 tons to 36,700,000 tons. On the canals the traffic had 
 decreased by over 15 per cent. ; on the railways it had increased by 
 over 350 per cent. The comparison is, of course, not strictly 
 relevant and parallel, inasmuch as in the case of the railways traffic 
 was gathered and carried over a very much wider area, and it was 
 really only over a comparatively limited section of their several 
 routes that competition existed. But the figures all the same serve 
 to show " how the cat was jumping." 
 
 The decline of canal traffic is almost the despair of economists in 
 view of the remarkably low range of rates charged on the canals over 
 this period. No better example of this movement could be given 
 than that of the rates charged for the transportation of wheat from 
 Chicago to New York. This is a through traffic, carried over 1000 
 miles, without breaking bulk by either system, and therefore under 
 conditions exceedingly favourable to economical transport. In 1857, 
 when the State of New York, by the mouths of its chief executive 
 officers, was proposing to prohibit the railways from carrying heavy 
 freight, and suggesting the imposition of tolls on railway traffic by 
 way of assisting to keep the canals alive, the average rate charged for 
 transporting a bushel of wheat over this long route was a fraction 
 over 26 cents. In 1868 the canal system was charging 24^ cents, as 
 against 42^- charged by the railway for the same service. Ten years 
 later still, the lake and canal rate had fallen to 9*15 cents, and the 
 railroad rate to 17^9 cents. In 1884 the former amounted to 6 '60 
 and the latter to 13 cents, f Throughout the whole period the 
 railway-borne wheat has paid almost twice as much as the water- 
 borne. And yet the trade of the canals declines, while that of the 
 railroads increases. This is an enigma for which we must now 
 endeavour to find a solution. 
 
 * Including in the latter year nearly l million bushels of beans and oatmeal. 
 t ' Annual Report on the Commerce and Navigation of the United States ' 
 for 1884, p. xlxi.
 
 2OO Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The United States differ from Great Britain, and from most other 
 countries, in their economic circumstances. They have developed 
 their trade with a rapidity that is perhaps unexampled in the annals 
 of commerce. They have found such a demand for their produce, 
 alike at home and abroad, that they have not had time to take heed 
 of cheeseparing economies. The question with the agriculturists and 
 the manufacturers alike has been to secure the largest possible 
 deliveries in the shortest possible space of time. They found a 
 practically unlimited market for their agricultural produce in Europe, 
 at prices which, while they were working on a virgin soil, paid them 
 sufficiently well. Of that price, transport was no doubt an important 
 element When the railways were receiving 30 to 40 cents per 
 bushel for transporting wheat from Chicago to New York, the sellers 
 were receiving 40^. to 50^. per quarter in London. The railway 
 transport was therefore only one-fourth to one-fifth of the entire 
 ultimate cost of the product. If the ocean transport cost 15^. more, 
 the total cost of transport only absorbed about one-half of the price 
 paid by the consumer, so that 25^. was left to the grower, minus 
 other charges, and at much less than this price wheat could be profit- 
 ably grown in the West. The difference between 24^ cents by canal 
 and lake and 42^- by railway was not then of paramount importance. 
 On the other hand the exporter had the supreme advantage of quicker 
 deliveries, the absence of equal risk of having the material spoiled 
 by damp, the certainty of being able to meet his engagements "on 
 the nail/' and entire independence of the weather, which freezes up 
 the canal and river navigation during one-half of the year. For the 
 same reasons that the grower and exporter of wheat was willing to 
 pay gd. more per bushel to the railway in 1868, he has been willing 
 to pay gradually diminishing differences since, until he has now to 
 pay the railway no more than 3^. per bushel in excess of the canal 
 rate for more than a thousand miles of transportation. 
 
 All this, however, can hardly be said to prove anything against 
 canals, although it undoubtedly proves that in the special circum- 
 stances of the wheat trade, and of the Erie Canal, the American 
 freighter of cereals gives a preference to railroad transportation. In 
 the case of heavier traffic, the position would probably be reversed, 
 and especially if the navigation were open all the year round, as 
 would be likely in a temperate climate like that of England, instead 
 of being liable, as in the case of the Erie Canal, to be frozen up 
 for one-half of the year.
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 201 
 
 Of the fifty canals that are now constructed in the United States, 
 thirteen were completed, or at any rate begun, between 1825 and 
 1830. Some of the earlier canals were very expensive. The Erie 
 Canal cost 90,000 dollars per mile, with a capacity for boats of over 
 250 tons. The more recently constructed Illinois and Michigan 
 Canal which admits of the passage of boats of 2500 tons, from 
 Chicago to the Mississippi river, was only 55,355 dollars per mile. 
 The locks on this canal are now 350 feet long, and 75 feet wide, 
 admitting twelve canal boats at a time. 
 
 From the Report of the Tenth Census of the United States, we 
 have compiled the following details of the principal existing canals in 
 that country : 
 
 STATEMENT showing the extent, character, and cost of the principal canals 
 in the United States. 
 
 Canal. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 No. of 
 Locks. 
 
 Length 
 of 
 Locks. 
 
 Rise and 
 Fall. 
 
 Cost of 
 Construction. 
 
 Average 
 Cost per 
 Mile. 
 
 Erie 
 
 365 
 
 72 
 
 feet 
 1 10 
 
 feet 
 656 
 
 dols. 
 
 5 i , 609 , ooo 
 
 dols. 
 141,394 
 
 Champlain 
 
 81 
 
 33 
 
 110 
 
 179 
 
 2,378,000 
 
 29,358 
 
 Delaware and Hudson 
 
 83 
 
 107 
 
 IOO 
 
 1,028 
 
 6,339,ooo 
 
 76,373 
 
 Raritan (ship) 
 
 44 
 
 140 
 
 22O 
 
 ISO 
 
 4,735,000 
 
 107,613 
 
 Morris 
 
 i3 
 
 46* 
 
 88 
 
 1,674 
 
 6,000,000 
 
 58,252 
 
 Schuylkill 
 
 58 
 
 7i 
 
 no 
 
 619 
 
 12,580,000 
 
 216,893 
 
 Union 
 
 84* 
 
 93 
 
 90 
 
 501 
 
 5,907,000 
 
 148,946 
 
 Susquehanna 
 
 30 
 
 43 
 
 170 
 
 230 
 
 4,930,000 
 
 164,333 
 
 Chesapeake and Dela-\ 
 ware (ship) . . . . / 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 220 
 
 32 
 
 3,730,000 
 
 266,430 
 
 Chesapeake and Ohio 
 
 179* 
 
 75 
 
 IOO 
 
 609 
 
 11,290,000 
 
 62,869 
 
 Illinois and Michigan"! 
 (ship) / 
 
 102 
 
 15 
 
 no 
 
 I 4 I 
 
 6,557,000 
 
 64,284 
 
 Ohio Canal and feeders 
 
 323 
 
 150 
 
 90 
 
 1,207 
 
 4,695,000 
 
 14,536 
 
 Miami and Erie .. 
 
 284 
 
 93 
 
 87-89 
 
 907 
 
 7,144,000 
 
 25,155 
 
 * Consisting of 23 inclined planes and 23 lift locks. 
 
 The canal system of the United States now in actual operation 
 extends over 2926 miles, of which 411 miles are slack water. 
 The cost of constructing the whole system is officially stated at 
 170,028,636 dollars (34>oo5,727/.). Disregarding the slack water, 
 this corresponds to an average of rather more than 13,5007. per mile,
 
 2O2 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 or approximately 2ooo/. per mile more than the average cost of the 
 railways of the same country. The total gross income in 1880, the 
 latest year for which there are complete returns, was 4,538,620 
 dollars, and the total expenditure was 2,954,156 dollars, or 65 per 
 cent, of the gross income. This figure compares very unfavourably 
 with that shown for the American railroad system in the same year, 
 the working expenses having been only 39^2 per cent, of the gross 
 earnings. The net income of the United States canals in 1880 was 
 1,584,000 dollars, which is less than i per cent, on the total ex- 
 penditure. The commercial aspect of the canal system of the 
 United States is not, therefore, an encouraging one. Hadley, indeed, 
 declares that after 1870 "it became a question whether the canal 
 could pay expenses of maintenance a question which was finally 
 decided in the negative."* 
 
 Besides the canals actually being worked in the United States, 
 there are 1953 miles of canals that have been abandoned. The 
 construction of these canals cost 8,802,6307. The longest of the 
 abandoned canals is the Wabash and Erie, 379 miles in length, 
 which was built between 1832 and 1851 for the purpose of connect- 
 ing Evansville, Ind., with the Ohio State lines, at a cost of about 
 6^ million dollars. The James River and Kanawho is another im- 
 portant canal, 196^ miles long, which was constructed at different 
 dates between 1785 and 1851, at a cost of close on 6^ million 
 dollars, and was abandoned in 1880, on account of its inability to 
 "pay its way." The canal now belongs to the Richmond and 
 Allegheny Railway Company. The Erie canal and branches be- 
 tween Bridgwater and Erie was built between 1833 and 1844 at a 
 cost of about 6^- million dollars, and abandoned in 1871, and the 
 Western Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, between Johnstown 
 and Pittsburg, a distance of 104 miles, commenced in 1830, and 
 constructed at a cost of about 3^ million dollars, was abandoned in 
 1863. In almost every instance the reason assigned for abandon- 
 ment has been the same that the traffic has been insufficient to 
 meet the working expenses of the canal .f 
 
 The Miami and Erie Canal This is the most important of the 
 existing canals in Ohio, both with regard to navigation and to use 
 for water-power. From Cincinnati it extends northerly, at a dis- 
 tance ranging from 15 to 35 miles from the western boundary of the 
 
 * ' Railroad Transportation,' p. 31. 
 
 t ' Report of the Tenth Census,' vol. iv. pp. 29-31.
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 203 
 
 State, into Defiance County, where it turns north-easterly and 
 follows down the Maumee river to Toledo. The main trunk has a 
 length of about 246 miles. It originally entered the Ohio river at 
 Cincinnati, and the Maumee river close to its mouth, several miles 
 below Toledo; but these termini have within recent years been 
 cut off. The section traversed by the canal is fertile, thickly settled, 
 wealthy, enjoys abundant railroad facilities, and has an established 
 character as a manufacturing district. The structures on the Miami 
 and Erie Canal appear to be in better condition than those on the 
 Ohio Canal, and the hydraulic powers are favoured by a generally 
 copious supply of water, derived from the Miami and Maumee rivers 
 and from a system of large reservoirs in the summit- region between 
 their basins. The water-powers along the whole line of the canal 
 are generally taken up and in use. This is especially true 
 between Dayton and Cincinnati, and it has been stated that probably 
 no more power would be leased along that portion, from danger of 
 interfering with the interests of navigation. The manufacture of flour 
 is an important interest along the entire canal, and stands first as 
 regards the number of mills. The paper industry ranks next in this 
 respect, and has been most developed between Dayton and Cincin- 
 nati. There are small woollen-mills also at various points, as well 
 as saw-mills, machine shops, agricultural implement factories, oil- 
 mills, and other works. The greatest utilisation of power is found 
 among the three counties of Hamilton, Butler, and Montgomery, and 
 in the middle and northern counties of Miami, Anglaize, and Lucas. 
 At Maumee city, some 8 miles above Toledo, the canal is 63 feet 
 above the level of the Maumee river and Lake Erie, and is connected 
 with the former by locks. From this point for 15^ miles, up to the 
 head of the rapids, where the Maumee is rendered tributary for 
 feeding the levels below, there is no lockage. When the canal was 
 built the question of water-power in connection with it was con- 
 sidered, and in the Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Public 
 Works (1843) it was stated that " the capacity of this canal is such 
 that from the head of the rapids to Manhattan 18,000 cubic feet of 
 water per minute can be passed and used for hydraulic purposes 
 without injury to the navigation. At Maumee city the water can be 
 used over a fall of 63 feet ; at the locks above Toledo the water can 
 be used over a fall of 49 feet, and at Manhattan over a fall of 15 feet ; 
 between these points the canal is so located that the water can be 
 used from it for hydraulic purposes with great convenience, occupying
 
 2O4 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 all the fall between the canal and river." A large amount of power 
 is now used from this portion of the canal by several paper-mills 
 and large flour mills. 
 
 From the pool above the rapids the succeeding 26 miles of canal, 
 to Independence, is supplied from the river by means of a dam at 
 that place, 9 feet high. From the long level below Independence, the 
 report already quoted from mentions an opportunity to utilise a fall 
 of 23 feet to the river. The portion of canal now referred to 
 was originally known as the Wabash and Erie, being continuous 
 with the Indiana canal of that name. From its junction with the old 
 Miami Canal in Paulding County, to the outlet at Toledo, on the 
 level of Lake Erie, a distance of 64 miles, there is a total descent of 
 148 feet, effected through 19 locks. This section of the canal was 
 constructed 60 feet wide at the top water-line, and 6 feet deep. From 
 Paulding County the canal takes a quite direct southerly course, and 
 thence to Dayton, 113 miles below the junction, is utilised at frequent 
 intervals for power by flouring-mills, and occasionally by small 
 woollen factories, saw-mills, and other works. 
 
 A quantity of water is withdrawn from the Canal by the Cooper 
 Hydraulic Company and utilised under a fall of 12 feet around a 
 lock, being then returned to the canal. At a point below a certain 
 amount is again withdrawn from the canal, and after it has been 
 employed for power under a fall of 8 feet, is discharged into the 
 Miami river. The Hydraulic Company owns a part of the water, 
 acquired by purchase, and also leases from the State, at an annual 
 rental of 1000 dollars, all the surplus running to supply the levels 
 below Dayton. On this privilege a "run" is defined as 315 
 cubic feet of water per minute on the " middle," as it is called or 12 
 foot fall, and 400 cubic feet per minute on the " lower," or 8 foot 
 fall. A run at the middle fall was originally 300 cubic feet, but in 
 consequence of slight backwater, it was increased to 315 cubic feet. 
 The rates for both temporary and permanent power vary from 150 
 dollars to 300 dollars per annum per run, but the larger portion is 
 leased at 200 dollars per annum in the middle, and 150 dollars on 
 the lower fall. 
 
 From the basin at Dayton to low water in the Ohio river at 
 Cincinnati, a distance of 66 miles, the canal descends about 300 feet, 
 through 32 locks. Water for feeding the various levels south of 
 Dayton is introduced at that city, Mamesburg, and Middletown. The 
 manufacturing along this section is extensive, the paper and flouring
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 205 
 
 industries being especially prominent. For the former of these, as 
 now developed, however, the power furnished from the canal alone 
 is not sufficiently reliable, and the mills are generally filled with 
 steam engines for use when the water supply runs short. 
 
 From the upper plane of the city of Cincinnati the canal 
 descended formerly to the Ohio by means of ten locks, with a fall of 
 in feet, measured to low water in the river. This terminal portion, 
 though abandoned for navigation, is nevertheless utilised for power. 
 Much of the way, it is covered from view, and in part of its course 
 the water is divided between two separate channels. Water is used 
 successively from one level to another, and is finally discharged into 
 the Eggleston Avenue sewer. 
 
 The Morris Canal^ New Jersey, of which a profile is given at 
 p. 206, is one of the most important in the United States. It was 
 built originally to connect the Delaware River, with Newall. It was 
 commenced in 1825 and opened to Jersey City in 1836. The 
 summit level is 51 miles from tide water at Newall, and 39 miles 
 from the Delaware River, being 914 feet above the former, and 760 
 feet above the latter. This elevation is overcome by 23 inclined 
 planes, and 23 lift-locks. In 1841 the dimensions of the lift-locks 
 were enlarged to 98 feet by 1 2 feet. 
 
 The Union Canal, Pa., of which a section is shown on the next 
 page, was commenced in 1811, and completed, after a long stoppage 
 caused by the war of 1812, in 1832. The canal was intended to 
 connect the Schuylkill and Susquehanna rivers. There is a lockage 
 of 501 feet, with 88 lift-locks 3 guard-locks, and 2 weigh-locks, 
 making 93 locks in all. The tonnage, which was 207,500 tons in 
 1858, fell to 29,800 tons in 1880. There were in the latter year 
 73 boats on the canal, averaging 100 tons. 
 
 The Schuylkill Navigation (see profile, p. 206) Pa., was incorporated 
 in 1815, for the purpose of connecting the coal region of Mount 
 Carbon with the city of Philadelphia. The canal was completed in 
 1826, when the depth of water was three feet, and the carrying 
 capacity of the boats employed was 25 tons. By 1847 the minimum 
 depth of water was made 6 feet, and the boats employed averaged 
 170 tons. In 1850, a flood, which devastated the Schuylkill valley, 
 swept away dams, locks, tow-paths, and banks, so that hardly a 
 trace of the canal existed for many miles, but this damage was sub- 
 sequently repaired. The locks on the canal are no feet by 18 feet. 
 The lockage on the main line of the canal is 6i8 feet. There are
 
 2O6 
 
 47 waterways, two over- 
 flows, with 3300 feet in 
 both, 121 bridges, 22 cul- 
 verts, 31 dams, and 12 
 aqueducts. The company 
 has had a chequered 
 career, and the canal was, 
 in 1870, leased to the Pa, 
 and Reading Railroad Co., 
 for 999 years, at a yearly 
 rental of 655,000 dollars. 
 
 The Chesapeake and 
 Ohio Canal, illustrated in 
 profile, is one of the most 
 important works of its kind 
 in the United States, con- 
 necting the Potomac and 
 Ohio rivers, piercing the 
 Allegheny mountains by a 
 tunnel 3118 feet in length, 
 and having cost, on its com- 
 pletion in 185 1, no less than 
 11,071,000 dols., or 60,000 
 dols. (i2,ooi/.) per mile. 
 The canal has a depth of 6 
 feet throughout. For about 
 60 miles it is 60 feet wide at 
 the top, and 42 feet at the 
 bottom ; for 47 miles its 
 surface width is 850 feet, 
 and its bottom width, 32 
 feet; and for 77^ miles 
 more the surface width is 
 54 feet, and the bottom 
 width 38 feet The locks 
 are 100 feet long and 15 
 feet wide in the clear ; they 
 are capable of passing boats 
 carrying 120 tons. There 
 are 74 lift-locks and a tide-
 
 H 
 
 >" A* 
 
 ~T 
 
 ^ 
 <tjj*xn? 
 
 
 iwii/tiug 
 
 -Ji- 
 
 HT 
 
 e-f"" 
 
 ^IM 
 
 6'f 
 
 nj 
 
 --'Ii
 
 208 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 lock. The water-supply is drawn entirely from the Potomac, seven 
 dams having been constructed across the river for this purpose. 
 
 The Ohio Canal. This canal has a length of 309 miles, extend- 
 ing from Cleveland on Lake Erie to Portsmouth on the Ohio river. 
 From the former city it ascends the valleys of the Cuyahoga and 
 Little Cuyahoga rivers, and reaches the north end of the summit- 
 level at Akron, 38 miles from Cleveland. This portion is fed mainly 
 from the Cuyahoga and Little Cuyahoga rivers, and has an ascent of 
 395^ feet, overcome by means of 44 locks. Of these, twenty-one 
 are within 3 miles and sixteen within i^ mile of the north end of the 
 summit-level at Akron. Power is utilised by a number of mills, 
 principally at the last mentioned place. 
 
 The canal now enters the basin of the Tuscarawas river, and from 
 the south end of what is known as the Portage summit-level has an 
 uninterrupted descent to Welsport, following the Tuscarawas valley 
 and then that of the main Muskingum river. In this distance of 
 112 miles there is a fall of 238-6 feet, effected by 29 locks. The 
 low-level at Welsport is also at the foot of a continuous descent from 
 the Licking summit, which lies to the westward, the surplus waters 
 entering it from either direction being discharged through a side cut 
 into the Muskingum river at Dresden. On the division extending 
 from the Portage summit to Welsport and Dresden, there are nearly 
 a dozen flouring-mills, using various powers, ranging usually between 
 15 and 50 horse-power, but in two or three cases reaching 100 and 150. 
 
 From the low-level at Welsport the canal rises to the westward to 
 the Licking summit, making an ascent of 160 feet in the 42 miles 
 by means of nineteen locks. The water supply is derived from the 
 Licking river at the Narrows, from one or two forks of the main 
 river, and from the Licking reservoir. There are no returns 
 indicating any present use of power on this section of the canal. At 
 Newark there is a fall of 18 feet from the feeder and from the main 
 canal to the water-surface in the north fork of the Licking river, but 
 it is not utilised. In years past the feeder had been employed at 
 Newark for a small woollen mill, a flouring-mill, and a saw-mill, 
 which did rather an extensive business ; but they have, one after 
 another, abandoned the use of the water power. The feeder at that 
 point draws from the north fork, and should take its entire low- 
 flow, but the feeder-dam is reported as leaky, and the canal has been 
 allowed to silt up, thereby diminishing its capacity, so that the avail- 
 able flow of the stream is not utilised.
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 209 
 
 The Sault St. Marie Canal. One of the most remarkable canals 
 in the world is that known as the Sault St. Marie, or St. Mary's Falls 
 Canal, in the State of Michigan, which connects the waters of Lake 
 Superior and Lake Huron, and thereby affords a means of communi- 
 cation between some of the most important territories and centres of 
 population in the United States. The position of the canal is illus- 
 trated in the chapter on " Canadian Waterways." 
 
 The head of Lake Superior is 1400 miles from New York. Of 
 this distance some 880 miles are deep water navigation by the Lakes, 
 the outlet of which is St. Mary's River. The St. Mary's Strait is 
 75 miles long, and in this distance there is a fall of 20 feet 4 inches, 
 of which 18 feet 2 inches occur at the Sault, while the remainder of 
 the descent, 2 feet 2 inches, is distributed over the first 35 miles 
 below that point. Hence the river is tortuous, and navigation is 
 rendered unsafe by the rapids, although from a point 50 miles below 
 the foot of Lake Superior navigation is good for the remainder of the 
 distance of 25 miles to Lake Huron. 
 
 In 1855 the St. Mary Falls Canal was built for the purpose of 
 overcoming the fall between the Lakes Superior and Huron. The 
 length of the canal is only about one mile, so that, as compared with 
 the Suez and other ship canals, its extent is unimportant. But so 
 far as its traffic is concerned, this is the most important canal in the 
 world. Commencing with an annual tonnage of only about 100,000 
 tons at the time of its construction, the canal now disposes of an 
 annual tonnage of over six millions, thus exceeding the tonnage 
 passed over the Suez Canal by nearly a million of tons. 
 
 In 1855, two locks were built on the St. Mary's Falls Canal, each 
 70 feet wide and 350 feet long between the gates. These locks 
 could not accommodate vessels drawing more than n^ feet. But in 
 
 1880, when the canal had been transferred by the State of Michigan 
 to the United States, as a work of national importance, the Govern- 
 ment undertook the construction of a new lock, which was opened in 
 
 1881, and which has been described by competent engineers as the 
 finest piece of hydraulic engineering on the American continent. 
 The lock is at the lower end, and is 515 feet long between the gates 
 and 80 feet wide in the chamber, with 1 7 feet of water on the sills. 
 The lift is 1 8 feet, more or less, according to the fall in the rapids 
 between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The gates are not set 
 opposite to each other on the same axis, but on parallel axes 20 feet 
 apart, so that the width between the gates is reduced to 60 feet, 
 
 p
 
 2io Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 while in the chamber it is 80 feet, the difference being met by reverse 
 curves on either side. 
 
 Advantage is taken of the natural water power created by the 
 lock to establish by the side of it an accumulator for operating the 
 gates and valves by hydraulic pressure in the same manner as at 
 the London and Liverpool docks which works admirably. 
 
 The chamber is filled and emptied by culverts of large dimensions, 
 under the mitre sills, without producing any disturbance of the vessel, 
 because the tunnel or culvert runs the whole length of the chamber, 
 with openings at the top, which are so arranged as to distribute the 
 force of the inflowing current along the centre, entirely under the 
 vessel's keel. In 1886, when the Canadian and Pacific Railway 
 steamer A rthabaska passed through the lock, it took one minute and 
 a half to close the upper gates, seven minutes and a half to empty 
 the lock, and one minute and a half to open the lower gates. 
 Altogether, from the time of entering the lock to the time of going 
 out of it again, the passage was made in thirteen minutes, and there 
 was no hurry about it. 
 
 It is only by the great initial pressure afforded by the accumu- 
 lator, about 600 Ibs. to the square inch, that the valves and 
 gates could be commanded with so much ease and rapidity. This 
 system has been seven years in operation, and its efficiency proves 
 the great care and skill with which all the details of construction have 
 been worked out. The lock was six years in building, and cost, 
 including the enlargement of the canal, about three millions of 
 dollars. 
 
 The two other locks, now called the " old locks," built by the 
 State of Michigan, and first opened in 1855, are still in use. These 
 old locks are combined, having lifts of 9 feet each to overcome the 
 whole fall of 18 feet. The gates are suspended from pillars seated 
 on the coping of the quoins, and the chambers are filled and 
 emptied through the gates in the old-fashioned way. The old 
 canals and locks were assumed by the United States Government in 
 1881. The shipping that goes through this canal all passes free, 
 both domestic and foreign. The staple articles of the commerce 
 using the canal are coal, copper, flour, grain, iron ore, pig and manu- 
 factured iron, lumber, salt, silver ore, and building stones. Before 
 the opening of the canal the commerce here was nil. It now 
 threatens soon to exceed the capacity of both locks, in view of 
 which the United States Government has already commenced a
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 2 1 1 
 
 second enlargement, the estimated cost of which is nearly five millions 
 of dollars. 
 
 This new lock is to occupy the site of the old combined locks, 
 and is to surpass all other locks in the grandeur of its dimensions. 
 It will have a chamber 800 feet long between the gates, the width, 
 both in the chamber and at the gates, will be 100 feet throughout, 
 and the depth on the sills will be 2 1 feet. Of course there are no 
 vessels on the upper lakes large enough to fill such a lock as this, 
 but it is designed to pass a fleet through at a single lockage, inclu- 
 ding tug-boats, with their flotilla of barges. The canal is to be 
 uniformly 20 feet in depth. 
 
 Previous to the construction of the St. Mary's Falls Canal, all the 
 outside supplies for the upper lake had to be unloaded at the foot of 
 the rapids, transferred over a portage road to the head of the rapids, 
 and reshipped at great expense. Even the vessels which were sailing 
 on Lake Superior had been handed out and dragged around the 
 rapids in the same way. The transfer and supply business became 
 the great industry, and as the mining fever developed, and the Lake 
 Superior district began to boast of its few scattered but permanent 
 settlements, it seemed as if Sault Ste Marie was destined to be the 
 central and chief city of this region. The portage trade, in the 
 very nature of things, could not last. The demands of Lake 
 Superior were too urgent to admit of the delay and harassment 
 incident to this method of transfer, and the construction of a ship 
 canal around the rapids became a practical problem which demanded 
 a speedy solution. Governor Mason in 1837, in his first message, 
 advised the building of such a canal, and during the same year a 
 survey was made for that purpose. In 1838 an appropriation bill 
 was passed by the Legislature, and in the following year the con- 
 tractors commenced the work. Much to their surprise, the military 
 authorities considered the work an infringement upon the rights of 
 the General Government, and an armed force from Fort Brady drove 
 the contractors off the ground. This put a quietus to the work for 
 several years, although the advocates of the measure did not cease to 
 urge it upon the attention of the State Legislature and Congress. In 
 1852, however, the latter passed a Bill appropriating 750,000 acres 
 of land to aid in the construction of a canal. In 1853 the Legisla- 
 ture authorised the commencement of the work. The contract was 
 let to construct two consecutive locks, each 350 feet long, 70 feet 
 wide, with a depth of 13 feet of water, and proper canal approaches. 
 
 p 2
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 These were the old State locks, now about to be removed and 
 replaced by a single lock which, as already stated, will in its dimen- 
 sions and capacity, be the largest in the world. This canal has 
 resulted in adding Lake Superior to that system of waterways which 
 is the pride and the chief commercial feature of the northern border. 
 
 The commerce of the great American lakes has enormously in- 
 creased within recent years, as the statistics of the St. Mary's Falls 
 Canal sufficiently prove. In 1872 the regi-tered tonnage that passed 
 through the canal was under a million tons; in 1880 it was only 
 1,734,000 tons; and in 1886 it had increased to 4,219,000 tons. 
 The growth of the trade continues. The navigation, it will be 
 remembered, is only open for about seven months of the year, 
 usually commencing about the first week of May, and closing in the 
 first week of December. If it were open all the year round, like that 
 of the Suez Canal, the difference of business, in favour of the St. 
 Mary's Falls Canal, as compared with the Suez and other great 
 canals, would be much more marked than it is. The tonnage 
 carried through the canal in 1886 was made up of 
 
 Coal 1,009,000 tons. 
 
 Iron ore 2,089,000 ,, 
 
 Copper 39,000 ,, 
 
 Salt 159,000 
 
 Iron and steel 115,000 ,, 
 
 Wheat 18,991,000 bushels. 
 
 Flour 1,759,000 barrels 
 
 On the St. Mary's Falls Canal in 1888 there were carried no less 
 than 6,411,000 net tons (2000 Ibs.) of freight and 25,558 passengers, 
 the freight including nearly 19 million bushels of wheat, over 
 2^ million tons of lumber (timber), about 2\ million tons of coal, and 
 2,190,000 barrels of flour. The total number of vessels that used 
 the canal in that year was 7803, of which 5305 were steamers. The 
 average cargo carried by each vessel, large and small, was about 
 822 tons, being an increase of 40 per cent, on that of the previous 
 year. This is a development that can hardly be paralleled in the 
 history of transportation. Taking the navigation season at seven 
 months, it means an average of 916,000 tons per month passing 
 through the canal, or at the rate of about u million tons a year, 
 which is roughly about double the tonnage that makes use of the 
 Suez Canal. 
 
 On the first blush, it is by no means apparent that the St. Mary's
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 2 1 3 
 
 Falls Canal can do much to advance the maritime intercourse of the 
 United States with the nations of the East. And yet it may become 
 an important factor in this direction ; so much so, that there are those 
 who hold that New York is likely thereby to become the great dis- 
 tributing centre for the produce of India and China, not on the 
 American continent only, but throughout European and African 
 Atlantic ports as well. This conclusion is based upon circumstances 
 that appear to be only imperfectly understood in Europe. The 
 tunnelling of the Cascade Mountains, now in progress in Washington 
 Territory, will bring Duluth within 1800 miles of Paget Sound, thus 
 bringing the waters of the Pacific Ocean within 1800 miles of 
 navigable waters flowing directly into the Atlantic Ocean, through 
 Lake Superior, the Sault, and the Erie Canal. By this means New 
 York will, it is claimed, be brought within 10,500 miles of Canton, 
 while the distance between that city and London, Liverpool, or 
 Antwerp is 17,000 to 18,000 miles. Between New York and 
 Canton, via the Isthmus of Suez, the distance is 20,500 miles, and 
 by the Cape of Good Hope it is 22,500 miles. The future is there- 
 fore likely to work some changes in the balance of Eastern trade, 
 although it may not happen that the St. Mary's Fall Canal will, as 
 some enthusiasts suppose, become the most important rival of the 
 Suez Canal, and "one of the greatest factors in bringing about 
 tremendous changes in the commerce of the world." 
 
 In order to give some idea of the remarkable key-like location of 
 the "Sault" or " Soo," and the character of the locks, which are the 
 prominent feature of the canal, we have reproduced, in the following 
 chapter (that on Canada) from a recently published work on that 
 locality, a sketch-map, showing the railway and waterway com- 
 munications that are concentrated at this point (p. 226). 
 
 PROJECTED CANALS. 
 
 The Florida Ship Canal. In 1869 the Board of Trade of Mobile 
 memorialised the Congress of the United States for an appropriation 
 for a survey for a ship canal, to open ship communication between 
 the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, through 
 the Florida peninsula. The proposed canal, it was pointed out, 
 might commence at Tamper Bay, on the Gulf side of Florida. At this 
 point there is a naturally well-protected harbour, with ample depth 
 of water for ships drawing 20 feet, and the channel could be per-
 
 2 1 4 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 manently deepened. East of Tamper Bay, in a distance of 125 miles 
 across the peninsula of Florida at its narrowest part, with one excep- 
 tion, the maps show on the Atlantic coast depths of 27 feet to 28 feet 
 of water quite close to the shore, and thence to the broad expanse 
 of the Atlantic a free and unobstructed way for vessels. It is 
 believed by competent authorities that a very efficient ship canal, 
 with adequate depth of water, could be made here without great cost. 
 The land is level across the proposed route, with only a few feet 
 elevation above tide-water. The importance of such a canal would 
 no doubt be considerable. The passage around the southern point 
 of Florida is narrow, is subject to tornadoes, and is beset with con- 
 cealed reefs, upon which a rapid current tends to throw ships, besides 
 which the long passage round the peninsula would be obviated. 
 
 Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. Notwithstanding the compara- 
 tive disuse of a great part of the existing American canal system, a 
 proposal has been put forward quite recently to construct a waterway 
 to connect Delaware and Chesapeake Bays. This canal, if it were 
 carried out, would be about 17 miles in length, and it is estimated to 
 cost 8,500,000 dols. (i,7oo,ooo/.). It is proposed to adopt the 
 following dimensions : width, 100 feet ; depth at low-water, 26 feet ; 
 side slopes, \\ to i foot. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The transportation problem continues to exercise the minds of 
 the people of the United States in a way that the people of Great 
 Britain can but imperfectly appreciate. The cost of conveying 
 traffic from Chicago to New York has already been brought down 
 to an average of 6-6 cents per bushel for water, and 10 to 12 cents 
 for rail transport. In other words, the cost of transporting a ton 
 of goods between the two greatest commercial cities of the New 
 World has been brought down to -09^. by water, and o-ii//. by 
 land. So notable an achievement ought, one would naturally 
 suppose, to satisfy the insatiable appetite of our American friends 
 for cheap transportation, but so far from this being the case, they 
 are now considering how far it is possible to reduce the 6-6 cent 
 water-rate to five or even four cents, and the possibility is hinted 
 at of reducing the rates to three cents per bushel,* which would be 
 a fraction over o-o^J. per ton per mile. This would mean, if 
 
 4 Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers,' vol xiv. p. 99.
 
 The Waterways of the United States. 215 
 
 actually accomplished, that a ton of goods might be carried between 
 London and Edinburgh a distance of over 400 miles for i6;/., 
 or, to put the matter in a way that may be readily appreciated, the 
 cost of the transport of the 2,463,000 tons of coal conveyed by sea 
 from Newcastle to London in, 1888 would be reduced to is. per ton, 
 and the inhabitants of London might thus reckon on having their 
 coal supplies almost as cheaply as if they lived within thirty miles 
 of the mines. 
 
 In order, however, to bring about the contemplated further 
 reduction of the cost of transport between Chicago and New York, 
 it is proposed to construct a New Erie Canal. The cost would be 
 stupendous. It has been calculated at about 150 millions of dollars, 
 but it would probably involve a still larger expenditure, inasmuch as 
 ship canals seldom come within their estimates. A remarkable 
 calculation has been made, by way of justifying this large outlay. It 
 is reckoned that if one cent alone can be saved on the cost of trans- 
 porting a bushel of wheat over this route, it would mean a total 
 saving of about nineteen million of dollars on the products of the 
 forest, the field, and the mine, which are tributary to the great 
 American lakes. 
 
 The American Society of Civil Engineers were recently called 
 upon to consider a project for " the widening, deepening, and 
 necessary rectification of the worst curvatures of the present Erie 
 Canal, from Buffalo to Newark, about 130 miles ; the construction of 
 a new canal from Newark to Utica, about 115 miles; the canalisa- 
 tion of the Mohawk River from Utica to Troy, about no miles ; and 
 the improvement of the Hudson river from Troy to Four Mile Point, 
 in Coxsackie, a distance of about thirty miles." 
 
 The adoption of this programme would make the Erie Canal the 
 most important artificial waterway in the world, the tonnage that 
 would make use of it, when thus improved, being calculated at 20 
 to 25 millions a year. The cost of the undertaking (estimated at 
 25,ooo,ooo/. to 30,000, ooo/.), although a large sum, is not deemed to 
 be too much for a great artificial river more than 300 miles long, 1 8 
 feet deep, 100 feet wide at the bottom, and having locks 450 feet 
 long and 60 feet wide. These dimensions would enable the canal 
 to float the largest vessels that navigate the great lakes from Lake 
 Erie to the deep waters of the Hudson.
 
 2 1 6 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF CANADA. 
 
 " Heads the running springs and standing lakes, 
 And bounding banks for winding rivers makes." Dryden. 
 
 IT appears to be among the " things not generally known " that 
 Canada has, relatively to the trade and population of the Dominion, 
 one of the most extensive and perfect systems of canal communica- 
 tion in existence. The really important canals are few in number, 
 and the traffic that they transport is by no means so considerable 
 as that carried on many of the canals of the United States and some 
 European countries. But, all the same, the Canadian people, always 
 appreciative of the advantages of cheap water transport, and looking 
 to that agency as a means for the development of their internal 
 resources, have neglected no opportunity that offered for advancing 
 their waterways, and utilising them to the utmost extent. 
 
 The principal canals in Canadian territory are the Welland, the 
 Lachine, the Cornwall, the Galops, the Murray, the Quebec and 
 Montreal, and the Sault Ste Marie, or St. Mary's Falls, the latter being 
 partly on United States and partly on Canadian territory. These 
 canals have chiefly been constructed for the purpose of affording 
 communication between the great lakes and the St. Lawrence river, 
 whence vessels pass into the Atlantic. 
 
 The Welland Canal. The waters of Lake Erie empty into Lake 
 Ontario through the Niagara river and over the Niagara Falls. The 
 difference in the levels of the two lakes cannot be stated with any 
 exactness, as the influences which cause the variations in the height 
 of water in the two lakes are not identical. It is, however, as nearly 
 as can be ascertained, 326! feet. The course of the Niagara river is 
 due north, and its current is swift and turbulent. 
 
 The Welland river flows nearly at right angles with the Niagara 
 river, and discharges into it at Chippewa, a village about 2 miles 
 above Niagara Falls. It is navigable for deeply loaded vessels for a 
 distance of 40 miles or more, and has scarcely any current. The
 
 The Waterways of Canada. 2 i 7 
 
 Grand River flows south-easterly, and empties into Lake Erie. Port 
 Maitland, one of the safest harbours on Lake Erie, is situated at the 
 mouth of the Grand River. Port Colborne, another very secure 
 harbour on the same lake, is about 18 miles west of the upper end 
 of the Niagara river. Port Dalhousie, on Lake Ontario, is about 
 ii miles west of the mouth of the Niagara. The desirability of 
 connecting the two lakes by navigable water was, very early in the 
 history of the country, admitted by all who gave the matter attention ; 
 surveys were made from time to time, and various plans were pro- 
 posed and discussed, but nothing definite was done until, in 1824, a 
 company was incorporated under the name of the Welland Canal 
 Company. Their first intention seems to have been to establish a 
 line of communication between the two lakes by a combination of 
 canal and railway, the canal to be of comparatively small capacity 
 but this plan was soon laid aside, and it was determined to secure 
 water communication throughout the whole length, and to build a 
 canal sufficiently large to admit schooners and sloops. 
 
 The plan thus adopted contemplated utilising the Niagara river 
 from Lake Erie to the mouth of the Welland river, the Welland river 
 being followed for a distance of 8f miles, and building a canal from 
 Welland river to Lake Ontario. The water supply was to be obtained 
 from the Welland river, and a high ridge of land in the line of the 
 proposed canal was to be overcome by a deep cut. There were 
 many objections to this plan, the chief of which were the circuitous 
 course necessitated by the use of the Niagara and Welland rivers, 
 the swift current of the Niagara, and its unsuitability for heavily 
 loaded boats, and the constant danger of slides, because of the 
 unstable character of the soil through which the deep cutting would 
 have to be made. Notwithstanding these objections, and various 
 other obstacles which were developed by close inquiry and examina- 
 tion, the company adhered to their plans, and in July 1825 entered 
 into a contract for the prosecution of the work. But the undertaking 
 dragged from lack of funds. 
 
 In the summer of 1828 the work of construction had made such 
 progress that it was confidently expected that the water would be let 
 into the canal by the autumn of that year ; but just at this time the 
 predictions of the opponents of the scheme were realised, and the 
 completion of the enterprise was delayed by the falling in of a part of 
 the embankment in the deep cut. The accident was so formidable 
 as to seriously embarrass the company, already well drained of its
 
 2 1 8 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 resources, and working on a plan not generally approved. The 
 directors, therefore, abandoned the design of using the Welland river 
 as a feeder, and determined to obtain their water supply for the 
 canal from the Grand River, through a new feeder to be constructed 
 
 for a distance of 27 miles. This necessitated raising the level of the 
 canal, but the depth of cutting was at the same time diminished 
 1 5^ feet, and the danger of a recurrence of the accident referred to 
 was much lessened. Work was again begun, and on November 3oth,
 
 The Waterways of Canada. 
 
 219 
 
 1829, two schooners ascended the canal from Lake Ontario to the 
 Welland river. 
 
 Vessels drawing 7^- feet of water and not having more than 
 2i feet breadth of beam then sailed down the river Niagara until 
 
 they approached about one-fourth of a mile from the mouth of the 
 Welland river. There they entered a canal, 15 chains in length, 
 which has been cut across a point of land into the Welland river, up
 
 220 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 which they passed a distance of 9! miles. They then ascended two 
 locks into the deeper cut, and passed through it for a distance of i6 
 miles more into Lake Ontario. 
 
 The feeder was 20 feet broad at the bottom, 40 feet broad at 
 water-level, and 5 feet deep. The Government, in 1831, granted the 
 company a loan to assist in carrying out an extension of the main 
 line over the Welland river to Port Colborne by enlarging the feeder 
 for about five miles, so as to make it a navigable channel, and 
 excavating a new canal for the remaining distance between the main 
 line, as originally completed, and Lake Erie. This work was 
 finished in 1833, the line thus constructed occupying nearly the 
 same route as the enlarged line of 1841, and the old line of the 
 present day having the same termini on the two lakes. It was 
 27^ miles long, and the breadth at the bottom was 24 feet. There 
 were forty locks, built of wood, all no feet long by 22 feet wide, except 
 the first three ascending locks from Port Dalhousie, which were 130 
 by 32 feet, and one at Port Colborne from the canal into Lake Erie, 
 which was 125 by 24 feet. 
 
 At the solicitation of the company, on Act was passed in 1839 
 authorising the purchase by the province of the rights of the private 
 stockholders, and, shortly after the union in 1841, the purchase was 
 made and the line was transferred to the new Board of Works of 
 Canada. Up to this time it had cost the province of Upper Canada 
 in loans (which were never repaid), in advances, and in the purchase 
 of stock 1,751,427 dollars; in addition to which 100,000 dollars had 
 been contributed to its construction in the purchase of the company's 
 stock by the Government of Lower Canada, and 222,220 dollars in 
 loans by the Imperial Government, making the total cost 2,073,647 
 dollars. 
 
 The Welland Canal, as originally built, had never been satis- 
 factory, either in its location, in its dimensions, or in the character of 
 the work, and it had never been looked upon as permanently 
 completed. 
 
 From time to time surveys and investigations had been made, and 
 changes and improvements suggested, but nothing of any moment 
 had been done. As soon, however, as the line came wholly under 
 the control of the Government, by the purchase of the interests of 
 the private holders, it was determined by the Board of Public Works 
 that all the locks should be rebuilt in stone, and their dimensions 
 increased to 120 feet long by 26 feet broad, with 8 feet water on
 
 The Waterways of Canada. 2 2 1 
 
 the sills ; that the aqueduct required to carry the canal over the 
 Welland river should be rebuilt of stone ; that the feeder should be 
 converted into a navigable channel ; that the harbours on both lakes 
 should be improved ; and, finally, that the projected Port Maitland 
 branch should be undertaken and completed, with an entrance lock 
 from Lake Erie 200 feet long, 45 feet wide, and having 9 feet depth 
 of water. 
 
 These works were commenced in 1842 and completed in 1849. 
 The original plan was modified during the progress of the work so as 
 to make the locks 150 feet long by 26^ feet wide, and the bed of the 
 main line 26 feet wide at the bottom. 
 
 As the Grand River gave evident signs that it could not be relied 
 upon as a feeder, it was decided to obtain the water supply for the 
 canal from Lake Erie. To do this it became necessary to lower 
 the summit-level 8 feet to that of Lake Erie. This undertaking 
 was commenced in 1846, but was not finally completed so as to 
 render the canal independent of the Grand River until a few 
 years ago. These enlargements and improvements cost the 
 Government of Canada up to the ist of July 1867, 4,900,810 
 dollars. 
 
 Even after its enlargement, no vessel drawing more than 10 feet 
 of water, or over 150 feet in length, could pass through the Welland 
 Canal. Increased accommodation being needed, a larger canal with 
 a new set of locks was commenced in 1873, and completed in 1881. 
 This canal branches off from the old canal 19 miles from Lake Erie, 
 and rejoins it again at Lake Ontario. The old canal was deepened 
 from Lake Erie to its junction, with the new canal, so that vessels 
 having a draught of less than 12 feet can pass from one lake to the 
 other. The new canal is 100 feet wide at the bottom, 12 feet in 
 depth, and has side slopes of 2 to i ; but the excavation through 
 rock has been carried down to 14 feet in depth, to facilitate the 
 deepening of the canal if required in the future. It is 13 miles long, 
 and cost 3,840,0007. The difference in level is 313 feet, which is 
 surmounted by twenty-five locks, with lifts ranging between 12 to 
 1 6 feet. Regulating weirs have also been built, some attaining a 
 width of 300 feet ; the flow of water through them is regulated by 
 sluice-gates, formed of sheet iron, which are raised and lowered by 
 screws. The locks are 40 feet 4 inches wide, and have a length of 
 270 feet between the sills. The side walls are 29 feet high, with a 
 batter of i in 24; they are built of limestone ashlar, and are
 
 222 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 strengthened by counterforts. The lock floor is planked with pine 
 timber, and the gates are constructed of white oak. The gates are 
 moved by chains, guided by rollers and winding round drums, and 
 one man is able to move a gate. The sluice-gates are raised by 
 lifting a small shutter ( foot by i foot), which allows the current to 
 work a small turbine, whose revolutions set in motion a screw which 
 raises and lowers the sluice-gate. The rate of motion transmitted by 
 the turbine is so much reduced in passing through a train of wheels 
 and a revolving nut that 212 revolutions of the turbine are required 
 to raise the sluice-gate i inch. The sluice-gates are 5 feet by \\ foot, 
 and are raised in two minutes. 
 
 It has been doubted by many men who have carefully studied the 
 question whether the very large expenditure that has been incurred 
 over the Welland Canal will ever be justified by the result The 
 canal is, of course, the main connecting link between the great 
 lakes of the south and south-west and the principal maritime outlets 
 of the Dominion, and the Dominion Government has no doubt 
 been animated by the belief that the time would come when 
 the great commerce that now passes from Duluth, Chicago, and 
 other ports in the United States to New York, and thence to Europe, 
 would take the Welland Canal route, instead of the Erie Canal, 
 thereby making Montreal the chief port on the American con- 
 tinent. This impression has been supported by the consideration 
 that Montreal is nearly 300 miles nearer to Liverpool than New 
 York. 
 
 It is, no doubt, of the greatest possible consequence to Great 
 Britain, to the United States, and last, but not least, to the Dominion 
 of Canada, to consider how the immense traffic which is now carried 
 on between the great North-western States and the markets of 
 Europe is to be carried in the time to come. 
 
 At the present time we receive from the United States about 
 thirty millions of cwts. of wheat per annum, of which two-thirds are 
 brought to us from ports on the Atlantic, and one-third from ports 
 on the Pacific. We also receive between twelve and fifteen million 
 cwts. of wheat meal and flour, and ten to twelve million cwts. of maize 
 or Indian corn, in addition to smaller quantities of barley and other 
 cereals. 
 
 The great bulk of this immense traffic is transported from 
 Chicago, which is the great gathering ground, to New York, which is
 
 The Waterways of Canada. 223 
 
 the great distributing centre. There is no traffic in the world that 
 is more fiercely competed for. Everything is done that can be done 
 to draw it on to the railways on the one hand, and on to the water- 
 ways on the other, and as a consequence the rates of freight, as we 
 have seen, are on both systems reduced to the lowest attainable 
 limit. The Transatlantic traffic is competed for quite as keenly, 
 so that grain has been carried between Chicago and the markets 
 of Great Britain, a distance of over four thousand miles, for less 
 than 2os. per ton, including a railway journey of 950 miles, or a 
 lake and canal journey of 1200 miles, in addition to the ocean 
 voyage. 
 
 It is, however, beginning to be felt that even this extraordinary 
 outcome of the development of the means of efficient transportation 
 may be threatened with successful rivalry. There are those who 
 argue that the natural outlet for the grain grown in the North-west is 
 not New York, but Montreal, which is 270 miles, or a day's steaming, 
 nearer to Liverpool than New York. 
 
 The grain traffic is sent from Chicago to Buffalo in either case. 
 But from Buffalo to Liverpool by way of the Erie Canal and New 
 York is 3450 miles, while by way of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 
 Montreal it is only 3180 miles. In both cases, the grain is carried 
 by water, so that there is practically no difference in point of cost at 
 the port of departure. 
 
 It has been found necessary in Canada, with a view to meeting 
 the competition of the Erie Canal route, to reduce the canal tolls 
 and harbour dues. Prior to 1884, the rate of tolls on the grain 
 shipped by way of the Welland Canal was 20 cents per ton, which 
 allowed a vessel to pass through the St. Lawrence Canal without 
 additional payment. But, as the tolls on the Erie Canal were 
 abolished in 1883, it became increasingly difficult for the Montreal 
 route to compete with that via the enfranchised Erie Canal to New 
 York. 
 
 A remission of one-half of the tolls on grain has, therefore, since 
 1884 been allowed on the Welland Canal, so that the present rate is 
 only 10 cents, or $d. per ton. Other concessions have been made in 
 the interval, until now the rate is only 2 cents per ton on grain 
 passing eastwards to Canadian ports. This has had the effect of 
 greatly stimulating the canal traffic. The quantity of grain carried 
 into Montreal by railway was, in 1885, about 3^ million bushels
 
 224 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 more than that carried by canal. In 1886, however, the canal carried 
 nearly five millions of bushels more than the railway.* 
 
 The Canadian port, however, notwithstanding its advantages in 
 point of nearer proximity to Liverpool, and its equally good if not 
 superior navigation from Buffalo, is very far behind that via New 
 York. The receipts of grain at New York in some recent years 
 have amounted to as much as 175 millions of bushels, or fully nine 
 times as much as the quantity received at Montreal in 1886. It is 
 manifest, therefore, that Montreal, whatever its geographical advan- 
 tages, has not secured that share of this immense trade to which it 
 has considered itself to be entitled. This fact is probably due to a 
 variety of causes, one of which, the impediments in the way of the 
 navigation of the St. Lawrence, the Canadian Government have 
 recently been attempting to overcome. But the most serious draw- 
 back to Montreal is, no doubt, the climate, which closes up the 
 navigation entirely for a great part of the year, while that of New 
 York is always open. 
 
 The Cornwall Canal. This canal, which is now being enlarged, 
 between Moulinette and Milleroches, where several breaches have 
 occurred in its banks, was originally constructed with a width of 
 TOO feet at the bottom and 10 feet depth. The embankment was 
 raised to 14 feet above the canal bottom, and was made 12 feet wide 
 at the top with slopes on either side of two to one. 
 
 That portion of the canal embankment on the upper reach, which, 
 for upwards of a mile in length (from Moulinette to Milleroches) holds 
 the water in the canal at a level of about twenty feet above the 
 branch of the St. Lawrence, which runs alongside, is in part founded 
 upon the treacherous clay bottom in which were found springs of 
 water, and in part in side cutting permeated by streaks of sand. The 
 embankment over this ground was formed with extra care, the earth 
 being laid on in courses with carts, and where the outer slope ran 
 out into the river, it was protected by boulder stones along its outer 
 
 * The exact figures were 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Bushels of Grain carried by 
 
 
 Railway. 
 
 Canal. 
 
 1885 
 1886 
 
 IO,O07,o6l 
 6,685,000 
 
 6,559,000 
 11,366.000
 
 The Waterways of Canada. 225 
 
 edge. Where springs were found under the seat of the embankment 
 they were led out to the river's edge by French drains, and where 
 the streaks of sand were encountered in the side cutting they were 
 cut off by puddle trenches, 6 feet deep or more, and the bottom and 
 side bank were lined with puddle, 3 feet thick, from the puddle trench 
 to high-water mark. This mode of protection was not continuous over 
 the whole line, but was confined to such parts of the bank only as 
 appeared to require it. 
 
 Since the opening of the canal, there have been several breaches 
 in this bank, the last and worst of all, which occurred in 1888, in- 
 flicting serious damage upon the trade of the St. Lawrence in that year. 
 The enlarged canal is to be 6 feet deeper than the old one. 
 Sixteen feet of water, instead of 10 feet, implies greater strain upon the 
 bank, and a deeper searching after the hidden springs and streaks of 
 sand that may be interposed between the canal bottom and the river. 
 
 It has been proposed, with a view of avoiding this risk, to sub- 
 stitute a lake three miles in length for a canal where the breaks have 
 occurred, and to throw dams across the narrow channels at the head 
 and foot of Speck's Island, in order to raise the Avater up to canal level. 
 
 The Sault St. Marie Canal* The Dominion of Canada, which 
 borders on the Sault, has, or believes that she has, quite as great an 
 interest in the development of the traffic on this route as her neigh- 
 bours, and hence has resolved on constructing a canal at this point, 
 which will, of course, be built on Canadian territory. So far back as 
 1852, the Canadian Government had surveys made with a view to the 
 construction of a canal on the Canadian shore, and the execution of 
 the project was recommended by the Canadian Canal Commission 
 of 1871, but it was not until 1888 that the work was actually placed 
 under contract. 
 
 On the Canadian side of the St. Mary's river there is to be a lock 
 of 1 8 feet, with a chamber 600 feet in length between the gates, 
 85 feet wide, and narrowed at the gates to 60 feet on opposite sides. 
 
 The Canadian Canal System generally. A Commission appointed 
 by the Dominion Government in 1870 to report on the best means 
 of improving the canal system of Canada, adopted a series of recom- 
 mendations, which have since been followed as far as possible. The 
 principal of these were : 
 
 i. That one uniform size of locks and canals be adopted through - 
 
 * The leading particulars as to the location and characteristics of this canal 
 are given at p. 209, and need not here be repeated. 
 
 Q
 
 The Waterways of Canada. 227 
 
 out the whole of the St. Lawrence route ; that the locks be made 
 270 feet long and 45 feet wide, with a depth of 12 feet clear on the 
 mitre sills ; and that the bottom of the canals be sunk at least i foot 
 below the mitre sills of the locks, with a width throughout of not 
 less than 100 feet. They stated that these dimensions would enable 
 vessels of the usual build, carrying 1000 tons, to pass, and if their 
 breadth of beam and sectional areas were increased, the canals might 
 be navigable for vessels of 1500 tons. 
 
 In giving their reasons for fixing the greatest depth of water on 
 this route at 1 2 feet, the Commission says : 
 
 " While some of the writers who ought to be best informed on 
 the subject recommend a draught of 14 feet, and others as much as 
 1 6 feet, regard must, nevertheless, be had to the capabilities of the 
 harbours, and to the engineering characteristics of our canals, as well 
 as the prudent suggestions of moderate and experienced men, who 
 have limited their views to 12 feet. It would be extremely unwise 
 to embark in magnificent schemes exceeding the resources of a 
 young country, with the view of introducing ocean vessels into our 
 canals and lakes." 
 
 2. That the locks on the proposed Bay Verte Canal be made 
 270 feet long and 50 feet wide, with a depth of 15 feet on the mitre 
 sills. 
 
 3. That the locks on the Ottawa system be made 200 feet long 
 and 45 feet wide, with a depth of 9 feet on the mitre sills. 
 
 4. And that the locks in the Richelieu river be made 200 feet 
 long and 45 feet wide, with such a depth on the mitre sills, not 
 exceeding 9 feet, as the channel of the Richelieu would afford. 
 
 The dimensions fixed upon for these routes were thought 
 sufficiently large to accommodate the largest barges used for carrying 
 timber, that being the main article transported through them. 
 
 The Ottawa River. The Canadian Government a few years ago 
 began the improvement of the Ottawa river, westward from Ottawa, 
 with the design of opening up a waterway to Lakes Huron, Michigan, 
 and Superior by means of the Ottawa and French rivers and Lake 
 Nipissing. This undertaking, after being under discussion for a 
 considerable period, was finally abandoned, afier an expenditure of 
 over 1,000,000 dollars. According to a report made by a Govern- 
 ment engineer on the cost of the completion of the scheme, it would 
 have involved about 24,000,000 dollars. A canal 6 miles long would 
 be required to surmount the Chaudiere Falls at Ottawa, which are a 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 barrier to continued river navigation above this city (and from which 
 the valuable water power of the city is derived). Another canal 
 3 miles in length would be necessary to overcome the Chats Falls. 
 This work, called the Chats Canal, was commenced in 1854 and 
 abandoned in 1856, after an expenditure of 483,000 dollars. 
 
 The St. Lawrence River. Only at the close of the year 1888, a 
 work of river improvement, which was commenced fifty years before, 
 was completed by the official opening of the 27^-feet channel 
 between Montreal and Quebec, on the St. Lawrence river. This 
 undertaking involved the deepening of the channel through the flats 
 of Lake St. Peter, where there was only a depth of 12 feet in 1867. 
 In 1873 the Dominion Legislature resolved to deepen the channel 
 to 22 feet at low-water, and not less than 300 feet wide. In 1878 a 
 minimum depth of 22 feet at ordinary low water had been attained. 
 In 1882, the channel was further deepened to 25 feet at low-water, 
 and in 1883, the Harbour Commissioners began to increase the depth 
 to 27 \ feet, which has now been completed. Between 1851 and 
 1882 upwards of eight millions of cubic yards had been dredged 
 from the channel, at a total expenditure of 1,780,130 dollars, in- 
 cluding 534,809 dollars for dredging plant Vessels of 4000 tons 
 can now go up the St. Lawrence to Montreal. The people of 
 the latter city, as already indicated, mean to compete with New York 
 for the European trade. 
 
 The inland canal and lake system of Canada, together with the 
 United States Canals at the Sault St. Marie, have established an 
 unbroken water communication, for vessels up to 1800 and 2000 
 tons (gross), from Duluth, at the western extremity of Lake Superior, 
 to the Straits of Belle Isle, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river 
 a distance of 2384 miles. 
 
 The difference in level between Lake Superior and the St. 
 Lawrence, at Montreal, is about 600 feet, and fifty-five locks are 
 required to overcome this, although the mileage of the eight canals 
 is but seventy-one. The ordinary locks of the Canadian canals are 
 270 feet long, by 45 feet broad, and 14 feet on the sills, and the 
 American locks at the Sault, as already mentioned, are 515 feet long, 
 80 feet wide, and 18 feet on the sills. These locks are all built 
 specially wide, to accommodate the various classes of steamers and 
 barges employed ; for it has been remarked that although in England 
 the trade is arranged to suit the boats, in America the boats must be 
 built to suit the trade, and the locks accordingly.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 "Whole rivers here forsake the fields below, 
 And, wondering at their height, through airy channels flow." 
 
 Addison, 
 
 The Amazon. Of the many navigable highways in South and 
 Central America, the Amazon river is by far the most important. 
 Nay, more, this river, which has a drainage area of 2,264,000 square 
 miles, which has 10,000 miles of navigation for large boats, and 
 which has a width of no less than four miles at a distance of 1000 
 miles from the sea, is in every respect the most extensive and 
 remarkable river in the world. 
 
 The average depth of the Amazon river is 42 feet in the upper 
 portion, and 312 feet near to its mouth. The influence of the tide 
 is observable at a distance of 400 miles from the mouth of the river, 
 the usual current of which is about three miles per hour. The flood 
 rise is from 42 to 48 feet above the lowest level. At a distance of 
 3000 miles from its mouth the Amazon is only 210 feet above sea 
 level. Reclus has estimated the average discharge of the river to be 
 2,458,026 cubic feet per second.* 
 
 The Magdalena River. The river in Columbia known by the 
 name of the Magdalena has its rise in the Lagunas de las Papas 
 (Potato Lake), and is one of the boundary lines of six of the 
 nine States into which Columbia is divided. The river runs nearly 
 due north from its source until it empties into the Carribean Sea in 
 latitude 10 59' north, and 70 58' west longitude. The length of 
 the river, measured on a meridian, would be 569 miles, but 
 according to the best information available the actual length of the 
 stream is about 900 miles. The Boca de Ceniza is the only mouth 
 of the stream open to navigation, the depth of water on the bar here 
 varying from 10 to 20 feet. It has been proposed to construct 
 jetties at the mouth, so that it would be navigable to the largest ships 
 
 * Van Nostrand's ' Magazine,' vol. xxiv. p. 66.
 
 230 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 frequenting this part of the world. A channel of 40 to 60 feet in 
 depth can be found for a distance of about 20 miles inside the bar. 
 
 Natural obstacles have compelled the navigation of the river to 
 be divided into five different systems the first, rafts and canoes from 
 Bateas to Neiva ; the second, steamboats, barges, rafts, and canoes 
 from Neiva to La Noria ; the third, steamboats, barges, and canoes 
 from Caracoli to Barranquilla ; and the fourth, barges, sailing ships, 
 and small ocean steamers from Barranquilla to the ocean. 
 
 It was not until 1847 that a really successful attempt was made 
 to navigate the Magdalena by steam. Between that year and 1852 
 four steamers, of American build, were placed on the river. Now 
 there are twenty-seven steamers regularly employed, besides a fleet of 
 barges. 
 
 The natural obstacles to navigation at the bar of the river have 
 led the Government of Columbia at different times to expend con- 
 siderable sums of money in trying to open a canal from the river at 
 Calawar to Carthagena, known as the Dique. The project has not, 
 however, been very successful. The distance of this route is about 
 90 miles, and, although the four steamers employed upon it by 
 the Dique Company have been tolerably successful, a large expendi- 
 ture is said to be still required to complete the means of transport. 
 As it is, the Government have dredges constantly at work on this 
 artificial waterway. The Government are, moreover, canalising the 
 river throughout its entire length, the cost being defrayed by charges 
 on the traffic, which is steadily increasing.* 
 
 The Desague Real de Huchuetoca. This is a vast drain or cut 
 that has been carried through the Cordilleras, that surround the 
 Valley of Tenochillan, or Mexico, at Nochistongo, for the purpose 
 of getting rid of the dreadful inundations which almost periodically 
 came upon the city of Mexico. The Section of the Desague, for a 
 considerable distance, is from 1800 to 3000 square metres (19:365 
 to 32,275 sq. feet). Its length from Vertideres to the Salts is 
 20,585 metres, or 67,535 feet. Near the old well of Don Juan 
 Garcia, at the point where the ridge is highest, the cut in the 
 mountain extends for a length of more than 2624 feet, to between 
 147 and 196 feet in perpendicular depth. For a length of over 
 3000 feet more, the depth of the cut is from 98 to 131 feet. Over 
 a great part of the cut, however, the breadth is said to be by no 
 
 * Further details as to the navigation and traffic on the Magdalena may be 
 found in the U.S. Consular Reports, No. 47, 1884, pp. 334-348.
 
 The Waterways of South and Central America. 231 
 
 means in proportion to its depth, so that the sides are much too steep 
 and are every now and again falling in. 
 
 The Desague was constructed between 1607 and 1650, and with 
 its dykes and two canals leading from the upper lakes, is stated to 
 have cost 31,000,000 of livres, or 1,291,7707. According to Hum- 
 boldt, however, 25,000,000 of livres "were expended because they 
 never had the courage to follow the same plan, and because they 
 kept hesitating for two centuries between the Indian system of 
 dykes and that of canals between the subterraneous gallery and the 
 open cut through the mountain. Humboldt adds that " they 
 neglected to finish the cut of Nochistongo, while they were dis- 
 puting about the project of a canal of Tezaico, which was never 
 executed." The meaning of Humboldt's reference to the cost of 
 this undertaking is rather obscure. One writer has pointed out that 
 if he means that the necessary cost of the work was only 6,000,000 
 livres, or 250,0007., there falls to be deducted from this amount the 
 cost of two other canals those of Zampango and San Christobal, 
 begun in 1796 and 1798 amounting to 41, 6707. more.* This, 
 however, is not at all likely to be Humboldt's meaning, since he 
 elsewhere speaks of the Desague as " undoubtedly one of the most 
 gigantic operations ever executed by man," and looks upon it with 
 " a species of admiration, particularly when we consider the nature 
 of the ground, and the enormous breadth, depth, and length of the 
 aperture." The magnitude of the undertaking may be appreciated 
 by the fact, mentioned also by Humboldt, that if the Desague were 
 filled with water to the depth of 10 metres (32 feet), the largest 
 vessels of war could pass through the range of mountains which 
 bound the plain of Mexico to the north-east. 
 
 Of the other rivers in South and Central America none call for any 
 special description. Few of them are navigable for any distance, 
 being like the Chagres river, which traverses the Isthmus of Panama, 
 or the San Juan river, that is to be utilised for the Nicaraguan canal 
 too rapid, tortuous and subject to floods, to be convenient for 
 purposes of navigation. In course of time, however, as wealth and 
 population increases, we may naturally look for the artificial improve- 
 ment of such waterways with a view to their adaptation for purposes 
 of commerce, as in the European rivers already referred to. 
 
 * Pitman's succinct view and analysis of authentic information extant in 
 original works, on the practicability of joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 
 by a ship canal across the Isthmus of America. London, 1825.
 
 232 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CHINESE WATERWAYS. 
 
 " But if, with bays and dams, they strive to force 
 His channel to a new or narrow course, 
 No longer then within his banks he dwells, 
 First to a torrent, then a deluge swells." Denham. 
 
 THE most remarkable canal in the world is, in many respects, the 
 Grand Canal of China. It is also, probably, the canal of all others of 
 which the least is known. The fullest account hitherto extant, 
 relative to this waterway, is that published by Marco Polo, and there- 
 fore dates as far back as the thirteenth century.* Several writers 
 state that the Grand Canal of China was constructed in the tenth 
 century, and Priestley who does not, however, quote the source of 
 his information declares that it was completed in the year 980. 
 Seeing, however, that Polo, writing from Tartary in 1278, speaks as 
 if the canal were then in course of construction, this is hardly likely 
 to be correct. " You must understand," he says, " that the Emperor 
 has caused a water communication to be made from this city (Kwa- 
 chan) to Camboluc, in the hope of a wide and deep channel, dug 
 between stream and stream, between lake and lake, forming, as it 
 were, a great river on which large vessels can ply." Polo is con- 
 firmed by other writers, and Dr. Williams, in one of the most recent 
 and reliable works on China,| states that " the canal was designed 
 by Kublai to reach from his own capital as far as Hangchau, the 
 former capital of the Sung dynasty." This, again, seems to be at 
 
 * Marco Polo spent seventeen years at the court of Kublai, the great Khan 
 of the Tartars. The first edition of his travels appeared in 1496, and the work 
 has been translated into several languages. He gave a better description of 
 China than had previously been written, and although much of what he wrote 
 was at the time doubted, his narratives have been largely verified by subsequent 
 travellers. Colonel Yule has published an admirable edition of Polo's travels for 
 English readers. 
 
 t 'The Middle Kingdom,' vol. i. p. 31.
 
 Chinese Waterways. 233 
 
 variance with the testimony of Pdre Mailla,* who, writing in the last 
 century, declared that he and his brother Jesuits gazed with astonish- 
 ment and admiration at the chasms which the Emperor Yu caused to 
 be cut through solid mountains for the waters of the Yellow River. | 
 If this does not refer to the Grand Canal, it may be presumed, as a 
 writer in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica ' has pointed out, \ that it was 
 the water itself and not the Emperor Yu that opened these channels. 
 The date of the construction of the Grand Canal of China is thus, 
 like many other matters pertaining to the history of that country, 
 involved in obscurity. But no such uncertainty hangs over its extent 
 and importance. The canal is nearly 700 miles in length, and 
 reaches from Hang-choo-foo to Yan-liang river, having connec- 
 tions with the rivers Yang-tse-kiang and Ho-hang-ho, or the Yellow 
 River. Davis has given a description of the work, || from which 
 it would appear that for some distance after the canal joins the 
 Yu-ho, on its eastern bank, as that river flows towards the Peiho, 
 it evidently follows the bed of a natural river. Its course is winding, 
 and its banks are irregular and inartificial. It has, however, stone 
 abutments and flood-gates for the purpose of regulating its waters. 
 The distance between the stone piers in some of the flood-gates is 
 often very narrow. The course of the water through these gates is 
 arrested in rather a primitive fashion. Stout boards, with ropes 
 fastened to each end, are let down edgeways over each other, through 
 grooves in the stone piers. A number of soldiers and workmen 
 always attend at the sluices, and shield the boats from danger by 
 letting down coils of rope, in the same way as a ship's " fender," to 
 break the force of the blows. The highest point of the canal appears 
 to be at the influx of the Yun-ho, which enters the canal on its 
 eastern side nearly at right angles, while part of its waters flow north 
 and part south. At this point, where a strong facing of stone on the 
 western bank sustains the force of the influx, there is an interesting 
 
 * Mailla was despatched by the Jesuits in 1703 on a mission into the interior 
 of China, and had a good opportunity of knowing the country, where he lived for 
 forty-five years, and of which he was employed by the emperor to construct a 
 map. 
 
 t ' Histoire generate de la Chine, ou Annales de cet Empire, traduite du Tong- 
 Kien-Kang-Mou.' 13 vols. 
 
 J 8th edition, art. " China." 
 
 The Ho-hang-ho, or Yellow River, sometimes described as " China's 
 sorrow," is about 2000 miles in length, and its periodical overflowings cause 
 frequent damage to the canal. 
 
 || ' Sketches of China,' vol. i. p. 245.
 
 234 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 temple, erected to the Dragon King, or genius of the watery element, 
 who is supposed to have the canal in his special keeping. The work 
 of joining the Yun-ho, and the Grand Canal is attributed to Sung Li, 
 who lived under Hungwa, the first Emperor of the Ming dynasty, 
 about 1375. It was accomplished in this wise. A part of the canal 
 in Shantung became so impassable in the time of Sung Li, that the 
 roundabout coasting passage by sea had to be resorted to. An old 
 man, named Piying, thereupon proposed to Sung a scheme for the 
 concentration of the waters on the Yun-ho and neighbouring streams 
 and their diversion into the canal, as at present It is said that Sung 
 employed 300,000 men to carry out the work, and that it was completed 
 in seven months ; but the Chinese historians are not, unfortunately, 
 the most veracious. 
 
 For a great part of its route the Grand Canal runs through a level 
 and marshy district. In some places, indeed, the canal becomes 
 merged in the lakes and swamps which surround it. In other places, 
 however, where there appears to be a special risk of inundation, the 
 banks of the canal are well faced with stone. The canal, before 
 leaving the lakes in the southern part of Shanting, used to run nearly 
 parallel with that stream for more than a hundred miles, and between 
 it and the New Salt River for a great part of that distance. This 
 river, formerly described as one well adapted for navigation, has now 
 become completely silted up, and at Kiafung the difference of level 
 is so trifling that the siltage there has been enough to turn the 
 current into the river Wei and elsewhere. At the opening of the 
 canal there is a sluice nearly 100 yards across, through which the 
 water is said to rush into the river like a mill-race. There is, how- 
 ever, a makeshift sort of appearance about the canal works generally. 
 The banks are in many places constructed of earth, strengthened 
 with sorghum stalks and strongly bound with cordage ; and Davis, 
 in speaking of the attempt made to repair the damage caused by the 
 inundation of the Yellow River in this way, remarks very justly that 
 if the science of a Brunei * could be allowed to operate on the Yellow 
 River and Grand Canal, "a benefit might be conferred on the 
 Chinese that would more than compensate for all the evil we have 
 inflicted with our opium and our guns." 
 
 At about 70 miles from its mouth the Grand Canal reaches the 
 
 * Brunei, by the way, was not specially identified with canal construction. 
 Perhaps the writer means Brindley. Brunei had, however, no doubt sufficient 
 knowledge of his art to serve the purpose in view.
 
 Chinese Waterways. 235 
 
 Yellow River, and between the Yellow and Yantsz' rivers, a distance 
 of 90 miles, it is carried largely upon a raised work of earth, kept 
 together by retaining walls of stone, which are in some places not 
 less than 20 feet above the surrounding country. The width of the 
 channel at this point is about 200 feet, and the current is stated to 
 be three miles an hour. South of the Hwang-ho there are several 
 large towns below the level of these walls, which would be over- 
 whelmed with destruction if they were to give way. From these 
 towns the principal being Hwai-ngang and Pauying the canal falls 
 to the Yantsz', and at Yangchan its level is again below that of the 
 houses on either side. Every stream or lake whose waters can be 
 led into it has a connection with the canal, which has several inlets 
 into the great river Yantsz', whence navigation is possible for a 
 distance of 2900 miles. East of Chin Kiang the canal leaves the 
 Yantsz', and proceeds through a rich and fertile country, highly 
 cultivated, and supporting an enormous population, Suchan and 
 Hangchan being among the principal towns on its banks. 
 
 The northern end of the canal is a channel, 14 miles in length, 
 between Tung-chan and Pekin, which, passing under the city walls, 
 finishes its course of some 600 miles at the palace walls, close by the 
 British Legation. The section between Pekin and the Yellow River 
 is said to have been opened by the Mongols about 1289, by merely 
 joining the rivers and lakes to each other as they now exist. One of 
 the old passages, from Hungtsih Lake northwards, has long been 
 closed, but an attempt has been recently made to open it, so that 
 boats can reach Tientsin from Kwachan. 
 
 In many works, some of them of considerable pretensions, a great 
 deal more is claimed for this waterway than it really deserves. No 
 doubt there was no work in the world equal to it when it was first 
 opened, and probably in Asia it is still unrivalled. Dr. Williams is 
 correct also in his statement that it reflects far more credit upon the 
 monarchs who devised and executed it than the Great Wall.* But 
 the whole structure is crude and primitive in a high degree, compared 
 with more modern canals. Without efficient locks, the canal has to 
 be conducted around the different elevations met with in its course. 
 The boats that use the canal have to be dragged through and up the 
 
 * This enormous undertaking was, however, erected at least noo years before 
 the Grand Canal, having been finished B.C. 204. Its entire length is 1255 miles 
 in a straight line, and it was ten years in building.
 
 236 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 sluices close to the banks, by large windlasses, whereby they are 
 brought into still water by a very tedious process. 
 
 The canal is largely used for passenger traffic, but the rate of 
 progress seldom exceeds 25 to 30 miles a day, and is often under 20. 
 The greater part of the work has been expended in the simple labour 
 of constructing embankments, and not, as in the case of the Panama 
 and Suez Canals, in digging a deep channel. The rudiments, if not 
 the complete essentials, of this waterway were already available when 
 the Mongols joined the rivers and lakes to each other by means of 
 the canal ; but it is creditable to the successive dynasties that have 
 ruled over China, and especially to the Ming and Tsing emperors, 
 that they have always kept the waterway open and in tolerable 
 repair. 
 
 Mr. William Chapman, in his ' Obervations on the various systems 
 of Canal Navigation,' states that the " grand canal of China is in fact 
 only a river or stream navigation, although greatly diverted by art 
 from its ancient course in some parts; the current of the water 
 being slow, and prevented from running off too rapidly by its descent 
 being occasionally checked by flood gates, consisting of two abut- 
 ments of stone, one projecting from each bank, and leaving a space 
 in the middle just wide enough to admit a passage for the largest 
 vessels employed upon the canal. To prevent unnecessary waste of 
 water through the flood gates, the passages are occasionally closed 
 by planks let down transversely and separately, one above the other, 
 their ends resting in a vertical groove in each abutment." The same 
 author has observed that it was probably between the years of the 
 Christian era 605 and 618 that these were introduced. Again, he 
 says : "The Chinese method of overcoming ascents appears to be 
 long subsequent to the attempts of the Egyptians, under the suc- 
 cessors of Alexander, who, according to Mons. Huet, Bishop of 
 Avranches, had the art of constructing sluices, or locks of one set of 
 gates, so as to stop the impetuosity of the current, and be occasion- 
 ally opened. Though termed gates, the openings were most probably 
 closed with beams of timber, let down in grooves, as gates of large 
 width and depth could not be opened without difficulty." 
 
 There are many subsidiary canals in China. In a country that 
 has no railways and very few roads, water transport is of much more 
 importance than in any European State. Canals have been cut from 
 the Grand Canal in every direction, and are largely used.
 
 237 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE WATERWAYS OF BRITISH INDIA. 
 
 " Flies tow'rd the springs 
 Of Ganges or Hydaspes." Milton. 
 
 IT has long been a contested point between different sections of the 
 officials charged with the government of India whether canals or 
 railways were likely to provide the cheapest and the most suitable 
 means of communication for that extensive country. The enormous 
 area of British India, the generally level character of the immense 
 plains that form so prominent a feature of her physical conformation, 
 the generally slow pace at which everything is carried on, and the com- 
 paratively little importance that is attached to a high rate of speed, 
 all seemed to mark out the Indian possessions of the British Crown 
 as extremely favourable for the construction of an extensive system 
 of artificial waterways adapted to the twin purposes of irrigation and 
 navigation. Sir Arthur Cotton has even advocated the summary 
 and indefinite suspension of nearly all railway schemes and works, 
 in order that the attention of the Government might be concentrated 
 upon canals, mainly for irrigation, but also adapted for purposes of 
 navigation.* Irrigation is, indeed, one of the absolutely indispen- 
 sable requirements of the country, and the State has expended many 
 millions for this purpose. But the work has been carried out, for 
 the most part, for agricultural purposes alone, and it was not dis- 
 covered until too late that a valuable source of power and economy 
 was lost in not, at the same time, adapting them for navigation 
 purposes.! In some of the later canals this oversight has been 
 repaired. In the great deltas most of the principal irrigation canals 
 recently constructed have been adapted for navigation, as we 1 ! as 
 some of the larger canals in the North-western Provinces and the 
 Punjaub. In the Madras Presidency, again, there is a system, com- 
 
 * Report from the Select Committee on East India (Public Works), 1879, 
 p. xiv. 
 
 t Evidence of Sir Bartle Frere before the Select Committee on Canals, 1883, 
 P- 159-
 
 238 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 mencing with the Buckingham Canal, at the town of Sadras, and 
 continuing along the Delta Canal and by the Kistna and Godavery 
 lines, which affords 456 miles of unbroken water communication.* 
 This canal, however, is, like the railway system of India, exposed to 
 the serious disadvantage of a broken gauge. 
 
 The locks on this system are all of the same dimensions, viz. 
 150 feet long by 20 feet broad, with a minimum of 5 feet on the sills 
 of the lower gate. That portion of it which is dependent on a tidal 
 supply consists of level reaches, with only one lock, near Madras. 
 When it leaves the coast, there is an ascent of about 50 feet to be 
 overcome to the Kistna, a difference of about 20 feet between the 
 low-water levels of the Kistna and Godavery, and a descent from 
 the latter of 35 feet to the port of Cocanada. 
 
 In the Tida Section near Madras the surface width of the canal 
 is 60 feet, and there is a minimum depth of 4^ feet. The tonnage 
 of the boats plying on the Buckingham Canal was, in 1882, regis- 
 tered at 10,215 tons, and the receipts, consisting of licence fees and 
 tolls, amounted to i2,ooo/., showing an increase of iooo/. over the 
 previous year. In the fresh-water reaches, the width varies from 
 120 to 60 feet, with an average depth of 6 feet, and a current varying 
 from to ii m ^ e P er hour. Every variety of boat is to be found 
 on this canal, ranging from 3 to 80 tons. 
 
 In the Delta canals there is a large number of passenger boats, 
 built on improved English models, but the majority of the craft are 
 built on native lines, clumsy in appearance, but good cargo carriers 
 notwithstanding, and almost all are decked. The haulage is almost 
 entirely carried on by men ; no cattle are used. On the Godavery 
 and Kistna, small steamers have run in connection with the Govern- 
 ment works, but, practically, no steam towing, though practised on 
 the river itself, has as yet been used on the canals. 
 
 The cost of traction cannot be accurately stated ; but, as far as 
 General Rundall could make out from independent inquiries, the cost 
 of working native boats is about one-eighth of a penny per ton-mile ; 
 the charge varies with the demand and the description of cargo. 
 
 The carriage of material for the Government Works used to be 
 contracted for at three-eighths of a penny per ton mile, and the 
 charge made to native merchants was probably about the same ; but 
 to European traders it was higher. 
 
 There is no other purely navigation canal in the Madras Presi- 
 * Report made by General Rundall, to the Select Committee on Canals, p. 280.
 
 The Waterways of British India. 239 
 
 dency, but there is a considerable boat traffic carried on in the 
 lagoons on the western coast. 
 
 The Godavery Delta is composed of three principal tracts. A 
 main canal is led off from the river to each tract, and from it are 
 thrown off several main branches, most of which are fitted with locks. 
 
 The lines which skirt the edge of the Delta are carried with a 
 very small slope, and therefore require no locks, except at the ter- 
 minus, where, on one side (the right bank), the canal is connected 
 with a similar line led from the Kistna, and on the left bank, at a 
 distance of 30 miles, it is connected with the port of Cocanada by a 
 short junction canal, in which are built the locks necessary to over- 
 come the difference of level, about 30 feet above the sea, All the 
 main lines are dropped into the tidal reaches of the respective 
 branches of the Godavery, and are in this manner connected with 
 one another. 
 
 The total length of navigable canals, exclusive of the tidal por- 
 tions of the river, and the various salt-water creeks permeating the 
 lower part of the Delta, extends for between 458 and 502 miles. 
 
 The canals are open to any carriers. Tolls are not levied 
 generally, but only on unlicensed boats, as the water rates derived 
 from irrigation yield a large return on the capital expenditure. 
 
 The majority of boats pay the small registration fee which is 
 exacted in preference to tolls. 
 
 s. 
 
 The fees on cargo boats, per ton of 50 cubic feet, were . . 4 
 ,, passenger boats, 1st class ,, .... 8 
 
 ,, ,, 2nd class ,, .... 6 
 
 These rates were increased trom January 1882 to : 
 
 Cargo boats, per ton of 75 cubic feet 7 
 
 Passenger boats, 1st class ,, 14 
 
 ,, 2nd class ,, 10 
 
 These fees free boats over the whole system of canals during the 
 calendar year. Unlicensed boats pay 6d. per ton for a single trip. 
 The charge for third-class passengers on boats is one-eighth of a 
 penny per mile. 
 
 Between the river Tumbaddra and the river Pennar there is a 
 large canal, which was originally constructed by the Madras Irriga- 
 tion Company, and, although intended primarily for an irrigation line, 
 was fitted with locks, in order to enable it to be used for navigation. 
 This canal is, however, only available for about eight months of the
 
 240 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 year, as the water supply in the river has to be passed on for use in 
 the Kistna Delta. 
 
 The Ganges and the Brahmapootra are connected with the 
 Hoogly by means of a number of creeks, which are really natural 
 canals, and are connected by two artificial canals: the first called 
 the Circular, or Baliaghatta Canal, and the other Tolly's Nullah. 
 
 The Calcutta Canal route for boats extends eastward for about 
 115 miles to Khoohia, the capital of the Sunderbunds, and is situated 
 at the junction of the rivers named the Atharabanka and Bhoyrab, 
 respectively. The former is an offshoot of the Madhumatti, down 
 which comes all the produce from the north; the latter carries all 
 that which comes from Backergunge on the eastward. The total 
 number of laden boats registered on the canals in 1874 was 77,096, 
 and the total tonnage of all the cargoes imported into Calcutta by 
 the Sunderbunds route was 521,000 tons. 
 
 A large traffic is. carried on along the three branches from the 
 Ganges known as the Nuddeah rivers into Calcutta. In the years 
 1873-74 the total number of boats passing up and down was 32,887 
 and 27,242, conveying 378,200 and 323,000 tons respectively, of which 
 over two-thirds was down traffic. The first canals met with in the 
 Bengal series, other than the purely navigation lines, are those com- 
 prised in the Orissa Scheme. They are divided into three sections. 
 The largest are those constructed in Orissa proper, the navigated 
 portion measuring 162 miles, but when fully completed this system 
 will extend to about 500 miles. There is a canal from Midnapore to 
 Calcutta 70 miles in length, of which 53 miles are artificial, and the 
 remainder follows the course of the Hoogly river. A canal about 
 30 miles in length has been cut at Hidgedee, in order to enable boats 
 to escape the dangers of the lower reaches of the Hoogly. This 
 canal is to be continued until it enables water communication to be 
 established for the 250 miles that separate Calcutta and Cuttack. 
 The canal varies from 120 to 60 feet, with a minimum depth of 
 6 feet, while the head locks and those on the main line are 150 feet 
 by 20 feet. This canal cost 62oo/. per mile, while the Orissa Canal is 
 stated to have cost 3ooo/., and the Midnapore Canal 44007. per mile, 
 attributable specially to navigation. In Bengal there is a system 
 of canals connecting with the river Ganges, which passes through 
 the province of South Behar. There are three principal branches 
 in this system named the Patna, the Arrah, and the Buxar their 
 total length being 217 miles. On this system there were 8613 boats
 
 The Waterways of British India. 241 
 
 in 1882, the aggregate tonnage of which was 88,657 tons. Naviga- 
 gation is carried on in the North-west Provinces and on the Upper 
 and Lower Ganges Canal. The Agra Canal, which leaves the Jumna 
 eight miles below Delhi, has also been adapted for navigation. 
 
 In the Presidency of Madras there are upwards of 53,000 tanks, 
 or reservoirs for irrigation purposes alone, exclusive of small tanks 
 near villages, all executed by the natives prior to the occupancy of 
 the Deccan by the British. The aggregate length of the embank- 
 ment of these reservoirs is fully 30,000 miles ; bridges, culverts, 
 sluices, &c., are more than 300,000 in number. The storcd-up 
 waters, sent forth at the proper season, still brings to the exchequer 
 of the Madras Presidency a yearly income of a million and a half 
 sterling (one-sixth of the whole revenue), although many of the finest 
 of these reservoirs are in ruins, or useless from want of being properly 
 kept up. One of them, the Ponairy Reservoir, in the district of 
 Trichinopoly, has a superficial area of about 80 square miles, or say 
 50,000 acres; the banks are 30 miles in extent. Another, the 
 Veranum Reservoir, has nearly 35 square miles of area, or upwards 
 of 20,000 acres, and 10 miles of banks. 
 
 An expenditure of a considerable amount has been incurred for 
 nearly half a century by the Government of the Madras Presidency 
 in keeping open the existing narrow waterway through the rocky reef 
 which connects the island of Ramisseram with the mainland of India. 
 Even so, however, the navigation has been extremely unsatisfactory. 
 The tide, when making southwards, heaps up the water at the northern 
 entrance to the channel to such an extent that even full-powered 
 steamers require to employ kedges and warps to surmount and 
 pass it. The Madras Government, therefore, are favourable to a 
 proposed new channel, which will at once relieve them of a serious 
 outlay, provide greater security to navigation, and materially reduce 
 the time now occupied in steaming between Ceylon and their own 
 seaboard. 
 
 It has been proposed to increase the maritime facilities of India 
 and Ceylon by cutting a canal through the island of Ramisseram, 
 which at the present time excludes the possibility of ships drawing 
 more than 12 feet of water from passing northward to the Bay of 
 Bengal. For this reason ships proceeding to Madras or Calcutta 
 have to steer to the east of Ceylon, which entails a voyage of 300 or 
 400 miles longer than would be required if the route by the Gulf of 
 Manaar and the Palk Straits were open to them. 
 
 R
 
 242 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 For some years previous to 1887 negotiations had been carried 
 on between the parties promoting this canal and the Government of 
 India, with a view of obtaining such concessions as were deemed 
 necessary to the realisation of the scheme. Authority has been 
 given to obtain land and cut the canal, and the aid of the Govern- 
 ment has been promised towards obtaining from the railway com- 
 panies in the south of India an extension of their system to the new 
 port which it is proposed to establish at the Indian end of the canal. 
 
 The inland navigation of India is, however, chiefly carried on 
 upon the great rivers the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra. 
 Taking the limit of the Ganges, and Jumna to the west and south, 
 the Brahmaputra and Megna to the east, the country intersected by 
 navigable rivers, &c., may be computed as covering an area exceeding 
 180,000 square miles. 
 
 There is an uninterrupted navigation of 1000 miles up the Indus 
 from the sea to Lahore, which is situated on the Ravee, or Hydrastes, 
 one of the most meandering of the five Punjab rivers or branches 
 composing the Chenab. But, owing to the numerous shallows and 
 sandbanks in some parts of the Indus, this extensive navigation can 
 only be said to be open to the flat-bottomed boats of the country, 
 which draw about four feet of water. There are, however, few rivers 
 on which steam could be used with better effect than on the Indus, 
 which is said to discharge four or five times as much water as the 
 Ganges. It has no rocks nor rapids, and, unless when swollen, the 
 current does not exceed 2\ miles an hour. The swell commences 
 about the end of April, increases till July, and disappears altogether 
 in September. 
 
 There are many canals connected with the Indus, but they are 
 principally for the purpose of irrigation, and the greater part of them, 
 being mostly natural creeks, have no water except during the swollen 
 state of the river. Such canals intersect the Delta, and are likewise 
 pretty numerous between the latitudes of 26 20' and 28, particu- 
 larly on the west side of the river ; but the most ancient artificial 
 canals connected with this river seem to belong to the Punjab 
 district. 
 
 By means of the Ganges and its subsidiary streams all sorts of 
 articles can be conveyed between the sea and the north-west portions 
 of Hindustan over a distance of more than 1000 miles. The com- 
 mercial capital, Calcutta, upon the Hoogly branch of the Ganges, 
 is favourably situated for internal navigation. It is about 100 miles
 
 The Waterways of British India. 243 
 
 from the sea, and 130 from the Sandheads ; but it has a very intricate 
 and tedious navigation through the banks of sand and mud, which 
 occasionally shift their beds in the Hoogly River, as well as in the 
 other branches of the Ganges. The Nuddeah rivers, which connect 
 the Ganges with the Hoogly, are likewise, for eight months in the 
 year, so extremely shallow, that the water communication between 
 Calcutta and the upper country is, during that time, maintained by 
 the Sunderbund passages at a great expense of time and labour. To 
 obviate this inconvenience, it has been proposed to construct a canal 
 which, branching off from the Ganges at Rajamahl, shall join the 
 Hoogly at Mirzapore near Kulna; for, owing to the difference of 
 level at the extremities, amounting to 60 feet, and the height of the 
 Ganges itself, varying 30 feet at different seasons, an open cut without 
 locks would not suffice. The intended route, besides being 300 miles 
 shorter than the present route, would traverse a country rich in iron- 
 ore and limestone, and would pass near to extensive coalfields. 
 
 Among other works of the kind carried out in India during the 
 present century may be named a canal to unite the Damrah and 
 Churamunee ; the re-opening of Feroze Shah's canal in Delhi ; the 
 restoration of Zabita Kahn's canal in the Upper Dooab ; the course 
 of AH Murdher's canal drawn into Delhi ; a new cut from the Votary 
 Nullah; a canal at Chumnapore. A canal of 70 miles has been 
 executed in the King of Oude's dominions, between the Ganges and 
 its tributary the Goomty. There are several canals in Agra, but they 
 are chiefly used for irrigation, some of them being of considerable 
 antiquity. 
 
 South Malabar, and nearly all Travancore, are naturally provided 
 near their coasts with a system of inland navigation called the Back- 
 water, which extends from Chowghaut in Malabar on the north, to 
 Trivanderam, the capital of Travancore, within 50 miles of Cape 
 Comorin, on the south, a distance of 170 or 180 miles. A con- 
 tinuation of it is navigable 90 miles farther for small boats during 
 the rains, from Chowghaut to Cotah, 16 miles south of Tellicherry. 
 The Backwater runs nearly parallel to the sea-shore, sometimes at a 
 distance of a few hundred yards, and at other times of three or four 
 miles. Its breadth varies from 200 yards to 12 or 14 miles; its 
 depth from many fathoms to a few feet. Into this Backwater all the 
 numerous rivers flowing from the Western Ghauts are discharged and 
 retained. The Backwater empties itself into the sea by six mouths ; 
 of which the only one navigable for ships is the mouth on the south 
 
 R 2
 
 244 Wafer ways and Water Transport. 
 
 bank of which is situated Cochin. There is a bar at this mouth, but 
 on it there are 17 or 18 feet of water at spring tides. 
 
 In May 1871 an influential deputation waited on the Duke of 
 Argyll, when that nobleman was Secretary for India, to urge the 
 making of a new ship canal through the narrow neck of land pro- 
 jecting from the continent of India, which separates the Gulf of 
 Manaar from the Palk Straits. At the close of the discussion, his 
 Grace frankly admitted that if the statements made by the several 
 members of the deputation were correct, which he did not doubt, 
 and if the work could be executed at the cost estimated, or anything 
 near it, it would doubtless be worthy of adoption, and he, therefore, 
 would address the Indian Government with the view of obtaining an 
 official estimate, and then give his best consideration to the subject. 
 The project has not yet, however, been carried out
 
 245 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 SHIP CANALS. 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE SUEZ CANAL. 
 
 " Let the wide world his praises sing 
 Where Tagus and Euphratus spring, 
 And from the Danube's frosty banks to those 
 Where, from an unknown head, great Nilus flows." 
 
 Roscommon. 
 
 THE greatest artificial waterway constructed up to the present time 
 has been the Suez Canal. Longer canals have been made both 
 in Europe and in the United States, but no canal hitherto completed 
 has been built of the same large dimensions, nor has any other canal 
 cost so considerable a sum of money. It is not too much to say 
 that no other waterway has been more important to commerce, nor 
 has any other been attended with the same momentous and 
 permanent political consequences. It is satisfactory to be able to 
 add that few waterways of modern times have been so successful from 
 a financial point of view. 
 
 The story of the Suez Canal has been often told. It has always, 
 however, lacked completeness, which indeed is impossible of attain- 
 ment in reference to an undertaking that is making history at the 
 same rapid rate that this has done, and is still doing. 
 
 It is remarkable that some of the earliest canals of which we 
 have any record were constructed between Suez and the Nile during 
 the existence of the eighteenth dynasty (about fifteen centuries before 
 Christ). But the communication thus opened was not apparently 
 found of much service, seeing that the canals were allowed to fill up 
 and fall into such decay as to compel their abandonment.* Another 
 
 * The immediate cause of this occurrence does not appear, but it is obvious 
 that there would not be much employment for a canal at this early date. The 
 first ship would no doubt be constructed anterior to this period, but the vessels 
 of that day were rude and small.
 
 246 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 canal, probably over the same route, was opened some centuries 
 later by Pharaoh Necho, with a view to facilitating the communication 
 between Assyria and Egypt, which was then frequent and consider- 
 able. This canal was open, and in regular use, during the reign of 
 Darius. 
 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, finding the waterway neglected, reopened 
 and completed it from the Pelusiae, or Eastern Branch of the Nile, 
 near Bubastes, to Arsinoe, on the Red Sea. This canal is stated by 
 Strabo to have been 50 yards wide and 1000 stadia in length. The 
 Romans, to whom this highway was known as the Trajanus Amnis, 
 improved and widened it. At a later period the Arabs, after con- 
 quering Egypt, developed the canal for the purpose of carrying grain 
 from Egypt to the holy cities of Mecca and Medinah, and it was so 
 employed for a century and a quarter. 
 
 It has been contended, as an argument against the Suez canal, 
 that if it were practicable to keep open a great waterway between 
 the two oceans, the canal which passed through so many vicissitudes 
 would not have been allowed again and again to become obliterated, 
 nor would cargoes have been discharged at Myos Hormos, the great 
 port at the entrance to the Gulf of Suez, and carried overland to 
 the Nile, a distance of some 80 miles, at a time when the canal 
 appears to have been available, if it had been entirely satisfactory. 
 But there are several considerations entering into the question of 
 transport at that time that cannot be very readily appreciated now. 
 The camel was then the ship of the desert to a much greater extent 
 than it has been in more modern times. The knowledge of naviga- 
 tion was far from perfect, and the dangers of the Red Sea, which are 
 now trifling, were then deemed so formidable that vessels discharged 
 their cargoes in the harbour of Massowah, whence they were sent 
 1500 miles across the desert on the backs of camels, rather than 
 face the Red Sea route via Suez, although, as the canal was then 
 open, a vessel from the east might have made use of it and reached 
 Alexandria or Ostia without breaking bulk. To our own times, and 
 in the light of our fuller knowledge, this seems to be little short of 
 incredible. Many centuries later than the time of which we write, 
 St. Jerome, in speaking of the Red Sea, declared that mariners who 
 had been six months at sea deemed themselves fortunate if they had 
 traversed its full length, and reached a port of safety.* 
 
 * The Red Sea is 1500 miles in length, and, besides being narrowed in its 
 middle channel, is so deep that there is hardly any place where a vessel can
 
 The Suez Canal. 
 
 247 
 
 The first recorded attempt at the construction of a canal was 
 made in this very region, Neco, the son of Psammiticus, having 
 connected the Gulf of Heroopolis with the Pelusiac branch of the 
 Nile at Bubastis (Zigazig).* The narrow channel which here 
 connected the Gulf of Heroopolis with the Red Sea, appears to 
 have been closed by an upheaval of the soil. At the southern end 
 of the gulf (Bitter Lakes) goods were landed and carried onward to 
 the Red Sea. Darius subsequently dug a canal along the line of 
 the ancient junction of the Gulf of Heroopolis with the Red Sea, as 
 shown oin the annexed sketch by the letters A A. This canal, which 
 was also called the canal of the Pharaohs and of Trajan, is under- 
 stood to have finally disappeared in the eighth century. 
 
 THE CANAL OF RAMESES. 
 
 The last attempt at a passage from the Red Sea to the Nile was 
 made by Amru ibn el Aas, the general of the Caliph Omar, who 
 conquered Egypt in the seventh century. A great famine reigning 
 in Mecca, Amru was ordered to take measures for forwarding 
 thenceforth grain from Egypt by the quickest route. " He dug a 
 canal of communication from the Nile to the Red Sea, a distance 
 of 80 miles, by which provisions might be conveyed to the Arabian 
 shores. This canal had been commenced by Trajan, the Roman 
 
 anchor. Sailing vessels have to contend with currents that are blowing steadily 
 to the northward for a great part of the year, while for some months there is little 
 or no wind. 
 
 * Herodotus, book ii., sees. 159 and 160, Gary's translation.
 
 248 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 emperor,"* who, the Pelusiac arm of the Nile being no longer 
 navigable, joined his canal to the river at Cairo, instead of Bubastis 
 or Zagazig. This occurred in the year of the great mortality A.D. 
 639, and in 767 the Caliph Abou Giaffar el Mansour, to prevent 
 food being sent to the insurgents of Medina, caused the canal to be 
 destroyed by filling up the junction of Neco's canal and the Bitter 
 Lakes. The winds and the sands completed the work, and produced 
 the ridge of Serapeum, which is believed by some to cover the site 
 of the ancient city of Heroopolis. 
 
 The engineers of Ptolemy II. advised him not to cut a canal 
 across the isthmus, because the land, being lower than the level of 
 the Red Sea, would be laid under water ; but that prince turned the 
 difficulty by causing flood-gates to be erected at proper points, in order 
 to keep back the waters of the sea at high tides, and those of the 
 canal at low ebb, so that navigation became possible both ways. 
 Now, this opening, in as perfect state of preservation at certain 
 places, according to M. de Lesseps, as it was in the eighth century, 
 really forms part, to the extent of four kilometres, near Shaloof, of 
 the present canal, which opens into the Red Sea by means of sluices 
 having a fall of three metres (9 feet), being the altitude of the mouth 
 above the average level of the sea. This seems to prove that 
 eleven centuries ago the sea was about as much higher as it is now, 
 so that the isthmus has, indeed, experienced an upheaval. At the 
 time that the Hebrews quitted Egypt the rock of Shaloof, the last 
 offshoot of the Geneffay Hills, must have been entirely under water. 
 When, by the gradual rising of the land, the top of this rock emerged 
 from the water, it became covered with an accumulation of earthy or 
 sandy matter, brought by wind and tide, until a barrier was formed 
 which could only be swept over at high water. The lakes were 
 consequently precluded from experiencing any ebb or flow. The 
 slow upheaval of the soil continuing, the terra firma of Shaloof 
 assumed a permanent shape, and the requirements of navigation led 
 to the idea of cutting a canal. Herodotus speaks of it as having been 
 open in his time : this fixes its date at 450 years B.C. It was 
 repaired under the Ptolemies, improved during the Roman domina- 
 tion by a supply of water from Cairo, dredged by the Caliph Omar 
 in the seventh century, and abandoned to decay in the eighth. 
 
 From this period, to the beginning of the present century, save 
 for half-hearted projects of the Venetians, and, later, of the Porte 
 * Washington Irvine's ' Successors of Mahomet.'
 
 The Suez Canal. 249 
 
 itself, we hear no more of the question till Napoleon invaded Egypt, 
 and ordered an immediate survey of the isthmus with a view to the 
 establishment of a maritime canal.* Napoleon was himself no 
 mean engineer, and he employed on this work a man who seems to 
 have possessed a remarkable grasp of the problem presented for 
 solution, but who, nevertheless, shared the then common impression 
 that the Red Sea was at a higher level than the Mediteranean, and 
 that to join the waters of the two seas would be to submerge a great 
 part of the country. This man was M. Ldpere. He made a survey 
 of the route between the two seas, and declared that he had found 
 the Red Sea to be 30 feet above the Mediterranean. f 
 
 When Napoleon Buonaparte, at the time of the French expedition 
 to Egypt, ordered a complete survey to be made of the isthmus 
 between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea by M. Lepere, the 
 latter proposed that vessels should ascend the Nile to Bubastis, and 
 pass by a canal, 18 feet deep and 77 miles long, to the basin of the 
 Bitter Lakes. Thence, a second canal, 13 miles in length, was to 
 lead to the Red Sea. The cost of this undertaking was calculated 
 at 691, ooo/., but additional works in the mouth and bed of the Nile, 
 and the restoration of the canals of Faroumah, Chebri-el-Koum, and 
 Alexandria, was estimated to raise the cost to i,2oo,ooo/. Surveys of 
 the country were afterwards made by Captain Chesney, in 1830, and 
 by Mr. Robert Stephenson in 1847, with a view to the opening up 
 of a waterway between the two seas. Captain Chesney reported on 
 the Isthmus of Suez as offering great facilities for the construction of 
 a canal. " There are," he said, " no serious difficulties ; not a moun- 
 tain intervenes, scarcely what deserves to be called a hillock." 
 Stephenson, however, who personally examined the ground, con- 
 sidered that any canal made across the isthmus should be provided 
 with locks, as the absence of current would otherwise allow of silting. 
 Admiral Spratt, ten years later, came to the same conclusion as 
 Stephenson, but both were opposed by M. de Lesseps, who, in his 
 final plan, resolved upon a dead level canal for the whole distance of 
 103 miles. 
 
 The plan ultimately adopted has no doubt been the most advan- 
 tageous to commerce, inasmuch as it has facilitated the time and 
 labour involved in passing vessels through the canal. It has, how- 
 
 * Rubino's "Statistical Story of the Suez Canal," in the 'Journal' of the 
 Royal Statistical Society for 1887. 
 
 t ' Memoir e sur le Canal des deux Mers.'
 
 250 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 ever, necessitated a considerable annual outlay for dredging. Nearly 
 two millions of cubic yards of material have had to be removed in a 
 single year from the bed of the canal, in order to maintain the 
 requisite depth. 
 
 In advocating his plan for the construction of a canal across the 
 Isthmus of Suez, M. de Lesseps calculated that in 1851 the value of 
 the commerce with countries to the east of Egypt was a hundred 
 millions sterling, and the tonnage employed in its transport was four 
 millions of tons.* This figure he raised in 1855 to sixteen millions 
 of tons ; but he was content to adopt six millions as the tonnage that 
 would represent the Eastern trade, of which he reckoned that one- 
 half would make use of the canal. These were described by the 
 ' Quarterly Review ' as " preposterous speculations," and figures 
 were quoted from the ' Revue des deux Mondes ' to prove their 
 fallacy. In the latter periodical, M. Baude had calculated the total 
 trade with the East at that time (1850-53) at if millions, and M. 
 Dupontes at two millions of tons. The calculations of M. de 
 Lesseps do not seem to have been stated with much precision. 
 There is no statement of the description of tonnage referred to, which 
 is of very material importance. If gross tonnage was meant, then 
 the estimate of M. de Lesseps was realised five years after the canal 
 had been opened. If net tonnage, then it was not reached until 
 1880. In 1885, the gross tonnage was close on nine millions, and 
 the net over 6 millions. 
 
 In 1773, Mr. Volney walked over the country traversed by the 
 present Suez Canal, for the purpose of endeavouring to reconcile the 
 various opinions and reports made up to that time as to the prac- 
 ticability of constructing a ship canal across the isthmus. The 
 conclusion come to by that engineer was that there would be a 
 difficulty in preventing the silting up of the harbours, and that for 
 that reason the scheme was a doubtful one.t M. de Lesseps himself 
 appears, in 1855, to have repudiated the credit of being the author 
 of the project, when he wrote to a friend a letter in which the 
 following passage occurs : 
 
 " Vous savez qui Linant-Bey est, de puis trente anne'es en Egypt, 
 et qu'il s'y occupe constamment de travaux de canalisation. Lorsque 
 j'etais consul au Caire en 1830, c'est lui qui m'ainitie a ses projets de 
 
 * ' Quarterly Review,' January 1856, p. 257. 
 
 t Since then, of course, this difficulty has been conquered by the use of steam 
 dredgers.
 
 The Suez Canal. 251 
 
 1'ouverteure de 1'Isthme de Suez, et qui a fait naitre en moi ce violent 
 desir que je n'ai jamais abandonne' au milieu de toutes les vicissitudes 
 de ma carriere de participer de tous mes moyens a la realisation 
 d'une ouvre aussi importante." * 
 
 The Suez Canal Company was incorporated in December 1858, 
 with a capital of 8,ooo,ooo/., divided into 40,000 shares of 2o/. each. 
 Interest at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum was to be paid to the 
 shareholders during construction. A sinking-fund of T f^ per cent. 
 was established, to be a first charge on the profits available for 
 distribution. 
 
 Although the first sod of the canal was cut on the 25th April, 
 1859, it was two years before any real progress was made with the 
 work of excavation. These years were not, however, unemployed. 
 They were chiefly taken up with the work of preliminary preparation, 
 which, on such a vast enterprise, was necessarily considerable. One 
 of the most essential duties required to be undertaken was the con- 
 struction of a fresh-water canal, for the purpose of supplying the 
 wants of the vast number of labourers employed. Much of this 
 labour was forced, or corvee labour, provided, under engagement, 
 by the Egyptian Government. In 1864, however, after the works 
 had been about four years in progress, the Egyptian Government 
 claimed to withdraw the fellaheen, finding the supply of from 15,000 
 to 20,000 of the most able-bodied men in the country a serious 
 tax on their resources. The difference between the company and 
 the Government on this score was submitted to the arbitrament of 
 the Emperor Napoleon, who awarded the company an indemnity of 
 
 I,520,000/. 
 
 In order to provide the ways and means for the prosecution of the 
 work, and to fulfil concessions made to the company, the Egyptian 
 Government made considerable sacrifices. It had given up its 
 customs dues on the canal company's imports, its tolls on the fresh- 
 water canal, its postal telegraph services, its fishery rights on the 
 canal and lakes, the hospitals on the isthmus with their appurtenances, 
 the quarries and port of Mex with their plant, the storehouses of 
 Boulac and Damietta, and the right to half the proceeds of any of 
 the lands on the maritime canal, which the company might offer for 
 disposal. These rights the Egyptian Government recovered in 1869 
 on the payment of i,2oo,ooo/., represented by the coupons up to 
 
 * This letter is reproduced from an excellent article on the subject of the Suez 
 Canal in Engineering of December 7, 1883, p. 52.
 
 252 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 1894, on the 176,600 shares which it had acquired as an ordinary 
 subscriber. The Egyptians have certainly not reaped the financial 
 advantages from the canal which they ought to have done. They 
 parted to England with then: 176,600 shares (less the coupons to 
 1894) for something under four millions sterling. The value of these 
 shares, deducting the detached coupons, is now close on ten millions. 
 Again, in 1880 they sacrificed their royalties, which amounted to 
 15 per cent, on the net receipts of the company, to a French syndicate 
 to cover a debt of 7oo,ooo/. In the seven following years, the 
 syndicate received 1,2 12,025*?. from this source, and it has been 
 calculated that if the annual receipts of the canal never exceeded 
 those of that period, the canal company would have paid in 1968 no 
 less than fourteen millions sterling in respect of the advance of 
 7oo,ooo/. ! Evidently the Egyptians did not know the value of the 
 canal when they made this disastrous bargain, although the naviga- 
 tion receipts had increased from 228,750^ in 1870 to 1,599,7007. in 
 1880.* 
 
 For a number of years after it was fairly started the canal had to 
 struggle with financial difficulties. The English had subscribed very 
 little towards its completion, and the French appeared to have some 
 doubts as to its ultimate success. M. de Lesseps then, as since, was 
 full of enthusiasm as to the future of the enterprise, and predicted 
 that it was to be an assured and notable success. Not so, however, 
 his friends and allies. On the contrary, Prince Napoleon, in 
 presiding at a banquet given to M. de Lesseps on the nth February, 
 1864, declared that in his opinion " the canal would not be finished, 
 the works would go to ruin, and nothing would be done." And then 
 followed this remarkable prediction : "In fifteen or twenty years, 
 when the Viceroy shall have shown his powerlessness, there will be 
 some one all ready who will constitute a new company and make the 
 canal. Do you know who it will be ? It will be the influence, the 
 capital, and the workmen of the English." Napoleon was partly 
 right. Egypt found the greater part of the money required, but it is 
 the shipowners of England who pay the dividends that enrich the 
 owners of the canal, and enable M. de Lesseps and his friends to 
 regard their triumph with so much complacency. 
 
 The Act of Concession for the construction of the Suez Canal 
 was granted by the Viceroy, Said Pacha, to M. de Lesseps on the 
 
 * In 1886 the transit and navigation receipts were over 2,5oo,ooo/.
 
 The Suez Canal. 253 
 
 3oth of November 1854, and was followed, on the 5th of January 
 1856, by a second Act, to which were annexed the Articles of 
 Association of a company for working the concession. The 
 charter thus granted to the Suez Canal Company gave it a ninety- 
 nine years' lease (counting from the date of opening), to dig and 
 work 
 
 1. A maritime canal from sea to sea, with a northern port on the 
 Mediterranean, and an inland port at Lake Timsah. 
 
 2. A freshwater canal from Cairo to Lake Timsah, with branches 
 north and south supplying the two canal seaports. 
 
 For the carrying out of this undertaking the Government of 
 Egypt granted the company : 
 
 1. The lands necessary for the company's buildings, offices, and 
 works on the canal, gratuitously, and free from taxation. 
 
 2. The lands, not private property, brought under cultivation by 
 the construction of the fresh-water canal, gratuitously, and free from 
 taxation for ten years. 
 
 3. The right to charge landowners for the use of the water of 
 the fresh-water canal, which, on the other hand, it was bound to 
 supply. 
 
 4. All mines found on the company's lands, and the right to 
 extract from all State mines and quarries, free of cost, royalty, or 
 tax, the stone, plaster, or other materials required for the construction 
 of the canal and ports. 
 
 5. Freedom from duties on its imports. 
 
 It was provided that the canal and works were to be finished, 
 save for unavoidable delays, within six years. Native labour was to 
 be employed to the extent of four-fifths of the whole, a special con- 
 vention settling the terms on which the Government supplied or 
 authorised such labour. The tolls were fixed at 10 frs. per "ton of 
 capacity " (an expression which gave rise to difficulties subsequently), 
 and 10 frs. for each passenger. 
 
 A contract was made with M. Harden for the execution of the 
 works, under which the company were to receive 60 per cent, of the 
 prices fixed by the original estimates of the International Commission. 
 The drawing up of the plans, the general superintendence, and the 
 supply of the machinery and stores, were, however, to be left in the 
 hands of the company. This agreement was subsequently cancelled, 
 and the company took the works under its own control, making
 
 254 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 contracts with four different firms, who undertook to complete the 
 principal undertakings for a total sum of 4,588,8007.* With these 
 arrangements, the canal was fairly launched. From 1861 till 1869 
 the whole line of the canal was the busiest centre of industrial 
 activity in Europe. The total amount of excavation required 
 was 107 millions of cubic metres. This is a larger amount of 
 digging than has been accomplished in the case of any other 
 work on record, f The operations were required to be carried on 
 at the same time with the fresh-water canal from Nefiche to Suez, 
 and with the maritime canal from Suez to Port Said, so that two 
 distinct undertakings were concurrently being constructed. Some 
 details as to the annual progress of the works may here be suitably 
 introduced. 
 
 In 1861, the works were chiefly confined to digging wells along 
 the line of the maritime canal, to erecting sheds for 10,000 
 labourers, and providing dock basins, water condensers, forges and 
 workshops, steam saw-mills, and opening a water supply by a canal 
 which should join the Nile to Lake Timsah. 
 
 In 1862, the eastern mole at Port Said was begun, together with 
 a landing stage 70 yards by 22, in 16 feet of water, and an arsenal dock 
 
 * The following are the details of the contracts for works on Suez Canal : 
 
 Dussaud freres, 
 Marseilles. 
 
 Alton, Glasgow. 
 
 Couvreux, Paris. 
 
 Borel and Levalley, 
 Paris. 
 
 zotk October, 1863. 
 
 i$th January, 1864. 
 
 1st October, 1863. 
 
 1st April, 1864. 
 
 250,000 blocks of 
 
 21,700,000 cubic 
 
 9.000,000 cubic 
 
 24,500,000 cubic 
 
 artificial stone of 
 
 metres of exca- 
 
 metres of exca- 
 
 metres of excava- 
 
 I cubic metre 
 
 vations at I 35 
 
 vations at I '60 
 
 tions at 2 '28 frs. 
 
 each (35^ cubic 
 
 fr. 
 
 frs. 
 
 56,000,000 frs. 
 
 feet), and weigh- 
 
 The plant ceded 
 
 14,000,000 frs. 
 
 2,24O,OOO/. 
 
 ing 20 tons, at 
 
 to the contractor 
 
 S6o,ooo/. 
 
 Continuation and 
 
 40 frs. each. 
 
 by the company , Enlargement and 
 
 completion of 53 
 
 10,000,000 frs. 
 
 brings the price 
 
 deepening of the 
 
 miles of cutting 
 
 400,ooo/. 
 
 up to i 60 fr. 
 
 great El Guisr 
 
 from Lake Tim- 
 
 
 34,720,000 frs. 
 
 trench, over 8 
 
 sah to Red Sea. 
 
 
 i,388,8oo/. 
 
 miles long. 
 
 
 
 Contract after- 
 
 
 Second contract. 
 
 
 wards cancelled, 
 
 
 Transfer of Aiton's 
 
 
 and transferred 
 
 
 contract. 
 
 
 to Borel and 
 
 
 
 
 Levalley. 
 
 
 
 t We do not, of course, include the Panama Canal, which is not, and may 
 never be, completed.
 
 The Suez Canal. 255 
 
 1 60 yards by 135 and 5 feet depth. Seven Arab villages were built, 
 and north of Lake Timsah, a sea-water cutting was continued from 
 Kantara to El Ferdane. A large dredging plant ordered from 
 various makers in England and France was delivered. 
 
 In 1863, four dredgers and cranes were got to work at Port Said, 
 and south of Lake Timsah twenty-one dredgers were at work, and 
 three others were nearly ready. Provision was made for adding 
 twenty more dredgers, each estimated to be capable of raising 
 1,050,000 cubic feet per month. The fresh-water canal from Nefiche 
 to Suez was begun, and 24 miles were finished. This canal was 
 64 feet at the water-line, 26 feet at the bottom, and had 6 feet 
 draught of water. The excavations required were about 50 millions 
 of cubic feet. On the north of Lake Timsah, 18,000 men were at 
 work, digging a trench 50 feet by 4 to 6 feet deep, connecting the 
 Mediterranean and Lake Timsah, and 153,600,000 cubic feet of 
 excavation was done at o'68 fr. per cubic metre, being within 
 the original estimate, despite the heavy labour of carrying the 
 earth up an incline of 70 feet. From Lake Timsah to Toussoum 
 Plateau on the south, the canal was made 190 feet wide and 6 feet 
 below the Mediterranean level, involving 21,200,000 cubic feet of 
 excavation. 
 
 In 1864, 20 new dredgers, with barges and accessories, were fitted 
 up, 43,000,000 cubic feet of excavation was done, from Port Said to 
 El Ferdane, and 7,600,000 cubic feet between Timsah and Sera- 
 peum, as well as 4,500,000 cubic feet of gypsous stone along Lake 
 Ballah. A large area of land was also reclaimed, in order to 
 provide for new works, quays were extended, and the canal Cheikh 
 Carponti, connecting Port Said with the lake and Damietta, was 
 completed. The freshwater canal was also completed to the sea, 
 over 55 miles, having occupied thirteen months, and involved 
 118,000,000 cubic feet of excavation. Corvees, or native forced 
 labour, were abolished, and 7954 European labourers, with 10,806 
 others, were set to work. 
 
 In 1865 the general works of the Maritime Canal were extended. 
 
 In 1866 Messrs. Borel and Levalley got 32 trough dredgers at 
 work along 35 miles of the canal, and the canal from Port Said to 
 Timsah was widened to 325 feet, thus allowing of the formation of 
 strands for the protection of banks from passing vessels, and econo- 
 mising the stone embankments. The Viceroy set 80,000 men to
 
 256 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 work at the canal from Cairo to Wady, so as to allow of the passage 
 of the Nile waters at all seasons. 
 
 In 1867, 353,000,000 cubic feet of dredging was accomplished, 
 and long trough dredgers were applied to the work between Port 
 Said and Timsah, which was filled to sea level. The large lake to 
 Chalouf, and the small lake to Suez, were excavated by hand labour. 
 Of the contract of M. Couvreux to excavate 146,000,000 cubic feet, 
 122,500,000 cubic feet had been completed on ist June. 
 
 In 1868 excellent progress was made. Messrs. Borel and 
 Levalley had dredged at Port Said 123,000,000 out of their total 
 quantity of 165,000,000 cubic feet. On the i5th April 1,200,000,000 
 cubic feet still remained to be excavated in the Maritime Canal. 
 Between Port Said and Timsah, 5^ miles had been done with 
 156,000,000 cubic feet of excavation, and at El Ferdane, 35 miles 
 had been done with 34,000,000, Couvreux thereby finishing six 
 months in advance of the contract time. The monthly work at this 
 time was 74,500,000 cubic feet, accomplished with 8 elevator 
 dredgers, 30 dredgers with barges, 22 long trough dredgers, 22 
 inclined planes, and 7500 labourers. 
 
 Besides the ordinary work of canalisation along the line of route, 
 very extensive harbour operations had to be undertaken at Port Said 
 and Suez. In the former case, two moles were erected, the western 
 2700 yards long, and the eastern 1950 yards, and requiring 250,000 
 blocks of artificial stone, each of 350 cubic feet and weighing 20 
 tons. A dock basin, 76 acres in extent had to be provided, and 
 another basin, called the Basin de Commerce, of 10 acres extent and 
 37 feet deep. At Suez, the roadstead had to be dredged, and dykes 
 and embankments constructed, the latter involving the submergence 
 of 2,300,000 cubic feet of stone. The Suez breakwater, when 
 finished, had over 1600 yards of stonework. 
 
 In 1869, early in the year, the moles at Port Said were com- 
 pleted, and the maritime canal, from Port Said to the Bitter Lakes 
 Canal, was fully open. In March the flooding of the Bitter Lakes 
 was commenced, and they were excavated to the Red Sea, for a 
 distance of 22 miles, by hand, and for three miles by dredgers. 
 Later on, the canal was fully opened. 
 
 The total length of quays at Port Said is over 3 miles. The 
 inner port has an area of 1 30 acres, and the outer port an area of 
 over 4000 acres. There are, besides, 120 acres of docks, and 10 
 acres of channel. Port Said has now a permanent population of
 
 The Suez Canal. 257 
 
 over 17,000, and Suez one of 11,000, whereas the total population of 
 the Isthmus in 1859 was only 150 inhabitants. 
 
 The Suez Canal can boast of having achieved many triumphs. 
 It has abridged time and space in a way and to an extent that no 
 other enterprise has ever before done in the history of the world. It 
 has brought India and Australasia almost within half their former 
 distance of Europe. It has revolutionised the shipping trade of the 
 world. It has brought about remarkable changes in the values of 
 Eastern produce. It has greatly reduced the cost of transport, and 
 it has placed at the disposal of England, France, and Egypt a source 
 of revenue which in its steady upward growth may properly be 
 described as an El Dorado. But, after all, there is one of the 
 phases of this remarkable work which is entitled to quite as much 
 attention as any of these, although the world in general hears less 
 about it. The canal gave an enormous impetus to engineering 
 invention, skill, and enterprise, the effects of which have since then 
 been felt in a hundred different works undertaken and carried out for 
 the good of mankind. The appliances with which the canal was 
 eventually completed were, for the most part, designed specially for 
 the purpose. Until then, no such machinery was available. But 
 the opportunity once found, the men were found who could utilise it. 
 A description of the numerous different descriptions of elevators, 
 dredgers, inclined planes, engines, and other appliances employed at 
 Suez would fill a large volume. Compare some of these mighty 
 machines, with their weight of 500 or 600 tons,* and extracting at 
 the rate of a million and a half cubic feet of earth per month, with 
 the Couffins, or rude Arab baskets, used by the native fellaheen, by 
 whom the work was begun in 1860 !f The contrast represents the 
 void that divides barbarism from civilisation. 
 
 The effect of the opening of the Suez Canal has been to reduce 
 the distance between England and the Australian and Indian pos- 
 sessions of the British Crown by distances varying from 545 to 4393 
 nautical miles, the greatest saving having occurred in the case of the 
 voyage to Bombay. The voyage to India, China, and Australia has 
 been so much shortened that some of the most important of the ports 
 of those possessions are now reached in little more than one half 
 
 * One long trough dredger, set to work in June 1885, weighed 760 tons. 
 
 f It is stated that the number of these baskets used at the trench of El Guisr 
 alone would, if extended in line, reach three times round the world. Of course 
 when the fellaheen were withdrawn in 1864 these baskets were less largely used. 
 
 S
 
 258 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 the time that was formerly taken up by the voyage round the 
 Cape.* 
 
 The total cost of the Suez Canal at the end of 1870 was placed 
 on the company's balance-sheet for that year at 16,613,000/4 At 
 the end of 1886 this amount had swollen, with various items of 
 expenditure incurred in the interval, to 19,782,0007. Of the former 
 amount only 11,653,0007. were expended in the work of construction 
 proper. 
 
 The financial success of the Suez Canal has exceeded the wildest 
 dreams of its promoters. The increase of tonnage that has passed 
 through it has been extraordinary. So, also, has been the income and 
 the net receipts of the company. The net tonnage that used the canal 
 in 1870 was only 436,609 tons. Ten years later the tonnage had 
 
 * The following table shows the principal distances and the saving by the 
 canal : 
 
 Ports. 
 
 By Cape. 
 
 By Canal. 
 
 Saving by Canal. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 Per Cent, of 
 Voyage 
 (Cape.) 
 
 Bombay 
 
 nautical miles. 
 10,667 
 
 nautical miles. 
 6,274 
 
 nautical miles 
 4,393 
 
 4 I-2 
 
 Madras 
 
 II,28o 
 
 7,313 
 
 3,967 
 
 35'2 
 
 Calcutta 
 
 11,900 
 
 8,083 
 
 3,8i7 
 
 32-1 
 
 Singapore (viA Straits ofl 
 Sunda) I 
 
 11,740 
 
 8,362 
 
 3,378 
 
 28-8 
 
 Hong Kong 
 
 13,180 
 
 9,799 
 
 3,38i 
 
 25-6 
 
 Shanghai 
 
 14,050 
 
 10,669 
 
 3,38i 
 
 24-1 
 
 Adelaide 
 
 11,780 
 
 11,100 
 
 680 
 
 5-8 
 
 Melbourne 
 
 I2,I4O 
 
 u,585 
 
 555 
 
 4-6 
 
 Sydney 
 
 12,690 
 
 12,145 
 
 545 
 
 4'3 
 
 Wellington, New Zealand 
 
 I3,6lO 
 
 13,055 
 
 555 
 
 4'i 
 
 This amount was made up as follows : 
 
 Construction of canal 
 
 Transit, estate, and other services 
 
 Management charges (i I years) 
 
 Interest on shares (n years) .. .. .. 
 
 Interest and repayment of debentures .. 
 Banking charges, stamps, loss in bonds, &c. 
 
 
 
 11,653,218 
 533,552 
 567,296 
 
 2,673,864 
 585,118 
 618,905
 
 The Suez Canal. 
 
 increased to 3,057,421 tons. In 1885 the tonnage had further 
 increased to 6,335,752 tons, which was the greatest that had passed 
 through in a single year up to that time. In the last-named year the 
 shipping that used the canal was more than thirteen times as much 
 as it had been fifteen years before. 
 
 The income and working expenses of the Suez Canal have varied 
 as follows, compared with the annual income : 
 
 Year. 
 
 Income. 
 
 Working Expenses. 
 
 Percentage of Working 
 Expense.- on 
 Income. 
 
 1870 
 
 , 
 
 754,532 
 
 
 
 754,532 
 
 
 1875 
 
 1,233,785 
 
 717,860 
 
 
 l88o 
 
 1,672,836 
 
 682,457 
 
 
 I88 3 
 
 2,740,933 
 
 758,861 
 
 
 1886 
 
 
 754,567 
 
 
 The heaviest items on the expenditure side are the interest and 
 charges on capital, the administrative charges, transit, navigation, and 
 telegraph charges, and maintenance of plant and warehouses. The. 
 two latter items, with water supply, make up the working expenses, 
 less administration, and they amount unitedly to less than i8o,ooo/. 
 a year, or about 7 per cent, on the total gross annual receipts. 
 
 There is a not uncommon impression that the trade for the East 
 is now carried on almost exclusively with steamships via the Suez 
 Canal. Those who are actually engaged in the shipping trade, of 
 course, know differently, but it is not unimportant that the general 
 public should also know the facts, and we have, therefore, taken 
 some pains to ascertain them. 
 
 Vessels entered 
 
 Total. 
 
 Steam Ships. 
 
 Sailing Ships. 
 
 tons. 
 
 1,957,000 
 
 tons. 
 1,112,000 
 
 tons. 
 
 845 , ooo 
 
 Do. cleared 
 Totals 
 
 3,099,000 
 
 1,921,000 
 
 I, 178,000 
 
 5,056,000 
 
 3,033,000 
 
 2,023,000 
 
 From the annual statement of the navigation and shipping of the 
 United Kingdom, we have extracted the foregoing particulars of the 
 
 s 2
 
 260 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared from the United Kingdom 
 in 1884, in the Indian and Australian trades distinguishing steamers 
 and sailing ships. 
 
 As sailing ships cannot make use of the canal, it is quite evident 
 that there must be a use of sailing tonnage to the extent of over two 
 millions of tons a year in the trade between the United Kingdom 
 and her Indian and Australasian possessions. Such a fact is not a 
 little remarkable when we remember that the opening of the canal 
 has shortened the distance to Bombay by 41 per cent.; to Madras, 
 by 35 per cent. ; and to Calcutta by 32 per cent* In some cases, 
 the sailing tonnage employed was fully one-half of the whole. The 
 following figures show how the proportions compare for the different 
 provinces of India, as regards entrances into British ports : 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 Steamers. 
 
 Sailing Ships. 
 
 
 tons. 
 
 tons. 
 
 tons. 
 
 Bombay 
 
 336,377 
 
 327,039 
 
 9,338 
 
 Madras 
 
 74,371 
 
 32,251 
 
 42,120 
 
 
 810,046 
 
 4.26, ^24. 
 
 384. 222 
 
 Ceylon 
 
 18,373 
 
 5,483 
 
 12,890 
 
 Total 
 
 1,239,867 
 
 791,297 
 
 448,570 
 
 The clearances followed much the same course in the same 
 period. Even with India, therefore, about 37 per cent, of all our 
 trade passes by sailing ships round the Cape of Good Hope, instead 
 of going through the canal, thus proving that the shortening of 
 distance and of time is not the only consideration that determines 
 the adoption of one route in preference to another. 
 
 One remarkable phase of the Suez Canal traffic is the great 
 increase that has taken place in the size of the ships passing between 
 the two seas. When the canal was first put forward by M. de 
 Lesseps, it was seriously argued that all that was wanted was a canal 
 from the Damietta branch of the Nile to Suez, which, "with a very 
 little piling and dredging at either end," would be accessible to vessels 
 of 300 or 400 tons burthen. Such a canal, it was maintained, " would 
 suffice for all the wants of Egypt, and for all the local traffic of the 
 
 * "The Statistical Story of the Suez Canal," in the 'Journal' of the Royal 
 Statistical Society for 1887.
 
 The Suez Canal. 
 
 261 
 
 two seas." * It was also maintained, that as the tendency was to 
 increase the size of the ships employed on the Indian service, the 
 canal would be compelled to refuse the only traffic ever likely to be 
 
 M. DE LESSEPS. 
 
 offered to it.f The average size of the vessels using the canal in 
 1870 was only 898 net tons. From this point a gradual increase of 
 size has taken place, until in 1888 the average size had increased to 
 
 * ' Edinburgh Review,' January 1856, p. 245. 
 
 f It was assumed that the canal could not take vessels like the Himalaya and 
 the Persia, or indeed any vessel over 350 feet in length.
 
 ITVIHS or PB.USIUM 
 
 MAP OF THE 
 
 SUEZ CANAL 
 
 AND PART OF 
 
 LOWER EGYPT.
 
 264 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 1883 tons. The intervening period of eighteen years had therefore 
 witnessed an increase of 109 per cent. 
 
 Singularly enough, it has been contended that the opening of the 
 Suez Canal has injured both English and Egyptian interests English 
 interests, because it has economised tonnage, saved time, or in other 
 words, minimised interest on capital, injured our entrepot trade, and 
 brought about our occupation of Egypt, with all the heavy expen- 
 diture, loss of life, and international complications which that fact 
 has involved ; Egyptian interests, because the Government of that 
 country has had to pay large indemnities to the Suez Canal Company, 
 and has really profited by the success of the enterprise to a much 
 less extent than it ought to have done, had it not very improvi- 
 dently sacrificed the royalties to which it was entitled under the 
 original agreement. 
 
 It is, no doubt, unfortunate that our occupation of Egypt, and the 
 inglorious campaigns in the Soudan, should have been entailed upon 
 us by our interest in keeping open the canal, but the statistics of our 
 trade with the East conclusively prove that the canal has had an im- 
 portant share in the enormous development that has occurred since 
 it was opened. The movement has, however, been aided by other 
 influences, and more especially by the opening of telegraph lines, the 
 improvements that have been effected in steamships and marine 
 engines, the smaller commissions accepted by merchants or agents, 
 the lower rates of freight, the reduced charges for insurance, and 
 many collateral changes, that have all tended, in a greater or less 
 degree, to facilitate commerce and navigation. 
 
 Whether or no M. de Lesseps and his allies have conferred any 
 substantial advantages on England by their completion of the Suez 
 Canal, it is quite beyond controversy that the English people have 
 not rendered much aid in the promotion of that great waterway. 
 The part which England took when the preliminary arrangements 
 were being made in 1856 is one of which many Englishmen are now 
 a little ashamed. England was invited to co-operate in the project 
 at an early stage. Not only did we refuse co-operation, but we 
 refused it with that species of incivility of which we are occasionally 
 guilty when we have our insular prejudices offended. The canal was 
 first of all, opposed by the British Government, as such. Lord 
 Palmerston was then Prime Minister. On the 8th of July, 1857, he 
 declared the opposition to be (i) that the construction of the canal
 
 The Suez Canal. 265 
 
 would tend to the more easy separation of Egypt from Turkey, and 
 would, therefore, be in direct violation of a policy " supported by 
 war and the Treaty of Paris"; and (2) that there were "remote 
 speculations with regard to easier access to our Indian possessions, 
 only requiring to be indistinctly shadowed forth to be fully appreci- 
 ated," which rendered the canal undesirable. How much better it 
 would have been for the memory of genial " old Pam," if, in 
 announcing his judgment, he had recollected the rule that "you 
 should never give your reasons." History is rapidly made in the 
 nineteenth century. It is not in the least discreditable to Palmerston 
 that he should have failed to realise how completely his anticipations 
 would be falsfied by events. No one at that time could have fore- 
 seen that, in less than thirty years from that date, the Suez Canel 
 would not only have become an accomplished fact, but would have 
 become perhaps the most successful industrial enterprise of modern 
 times ; that it would have revolutionised our shipping and transit 
 trades ; and that our Indian and Australian possessions would have 
 participated in its advantages to an enormous degree. Prescience of 
 this kind is given to few men. But while the lack of this ability to 
 discern the "coming events " which "throw their shadows before" 
 is not common, so neither is the example of the representative of a 
 great nation describing as a " bubble," and denouncing with all the 
 eloquence and power at his command, an enterprise which has con- 
 ferred upon his country, as the first maritime power in the world, 
 advantages which generally transcend those that are enjoyed by any 
 other country. 
 
 But Lord Palmerston is very far from being a monopolist of this 
 discredit. Robert Stephenson was at this time one of the leading 
 English engineers. As the great son of a great father, he enjoyed 
 vast influence, honourably and justly acquired, and employed, with 
 one exception, discriminatingly and in a manner worthy of its posses- 
 sor. That exception was the position which he took up in reference 
 to the Suez Canal. Appointed to represent England on a commis- 
 sion of experts instructed to report on the question of isthmian 
 transit, Stephenson satisfied himself that the idea of a canal was 
 impracticable, and reported against it. So far, Stephenson was quite 
 alone. His two colleagues on the commission M. Talabot, repre- 
 senting France, and M. Negrelli representing Austria were both in 
 favour of the canal in preference to the railroad which Stephenson 
 -
 
 266 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 recommended.* His brother engineers in England appear to have 
 stood loyally by Stephenson. They gave very little countenance to 
 M. de Lesseps or his scheme. Both were, indeed, denounced from 
 platform and press in the most unsparing manner. The leading 
 daily journals, which write in haste, and the sober, scholarly 
 quarterlies, which are supposed to write at leisure and after much 
 reflection, were alike opposed to it. The Edinburgh Review spoke 
 of it as " utterly impracticable," and urged that, " the available popu- 
 lation or resources of Egypt could not execute such a work in a 
 hundred years ; " that " an army of foreign navvies would be required 
 to keep in repair such a work, with its locks, viaducts, steam engines, 
 and a floating capital hardly inferior to the original outlay " ; that " a 
 vessel in Aden harbour would rather take 3/. per ton for England, if 
 allowed to go via the Cape, than she would take 5/. if forced to go 
 through the canal"; that if the principles on which the Great 
 Eastern, was then being built, were sound,f there was " an end, 
 not only of the canal, but the Red Sea may again be restored to its 
 pristine solitude, undisturbed even by the weekly visit of the passing 
 steamers " ; and, finally, that until different experiences were at com- 
 mand, " the Suez Canal may fairly be relegated among the questions 
 diseuses which may interest and amuse, but can hardly ever benefit 
 mankind." J 
 
 So also the ' Quarterly Review,' which believed the scheme to be 
 " commercially unsound," and set forth a number of objections to it 
 in categorical form. The great expense of building the masonry 
 harbours at the two outlets of the canal, the difficulties and dangers 
 of the navigation of the Red Sea, the cost of the embankments and 
 the expense of maintenance, the " probability of steamers like the 
 Great Eastern being built to perform the voyage round the Cape to the 
 island of Ceylon in less time than would be occupied in performing 
 
 * The preference of Stephenson for a railway is not difficult to understand. 
 He had " won his spurs " in railroad construction, and was familiar with every 
 phase of their working and capabilities, but he had had comparatively little 
 knowledge experimentally of canals. He was, indeed, the apostle of the new era 
 the railway against the canal. 
 
 t It was expected that the Great Eastern steamship would attain a speed of 
 25 knots an hour, and the proposition that a vessel's speed is almost in the direct 
 ratio to her length having once been granted, that a class of vessels would come to 
 be built that would be too large to make use of the canal. 
 
 \ 'Edinburgh Review,' vol. ciii. (January 1856).
 
 The Suez Cancu. 267 
 
 that through the Suez Canal,"* and the impossibility of ensuring 
 the maintenance of the canal and necessary locks in proper working 
 condition, were marshalled in battle array as a phalanx of obstacles 
 that could not be overcome. But the opponents of the canal went 
 further, and declared that, as a vessel using the canal would take 
 about three days to get through,! would require one day to coal, and 
 another to sail from Pelusium to the meridian of Alexandria,, the 
 saving on goods, as compared with the railway, would only be one to 
 two days, while on passengers and mails there would be a loss of four 
 to five days. 
 
 The British shipping interest have had some reason to complain 
 of the way in which they have been treated from first to last by the 
 Suez Canal Company. It is perfectly true that England did not 
 contribute anything to the building of the canal, but English shipping 
 has provided the shareholders with much the larger part of their 
 revenue. France, which practically owns the canal, only contributes 
 from 6 to 9 per cent, of its income, as against from 75 to 80 per 
 cent, of the whole contributed by Great Britain. The shipowners of 
 the latter country not unnaturally thought, some years ago, that they 
 should have a larger share in the management of the canal, and 
 threatened the construction of a rival waterway if the existing canal 
 were not deepened, and other arrangements made for facilitating the 
 shipping that used it. After a good deal of negociation between the 
 canal company and the shipowners, a commission was appointed in 
 1884 to determine what new measures, in respect of works and 
 navigation, should be undertaken to enable the ship canal to meet 
 fully the exigencies of a traffic exceeding 10,000,000 tons per annum. 
 Its report was presented in February 1885. The commission con- 
 sidered three methods of increasing the carrying capacity of the 
 canal, namely: (i) widening the existing canal; (2) construction 
 of a second canal ; and (3) doubling the capacity of the canal by a 
 combination of the first two methods. 
 
 When the canal was first designed, in 1856, it was supposed that 
 two vessels, being towed, could easily pass where the bottom width 
 
 * This seems an extraordinary assumption when we consider that the canal saves 
 in the journey to Bombay 41 per cent, of the voyage by the Cape, and on the 
 journey to Madras and Calcutta 32 to 35 per cent. 
 
 t In 1887 the average duration of the passage through the canal for the whole 
 3137 ships that made use of it was 34 hours 3 minutes. Between 1870 and 1873 
 the passage was frequently effected in 12 to 15 hours.
 
 268 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 was 144 feet, or double the normal width adopted. At the present 
 day, however, when vessels of nearly 200 feet in width propel them- 
 selves through the canal, a bottom width of 230 feet has been proposed 
 for the 8 r miles from Port Said to the southern end of the Bitter Lakes, 
 where the tidal currents do not exceed one knot an hour, and 262 
 feet for the rest of the distance to Suez, where the currents often 
 exceed two knots, in order that the vessels may pass each other 
 freely. The cost of this widening was estimated at 8,24o,ooo/., 
 supposing the depth of the canal remained as at present, z6\ feet 
 below low-water of ordinary spring tides, but it would be increased 
 by 975, 2oa/. if the depth was augmented to 29^ feet, unless the 
 proposed width could be reduced to 18 feet. 
 
 The construction of a second canal, within the limits of the 
 company's lands, having, like the existing canal, a bottom width of 
 72 feet, widened out to 131 feet through the small Bitter Lakes, was 
 estimated at from 8,2oo,ooo/. to 8,92o,ooo/., with an additional cost 
 of 698,8oo/. if made 29^ feet deep. 
 
 The third plan took into consideration the different velocities of 
 the tidal currents north and south of the Bitter Lakes. Assuming 
 that the greater velocity might lead to collisions between vessels 
 passing on a single enlarged canal, it would be advisable to restrict 
 the enlargement to the northern portion, and to form a second canal 
 between the Bitter Lakes and Suez. For reasons which are fully set 
 forth in their Report, the Commission decided in favour of the 
 enlargement of the existing canal. The estimated cost of the 
 works, which are now in progress, is rather over 8,ooo,ooo/. 
 
 It has been suggested, with some show of reason, that it would 
 be to the advantage of the commerce of the world that the maritime 
 Powers should make arrangements to acquire the Suez Canal, and 
 throw it open, free of any charge or impost whatsoever, to the navi- 
 gation of all nations, in the same way that the Scheldt and the Sound 
 have been. The canal has hitherto been employed almost entirely 
 for the transport of passengers, mails, and such traffic as will bear a 
 high rate of freight, the charge of TS. to IDS. per ton being prohibi- 
 tory in respect to much of the commerce that passes from the East 
 to the West. The proposal is one that is entitled to every consider- 
 ation. There is, however, a high probability, amounting almost to 
 a certainty, that the proprietors would demand a very large sum in 
 excess of their original expenditure. The canal has cost from first 
 to last, including financing, some 2o,ooo,ooo/. At their recent prices,
 
 The Suez Canal. 269 
 
 the canal shares may be considered as worth about four times that 
 amount. If the property were to be purchased on such a basis, it 
 would require an expenditure of at least 8o,ooo,ooo/., which sum, 
 although by no means impossible, is yet little likely to be realised for 
 such a purpose. If the canal had been taken over in 1880 it could 
 have been purchased for one-half the sum that would now be 
 required to buy it * 
 
 At the same time that the Suez canal route was being advocated 
 with all his wonted energy and enthusiasm by M. de Lesseps, 
 other two routes to India were being seriously discussed. As 
 one at least of these is still on the carpet we may fitly say some- 
 thing of it here. 
 
 Up to the sixteenth century the best known and the most fre- 
 quented route to India was that by the valleys of the Euphrates and 
 the Tigris. These two great rivers of Mesopotamia are among the 
 most celebrated in the world's history. The Euphrates has its source 
 in the northern highlands of Armenia ; the Tigris in the southern 
 slopes of the same mountainous region, being fed by many rivers 
 that traverse the boundary line between Persia and Turkey. Almost 
 at the dawn of recorded history, we find that the Assyrians and the 
 Babylonians connected these two rivers by a series of canals. Two 
 of these, constructed parallel to the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, 
 were large enough to be navigated, but the system was constructed 
 mainly with a view to irrigating the surrounding plains, which, for 
 nearly six months, were liable to be burnt up by the scorching sun. 
 As the Arabs and Turcomans gained greater ascendancy in this 
 region, the arts of husbandry were less practised, and the canals and 
 water courses were allowed to fall into desuetude and decay. Their 
 embankments still, however, remain to attest the remarkable skill, 
 labour, and industry with which, at this early date, the fertility of the 
 soil was stimulated and increased, until the extraordinary produc- 
 tiveness of Assyria and Babylonia became a favourite theme of 
 dotus and other historians. 
 
 Through this region, until the trade of the East was drawn into 
 the newer channel via the Cape of Good Hope, European merchants 
 sought an outlet for their trade with the East. Bagdad and Bussora 
 were then great entrepots of commerce. Mosul and Aleppo were 
 the ancient counterparts of Suez and Port Said. The route was, 
 
 * The shares rose from a middle price of 306 francs in 1867 to 664 in 1877, 
 1021 in 1880, 2710 in 1882, and fell to 1989 in 1884, rising again to 2095 in 1886.
 
 2 70 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 however, never a safe or a satisfactory one. The Syrian desert, close 
 at hand, claimed many victims. The wild Arab tribes committed 
 depredations on travellers. The " unspeakable " Turk was exacting 
 and intolerant. The journey to India and back lasted for a lengthened 
 period often two or three years where it now scarcely extends 
 over so many months. But in spite of all this, the indomitable spirit 
 and energy of the English race led it to establish a secure footing on 
 such ungenial soil, and amid such inhospitable surroundings. An 
 English factory long flourished at Aleppo. A fleet of boats was, in 
 the reign of Elizabeth, maintained on the Euphrates for the use of 
 British traders. When the Levant Company was founded in 1582, 
 it was deemed a veritable Eldorado to have the exclusive privilege 
 of trading with this part of the globe. All this has long ceased to be, 
 but the proposal to have the Euphrates and the Tigris utilised as a 
 trade route to India has been again and again revived. In 1834, 
 the British Government determined to fit out an expedition to test 
 the capabilities of the Euphrates for steam navigation. The expedi- 
 tion was placed under the charge of Colonel Chesney, upon whose 
 recommendation it was adopted by Parliament. It was found that 
 the Euphrates was in some places a broad and deep stream, and in 
 others navigation was impeded by shallows, sand-banks, rapids, and 
 stone dams of large size, built for irrigation purposes. One of the 
 two vessels fitted out for the use of the expedition foundered in a 
 storm, and many lives were lost. The Government, deeming the 
 result unsatisfactory, declined to take any further part in exploring 
 the Euphrates. In 1840, however, the East India Company com- 
 missioned Lieutenant Campbell to attempt the ascent of the river. 
 This expedition sailed up the Tigris to within a few miles of Mosul. 
 They found a canal uniting the Euphrates and Tigris near Bagdad, 
 which, however, has long been closed. They also navigated the 
 great canal which is said to have been constructed by the Emperor 
 Valerian during his captivity, nearly as far as Shushtir, and several 
 rivers in Persia. One of the vessels employed on this expedition 
 was for many years afterwards accustomed to make occasional 
 voyages between Bagdad and Bussora, mainly in order that our 
 privilege to navigate the river should be maintained, and our 
 influence in Western Asia preserved. 
 
 The proposal put forward by the promoters of the Euphrates 
 Valley route in 1856, was to navigate the rivers Euphrates and Tigris 
 from about the latitude of Aleppo to the sea, to construct a harbour
 
 The Suez Canal. 271 
 
 at Suedia, and a railway thence to Kalah Jaber. From this point it 
 was proposed that steamers should convey mails, passengers, and 
 merchandise to Bussora, whence sea-going vessels should run to 
 India.* The route to India would thus be reduced to 4715 miles, 
 and the time necessary for the journey to less than sixteen days, 
 giving a saving of thirteen days out and nine days home upon the 
 Suez voyage. 
 
 The cost involved in this undertaking, not to speak of its 
 mechanical and physical difficulties, led to its abandonment, although 
 it is by no means certain that the engineering problems to be dealt 
 with are more considerable than those which have had to be solved 
 at Panama. One serious difficulty, which has been deemed all but 
 insuperable, is the fact that the waters of the Jordan are just sufficient 
 to balance the evaporation from the surface of the Dead Sea, so that 
 if that sea were increased to five or six times its superficial area, as 
 proposed, it would require a much larger volume of water than the 
 Jordan can furnish to meet the deficiency. The project also labours 
 under the defects of climate, a thin population, and an absence of 
 food and water supplies. 
 
 In the last century the Marquis of Wellesley endeavoured to 
 utilise the Euphrates Valley route ; and the House of Commons has 
 been asked to grant sums of money for various purposes in connec- 
 tion with it at different times. In 1871 the House of Commons 
 ordered an official inquiry, with a view to place upon record 
 all the useful information available, including the evidence of 
 Colonel Chesney and others, as to this route. 
 
 It has not been supposed by the promoters of a railway to India 
 that such a railway would be in any way antagonistic to the Suez 
 Canal, which would, in all probability, monopolise the heavy traffic, 
 and still exist as the chief means of communication with Southern 
 India. But, on the other hand, the Euphrates line would benefit the 
 north-west provinces, and, as far as passengers and mails are con- 
 cerned, would effect a saving in time of at least a fortnight, taking 
 the voyage out and home. The saving in distance would be about 
 1000 miles in a straight line, and, as vessels proceeding by way of the 
 
 * The distance from Suedia to Kalah Jabar, a small Arab settlement on the 
 Euphrates, was put down at 100 to 150 miles, and the river journey from Kalah 
 Jabar to Bussora at 715 miles. From Bussora to Kurrachee the distance is 
 1000 miles. The average time occupied in descending the Tigris was taken at 
 seven days, and that of the ascent at twelve.
 
 272 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Red Sea are compelled to deviate from their courses to the extent of 
 500 or 600 miles during the monsoon months, the saving that might 
 accrue, taking an average of voyages, would be somewhere about 
 one thousand miles each voyage. On the other hand, the railway 
 would always suffer from the fact that two trans-shipments would 
 have to be effected in every case, and this, where the goods are bulky, 
 is a serious consideration. Prior to the opening of the Suez Canal 
 only goods of small bulk were sent to India by way of the Isthmus 
 Railway, although the voyage by the Cape occupied eight days, and it 
 is regarded as probable that the canal would still retain heavy traffic. 
 
 Besides the Euphrates Valley, two other routes to India have 
 been proposed. One of these aimed at the substitution of the Black 
 Sea for the Mediterranean, and making the terminus of the line at 
 Trebizonde. By the champions of this scheme it is contended that 
 the long and dangerous voyage necessitated by a Mediterranean 
 terminus would be avoided, by making use of the Danube and the 
 short passage across the Black Sea. On the European side, however, 
 there is the liability to having the Danube, or, indeed, the Black Sea, 
 closed, the effect of which would be that the railway would be simply 
 useless, as long as the restrictions remained in force ; and on the 
 Asiatic side there would be serious practical obstacles in the 
 mountain ranges near Trebizonde. The Tigris Valley route has also 
 been recommended on the ground that it would open out a better 
 country, and one peopled by more peaceful tribes. Of the respective 
 advantages of the two routes in regard to facilities of construction, 
 it is enough to say that the Valley of the Euphrates is practically flat, 
 and that nothing better could be desired in the matter of level, while 
 it is not easy to say what difficulties the Tigris Valley may or may 
 not present. Mr. Eastwick has visited various parts of the Euphrates 
 route, and he states that the facilities there for making a good road 
 are great, and that in certain districts the local traffic would, in all 
 probability, be very considerable. 
 
 Another plan was proposed some thirty-five years ago, for 
 forming a water communication between the Red Sea and the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 This proposal, made by Captain W. Allen, of H.M.'s navy, was 
 based on the knowledge we now possess that the level of the Dead 
 Sea is at least 1300 feet below that of the Mediterranean or Red 
 Seas, and that the Sea of Galilee is, in like manner, depressed to the 
 extent of about 650 feet ; so that the mean level of the valley of the
 
 The Suez Canal. 273 
 
 Jordan, with its two lakes, may be taken at 1000 feet below the 
 neighbouring seas, and its extent as covering about 2000 square 
 miles. This vast area Captain Allen proposed to convert into a 
 great inland sea by cutting a canal from Acre across the plain of 
 Esdraelon to the Jordan, a distance of about 40 miles on the map, 
 and another from Akabah, on the Red Sea, to the southern limit of 
 the Dead Sea, a distance of about 120 miles. 
 
 The summit level of the plain of Esdraelon may be as low as 
 100 feet above the sea level, or as high as 200 feet, and from the 
 appearance of the banks of the brook Kishon, near its junction with 
 the sea, and the hills that bound the plain on both sides, the ground 
 is rocky nearly throughout its whole extent at a small distance below 
 the surface. The proposal, therefore, as described in the ' Edinburgh 
 Review,' was to dig a canal through a rocky country for 3o'^or 35 
 miles in length, and with a mean depth or 80 to 100 feet. 
 
 A plan has quite recently been put forward for the construction 
 of a parallel canal to that across the Isthmus of Suez, by way of the 
 Euphrates Valley, the Persian Gulf, and Syria. The proposal is to 
 create a navigable highway from Soneidich to the Persian Gulf, by 
 making the Euphrates flow to the Mediterranean and Antioch. The 
 river from Beles to Felondjah (near ancient Babylon) would be 
 deepened, and the waterway would be carried from the Euphrates to 
 the Tigris by the canal of Saklavijah. Thence the route would be 
 by the Tigris from Bagdad to Kornah, Bassora, and Fao on the 
 Gulf. The author of this proposal* estimates that the canal would 
 shorten the route to Bombay by six days, and it would irrigate and 
 restore fertility to a great part of the country through which it would 
 pass. The estimated capital required would be 1,500,000,000 francs 
 (6o,ooo,ooo/. sterling). 
 
 * M. Emile Ende, in a communication to the French Academy of Sciences in 
 1886.
 
 274 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE PANAMA CANAL. 
 
 "A little model the master wrought 
 Which should be to the larger plan, 
 What the child is to the man." Longfellow. 
 
 IF the question were asked, " What is the greatest constructive work 
 that has yet been undertaken by man ? " there would, without question, 
 be a great many different replies. There can, however, be only one 
 reply as to the most costly. Perhaps, also, there can be but one 
 answer as to the most disastrous to human life. The Panama canal 
 would almost certainly secure pre-eminence in these attributes. It 
 might or might not rank equally high as a work of engineering genius 
 and possible public utility. 
 
 There has probably never been a project that has so challenged 
 the admiration and the approval of the world as that of finding a 
 waterway between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, at or near to 
 the narrow neck of land that separates Limon from the Gulf of 
 Panama in Central America. This enterprise has a long and a very 
 eventful history. Many explorers, geographers, statesmen, engi- 
 neers, and economists have either written on the merits and demerits 
 of the undertaking, or have otherwise become associated with it. 
 Some of the more notable episodes in the records of the isthmus 
 may therefore be referred to, before proceeding to describe the 
 various projects now either in progress or in contemplation, for 
 opening it up for the purposes of trade, commerce, and navigation. 
 
 One of the earliest direct references to the importance of a 
 waterway between the two oceans is that made by Cortez in his 
 letters to Charles V. The great conqueror, however, does not seem 
 to have contemplated the construction of such a waterway. He 
 diligently searched for a natural waterway or strait between the 
 two oceans, and declared that to be " the one thing above all others 
 in the world I am most desirous of meeting with," on account of its 
 immense utility. Some sixty or seventy years later, there was a
 
 The Panama Canal. 275 
 
 project put forward by the Spaniards for uniting the two oceans by a 
 waterway, but it does not appear to have been carried any length. 
 The Spaniards, indeed, were hardly the people to achieve such a 
 distinction. Unlike the ancient Romans, the Italians, and the 
 Chinese, their skill was not very marked in hydraulics. They were, 
 besides, much too superstitious to venture on interference with what 
 many of them believed to be an ordinance having all the fixity of a 
 law of nature.* 
 
 The American Isthmus next claims attention as associated with 
 the ill-starred fortunes of William Paterson and the Darien scheme. f 
 
 The earliest, and in some respects the best, information yet avail- 
 able, relative to the topography of the country adjacent to the 
 Panama Canal, is that furnished by Dampier,J who spent some time 
 on the isthmus and noted all its chief physical characteristics. 
 Dampier's observations, however, were chiefly made in and about the 
 Gulf of St. Michael, which he describes as lying " nearly thirty 
 leagues from Panama, towards the south-east," and as " a place where 
 a great many rivers, having finished their course, are swallowed up 
 in the sea." Dampier found the isthmus very low and swampy, " the 
 rivers being so oosy that the stinking mud infects the air." 
 
 Lionel Wafer has also made an early and valuable report on the 
 character of the country bordering on the route of the present 
 Panama Canal, describing it " as almost everywhere of an unequal 
 surface, distinguished with hills and valleys of great variety for height, 
 depth, and extent." He described the river Chagre, or Chagres, as 
 
 * In 1588 P. Acosta, an old Spanish historian, wrote, with reference to the 
 proposal to construct a canal between the two oceans, that "it would be just to 
 fear the vengeance of Heaven for attempting such a work. 7 ' 
 
 t William Paterson, the originator of the Darien Expedition, was also the 
 founder of the Bank of England. 
 
 \ Dampier was born in Somersetshire in 1652. In 1673116 served in the Dutch 
 war under Sir Edward Sprague. He was afterwards for some years overseer of a 
 plantation in Jamaica. Several vicissitudes of fortune followed, and it is stated 
 that for a time he was one of a band of pirates who roved about the Peruvian 
 coasts. He made several voyages to the northern coast of Mexico, to the East 
 Indies, and to the islands in the Pacific. His ' Voyages ' have been many times 
 reprinted. 
 
 Lionel Wafer was bred a surgeon in London, and in 1677 embarked as such 
 on board a ship bound for Bantam. He afterwards engaged with Linch and Cook, 
 two celebrated buccaneers, which brought him into the company of Dampier. 
 The two did not, however, agree, and Wafer was left on shore on the Isthmus of 
 Darien, where he spent some years among the Indians. lie returned to England 
 in 1690, and published an account of his adventures. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 one which " rises from some hills near the South Sea, and runs along 
 in an oblique north-westerly course till it finds itself a passage into 
 the North Sea, though the chain of hills, if I mistake not, is extended 
 much further to the west, even to the Lake of Nicaragua." 
 
 De Ulloas * and some friends in 1735 made an ascent of the river 
 Chagres on their journey from Cruces to Panama. This voyage is 
 interesting as being one of the first that is recorded over the river that 
 has since played so prominent a part in the history of the canalisation 
 of the isthmus. They found the banks of the Chagres impassable, 
 for the most part, from the density of the vegetation and the velocity 
 of the current. The vessels that were then more or less accustomed 
 to navigate the Chagres were described by De Ulloas as chatas and 
 bongos the first carrying 600 or 700 quintals, and the latter 400 or 
 500. The river was found to be so full of shallows that even vessels 
 of this small size had to be lightened every now and again until they 
 had passed over them. 
 
 No one has taken a greater interest in the subject of a ship canal 
 than Humboldt, who regarded Kelley's Atrato route with approval, and 
 who, replying to the objections brought against the proposal in his 
 time, declared that " there is nothing more likely to obstruct the 
 extension of commerce and the freedom of international relations than 
 to create a distaste for farther investigation by discouraging, as some 
 are too positive in doing, all hope of an oceanic channel." \ 
 
 A survey was made of the isthmus in 1827 by Captain Lloyd and 
 Captain Falmark, the former an officer of engineers in the Colombian 
 service, and the latter a Swedish gentleman acting in that capacity 
 for the time being. Beginning at Panama, they followed the old line 
 of road from that city to Porto Bello, a distance of 22-J miles, where 
 they found the surface of the water in the river to be 152^ feet above 
 high-water mark at Panama. At Cruces they found a fall in the 
 river of 114^ feet, leaving only about 38 feet as the height above the 
 Pacific. It was found that at Panama there was a rise and fall of 
 the tide in the Pacific of 27*4 feet, being 13*5 feet above the high- 
 
 * De Ulloas was born at Seville in 1716. He distinguished himself as an 
 engineer and man of science. In 1 730 he was sent to Peru to measure a degree of 
 meridian, and remained nearly ten years in South America. Afterwards visiting 
 England, he contributed several papers to the Royal Society, and was appointed 
 by Ferdinand III. to collect information as to the condition of the arts and sciences 
 in Europe. 
 
 t Letter to Mr. F. Kelly, in ' Proceedings ' of the Royal Geographical Society 
 for 1856.
 
 The Panama Canal. 277 
 
 water mark of the Atlantic at Chagres. These and other observa- 
 tions led them to conclude * that in every twelve hours, commencing 
 with high tides, the level of the Pacific is first several feet higher than 
 that of the Atlantic ; it becomes then of the same height, and at low 
 tide it is several feet lower ; again, as the tide rises, the two seas are 
 of one height, and, finally, at high tide the Pacific is again the same 
 number of feet above the Atlantic as at first." \ 
 
 In 1840 Mr. Wheelwright was commissioned by the directors of 
 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company to examine the capabilities 
 of the river Chagres, and the best means of communication with the 
 South Sea. He made a lengthy report on the subject, in the course 
 of which he confirmed many of Captain Lloyd's observations, giving 
 the depth of high water on the bar of the Chagres at 1 5 feet. In 
 1843, again, M. Napoleon Garella received from M. Guizot, as 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs, an order to make a survey of the isthmus, 
 and he proposed a summit-canal of more than three miles long, the 
 level being reached by thirty-six locks and three large aqueducts. $ 
 
 In 1853, Mr. Squier explored that section of the mountain chain 
 which crosses the American isthmus to which Berghaus has given the 
 name of the Honduras-Nicaraguan group. This range commences 
 at the Col de Guajoca and extends to the valley of the Rio San Juan. 
 Running at first close to the shore of the Pacific, it gradually ap- 
 proaches the centre of the isthmus. The eastern slope, broken by 
 mountain offshoots and watered by rivers of the first order, terminates 
 on the north-east in the point Gracias a Dios. The western slope 
 forms a long, low, and, comparatively speaking, level valley, crossed 
 by an irregular and independent series of volcanic peaks. This 
 accessory line of volcanoes, which presents the most distinctive 
 feature of the physical geography of Central America, is nowhere so 
 distinct from the main line of rocky axis as in the Honduras- 
 Nicaraguan district. Mr. Squier proposed to commence a railway at 
 Puerto Caballos, in the Bay of Honduras, and proceed due south to 
 Fonseca Bay, on the Pacific, a distance of some 160 miles. The 
 harbours on this route are said to be very superior to those on the 
 Tehuantepec route. The summit-level, however, is 2308 feet above 
 
 * Vide ' Philosophical Trans.,' 1830, p. 62 et seq. 
 
 t The details of the survey are in the library of the Royal Society, to which 
 the author communicated a paper on the subject. Captain Lloyd also gave an 
 account of the country and its productions to the Royal Geographical Society. 
 
 \ 'Edinburgh Review,' April 1882.
 
 278 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 the level of the sea. At such a height a canal would be practically 
 impossible, and the project was never carried any further than a survey. 
 Among the many alternative routes suggested for a canal across 
 the American isthmus, one that has found some favour in the United 
 States was that via the isthmus of Tehuantepec. This locality has 
 been repeatedly surveyed. Cortez had his attention called to it in 
 the sixteenth century. Don Augustus Cramer went over at least part 
 of the route in 1744. Again, in 1842-3, it was surveyed by Senor 
 Moro, as will be found in a book called ' Survey of the Isthmus of 
 Tehuantepec, executed in the years 1842 and 1843, under the super- 
 intendence of a scientific commission appointed by the projector, 
 Don Jose de Garay. London, 1844.' In 1852 it was surveyed by 
 Mr. J. J. Williams, on behalf of the Tehuantepec Railroad Company 
 of New Orleans. The project was to ascend, from the Atlantic coast, 
 the river Coatzacoalcos to its junction with the Malalengo, from 
 which spot a canal was to be carried to the summit-level on the 
 Mesa de Tarifa, through a series of locks, rising 525 feet in all, and 
 descending 65 6 feet into the lagoons on the shores east of Tehuan- 
 tepec. The canal would have a length of about 50 miles, and would 
 require 19 additional miles of trench to convey water. The length 
 of this line was stated by Mr. Kelly, of New York,* at " about 
 210 miles," and by M. Voisin, a director of the Suez Canal,t at 
 240 kilometres, or about 149 miles. 
 
 M. Moro estimated that 150 locks would be required on this 
 route, and twelve days would be required for vessels to pass through 
 the canal. The coast of Tehuantepec is, moreover, subject to fearful 
 hurricanes and to subterranean movements of volcanic origin, while, 
 finally, the supply of water at so high a level was believed to be 
 doubtful, t 
 
 At the first session of the Congress of Geographical Science, held 
 at Antwerp in 1871, the question of constructing a canal across the 
 American isthmus was presented for consideration. General Hame, 
 of the United States, was present, and took part in the congress. 
 He described the proposals of the two French explorers, MM. de 
 Gogorza and de Lacharme, who proposed to cut the Isthmus of 
 Darien between the navigable channels of the Tuyra, the Atrato, and 
 the Caquiri. The congress recommended the project of these 
 
 * ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, ' vol. xv., p. 378. 
 t 'Bulletin du Canal Interoceanique,' An. I, No. 2, p. 10. 
 \ ' Edinburgh Review,' April 1882.
 
 The Panama Canal. 279 
 
 gentlemen to the attention of the great maritime Powers, and of the 
 scientific societies throughout the world. There the matter rested 
 for a time. 
 
 At the second congress of the same body, held at Paris in 1875, 
 the question of the construction of a canal across the Isthmus of 
 Darien was again considered. M. de Lesseps, who was present on 
 that occasion, declared that all the authors of the various projects 
 brought forward for piercing the isthmus up to that time had made a 
 grave mistake in committing themselves to a canal with locks and 
 sweet water. He urged that, in order to meet the wants of com- 
 merce, all maritime canals should be carried between the two oceans 
 at the same level, in the same way as the Suez Canal had been. 
 Again a resolution was adopted, urging on the various governments 
 concerned that the utmost facilities should be given for the construc- 
 tion of a ship canal in this part of the world. The congress went a 
 step further. In order to inquire into the subject of the possibility 
 of constructing such a canal, and the conditions necessary for its 
 accomplishment, a committee was appointed under the presidency of 
 Admiral Noury, and including among its members MM. Daubre"e, 
 Levasseur, and Delesse, members of the Institute of France. A 
 syndicate was at the same time formed for the purpose of exploring 
 Central America, with a view to the adoption of the most suitable route. 
 
 The results of the exploration thus undertaken were made known 
 in due time, and in 1879 an international congress was held at Paris 
 under the Presidency of M. de Lesseps, to consider proposals for an 
 interoceanic canal, when it was affirmed (i) that the construction of 
 an interoceanic canal, at sea level throughout, so desirable in the 
 interests of commerce and of navigation, was possible ; and (2) that 
 such a canal should be constructed between the Gulf of Limon and 
 the Bay of Panama.* These resolutions were adopted by no less 
 than seventy-eight votes against eight, there being, however, twelve 
 who abstained from voting. 
 
 Five different projects were submitted for the consideration of 
 the conference. It is, however, a remarkable fact that none of them, 
 except the Panama Canal Scheme, proposed to provide for a canal 
 without a tunnel and without locks. As the Panama scheme was 
 that recommended by M. de Lesseps, the conference requested him 
 
 * At this congress Admiral Ammen represented the United States ; General 
 Sir John Stokes, England ; Vice- Admiral Likhatchof, Russia ; Commander 
 Christoforo, Italy ; and Colonel Coelle, Spain.
 
 280 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 to undertake the direction of the work. The veteran replied that 
 his best friends had endeavoured to persuade him that after the 
 accomplishment of his great work at Suez he should seek repose; 
 but, he added, " if a general who has won a first battle is asked to 
 engage in a second, he cannot refuse." Directly afterwards M. de 
 Lesseps received from Victor Hugo a letter approving his course, and 
 adding, " Astonish the universe by great doings which are not of 
 wars. Is it necessary to conquer the world ? No ; it is yours. It 
 belongs to civilisation ; it awaits it. Go ; do it ; proceed." The 
 press of Paris were jubilant over the new enterprise, declaring that 
 France was continuing its great mission. In the Chamber of Depu- 
 ties Mgr. Freppel declared that with the piercing of the Isthmus of 
 Panama, a complete change will be effected in the relations of the 
 entire world. 
 
 Thus encouraged on every side, M. de Lesseps sought the means 
 for his second great enterprise. He did not find it difficult to raise a 
 considerable sum. He pointed out to his countrymen that on the 
 250,000,000 of francs that they had contributed towards the actual 
 expenditure incurred on the works of the Suez Canal, they had 
 benefited to the extent of 1,220,000,000 of francs. The congress had 
 made it appear that the Panama Canal would cost twice that of the 
 Suez, but then it was expected to produce three times as good a result. 
 
 M. de Lesseps consented to occupy the position he did on the 
 express condition that all the complex problems connected with 
 the undertaking were fully and satisfactorily resolved by commissions 
 of experts. Five such commissions were appointed of statistics, of 
 economics, of navigation, of construction or technique, and of ways 
 and means. The Technical Commission having considered the 
 various proposals submitted, drew up the following summary of their 
 several merits. 
 
 Proposed Canal. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Obstacles. 
 
 Estimated 
 Duration 
 of Work. 
 
 Expense. 
 
 Length of 
 Time occupied 
 in going 
 through Canal. 
 
 Tehuantepec . . 
 
 kilometres. 
 240 
 
 1 2O locks 
 
 years. 
 
 millions of fr. 
 
 days. 
 12 
 
 Nicaragua . . 
 
 292 
 
 17 
 
 8 
 
 9OO 
 
 4* 
 
 Panama 
 
 73 
 
 none 
 
 12 
 
 I '200 
 
 4 
 
 San Bias 
 
 S3 
 
 tunnel I4kilom. 
 
 12 
 
 I'4OO 
 
 I 
 
 Atrato .. 
 
 290 
 
 > 4 M 
 
 10 
 
 I-I30 
 
 3
 
 The Panama Canal. 
 
 281 
 
 The cost of the maintenance and working of each of the several 
 schemes was estimated at the same sum 130 million of francs, or 
 5 per cent, of the anticipated receipts. No doubt appears to have 
 been entertained that the enterprise would prove highly remunerative. 
 M. Voisin Bey, Inspector-General of Ways and Bridges, calculated 
 that the company would be able to obtain an average of 1 5 francs on 
 at least four million tons of shipping expected to make use of the 
 canal ; and the Statistical Commission committed themselves to the 
 view that the two canals of Suez and Panama would present the 
 following comparison : 
 
 Suez 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Annual Receipts. 
 
 millions of francs. 
 500 
 
 millions of tons. 
 
 3 
 
 millions of francs. 
 30 
 
 Panama 
 
 I,O70 
 
 6 
 
 90 
 
 On the faith of these and similar statements, many of them, as we 
 now know, largely illusory, the Compagnie Universelle du Canal 
 Interoceanique de Panama was founded in 1879 with a capital of 
 600 millions of francs, or about one half the sum estimated as 
 necessary, but with authority to increase or reduce the capital as 
 might be deemed desirable. 
 
 At the outset of the undertaking, M. de Lesseps, following the 
 example that he had set with the Suez Canal, and in order to mark 
 the international character of the enterprise, offered to American 
 capitalists the opportunity of providing one half of the amount 
 required, and announced that whether the Americans subscribed 
 towards the enterprise or not it would be begun with the 300 
 millions of francs which it was proposed to raise in Europe. Sub- 
 scriptions towards this moiety were invited in Europe in December 
 1880, and 102,230 subscribers offered more than double the amount 
 asked for, or 1,266,609 shares in all, of which 994,508 shares were 
 subscribed in France alone. The financial outlook of the enterprise 
 being thus encouraging, M. de Lesseps lost no time in proceeding 
 to Panama, in order that he might study for himself, on the spot, 
 the character of the work he had undertaken to perform. He 
 was accompanied by an engineering commission of eight well- 
 known experts, including MINT. Dircks, the chief engineer of the 
 waterways of Holland, Danzats, chief resident engineer at Suez, two
 
 282 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Colombian engineers, and others. The opinion unanimously arrived 
 at by this commission was that the canal could be completed for 
 843 millions of francs, or about 34 millions sterling,* in about eight 
 years. 
 
 Meanwhile a grand superior consultative commission, which had 
 been convened at Paris, for the purpose of inquiring into the technical 
 details of the scheme, and determining a programme for their 
 execution, recommended that no time should be lost, and thereupon 
 MM. Couvreux and Hersent, well-known contractors, were entrusted 
 with the execution of the work to the extent of 500 millions of francs 
 (2o,ooo,ooo/.), for which sum they declared that the canal could be 
 constructed. The work of levelling and dredging was prosecuted 
 with vigour. There was, however, a vast amount of preliminary work 
 to be done. Twenty-three different workshops and docks had to be 
 provided along the line of the canal, with workmen's dwellings, 
 hospitals, and other requisite equipments. The Culebra, a mountain 
 in the middle of the isthmus, was selected for the erection of several 
 considerable installations adapted to the study of the problems to be 
 solved. Through this mountain the canal had to be cut to a depth 
 of over 100 metres. It was calculated that the organisation of the 
 works, the providing of the necessary materials of construction, the 
 acquisition of the ground along the line of route, and the com- 
 mencement of operations generally, represented something like one- 
 third of the total work to be done. The Colombian Government, 
 through whose territory the canal was to be constructed, did all they 
 could to advance the project, offering to the company 500,000 
 hectares of land, with the minerals underlying the same, in such 
 localities as the company might select. This concession was deemed 
 at the time to be equal to about one-third of the cost of the 
 canal. 
 
 The first important step towards the prosecution of the Panama 
 
 * The items adopted by the Commission as the probable cost of the under- 
 taking were as follows : 
 
 Millions of francs. 
 
 1. Excavation 570 
 
 2. Barrage 100 
 
 3. Rigoles de deviation 75 
 
 4. Fortes de maree 12 
 
 5. Jetees 10 
 
 6. Imprevus, 10 per cent 76 
 
 843
 
 The Panama Canal. 
 
 28
 
 284 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Canal works was the selection of a site for landing the necessary 
 plant The space in front of the town of Colon, at the north-eastern 
 
 extremity of the Bay of Limon, was occupied by wharves devoted 
 to the existing trade brought by steamers to the Panama Railway,
 
 and, therefore, another 
 spot had to be found. 
 The village of Gatun 
 was first chosen, being 
 on the river Chagres, 
 and close to the railway 
 and the proposed line 
 of the canal. It was 
 supposed that this site 
 would be healthier than 
 the low island of Man- 
 zanillo, on which Colon 
 is situated, and the river 
 Chagres afforded com- 
 munication with the sea, 
 having a minimum depth 
 of 13 feet over its bar, 
 which might be increased 
 by dredging. Owing, 
 however, to the want 
 of proper shelter, fever 
 attacked the workmen 
 at Gatun ; and, finally, 
 the creek separating 
 Manzanillo island from 
 the mainland was se- 
 lected as a harbour for 
 the works. 
 
 The outlet of the 
 canal was to be situated 
 in this creek; and in 
 order to protect the 
 mouth of the canal and 
 provide a good harbour 
 for the works an em- 
 bankment was formed 
 on the south-west corner 
 of Manzanillo island, 
 and was carried about 
 650 feet into the Bay
 
 286 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 of Limon to afford shelter, being protected along its exposed 
 portion by rubble stone. This embankment contains 458,000 
 cubic yards of earthwork, obtained by the aid of excavators from 
 some hillocks about three-quarters of a mile distant, adjoining 
 the railway ; it covers an area of about 74 acres, which was formerly 
 partly marsh land, and partly covered by the sea. The projecting 
 mole was estimated to shelter nearly 3000 lineal feet of wharfage.* 
 The position of the works will be understood from the annexed 
 drawing. 
 
 Up to February 1883 the work undertaken at the canal had 
 been almost entirely preliminary. In that month M. de Lesseps, 
 acting upon recommendations contained in a report made by 
 M. Dingier, chief engineer of roads and bridges, proposed to the 
 shareholders of the company that the definite programme of the work 
 to be done should embrace a canal of a depth of nine metres below 
 sea level, and a width of 22 metres throughout its course ; the con- 
 struction of large ports at Colon and at Panama ; a great basin, five 
 kilometres in extent, near Tavernilla, about the centre of the canal, 
 in order to allow vessels to pass each other : a great dam at Gamboa, 
 for the regulation of the course of the Chagres river ; and a tidal 
 port at Panama, in order to ensure access to and from the Pacific at 
 all hours. In submitting this programme, M. de Lesseps calculated 
 that the excavation necessary to the completion of such a canal 
 would be about no millions of cubic metres, and that the work of 
 regulating the Chagres river would be equal to a further 10 millions 
 of cubic metres. This work, M. de Lesseps estimated, could be 
 completed in 1888 the excavations of land in three years, and the 
 dredging operations in two, so that " the canal could, with mathe- 
 matical certainty, be opened on the ist January 1888." In confirma- 
 tion of this calculation, he appealed to the experience at Suez, where, 
 with a total of 75 millions of cubic metres of excavation, 50 millions 
 were done during the two last years of the work. 
 
 The state of affairs at the canal in the autumn of 1884 is described 
 by the American Admiral Cooper, who reported that although com- 
 paratively little had been done in the actual work of excavation, in 
 relation to the vast work to be accomplished, yet all the preliminary 
 plans had been prepared, the soundings had been made, the line of 
 route had been cleared of its tropical vegetation, large supplies of 
 
 * ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. Ixxiii., 
 p. 421.
 
 The Panama Canal. 287 
 
 materials of all kinds were at command, dwellings and barracks for 
 the employe's had been erected in elevated and salubrious localities, 
 hospitals had been established, and every arrangement requisite for 
 meeting possible eventualities had been carried out so completely 
 that he was confirmed in the belief that the canal would be finished 
 in due time, although he doubted its completion in 1888. At this 
 time no less than twenty different contractors, of eight different 
 nationalities, were engaged upon the work of construction. These 
 contractors had undertaken collectively to raise 62,691,000 cubic 
 metres of excavation for a sum total of 219,295,000 francs 
 (8,772,ooo/. sterling), being at the rate of rather less than y. per cubic 
 metre. As the total quantity of excavation required was estimated 
 at 1 20 millions of cubic metres, the opinion was held that the mere 
 work of clearing the course of the canal could be accomplished 
 for about 440 millions of francs, or rather less than 18 millions 
 sterling. 
 
 Up to the end of 1884, the Canal Company had received a total 
 sum of 471^ millions of francs (about i9,ooo,ooo/.), and had 
 expended 368^ millions of francs* (about i4f millions sterling), 
 leaving only about 4^ millions sterling in hand. Even at this date 
 it was confidently stated by M. de Lesseps and his colleagues, that 
 the canal could still be constructed for the sum of 1070 millions of 
 francs, or about 43 millions sterling. In other words, it was held 
 that for 25 millions sterling additional, the work could be completed 
 as originally planned. 
 
 The work proceeded, with occasional interruptions, due either to 
 the difficulty of obtaining sufficient capable labour, to the delay in 
 delivering the necessary dredging and other appliances, and to other 
 
 * It may be interesting to state how this sum had been expended. The items 
 are as follows : 
 
 Francs 
 
 The purchase of the concession 10,000,000 
 
 Caution money to the Colombian Government .. .. 750,000 
 
 Expenses incurred before the company was founded 23,393,605 
 
 Repayment of advances to founders 2,000,000 
 
 Cost of administration at Panama 26,4i5>9 2 7 
 
 Expenses of the company . .. 26,036,551 
 
 Interest on money advanced and shares 55,700,148 
 
 Construction, purchase of land, &c 25,289,743 
 
 Purchase of materials and equipment 83,537,568 
 
 Installations, &c "5> I 37354 
 
 368,260,896
 
 288 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 causes. The result of an appeal made through the ' Bulletin du 
 Canal Interoceanique ' * in the latter part of 1884, was to place a 
 further capital of 136^ millions of francs (about 5^ millions sterling) 
 at the disposal of the company, t With this and the balance remain- 
 ing of the previous issues, the company were enabled to carry on the 
 work until 1886, when they had to make a further appeal for assist- 
 ance. This time they made a larger demand than they had done on 
 the last occasion, and they succeeded in raising a sum of 206^ 
 millions of francs (8^ millions sterling), making the total amount 
 subscribed to the end of 1886 not less than 886 millions of francs, 
 or about 35^ millions sterling. The company was by this time 
 getting into deep water. The public did not take to the bonds 
 offered so readily as they had formerly done, and the deep distrust 
 that was beginning to be felt in the success of the enterprise 
 was shown by the very low price at which the shares had to be 
 
 offered.^ 
 
 Meanwhile the prospects and progress of the company had been 
 
 seriously hampered by several exceptional sources of trouble. 
 Political strife on the isthmus disturbed the progress of the works, 
 and led to a large migration of the workmen employed. An act of 
 incendiarism at Colon destroyed a number of the principal buildings 
 erected for the purposes of the canal, and led immediately to the 
 transfer of the headquarters of the company from Colon to a new 
 town created by them, and called by the name of Christopher 
 Columbus. At Culebra, again, where the great work of cleaving a 
 mountain was being proceeded with, there were several unfortunate 
 incidents which caused the employes to desert the place almost in a 
 body. These events were the origin of some sinister, rumours most 
 unfavourable to the company. It was stated in the United States 
 that the political troubles had been expressly "got up" by the 
 personnel on the canal, with a view to giving France a pretext for 
 seizing the Isthmus of Panama. In Europe, on the other hand, it 
 was reported, and largely believed, that the United States proposed to 
 take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the disturbance at 
 Colon to seize the State of Colombia, through which the canal is 
 
 * This was a journal, published at Paris, which, at an early stage of the enter- 
 prise, was issued periodically as the official organ of the Canal Company. 
 
 t This sum was raised by the issue of 409,667 4 per cent, bonds, sold at 
 333 francs on 500. 
 
 J 458,000 shares out of 500,000 offered, were taken at 450 on 1000 francs.
 
 The Panama Canal. 289 
 
 carried. It is no doubt true that the United States at that time 
 intervened, with a view to the re-establishment of order on the isthmus, 
 but in despatching Admiral Jouett with an expedition for that 
 purpose, they distinctly declared that their only object was to protect 
 the lives and property of American citizens, and that they would 
 religiously fulfil their engagements to maintain the neutrality and 
 freedom of transit between Colon and Panama. 
 
 Another difficulty with which M. de Lesseps and his colleagues 
 have had to contend from the beginning has been the unhealthy 
 character of the climate. In this respect Panama has always had a 
 most unenviable notoriety. The danger was therefore not unknown. 
 Dampier, nearly 200 years ago, spoke of the " malignity of the waters 
 draining off the land, through thick woods, and savannas of low 
 grass and swampy grounds ; " and Wafer reported about the same 
 time that " the country all about here is woody, low, and very un- 
 healthy, the rivers being so oozy that the stinking mud infects the 
 air." Walton, again, expressly declared that the unhealthiness of 
 the isthmus was one of the greatest obstacles to the opening of a 
 canal between the two oceans. " Disease," he said, " is a barrier 
 against settling on the isthmus to improve it," and he found that 
 "persons who have withstood every other climate there became 
 languid." Humboldt appears to have made the climate of Panama 
 a special subject of inquiry, and reports that " for fifty years back 
 the vomito (black vomit of the yellow fever) has never appeared on 
 any point of the coast of the South Sea, with the exception of the 
 town of Panama." This is explained by the fact that "the tide, 
 when it falls, leaves exposed for a great way into the bay a large 
 extent of ground covered with Fucus ulvce and Medusa, the air is 
 infected by the decomposition of so many organic substances, and 
 miasmata, of very little influence on the organs of the natives, have 
 a powerful effect on Europeans." 
 
 Accounts of the extraordinary mortality at the works of the 
 canal have from time to time been circulated in Europe, which read 
 like the description of a pestilence, or of a devastating war. To 
 Europeans especially the climate has been highly fatal. M. de 
 Lesseps and his friends have tried, not unnaturally, to reassure the 
 public, both European and American, on this score. Even he, how- 
 ever, has been compelled to admit a serious mortality. In his report 
 on the progress of the works in 1885, he stated that during the 
 previous twelve months more than uoo deaths had occurred, of 
 
 u
 
 290 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 which some 320 were Europeans.* In some of the rainy months 
 the mortality was frightful. In October and November it rose to 
 nearly fifty per week. The Canal Executive declared that this large 
 number was swollen considerably by the mortality of sailors arriving 
 at Panama, but, however this may be, the climate is without doubt 
 one of the most malarious and deadly to European constitutions that 
 exists in the world. 
 
 These things being so, two results not unnaturally follow the 
 first, that it was difficult to get the highest class of labour to undertake 
 the work ; and the second, that the rate of wages paid, and the cost 
 of the work generally, were exceptionally high. During the years 
 1884-85-86, the personnel on the canal ranged between 12,000 and 
 25,000; and although M. de Lesseps" announced in 1885 that the 
 Company had undertaken to provide barrack accommodation for 
 30,000, it is doubtful whether that number was ever employed on the 
 works at any one time. We have already seen that the first contracts 
 made with a number of different contractors provided for the cost of 
 excavation being brought under 3-$-. per cubic metre. Senor Armero, 
 however, in a report made on the progress of the work in the latter 
 part of 1887, stated that every cubic foot had cost at least 2 dollars, 
 or 8s. Agd. for excavation, being nearly three times the amount at which 
 M. de Lesseps stated the first contracts to have been placed, for 
 something like one-half of the entire work. 
 
 With calculations so entirely falsified by results, the Panama 
 Canal Company found it necessary in 1887 to procure fresh capital. 
 They thereupon offered.half a million shares, of the nominal value of 
 500 million francs at 440 francs on 1000 francs, and succeeded in 
 raising a further sum of about 1 14 million francs, making the total 
 amount of cash received to that date rather over 1001 million francs, 
 or, in other words, within 200 millions of the total amount for 
 which the canal was to have been completed. How far the canal 
 still was from completion at this time we may learn from the report 
 made to the Colombian Government in November 1887 by Senor 
 Armero, who says that the total amount excavated up to August of 
 that year was about 34 millions of cubic metres, out of a total of 
 161 millions; that the upper and easier part of the work had 
 been accomplished, and that greater difficulties would be en- 
 countered in working as the tide-level was approached ; that the 
 
 * The manual work is and has all along been performed mainly by West 
 Indians and natives, the number of Europeans employed being relatively very small.
 
 The Panama Canal. 291 
 
 cost of controlling the water of the Chagres alone would amount 
 to 471 million francs, or, roughly, one-third of the whole esti- 
 mated cost of the enterprise ; that the sum still required to complete 
 the canal would be 3012^ millions of francs, or 120 millions sterling, 
 being nearly three times as much as the whole original estimated 
 cost ; and that the amount to be paid on capital loaned during the 
 next six or seven years would add perhaps 40 millions sterling to this 
 amount 
 
 This unfavourable report had naturally a depressing effect upon 
 the scheme when it was made public. And yet the reporter was not 
 entirely unfavourable to the enterprise. On the contrary, he prefaced 
 his report by the following remarks : 
 
 "As up to date the sum expended is 818,023,900 francs, it is evident 
 that the cost per metre of work has been exorbitant. Were we to base 
 our calculations on these figures, the total cost of the canal would become 
 fabulous, and it would probably never be finished. But this is not the 
 way to calculate. We have to look at the costly preliminary works, the 
 purchase of the railroad, the immense amounts of materials which had to 
 be collected, and the purchase and erection of buildings, all of which were 
 expenses which had to be met in order that a work should progress which 
 is perhaps the most important and colossal of modern or any times. Thus 
 the expense of work per metre has diminished as the work has progressed, 
 and only when it shall have been completed shall we be able to determine 
 the cost of all the excavations." 
 
 About the close of 1887, the canal was in extremis. The funds 
 in hand had sunk to a low point, and there appeared to be but little 
 prospect of raising more. M. de Lesseps, however, again proved 
 himself equal to the occasion. Instead of abandoning himself to 
 despair, as the vast difficulties, past, present, and to come, would 
 have warranted, he announced to his fellow-countrymen in a letter to 
 the Premier that he would proceed with the work piecemeal, pro- 
 viding in the meantime a sufficient passage through the canal for the 
 1\ million tons of annual traffic then anticipated,* and looking 
 forward to the completion of the canal, as originally designed, by 
 means of small levies on the annual profits, as in the case of the Suez 
 Canal. The Consultative Commission had, he added, declared the 
 practicability both of constructing on the central mass an upper 
 cutting which would allow of the continuance of the level works by 
 
 * The Consultative Committee of 1879 based their Report on an anticipated 
 annual traffic of over 4 millions of tons. 
 
 U 2
 
 292 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 dredging, and of opening the maritime transport between the two 
 oceans as soon as these plans were completed. M. de Lesseps went 
 on to say : 
 
 "This approval leaves for extraction only 40,000,000 cubic metres, 
 10,000,000 being hard soil, and 30,000,000 dredgable soil. The carrying 
 out of these reduced extractions being materially ensured, we entrusted 
 the task of submitting to us a contract for the execution of the works to 
 M. Eiffel, whose reputation has been established by engineering skill 
 equally exact and bold, and by his great metallurgic works ; imposing 
 on him the obligation of applying exclusively to French industry for the 
 supply of materials, and for all other co-operation. 
 
 " This morning (November 15) M. Eiffel has engaged to execute these 
 works at his own risk within the period and on the conditions desired by 
 the company. It now rests with the Government of the Republic, inas- 
 much as French law obliges me to apply to it, to insure definitively the 
 execution of our programme, by authorising the Universal Inter-oceanic 
 Company to issue lottery obligations." 
 
 On the ist of January, 1888, the amount of money at the disposal 
 of the company was stated by M. de Lesseps to be no millions of 
 francs (4^ millions sterling), and it was calculated that 300 million 
 francs (i2,ooo,ooo/.) would be required by the end of the year. M. de 
 Lesseps, in asking permission to raise this sum by a lottery, placed at 
 the disposal of the French Government all the contracts and docu- 
 ments in the hands of the company, " whereby the execution of the 
 programme drawn up is guaranteed." 
 
 During the first half of 1888, several discussions of a more or less 
 stormy character took place in the French Parliament on the pro- 
 posal to authorise on behalf of the Panama Canal Company an issue 
 of lottery bonds. In the result M. de Lesseps got his own way, the 
 Senate sanctioning a loan with 4 per cent, interest, and a deposit of 
 rentes as a guarantee. Subscriptions were opened on the zjrd of 
 June. The French people, backed by the most influential news- 
 papers in the country, looked favourably on the lottery. There were 
 a large number of prizes to be drawn, the chief being one of half a 
 million francs (2o,ooo/.), and there were to be six drawings a year. 
 At the outset, with inducements that appealed so strongly to the 
 French imagination, the loan seemed likely to be covered several 
 times over. All at once, however, the flow of subscriptions stopped. 
 It was then ascertained that the opponents of the canal had set afloat 
 some sinister rumours with the object of frustrating the lottery scheme. 
 One of these was the rumour that Lesseps was dead. The veteran
 
 The Panama Canal. 293 
 
 projector, however, was never more entirely alive. Threatened 
 with failure, he made almost heroic efforts to avert it. He arranged 
 for attending and speaking at meetings in all the principal towns of 
 France, beginning at Paris. The labours now undertaken by the 
 octogenarian canal-builder are thus referred to by the Times corre- 
 spondent at Paris : 
 
 " I do not know what will be the fate of the millions of lottery bonds 
 which still remain to be placed, but what is certain is that two men never 
 gave themselves to a more laborious work of propagandism than M. de 
 Lesseps and M. Charles de Lesseps, his son, have undertaken. If ever 
 the Panama Canal is finished, if it ever yields the results promised as 
 to which I can make no assertion it would not be too much to raise 
 statues to these men, who have spared themselves no toil, but have made 
 almost superhuman efforts to bring the work to a successful close. For 
 a month M. de Lesseps and his son have been visiting the industrial 
 and commercial centres, delivering addresses, taking part in banquets, 
 organising committees, and endeavouring to create a national movement 
 favourable to the realisation of this gigantic scheme. In all places where 
 they have been speaking they have had crowded audiences, which have 
 eagerly listened to them, and have shown sympathy with their efforts to 
 make the completion of the Panama Canal a national question. French- 
 men feel that success in this work must avert a rebuff for the constructor 
 of the Suez Canal, who will continue to be styled ' Le Grand Franf.ais ' so 
 long as the Panama Canal Scheme has not collapsed." 
 
 On the 1 4th December, 1888, the Panama Canal Company 
 suspended payment. Announcement was made in Paris that in 
 consequence of the subscription not having extended to 400,000 
 obligations, the payment of all coupons and drawn bonds would be 
 temporarily suspended. The intimation caused a severe shock in 
 Paris, although it was not entirely unexpected. The French Cabinet 
 deemed the matter one of such importance that they held a meeting 
 to consider what should be done. It was decided to propose a 
 suspension for three months only. This was proposed for a double 
 reason to gain time, and to prevent speculation on the Bourse. It 
 was stated by M. Peytral, the Minister of Finance, that the Govern- 
 ment wished to enable the old company, without going through the 
 process of bankruptcy, to hand over the canal to a new concern. 
 
 There have been few warmer discussions, even in. the French 
 Chamber, than that which followed the proposal to interpose to this 
 extent on behalf of the canal company. It was argued by the oppo- 
 nents of the Government that the canal should not be treated excep- 
 tionally; that the bankruptcy law should be allowed its ordinary
 
 294 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 course ; that the Government had kept secret the report of its own 
 engineer on the condition of the company when it was known to be 
 in danger ; that the Army Bill should not be delayed for the sake of 
 a private company ; and that if the company did come to grief, 
 nearly a million bondholders would be ruined and a milliard of 
 money would be lost. 
 
 On the 1 5th December the Chamber of Deputies, acting upon 
 the Report of the Committee appointed to consider the Bill, resolved 
 by 256 votes against 81 to throw out the Bill. This decision created 
 intense excitement, not only in Paris, but throughout France aye, 
 and throughout Europe. The shareholders in the company, 870,000 
 in number, were threatened with disaster, many of them with ruin. 
 The newspapers contained reports of the condition of panic that 
 prevailed in the capital, which recalled the similar episodes of the 
 South Sea Bubble and Law's Mississippi Scheme. The canal com- 
 pany's offices in Paris were besieged by eager and demonstrative 
 crowds. They did not, however, vent their anger and disappoint- 
 ment on M. de Lesseps. It was the Government that was condemned. 
 Lesseps was still the favourite of the people. " Vive Lesseps " and 
 " Vive Boulanger " were the cries of the hour. There were not a few 
 who regarded the occasion as one that justified the country in 
 getting rid of so pusillanimous a Chamber. The opportunity of the 
 Boulangists appeared to be at hand.* The greatest but one of 
 European Powers seemed likely to be drawn into the vortex of revo- 
 lution by the obscure problem of the cost of constructing a waterway 
 in a territory over which it had no control, at thousands of leagues 
 from its shores. The mutability of human affairs had surely never a 
 more striking illustration ! 
 
 * The Times of the lyth December declared, in a leading article, that "it 
 would be surprising if the collapse of the Panama scheme had not a momentous 
 effect upon French politics. The small investors who have lost their money 
 would not be human if they omitted to turn and rend the Parliament which, after 
 affording legislative facilities to M. de Lesseps, now refuses to lift a hand to save 
 the colossal scheme from ruin. Some of the French journals are already begin- 
 ning to say that Saturday was the beginning of the end for the Republic. It is 
 possible to commend the action of the Chamber, and at the same time to feel that 
 ' Parliamentarism ' hardly realised the magnitude of the forces which he 
 challenged with such a light heart. All the vague discontent which has been 
 accumulating against Parliamentary government will now naturally be brought to 
 a head. The Panama collapse will furnish a specific grievance which will appeal 
 with irresistible force to the unfortunate subscribers, and send them crowding into 
 the ranks of the enemies of the Republic."
 
 The Panama Canal. 295 
 
 According to a statement which appeared in the Standard of the 
 1 7th December, 1888, a Figaro reporter called on M. de Lesseps, 
 and was received by him in a drawing-room, where seven of his 
 younger children were having a romp with their mother. The 
 following is a description of the scene that took place : 
 
 " ' You know the vote of the Chamber ?' 
 
 " ' No,' he replied very calmly, stretching out his hand. 
 
 " ' The Government Bill is rejected ; your application is defeated ; the 
 majority against you is nearly a hundred.' 
 
 " M. de Lesseps suddenly became very pale, but remained silent. His 
 hand, quite cold, let mine go. He carried his handkerchief to his lips, as 
 if to stifle a cry. Then, resuming all his calmness, and drawing himself 
 up to his full height, he murmured, ' It is impossible.' 
 
 " ' It is infamous,' exclaimed Madame de Lesseps. 
 
 " ' I could not have believed,' he proceeded, in a sad tone, ' that a 
 French Chamber would thus sacrifice all the best interests of the country. 
 Have they then all forgotten that one milliard and a half of French 
 savings (6o,ooo,ooo/.) are jeopardised by this vote, and they could have 
 saved everything by a reprieve ? However, in this appalling crisis I have 
 nothing to reproach myself with. I have done all that was humanly 
 possible to safeguard the interests of each and all, because I know that 
 the final collapse of the Panama Canal would be not only the ruin of the 
 shareholders, but also a calamity for the country, and a disaster for the 
 national flag. What consoles me is the frankness with which our new 
 provisional administrators have hastened to acknowledge that in our 
 operations everything has been clear, honest, and straightforward. They 
 told me so this very day, only an hour ago, and I have no evidence to 
 contradict that. I am also encouraged by the thousands of letters I 
 receive from my subscribers and shareholders, those unknown friends 
 who trust me as they ever did, and who support me with valiant hearts 
 in this last battle. Their name is legion, and to save their earnings I 
 am prepared to make every sacrifice. Nay, even monarchs have sent 
 me telegrams to express their anguish and sympathy. See, I have just 
 opened this letter from Queen Isabella. It is written in Spanish, but I 
 will translate it for you : 
 
 " ' MY DEAR FRIEND, COUNT DE LESSEPS, At the time when diffi- 
 culties are accumulating around you I feel impelled to tell you how firmly 
 I believe in your great work, which is an object of envy to the whole 
 world, and how much I admire your energy. 
 
 "'(Signed) ISABELLE DE BOURBON.'" 
 
 " As he concluded the reading of this letter his children came round 
 him and kissed him. 'But you will succeed all the same, won't you, 
 father ? ' they kept on repeating ; and one of the younger children, a little
 
 296 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 girl about seven, coming up to me, said, ' Did the Right vote against 
 papa, Monsieur ? ' I replied, ' I do not think so, Mademoiselle.' She 
 said, ' Ah ! ' and, delighted at having had her say, she rushed into her 
 mother's arms, who, still thinking of the vote, repeated, ' It is infamous, 
 and will drive six hundred thousand subscribers to revolt. It will be the 
 ruin of all these poor folk.' " 
 
 The experience of the Panama Canal Company, has only been a 
 repetition, on a large scale, of that of the Panama Railway projectors. 
 That line was commenced in 1850 and completed in 1855. The 
 distance which it traverses, between Aspinwall and Panama, is 
 47^ miles, and the cost of construction was 48,600/1 per mile, as 
 compared with an average cost of under i2,ooo/. per mile for the 
 railways of the United States as a whole. The great summit-level 
 was attained at a height of 264 feet above the mean tide of the 
 Atlantic, and the ascent required gradients of i in 18. The greatest 
 source of the heavy expense of the Panama Railroad was the labour 
 difficulty, resulting from the influences of the climate. Of this 
 Dr. Otis * says : 
 
 " The working force was increased as rapidly as possible, drawing 
 labourers from almost every quarter of the globe. Irishmen were im- 
 ported from Ireland, coolies from Hindostan, Chinamen from China, 
 English, French, Germans, and Austrians, amounting in all to more than 
 7,000 men, were thus gathered in, appropriately, as it were, to construct 
 this highway for all nations. It was now anticipated that, with the 
 enormous forces employed, the time required for the completion of the 
 entire work would be in a ratio proportionate to the numerical increase of 
 labourers, all of whom were supposed to be hardy, able-bodied men. But 
 it was soon found that many of these people, from their previous habits 
 and modes of life, were little adapted to the work for which they had been 
 engaged. The Chinamen, 1000 in number, had been brought to the 
 isthmus by the company, and every possible care taken which could con- 
 duce to their health and comfort. Their hill-rice, their tea, and opium in 
 sufficient quantities to last several months, had been imported with them ; 
 they were carefully housed and attended to ; and it was expected that 
 they would prove efficient and valuable men. But they had been engaged 
 upon the work scarcely a fortnight before almost the entire body became 
 affected with a melancholic suicidal tendency, and scores of them ended 
 their unhappy existence by their own hands. Disease broke out among 
 them, and raged so fiercely that in a few weeks scarcely 200 remained. 
 The freshly-imported Irishmen and Frenchmen also suffered severely, 
 and there was found no other resource but to re-ship them as soon as 
 
 * ' Isthmus of Panama,' p. 35.
 
 The Panama Canal. 297 
 
 possible, and replenish from the neighbouring provinces and Jamaica, the 
 natives of which, with the exception of the northmen of America, were 
 found best able to resist the influences of the climate." 
 
 The proposed Panama Canal locks. The original plans of the 
 Panama Canal provided for a waterway that should be 28 feet below 
 the mean ocean level throughout its entire length. It has since 
 been found that this design would involve an enormous expenditure 
 and a serious delay, and hence the decision in 1888 to provide a 
 series of four locks on the Pacific, and four locks on the Atlantic 
 side. On the Atlantic side, two of the locks were to have a fall 
 of 8 metres (26 feet 5 inches), and two others a fall of n metres 
 each (36 feet 3 inches), while on the Pacific side, three locks were 
 to have a fall of n metres each (36 feet 3 inches), and one a fall of 
 8 metres (26 feet 5 inches). The height of the water level on the 
 Pacific side would, therefore, be 41 metres (135*6 feet), and on the 
 Atlantic side it would be 38 metres (125 '7 feet). The width of 
 the lock gates was to be 18 metres (59 '5 feet), and the length was 
 180 metres (595*5 feet). The locks and their gates were to be 
 constructed in iron, and it was estimated that 20,000 tons of cast, 
 and 15,000 tons of wrought, iron would be employed in their con- 
 struction. The effect of this modification of the original plans 
 would, of course, be to reduce the amount of excavation necessary 
 in the Culebra cut by at least one-third, but it would also obviously 
 alter the entire character of the canal as first projected. 
 
 The opinion of some engineers appears to be that the frequent 
 opening and shutting of the sluice-gates, with such a considerable 
 pressure of water, would not be without a certain amount of danger. 
 The pressure would be increased little by little until it had been raised 
 to a breadth of 10 metres, and even as much as 15*40 metres. 
 It is not unusual to find a pressure of this extent at dock gates, 
 but in the largest canals hitherto constructed with locks, the pressure 
 has seldom exceeded three to four metres. In order to meet similar 
 cases, it has been proposed, where there was a constant use of a canal 
 at all hours of the day and night, to employ a very large number of 
 small sluices adapted to the slopes of the canal. This expedient has 
 been put in practice in the case of the eight successive sluices known 
 as Neptune's Staircase, on the Caledonian Canal, and, on the Canal 
 du Midi in France, in the case of the seven sluices of the staircase of 
 Beziers. It is, however, held by Le Genie Civil that-. such small 
 sluices, although more easy to open and offering perhaps greater
 
 298 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport.
 
 The Panama Canal. 
 
 299
 
 300 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 resistance, are, nevertheless, not well adapted to the necessarily rapid 
 and constant working of a canal like that of Panama. This 
 expedient having, therefore, been abandoned, there remained that of 
 movable caissons suspended by the upper part, which is known as 
 the Eiffel system. This system, with its movable gate shut, and the 
 recess into which it fits when open on the right, is illustrated in one 
 of the drawings attached to this chapter, while another drawing shows 
 the lock gate open. 
 
 The proposed modification of the original plans has been so 
 designed as to enable the works of the tide-level canal to be con- 
 tinued without interruption. The lock canal was to be at sea-level 
 from Colon to the fourteenth mile, where the first lock with a lift of 
 26^ feet would be placed. The second lock with the same lift was 
 to be placed 23^ miles from Colon, and the third and fourth locks, 
 with lifts of 36 T 1 T feet each, at 27^ and 28^ miles respectively, making 
 the summit-level 124^ feet above the Atlantic. The canal was to 
 descend to the Pacific by three locks of 36^ feet drop, situated at 35^, 
 35rV> an d 38?- miles respectively from Colon, and one lock of 26^ feet 
 drop at 36f miles, thus making up the difference in level of 134^ feet 
 between the summit-level and low-water of spring tides at Panama. 
 It has been suggested that in the event of difficulties occurring in the 
 excavation of the Culebra cutting, the summit-level might be raised to 
 i6o| feet, by inserting a lock with a lift of 36 T 1 T feet on each slope 
 of the Cordilleras, whereby time might be gained by a further 
 reduction in the amount of excavation. The section adopted for the 
 level canal was to be maintained in each reach. The width of the 
 locks was to be 59 feet, and their available length 590 feet. At the 
 Colon entrance, the canal was to have a bottom width of 590 feet for 
 i '86 mile, and at the Panama end, 164 feet for 3^ miles ; whilst the 
 channel in the Pacific, from the shore at Boca to Naos, was to be 1 64 
 feet wide. Allowing a speed of 6^ miles per hour in the long reaches, 
 and 2\ miles in the short reaches, and one hour for passing through 
 a lock, a single ship would traverse the canal in seventeen hours 
 twenty-eight minutes, and in a convoy in twenty-eight hours twenty-five 
 minutes. Accordingly, ten vessels, or 25,000 tons, could pass through 
 the canal in twenty-four hours, so that, if necessary, 9,125,000 tons of 
 traffic could be accommodated annually. The water supply required 
 for this traffic was estimated at 1,050,000 cubic yards per day, which 
 could be obtained from the Chagres, the Obispo, and the Rio Grande. 
 With the summit-level at 1245 feet above the sea, it could be
 
 The Panama Canal. 301 
 
 supplied from the reservoir created by the large dam at Gamboa ; 
 but if the summit-level was raised to i6of feet above the sea, pumps 
 not exceeding 3600 H.P. would be needed for lifting the supply the 
 additional height. The gates for the locks were designed to be hollow- 
 iron counterbalanced caissons, suspended from a frame with rollers, 
 running on a roadway supported by a swing-bridge across the lock, 
 and continued above the recess at the side, into which the caisson 
 was to retreat for opening the lock. 
 
 The watertight compartments at the lower part of the caisson, as 
 well as the bottom portion, arranged to serve as a working-chamber, 
 were to communicate with the outer air by shafts, provided with air- 
 locks, so that water or compressed air could be introduced at pleasure. 
 This arrangement would enable the counterpoise of the caisson to be 
 readily adjusted, the different chambers to be easily reached for repairs, 
 and the working-chamber at the base to be used for cleaning the sill 
 from silt or debris. The caisson gates, in a lock of 36^ feet lift, 
 would be 69 feet high, 71 feet long, i3|feet broad at the tail, and 32^ 
 feet high, 7 1 feet long, and 9^ feet broad at the head of the lock. 
 The locks, being situated in rock, would have the sides of their 
 chambers formed of the natural rock, with a slight facing of masonry 
 where necessary ; but the side walls below the gates were to be iron 
 caissons, 18 feet broad, filled with concrete. The swing-bridges, of 
 iron or steel, were to be 18 feet wide, and 112 feet long, the swing por- 
 tion being 78 feet; and the recesses for the caissons were to be 98^- 
 feet long ; and 23 feet wide at the top. The filling and emptying 
 of the locks were to be effected by two cast-iron pipes, each 9^ feet 
 diameter, and it was calculated that the required volume of 52,300 
 cubic yards of water could be admitted or shut out in fifteen minutes * 
 
 Special Features of the Enterprise. Probably no great engi- 
 neering or constructive work of either ancient or modern times 
 has been of such a gigantic and difficult character as that of 
 the canalisation of the Isthmus of Panama. It is not that the 
 length of the canal is exceptional ; it is, on the contrary, shorter 
 than that of many existing canals, some of which are of very small 
 account indeed being less than one-half the Suez Canal, less 
 than one-third that of the canal of Languedoc, and less than one- 
 fourteenth that of the Grand Canal of China. It is probable, 
 also, that the building of the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of 
 Egypt, and several other works of antiquity that might be named, 
 
 * ' Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. xcii. p. 447.
 
 302 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 extended over a much longer period, and involved the employment 
 of a greater number of men. The Royal or Grand Canal of China, 
 which was completed in the year 980, is said to have occupied the 
 labour of thirty thousand men for forty-three years.* But none of the 
 great works of previous epochs have been environed with so many 
 difficulties as the Panama Canal. The scheme, on the face of it, 
 does not look so formidable. It is only when we come to look into 
 its details, and compare them with those of other similar under- 
 takings, that we realise its magnitude. And it is only when we, in 
 like manner, compare its engineering features with those of the other 
 great engineering works of the world that we can appreciate the vast 
 energy, enterprise, and resource that has ventured to essay so colossal 
 a task. 
 
 The first and the most serious difficulty to be encountered was that 
 of controlling the waters of a torrential stream, almost equal to that 
 of some of the chief rivers of Italy, through which the canal was to 
 run. This stream, which crosses and recrosses the line of the canal 
 twenty- seven times, as shown in the drawing attached hereto, has 
 several different levels, and would, if left to itself, be certain 
 to destroy the canal in a very short time. It had therefore to be 
 dealt with by constructing an enormous embankment raised 45 feet 
 above the waters of the Chagres, so as to allow of their gradual 
 escape. In this dam there are 26 millions of cubic yards of cutting ; 
 in the Culebra Col, a channel cut right through a mountain 
 more than 300 feet above sea level, there were estimated to be 
 37 millions more ; and in the entire line of the canal there were 
 calculated to be about 75 to 100 millions of cubic yards of exca- 
 vation, to accomplish which a serious writer in the Edinburgh 
 Review maintained that it would require the labour of 20,000 men 
 for forty-two years. 
 
 Worse than all, however, was the dreadful and deadly climate. 
 Five months of the year are continually wet. There are few fine 
 days in the other seven months. The annual rainfall is twelve to 
 fifteen times that of Europe. The mortality is excessive. The cost 
 of labour is consequently high,f but pay what they may, the company 
 
 * Prestley's ' Historical Account of Canals,' preface. 
 
 t In 1880, when the canal had been commenced, unskilled labour was paid 
 3-r. 8</. per day. The supply at that rate was, however, insufficient, and the rate 
 of wages was increased from time to time, until in 1877 they had reached a 
 minimum of 7-r. per day.
 
 Panama Canal. 303 
 
 could not command the amount of labour it was anxious to employ. 
 For the most part the labour has had to be imported from Europe 
 and the West Indies. The men were brought to Panama at the 
 expense of the Company, but a very large proportion of them left 
 again immediately, for various reasons, so that the company has 
 not been able to keep up the proper quotas of men with which they 
 undertook to provide their contractors, who were left at liberty 
 to throw up their contracts when they ceased to be remunerative. 
 The cost of the undertaking was thus enormously increased beyond 
 the original estimates. The difficulty of procuring ways and means, 
 and the high prices that had to be paid for borrowed money, have 
 also seriously added to the expenditure. Another serious element 
 of cost has been the outlay incurred in providing hospital and other 
 facilities, and the maintenance of the usually very considerable 
 numbers who were stricken with illness, induced by their unhealthy 
 surroundings. These and other difficulties have so seriously weighed 
 upon the undertaking that its accomplishment has been pronounced 
 impossible, and M. de Lesseps and his colleagues have been 
 denounced for following a " will-o'-the-wisp." They have, however, 
 persevered with their task for about eight years, and have made 
 heroic, and almost superhuman efforts to keep the enterprise on its 
 legs. In this effort they have had to depend absolutely upon their 
 own countrymen, although they have much less maritime interest in 
 the matter than the people of England and the United States of 
 North America. In the latter countries the canal has all along 
 been regarded with disfavour, not to say declared hostility. 
 In the United States especially, M. de Lesseps has been told 
 again and again that he was " beating the wind," and that nothing 
 but failure could come of his project. For the time being it 
 looks as if his candid friends were right, and M. de Lesseps was 
 wrong. 
 
 As might be expected, there have been very conflicting calcula- 
 tions made as to the amount of traffic which an interoceanic canal 
 on the American isthmus would be likely to carry. The Geo- 
 graphical Congress, held at Antwerp in 1871, did not venture to go 
 beyond 4,000,000 tons per annum. When the Canal Company was 
 started, the expected tonnage was raised to about 6,000,000 tons 
 annually. In 1887 M. de Lesseps, in his letter to the French 
 Premier, put the quantity at 7,500,000 tons. A writer in the Revue- 
 Gazette Maritime et Commercials (Paris) has estimated that if the
 
 304 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Panama Canal had been opened in 1884, there would have passed 
 through it the following tonnage : 
 
 
 Europe 
 Asia 
 America 
 
 Totals .. .. 
 
 Ships. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 
 4,226 
 
 2,255 
 2,987 
 
 4,650,390 
 1,212,178 
 3,441,598 
 
 9,468 
 
 9,304,166 
 
 This latter estimate appears to be greatly exaggerated. It is 
 apparently founded on the assumption that the greater part of the 
 Australasian trade would pass that way. But the fact is that the 
 geographical distance to Sydney does not differ by quite 500 knots 
 between any of the four routes that are, or would be, available that 
 is, the Cape of Good Hope, the Suez Canal, Cape Horn, and 
 Panama, the distances increasing in the order stated. Nautical 
 distance, moreover, as has been properly remarked, "is only one 
 element in determining choice of route ; prevailing winds and 
 currents, avoidance of stormy seas or of rock-bound coasts, have all 
 to be studied by the mariner ; and the comparatively trifling differ- 
 ence in the length of the course from the Thames to Sydney by four 
 such different routes is enough to show how important it is to have 
 this question of routes illustrated by the experience of the skilled 
 navigator. This consideration is enhanced by the remark that the 
 dues for the passage of the canal would amount to as much as the 
 cost of more than 800 knots of additional voyage."* 
 
 A much more reasonable and modest estimate than that of either of 
 the foregoing, is that made in a recent report on the proposed 
 Nicaraguan Canal. This estimate, based ostensibly on the United 
 States Treasury Reports, puts the total tonnage that would have made 
 use of the canal in 1885 at 4,252,000 tons, which is stated to be an 
 increase of 53 per cent, in six years. At the same rate of increase, 
 the tonnage available in 1892, when the canal was expected to be 
 completed, would be 6,506,000 tons.f 
 
 The diagrams attached hereto show the enormous difficulties 
 
 * ' Edinburgh Review.' 
 
 t Paper read in 1887 before the American Association for the Advancement 
 of Science.
 
 The Panama Canal. 305 
 
 that have just been referred to in a much more graphic way than 
 any mere description could do. It will be observed from the 
 illustration (p. 298) that the Rio Chagres crosses the course of the 
 canal no fewer than five times in little more than five kilometres, and 
 that the Rio Obispo also steps in to add to the complications of the 
 situation. On the San Pablo section again, within a distance of three 
 kilometres, the river crosses the line of canal three times. 
 
 The Chagres river, which is so great an obstacle in the project of 
 the Panama Canal, rises on the western slopes of the Cordilleras, and 
 runs through a broken and irregular country, to the north of the 
 auriferous granite hills which branch off to Cruces and Gorgona. 
 This river and its affluents is said to drain an area of about 1550 
 square miles.* From Matachin, where the Panama canal parts 
 company with the valley of the Chagres, to the sea, there is a total 
 distance of twenty-eight miles, in the course of which the river falls 
 about 35 feet.f The rain of a single day is said to raise the waters 
 of the Chagres from 35 to 40 feet, and below Matachin there is a 
 cataract of 50 to 60 feet. It was part of the project to abandon at this 
 point the valley of the Chagres, and to cut through the Cordilleras. 
 The level of the bottom of the canal is here 100 feet below that of the 
 bed of the Chagres, or 140 feet below the mean level of the nearest 
 indicated points on the section of the plans above and below the 
 intersection. In a length of nine miles, at the foot of the ascent of 
 the Cordillera at Matachin, the lowest point is 166 feet, and the 
 highest 333 feet above the bed of the canal. A tunnel of 7720 
 metres in length was at one time proposed to be cut through this 
 section, but M. de Lesseps stood out for a cutting a del ouvert, and 
 it has been remarked that according to the plans there has been an 
 assumption that the sides of this vast cutting will stand so nearly 
 perpendicular as to slope only one foot horizontal in every ten feet 
 vertical. In a dry climate, with good firm clay or rock, this might 
 not involve difficulty or danger, but the climate of Panama is exposed 
 to a tropical rainfall. A rainfall of six or seven inches in a few 
 hours is not uncommon. 
 
 The flood volume of the river Chagres has been estimated at 
 1600 metric tons of water per second, which is four times the volume 
 of the highest flood ever measured on the Thames, and the rainfall, 
 as a whole, has been known to exceed 120 inches in a single year. 
 
 * According to M. Reclus, 4010 square kilometres (' Comptes Rendus,' p. 265). 
 f This has been established by the levels of Col. Lloyd. 
 
 X
 
 306 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Besides all this, it was reported by M. de Lesseps himself,* that the 
 borings on the Culebra range, had reached the depth of 100 feet 
 without having met with rock. Some engineers have therefore con- 
 demned this part of the plans as faulty, arguing that such a cutting 
 could not be expected to stand at a slope of one to one, even in a 
 much drier climate which means that the cutting through the Culebra 
 would require to assume greatly larger dimensions, if it were to be of 
 any value. 
 
 One of the most serious undertakings connected with the 
 Panama canal was the proposal to retain the flood waters of the 
 Chagres, by means of the enormous embankment already referred to, 
 between the Cerro Gamboa on the south, and the Cerro Barneo on 
 the north, thus raising the level of the waters from 40 to 45 feet 
 above the river, in order to allow of their escape. Other two projects 
 were submitted to meet this difficulty the first, that of constructing 
 a canal for the flood waters of the Chagres alongside of the navigable 
 canal; and the second, that of tapping the Chagres at Matachin, and 
 diverting its waters to the Pacific. As regards the first of these two 
 alternatives, it was objected that, as large affluents flow into the river 
 below Matachin, three parallel canals of large size would require to 
 be constructed, in order to make the alternative of any real value ; 
 the second alternative, it was held, would afford no relief to the floods 
 of the Trinidad, the Gatun, and the smaller affluents of the Chagres 
 below Matachin, while it would be likely to increase the difficulties of 
 construction at the one end as much as it reduced them at the other. 
 Nor is it admitted by some authorities that the Gamboa dam would 
 be likely to answer its purpose. It is contended that many embank- 
 ments would be required, instead of only one, and that the construc- 
 tion of such an embankment from such a cutting could hardly by any 
 possible effort be completed in twenty-six years, so that it would not 
 be until after that time had elapsed that the canal could be com- 
 menced between Chagres and Matachin, with its bed 30 feet under 
 sea level. 
 
 The low-water flood of the Chagres river, just below the site of 
 the proposed Gamboa Dam, is 209 feet wide by 7 feet 6 inches deep, 
 the bed being triangular in cross section. In November 1885, a 
 flood occurred here, under the influence of which the river was 
 swollen to a width of 1560 feet, with a maximum depth of 28 feet, 
 so that it was twelve times as wide as the canal and almost as deep 
 
 * 'Comptes Rendus de 1' Academic des Sciences,' vol. xciii. 1887.
 
 The Panama Canal. 307 
 
 at its deepest point. It is stated that the last four feet of the rise took 
 place in four hours, and in thirty-six hours the water had risen about 
 20 feet. The general consensus of opinion among engineers appears 
 to be that this immense flood has to be provided for in some way. 
 M. de Lesseps originally proposed to meet the difficulty by con- 
 structing a dam, or embankment, two-thirds of a mile long, 1300 feet 
 wide at the base, and 164 feet in height. This dam was to be 
 designed so as to retain the floods which descend the Chagres river, 
 storing the water and allowing it to escape gradually. The only 
 alternative was to provide the flood waters with such a rapid means 
 of escape to the ocean that they could not flood the canal. 
 
 From considerations of economy, it was recently determined to 
 abandon the lock gates at the port of Panama. It was intended in 
 the original scheme to provide these gates in order to control the 
 rise and fall of the tide at this end of the canal. This movement of 
 the tide varies from 20 to 27 feet, being at least twelve times as 
 much as at the other end of the canal. Obviously, therefore, the 
 canal would be seriously affected by a tidal movement of so con- 
 siderable a character, and leading engineers have not hesitated to 
 say that without the lock gates at Panama the canal is an impossi- 
 bility. 
 
 AMERICAN VIEWS OF THE ENTERPRISE. 
 
 " American engineers," we are told, " have never had but one 
 opinion of the canal. As a general thing they have never believed 
 that it could be built on the lines, within the time, nor for the money 
 specified by M. de Lesseps." The same writer adds that " M. de 
 Lesseps, having won fame by scooping out some sand hills and con- 
 necting some lakes and streams at Suez, thought it was a simple 
 matter to make a canal anywhere. He has persistently refused to 
 see any difficulties, or to squarely look the undertaking in the face, 
 and to estimate the chances for and against its completion, and the 
 collapse of all this will simply be a question of time." * 
 
 Another American writer adopts much the same view, in even 
 more emphatic language, when he says f that, " of the final cost of 
 M. de Lesseps's sea-level canal at Panama, if there could be anything 
 
 * Engineering, August 26, 1887. 
 
 f Commander Taylor's paper on " The General Question of Isthmian 
 Transit," read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
 August 1887. 
 
 X 2
 
 308 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 about it save utter failure, nothing can be known, except that it will 
 be a fabulous amount. . . . The great difficulties and expense 
 of excavation are still before them, and the knotty, perhaps impos- 
 sible, problem of the Chagres river is still unsolved." 
 
 Further light on the difficulties in the way of the enterprise was 
 thrown upon it in a report made by Lieut. Kemball, in 1887, to the 
 United States Government. He found on the Pacific slope, a short 
 distance west of the summit, that the route of the canal was here 
 crossed and recrossed by the Rio Grande, which had been trained in 
 a straight line down the north side of the valley, at a considerable 
 height above the level of the canal.* It was found, however, when 
 the rainy season had set in, that in different places the hillside began 
 to slide into the cutting made for the deflection of the river, and that 
 one bank moved almost intact across the cut, with the top surface 
 unbroken, and without any disturbance of the vegetation. The 
 existence of a substratum of a greasy clay bank was the cause of 
 this trouble. Such a foundation is, of course, not to be relied 
 on. It is ready, as has been pointed out, to " swell upwards, or 
 glide sideways, on the slightest provocation, and it may easily 
 develop into a difficulty of the most formidable character, requiring 
 the river to be carried round the back of the hills away from the 
 canal, "f 
 
 In the summer of 1887, Lieut. Rogers, of the United States Navy, 
 visited the canal works, and made a report on them. He declared 
 that in 1886, 11,727,000 cubic metres of excavation had been done, 
 bringing the total quantity completed up to that date at 30 millions 
 of cubic metres. This had, however, been done in the face of 
 tremendous odds. An American dredger of greater power was 
 steadily engaged on the same spot for weeks, the pressure of the 
 material laid on the bank forcing up the soft spongy bed of the cut 
 so rapidly that the machine could do little more than merely hold its 
 own. The canal bed had here and there been destroyed by floods. 
 Lines and trucks had been buried under two metres of silt. In the 
 Culebra cut, the mountain to the left hand of the cut was found to 
 be moving towards the canal, at the rate of 1 1 to 12 inches per 
 annum. Seeing that this was the case when not one-third of the 
 excavation had been completed, the query is naturally suggested, 
 
 * The bottom of the canal is here 164 feet below the river, which, again, is 
 80 feet below the Panama Railway. The three courses run parallel at this point, 
 t Engineering, Aug. 5, 1887.
 
 The Panama Canal. 
 
 309 
 
 What will be the rate of movement when the bed of the canal is 
 250 feet or more under the level of the surrounding country ? 
 
 
 u 
 
 Nor have English writers been slow to condemn the project both 
 from its economic and from its engineering points of view. The
 
 310 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 following quotation is given as typical of much that has been written 
 elsewhere : 
 
 "We cannot avoid the remark that if the Interoceanic Canal be 
 regarded, not as a Bourse speculation, but as an excavation which it is 
 proposed to make by human agency, the question of its actual feasibility 
 has not yet been really entered upon. An excavation which, if the last 
 accounts of the borings be correct, would contain at least twenty times 
 the bulk of the great pyramid ; an embankment holding more than a 
 third of the contents of that excavation, and requiring twenty-six years for 
 its execution at the wholly unprecedented rate (from one end) of a million 
 cubic yards in a year ; a canal displacing for its execution a torrential 
 river of four times the volume of the Thames in its heaviest flood, and 
 with its bed at a depth of thirty feet below sea level all this to be done 
 while as yet the preliminary observations of rainfall, river discharge, and 
 cross section of country have to be made the proposal of such an enter- 
 prise seems rather worthy to adorn the name of Alexandre Dumas, or of 
 the author of the tales of the Arabian Nights, than that of any person 
 familiar with the practical execution of engineering work." * 
 
 With reference to the actual state of affairs at the Panama Canal in 
 1887, Mr. Froude has written in the following unmeasured termsf : 
 
 "If half the reports which reached me are correct, in all the world 
 there is not perhaps now concentrated in any single spot so much 
 swindling and villainy, so much foul disease, such a hideous dungheap of 
 moral and physical abomination, as in the scene of this far-famed under- 
 taking of nineteenth century engineering. By the scheme, as it was 
 first propounded, 26,000,000 of English money were to unite the Atlantic 
 and Pacific oceans, to form a highway for the commerce of the globe, and 
 enrich with untold wealth the happy owners of original shares. The 
 thrifty French peasantry were tempted by the golden bait, and poured 
 their savings into M. de Lesseps' lottery box. Almost all that money, I 
 was told, has been already spent, and only a fifth of the work is done. 
 Meanwhile, the human vultures have gathered to the spoil. Speculators, 
 adventurers, card sharpers, hell keepers, and doubtful ladies have carried 
 their charms to this delightful market. The scene of operations is a 
 damp tropical jungle, intensely hot, swarming with mosquitoes, snakes, 
 alligators, scorpions, and centipedes ; the home, even as nature made it, 
 of yellow fever, typhus, and dysentery, and now made immeasurably more 
 deadly by the multitudes of people who crowd thither. Half buried in 
 mud lie about the wrecks of costly machinery, consuming by rust, sent out 
 under lavish orders, and found unfit for the work for which they were 
 intended. Unburied altogether lie skeletons of the human machines 
 which have broken down there, picked clean by the vultures. Everything 
 
 * ' Edinburgh Review,' August 1882. 
 f ' The English in the West Indies.'
 
 The Panama Canal. 
 
 1 1 
 
 which imagination can conceive that is ghastly and loathsome seems to 
 be gathered into that locality just now. I was pressed to go on and look at 
 the moral surroundings of ' the greatest undertaking of our age,' but my 
 curiosity was less strong than my disgust." 
 
 The time has not yet come when the true history of the Panama 
 Canal Scheme can be written. It may have been an ill-judged 
 project, or it may not. It has, however, had enormous difficulties 
 
 PROPOSED SLUICE OF n METRES ON THE PANAMA CANAL, SHOWING THE 
 ROLLING GATE OPEN. 
 
 to contend with. Those difficulties began with the climate, con- 
 tinued with the administration and finances, and concluded with the 
 open hostility of very many individuals and interests that were never 
 very friendly to its success. The enterprise was essentially French,
 
 312 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 alike in its conception, initiation, engineering, and finances. The 
 phenomenal success that attended the Suez Canal probably led the 
 
 majority of the unfortunate people who put money into the Panama 
 Canal to suppose that it was to be another Egyptian Canal " writ
 
 The Panama Canal. 3 1 3 
 
 large ; " but there has also been a strong feeling of esprit de corps, 
 which we cannot fail to admire, however disastrously it may have 
 turned out for themselves, which the French have put into 
 this matter. The truth is that the French people have come to 
 regard themselves as a royal race in canal construction. The 
 Languedoc Canal, which they constructed in the reign of Louis XIV 
 cost 14,000,000 livres, and marked a new epoch in the history of 
 canal construction.* Of the Suez Canal, the leading features of 
 which are so well-known, it is unnecessary to say more than that its 
 success has not only been phenomenal, but has been achieved in the 
 face of the most discouraging attitude on the part of the engineers 
 of other countries, including England. At the time that the Panama 
 Canal was being promoted, M. de Lesseps was able to point his 
 countrymen to the fact that the shares in the Suez Canal, which 
 had been issued at 500 francs, had risen to a value of 2200 
 francs, while the debentures issued at 300 francs were worth 565. 
 The impressionable French people did not stay to recollect that the 
 two enterprises were totally different in character, in cost, in acces- 
 sibility, in practicability, and in prospects. And it is only fair to 
 recollect that the original estimate of the cost of the canal has been 
 largely exceeded by circumstances that were hardly capable of being 
 foreseen. The repeated attacks made by inimical interests, led to 
 the company having to borrow on higher terms, as well as to the 
 suspension of work on the isthmus for nearly a year. A much 
 larger amount and higher rate of interest has had to be paid to share 
 and debenture holders than was ever expected. The Company 
 have also had to contend with a want of navvies, and with labour 
 disturbance, that told unfavourably on their interests. 
 
 The Report of the Special Commission appointed in 1889 to 
 inquire into the affairs of the Panama Canal was published in May, 
 1890, and describes in detail the position of the undertaking. It is 
 estimated that some 30 millions will be required to complete it, so 
 that its ultimate construction does not appear at present very probable. 
 
 * The history of this canal, which crosses the isthmus that connects Spain with 
 France, is told elsewhere in this volume.
 
 314 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE NICARAGUAN CANAL. 
 
 ONE of the most important and costly of isthmian canal projects that 
 now looms on the horizon is that which is designed to afford a com- 
 munication between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans via the Lake 
 of Nicaragua. This is a purely American project. It is put forward 
 by American citizens, it has been drawn up by American engineers, 
 and it is in favour with the American people. After the Nicaraguan 
 Canal project had been before the world in one shape or another 
 for many years, and after many different routes had been proposed 
 and considered, the plans for a canal have now been definitively 
 adopted, and the work of construction has, it is stated, actually begun. 
 It has not yet been announced whether the capital required has been 
 subscribed, but the United States, which approves the scheme, and 
 has raised from first to last some 9000 millions of dollars for railway 
 enterprise, is perhaps hardly likely to allow the canal to drop for 
 want of the 20 millions sterling required to complete it. 
 
 None of the many schemes for a canal across the American 
 isthmus has obtained more extensive support, both in America and in 
 Europe, than that via the Lake of Nicaragua. It had the very earnest 
 support of the Emperor Napoleon between 1845 anc ^ 1848. In 
 1846, the Emperor, then Prince Louis Napoleon, wrote a pamphlet 
 on the subject,* in the course of which he pronounced against the 
 Panama route, and he once declared, as regards the rival Nicaraguan 
 
 * In 1842 several influential persons in Central America wrote to the Prince, 
 then a prisoner in the fortress of Ham, suggesting that he should endeavour to 
 obtain his liberation from the French Government, under an engagement to 
 proceed forthwith to Central America. In 1845 tn ' s overture was more formally 
 repeated in a despatch from M. Castellon, then Minister of the Central American 
 States in Paris ; and a few months later, Senor del Montenegro announced to the 
 Prince that the Government of Nicaragua had conferred on his highness full 
 powers to conduct and execute the undertaking. The refusal of the French 
 Government to liberate the Prince put an end to the scheme at that time ; but 
 after his escape and arrival in London he was not indisposed to renew the nego- 
 tiation, and he then wrote the pamphlet referred to.
 
 316 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 scheme that, " from the embouchure of the river San Juan to the 
 Pacific Ocean the canal would run in a straight line about 278 miles, 
 enhancing the prosperity on either bank of more than a thousand 
 miles of territory. The effect that would be produced by the annual 
 passage through this fine country of two or three thousand ships, 
 exchanging foreign produce with that of Central America, and 
 spreading everywhere activity and wealth, would be almost 
 miraculous." * 
 
 The expense of the Nicaraguan Canal was estimated by Napoleon 
 at only four millions sterling ; but it is obvious, from the Prince's 
 own statements, that such a passage as he contemplated would only 
 have afforded draught of water for vessels of 300 tons. Napoleon's 
 object was, however, quite as much to promote emigration, trade, 
 and civilisation in the State of Nicaragua, as to open a communica- 
 tion between the two oceans, f 
 
 The river San Juan de Nicaragua directly connects the Atlantic 
 with the south end of the lake of the above name, from the northern 
 end of which but a few miles intervene to the Pacific. Various 
 surveys have been made of the river, with a view to the construction 
 of a canal. In 1837-8 Lieutenant Baily | was employed by the 
 Central American Government to explore the route. He found that 
 the surface of the lake of Nicaragua is 121 feet 9 inches above low 
 water in the Atlantic. The river San Juan, in its course of 79 miles 
 from the lake, varies in depth from 9 feet to 20 feet, and its course 
 is broken by various rapids, some of which are of considerable length. 
 The summit-level of the mountain chain which divides the valley of 
 the lake from the Pacific is 487 feet above the lake, and a tunnel of 
 nearly 16 miles long would have to be pierced through this wall 
 in order to reach the port of San Juan del Sur on the Pacific. The 
 total length of navigation, through river, lake, and canal, according 
 to Mr. Baily's plans, would be 190 miles. 
 
 The port of San Juan del Sur is narrow at the entrance, but 
 widens within the harbour. It is surrounded by high land, except 
 from W.S.W. to W. by S. The depth of water at the entrance is 
 3 fathoms, and the width uoo yards. Ships could thence go up for 
 a mile and a half, but the amount of excavation required for a canal 
 30 feet deep and 50 feet wide was estimated at not less than 162 
 
 * Min. Proc Inst. C. E., vol. vi. p. 428. 
 
 f 'Edinburgh Review,' April, 1882. 
 
 \ Vide 'Central America,' by John Baily, R.M., London, 1850.
 
 The Nicaraguan Canal. 317 
 
 million cubic yards, which has been stated to be more than that 
 required for the construction of 2000 miles of English railway 
 a figure quite conclusive against this scheme. 
 
 In 1852 the route was surveyed by Colonel Childs,* who pro- 
 posed to descend from the lake by fourteen locks to Brito, on the 
 Pacific, where, however, there was no harbour. The length of this 
 route was given as 194 miles. 
 
 To avoid the difficulty of cutting through the ridge, it has been 
 proposed to continue the navigation from the extreme north of the 
 Lake of Nicaragua, by the Estero de Panaloya and the river Tipitapa 
 to the Lake Leon, or Managua, and thence to the port of Realejo, 
 on the Pacific, or, yet more to the north, to the Estero Real, an arm 
 of the Gulf of Fonseca. But it has been pointed out that the length 
 of the navigation would thus be increased by a hundred miles, and it 
 is doubtful whether Lake Leon could furnish the water necessary for 
 lockage, in both directions, which it would have to supply. 
 
 The Nicaragua route, therefore, whatever may be its advantages, 
 if any, over that of Panama, is liable to the objections of great length, 
 large works, numerous locks, and the no less formidable danger, to 
 use the words of Humboldt, that " there is no part of the globe so 
 full of volcanoes as this part of America, from the nth to the i3th 
 degrees of latitude."! 
 
 The distance from ocean to ocean by the route that has recently 
 received the approval of the United States Government, and is now 
 in course of apparent realisation, is 169-8 miles. Of actual canal 
 there will be 40-3 miles, the remaining 129-5 miles being free 
 navigation through Lake Nicaragua, the Rio San Juan, and the 
 valley of the Rio San Francisco. 
 
 Beginning on the Pacific side, the canal starts from the port of 
 Brito, situated about 12 miles north-west of San Juan del Sur, the 
 Pacific terminus of the famous gold-fever transit route, where there is 
 a broad channel, 342 feet wide at high water, reaching inland about 
 i miles to the tidal lock. This lock lifts the canal 24-2 feet above 
 high tide of the Pacific. 
 
 From this lock, which is really the beginning of the canal the 
 portion between the lock and Brito being in reality an extension of 
 the harbour the canal ascends the broad gently-sloping lower valley 
 of the Rio Grande, which is to be diverted into the lake by an 
 
 * Min. Proc. Inst. C. E., vol. xv. p. 379. 
 t ' Edinburgh Review,' April, 1882.
 
 3 1 8 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 artificial channel, rising by means of three or more locks of from 26 
 feet to 29 feet lift, till, at a point 8| miles from Brito, it reaches the 
 western end of the summit level, no feet above mean tide ; thence it 
 proceeds through the upper valley of the Rio Grande and across a 
 moderately rolling country to the summit or " divide," between the 
 Pacific and the lake, 41*4 feet above the level of the water in the 
 canal ; then through the valley of the Guscoyol, a tributary of the 
 Lajas, and along the bed of the diverted Lajas to the lake, a total 
 distance of 8J miles from the last lock and 17-27 miles from Brito. 
 
 Between the lake and Brito one small stream is taken into the 
 canal by a receiving weir. The river Tola and several small streams 
 coming from the north are to be passed under the canal, and along 
 its lower portion there will be ditches to intercept the surface 
 drainage, which is inconsiderable, and convey it to the sea. 
 
 The material to be excavated in this division is sand, gravel, clay, 
 and in the " divide " cut rock, which will be utilised in the construction 
 of the breakwater at Brito, in pitching the canal slopes, and in concrete 
 for the locks, culverts, weirs, and the dam across the Rio Grande. 
 The location of the canal in this division is the same as that pro- 
 posed by the engineer Menocal on his return from Nicaragua in 
 1880. The prism, however, has been increased, the number of locks 
 reduced, and their location changed. The enlargement of the 
 terminal section is also a new feature. 
 
 The canal enters Lake Nicaragua, an inland sea, 40 miles wide, 
 and over 90 miles long, which forms its summit level, and with the 
 Chontales Mountains on the left, the route is continued to Fort San 
 Carlos at the outlet of the lake into the Rio San Juan. Throughout 
 this distance of 56^ miles, 28 feet of water can be carried to within 
 2400 feet of the mouth of the Lajas on the west shore of the lake, and 
 within eight miles of Fort San Carlos on the south-eastern shore, 
 In the former distance some dredging and rock excavation under 
 water will be necessary, and in the latter, dredging in soft mud to an 
 average depth of 3^ feet. From Fort San Carlos the route proceeds 
 64 miles down the San Juan river, which, with the exception of the 
 28 miles from the lake to Toro Rapids, has a depth varying from 
 28 feet to 130 feet, to the dam thrown across the river at Ochoa 
 just below the mouth of the Rio San Carlos. Throughout this 
 stretch of river, the only work to be done is dredging in mud and 
 gravel, and some rock excavation under water to an average depth 
 of four feet along a distance of 24 miles, below Fort San Carlos,
 
 The Nicaraguan Canal. 3 1 9 
 
 and light excavation above water on some points in the lower river 
 in order to flatten the bends. 
 
 The dam just mentioned is located between two steep, rocky 
 hills, at a point where the river is 1133 feet wide between the 
 banks, with an average depth of 6 6 feet. Its length on the crest 
 will be 1255 feet, its height 52 feet, the depth of foundations 20 feet 
 below present water level, and it is to be constructed entirely of 
 concrete, with timber-lined crest, front, and apron, and rip-rap 
 protected back, forming a monolith wedged between rock abut- 
 ments. This dam will back the water of the river the entire 
 distance to Fort Carlos and into the lake, maintaining the water 
 of the latter at the proposed level of no feet, and will convert 
 the upper San Juan into an extension of the lake, with a fall of 
 f inch per mile. 
 
 The valley referred to, flooded by the back water from the dam, 
 affords an excellent basin at the entrance of the canal, free from the 
 influence of the river current, and the latter forms a natural, ready- 
 made canal, 3300' long, needing only slight excavation on the poims 
 of two or three spurs for rectifying the channel. From the head of 
 this valley, a canal i 82 miles long extends across a broken country 
 of moderate elevation, intersecting one deep narrow ravine, debouching 
 towards the San Juan, across which a short embankment will be 
 necessary, and enters the valley of the river San Francisco. This 
 river San Francisco flows east, north-east, and east, approximately 
 parallel to the San Juan, and separated from it by a range of hills to 
 a point about nine miles (in straight line) from the dam, then, 
 receiving a considerable tributary (the Cano de los Chanchos) from 
 the north-east, turns abruptly to the south-east and south, and enters 
 the San Juan. Its valley thus forms an irregular flattened Y, with 
 its foot or stem resting on the San Juan, one arm extending westerly 
 to within a short distance of the dam, and the other easterly in the 
 direction of Greytown. 
 
 Across the stem of this Y, just below the junction of the two arms, 
 will be built an embankment 6500 feet long on the crest, and having 
 a maximum height of 51 feet. This embankment will retain the 
 water of the San Francisco and its tributaries, flooding the whole 
 upper valley (the arms of the Y) to a depth of from 30 to 50 feet, 
 and forming a large lake at the same level as the river above the 
 (j am jn other words, a continuation of the summit level. 
 
 Proceeding from the end of the short canal already described, the
 
 320 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 main canal passes down the westerly arm of this broad, deep, crescent- 
 shaped basin, past the embankment, then up the easterly arm to the 
 western foot of the divide between the San Francisco and the San 
 Juanillo, 12-55 miles from the dam, and within 19-48 miles of 
 Greytown. Here the eastern division of the canal is entered, 
 beginning at the Saltos de Elvira, whence it proceeds nearly due 
 east, through the broad, flat upper valley of the Arroyo de las 
 Cascadas, cutting a spur here and there to the "divide," less than 
 one mile from the Saltos, and 280 feet above the sea. Then curving 
 gradually to the south-east, across the little plain at the summit, it 
 cuts a steep, narrow spur, enters the valley of the Deseado, a stream 
 flowing into the San Juanillo, follows its bed a short distance, then 
 crosses to the left bank, and reaches the site of the upper lock of the 
 eastern flight, 14,200 feet from the Saltos. The average cut for this 
 distance is 149 feet 
 
 At this lock, excavated in the rock foundations of a spur of the 
 northern hills, the summit level, reaching back through the San 
 Francisco basin, up the San Juan, and across the lake to the first 
 lock on the west side, a distance of 144*8 miles, ends, and the 
 canal, lowered 53 feet by the lock, passes by easy curves down the 
 widening valley of the Deseado to the next lock, less than a mile 
 beyond. Here another drop of 27 feet occurs, and then the canal 
 follows the still widening and gradually descending valley in a north- 
 easterly direction for less than three miles to the third and last lock at 
 the mouth of the valley. This lock lowers the canal to the sea 
 level, and from here it takes a direct course across the flat low basin 
 of the San Juanillo and the Lagoon region, to the harbour of San 
 Juan del Norte, or Greytown, about n^ miles distant. 
 
 The surface drainage to be provided for in this division is not 
 extensive, and it is especially small on the western slope of the 
 " divide," where three short artificial channels will divert it all into 
 the San Francisco Lake at some distance from the canal. Across 
 the " divide," and as far as the first intersection of the canal and the 
 Deseado, the natural drainage is away from the canal. From this 
 point to the San Juanillo the canal will be protected on both sides 
 by drains formed partly by the present bed of the Deseado, and 
 partly by artificial channels. The remainder of the canal, through 
 the low land from the San Juanillo to Greytown, will be protected by 
 embankments formed by the material deposited by the dredgers, an 
 artificial channel being cut on the south to divert the San Juanillo,
 
 The Nicaraguan Canal, 3211 
 
 and another on the north to give Laguna Bernard and its tributaries 
 an independent outlet to the sea. From the last lock to Greytown 
 the canal is enlarged, as at Brito, on the west side, forming an ex- 
 tension of the harbour n miles inland. The material to be 
 excavated in this division is sand, gravel, and alluvial soil (all 
 dredgable material) for a distance of 12 to 15 miles from Greytown, 
 then clay, gravel, and rock in the deeper cuts, and finally, in the 
 " divide," cut rock, which will be utilised as on the west side, in the 
 construction of the embankment, in the breakwater at Greytown, 
 in pitching the canal slopes, and in concrete for the dam and locks. 
 
 About 27 miles of the actual canal will be ordinary excavation, 
 and it is proposed that the remaining 13 miles will be largely, if not 
 entirely, excavated by dredgers. In the western division, the excava- 
 tion of the portion of the canal between the last lock and the 
 Pacific by dredgers will solve the problem of the drainage of the work 
 for that division, as on the remaining excavation, being above sea- 
 level, the question of drainage will be perfectly simple. 
 
 In the eastern division, as in the western, the portion of the 
 canal between Greytown harbour and the first lock, a distance of 
 nj miles, will be dredged. 
 
 The " divide " cut from the basin of the San Francisco to the 
 upper lock, 14,200 feet in length, and with an average depth of 149 
 feet, is admitted to be a serious work ; but with the neighbouring 
 streams offering water at a high head for removing the surface earth 
 by hydraulic mining, with a large plant of power drills worked by 
 compressed air from the same source, and the use of modern explo- 
 sives to loosen the rock, with a large proportion of the excavated 
 rock to be used in the construction of the locks and the dam, and 
 in pitching the slopes of the canal, a still larger quantity utilised 
 in the construction of the harbour at Greytown, and convenient 
 dumping-grounds for the remainder, the engineers claim that the work 
 can be accomplished. 
 
 The following description of the proposed locks is taken from 
 the report of Mr. Menocal, one of the engineers : 
 
 " The locks proposed have a uniform length of 650 feet between the 
 gates, and at least a width of 65 feet between the gate abutments. Locks 
 N os. i, 2, 4, 5, and 6 have lifts of 26, 27, 26*4, 29-7, and 29-7 feet re- 
 spectively. No. 3 has a lift of 53 feet, and No. 7, being a combination tide 
 and lift lock, its lift will vary between 24-2 and 33- 18 feet, depending on 
 the state of the tide. It is believed that Nos. I and 7 will rest on firm, 
 
 Y
 
 322 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 heavy soil, but timber and concrete foundations have been provided for in 
 the estimates. Nos. 2 and 4 are estimated to rest on solid rock, and as 
 for Nos. 5 and 6, the borings taken in 1873 show that stiff clay, compact 
 sand and gravel will be met with. No. 3 is proposed to be cut out of the 
 solid rock in the eastern slope of the ' divide,' by which the maximum 
 strength will be secured with the least expense, concrete will be used only 
 to the extent required to fill cavities, to give the proper dimensions to the 
 various parts, and to give a surface to the blasted rock. The other locks 
 it is proposed to build of concrete, and all of them, No. 3 included, will 
 have a heavy timber lining in the chambers and bays, extending from the 
 top of the walls to 15 feet below the low-water level. 
 
 " Cribs on firm bottom, or fender piles, when piles can be driven, have 
 been provided at the approaches to the locks for the protection and better 
 guidance of ships into the locks. Provision has also been made for 
 making ships f >st to the lock walls, so that the lines will, by means of 
 floats, rise or fall with the ship, thus preserving the same tension on the 
 lines while the vessel is kept in the axis of the lock. Each lock will be 
 filled or emptied by conduits extending from the upper to the lower reach 
 of the canal, and branch culverts connecting the main conduit with the 
 lock chamber. The only operation required for either filling or emptying 
 the lock will be, irrespective of the movements of the lock gate, the open- 
 ing and closing of the upper and lower main culvert-gates. The time 
 required to fill or empty lock No. 3, of 53 feet lift, will be fifteen minutes, 
 and for the other locks an average of eleven minutes. The question of 
 the best style of gates for these locks has been a subject of much con- 
 sideration. It is desirable to combine strength, economy in construction, 
 rapid and simple movements, facilities for repairs or for renewing the 
 gates, and the least danger of accident by vessels entering or leaving the 
 locks. The necessary machinery for moving the locks and culvert-gates, 
 for hauling ships in and out of the locks, for electric lights, and other pur- 
 poses, will be worked by hydraulic power furnished by the locks them- 
 selves." 
 
 The chamber width of the locks will be 80 feet, so that these 
 structures will contain almost any merchant vessel afloat. 
 
 In the plans proposed for the canal, not only have enlarged 
 prisms been provided for, but large basins are proposed at the 
 extremities of the locks. These basins, the enlargement of the 
 canal at each end, with the lake, the river and the San Francisco 
 basin, will permit vessels to pass each other without delay at almost 
 every point on the route. Mr. Menocal states that 
 
 " In 22*37 miles, or 57 per cent, of the canal in excavation, the prism 
 is large enough for vessels in transit to pass each other, and of a sectional 
 area in excess of the maximum area in the Suez Canal ; the remaining 
 distance in which large vessels cannot conveniently pass each other is so
 
 The Nicaraguan Canal. 323 
 
 divided that the longest is only 3 '67 miles in length ; with two exceptions, 
 those short reaches of narrow canal are situated between the locks, and 
 can be traversed by any vessel in less time than is estimated for the pas- 
 sage of a lock ; consequently, unless a double system of locks be con- 
 structed, nothing will be gained by an enlargement of the prisms. The 
 exceptions referred to are the rock-cuts through the eastern and western 
 ' divides,' 2-58 and 3 67 miles, respectively, in length. The possible deten- 
 tion in the transit, due to those narrow cuts, which should not in any 
 case exceed 45 minutes, would not justify the necessary increase of 
 expense involved in an enlargement of the cross-section proposed. Both 
 the bottom width and the depth of the proposed canal are larger than 
 those of the Suez Canal. 
 
 " In the lake and in the largest portion of the San Juan River vessels 
 can travel almost as fast as at sea. In some sections of the river, and 
 possibly in the basin of the San Francisco, although the channel is at all 
 points deep and of considerable width, the speed may be somewhat 
 checked by reason of the curves. 
 
 " Estimated time of through-transit by steamer. 
 
 Mrs. Mins. 
 
 38 '98 miles of canal, at 5 miles an hour 7 48 
 
 8'5l miles in the San Francisco basin, at 7 miles an hour .. I 14 
 
 64 '154 miles in the San Juan River, at 8 miles an hour.. .. 8 4 
 
 56*50 miles in the lake, at 10 miles an hour 5 39 
 
 Time allowed for passing 7 locks, at 45 minutes each .. .. 5 15 
 
 Allow for detention in narrow cuts, &c 2 o 
 
 Total time 30 o 
 
 "The experience of the Suez Canal shows that the actual time of 
 transit is more likely to fall under than to exceed the above estimate.* 
 
 " The traffic of the canal is limited by the time required to pass a lock, 
 and on the basis of 45 minutes (above estimated), and allowing but one 
 vessel to each lockage, the number of vessels that can pass the canal in 
 one day will be 32, or in one year u,68o,t which, at the average net ton- 
 nage of vessels passing the Suez Canal, will give an annual traffic of 
 20,440,000 tons. This is on the basis that the navigation will not be 
 stopped during the night. 
 
 " With abundant water power at the several locks and the dam, there is 
 no reason why the whole canal should not be sufficiently illuminated by 
 electric lights ; and with beacons and range lights in the river and lake, 
 vessels can travel at all times with perfect safety. The estimated cost of 
 the canal is 64 millions of dollars, or 13,000,0007. including electric 
 lighting, &c., and it is calculated that the work can be completed in six 
 years. 
 
 * The time of passage through the Suez Canal is now about 16 hours, 
 t In July, 1886, 1296 vessels passed through the St. Mary's Canal lock. 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 ESTIMATES OF COST MADE IN 1888. 
 
 Per cubic yard. 
 TABLE OF PRICES. dols. 
 
 Excavation in earth 0*40 
 
 Excavation in rock 1*50 
 
 Excavation in rock (sub-marine) 5*00 
 
 Dredging O'2Oand 0*40 
 
 Concrete 6'ooand 9*00 
 
 Stone pitching 2*00 
 
 Stone in breakwaters 1*50 
 
 Puddle 0-75 
 
 Timber 0*50 
 
 Western Division : dols. 
 
 Excavation and embankment 8,496,292 
 
 Diversion of Rio Grande and Rio Lajas .. .. 1 ,870,447 
 
 Other auxiliary work, including R. R 753>3 2 9 
 
 Locks (four) 4,762,480 
 
 Harbour of Brito 1,611,500 
 
 Total $17,484,048 
 
 Middle Division : dols. 
 
 Lake Nicaragua .. .. 379?52o 
 
 River San Juan 3,074,791 
 
 Valley of R. San Francisco 1,112,413 
 
 Dam across R. San Juan 17858,975 
 
 Embankment across R. San Francisco .. .. 1,331,262 
 
 Embankment near Ochoa .. 45>578 
 
 Railroad .. .. 240,000 
 
 Total $8,042,539 
 
 Eastern Division : dols. 
 
 The "Divide" 11,982,938 
 
 From the " Divide " to Greytown 8,077,294 
 
 Locks (three) 3*561,515 
 
 Railroad 320,000 
 
 Harbour of Greytown 1,766,625 
 
 Total $25,708,372 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 dols. 
 
 Western Division . 17,484,048 
 
 Middle Division 8,042,539 
 
 Eastern Division 25,708,372 
 
 Total $51,234,239 
 
 Surveys, hospitals, shops, &c. ; management and con- 
 tingencies, 25 per cent 12,808,740 
 
 Grand total $64,043,699
 
 The Nicaraguan Canal. 325 
 
 The Canal Company has received from the Nicaraguan Govern- 
 ment a concession which allows a period of 2^ years from 1887, 
 within which to begin operations, a grant of 1,000,000 acres of land, 
 and immunity from taxation and import duties for 99 years. The 
 Canal Company estimate that by 1894, shipping to the amount of 
 8,000,000 to 9,000,000 of tons would avail itself of this route. The 
 leading commercial bodies of New York, New Orleans, St. Louis, 
 Cincinnati, Chicago, Indianapolis, and San Francisco, have ex- 
 pressed themselves favourable to the project, which has also been 
 supported by the Legislatures of California and Oregon. 
 
 The great majority of the people of the United States are only 
 interested in the construction of a canal across the American 
 isthmus, in so far as it will tend to make them independent of the 
 Pacific railway companies, which have of late years shown a dispo- 
 sition to work together and pool their traffic at the expense of the 
 traders. There is, perhaps, very little to complain of in this respect, 
 so far as the average range of American railway rates is concerned. 
 But the Americans are 'cute enough to know that if they could play 
 off the steamship against the railway, the ultimate result, though it 
 might be disastrous to both transportation agencies, would be favour- 
 able to the trader so long as the competition lasted. The actual 
 present sea distance from New York to San Francisco, with an 
 isthmian canal opened, would be shortened by 8000 miles. The 
 distance, therefore, would not be materially greater by canal than 
 by railway. The ship, however, all other things being equal, will 
 always carry more cheaply than the locomotive.* Whether the 
 difference would be very material when the canal company's tolls 
 have been paid remains to be seen. 
 
 It is probable, that with the opening of the canal, a great stimulus 
 would be given to the coasting trade of the United States, and 
 especially between the two ports of New York and San Francisco, 
 to the probable detriment, at least for a time, of the trans-conti- 
 nental railways. The very large trade that is now being cultivated 
 between the United States and Central America, the republics of 
 Peru, Chili, and Ecuador, and something like one-half of Mexico, 
 would be equally benefited by the new means of communication. 
 With all this to depend upon, the promoters of the canal are pro- 
 bably not over-sanguine in expecting that its financial results would 
 
 * The cost of transport of a ton of traffic by an Atlantic freight steamer has 
 been reduced to one penny for some forty miles.
 
 326 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 be fairly satisfactory. The experience of the Suez Canal at least 
 encourages that hope, although it is to be remarked that the cost 
 of the Nicaraguan canal, will probably, when completed, have been 
 more than that of the Suez waterway. 
 
 The local advantages of the Nicaragua route for a ship canal are 
 generally recognised in the United States. A recent writer * on the 
 subject states that 
 
 " The range of what in other parts of Northern and Central America 
 are mountains, and at Panama has proved one of the obstacles 
 that have wrecked the French Company, on the Nicaragua line, 
 dwindles to its lowest elevation, as if inviting a junction between the 
 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The western shore of Lake Nicaragua 
 is but fifteen miles from the Pacific, and the ' divide,' which north and 
 south at this point assumes mountainous proportions, is less than 
 50 feet above the level of the lake, and about 150 feet above the 
 mean level of the Pacific Ocean. Although so close to the Pacific 
 slope, and with so slight a barrier holding back its waters, the great 
 lake of Nicaragua drains through the river San Juan to the East into 
 the Caribbean Sea. The lake itself is deep and unobstructed, and that 
 portion of the river San Juan needed for navigation purposes requires 
 but little work to adapt it for the heaviest draught vessels. The Lake 
 of Nicaragua is undoubtedly the key to the situation, forming the 
 summit level, and supplying the immense amount of water required 
 to operate a lock canal on the large scale projected." 
 
 The route from Greytown, on the Atlantic, to Brito, on the 
 Pacific, a distance of 170*099 miles, has been divided thus : 
 
 Free Canal in 
 
 navigation. excavation. 
 
 East side .. .. 16*048 
 
 West side .. 11*160 
 
 Six locks .. 0*759 
 
 Deseado basin 4*220 
 
 San Francisco and Machado basins .. .. 11*368 
 
 Tola basin 5 '504 
 
 River San Juan 64*540 
 
 Lake Nicaragua .. 56*500 
 
 Total miles .. .. 142*132 27*907 
 
 The minimum radius of curvature is 2500, and the principal 
 dimensions of the canal in excavation are as follows : rock, width, 
 * ' Engineering and Mining Journal ' (New York), Map 4, 1889.
 
 The Nicaraguan Canal. 327 
 
 bottom, 80 feet ; top, 80 feet ; depth, 30 feet ; earth width, bottom, 
 120 feet, top, 180 feet; depth, 46 feet; sand and loose material 
 width, bottom, 120 feet; top, 360 feet; depth, 30 feet. 
 
 The most important parts of the work are the construction of the 
 harbours Greytown on the Caribbean Sea, and Brito on the 
 Pacific ; the damming of the San Juan river, for the purpose of 
 raising and maintaining the level of Lake Nicaragua and the river at 
 about no feet above mean tide level; the formation of artificial 
 basins at different levels by means of dams, and the use of locks to 
 pass from one level to another. 
 
 The harbour of Greytown is now closed by a sand bar, and 
 nothing of greater draught than six feet can enter, but it is said that 
 in three months or less from the commencement of the work vessels 
 drawing 15 feet of water will be able to land materials. It is proposed 
 to make this opening through the sand bar by means of a temporary 
 jetty of brush and pile, to furnish protection to a dredger cutting 
 through the bar. This jetty will also give the necessary protection 
 for the maintenance of the passage by diverting the shore current 
 which has deposited the sand. 
 
 The branch mouth of the river San Juan, which at present 
 empties into the harbour, and is constantly, with every heavy rain, 
 adding to the accumulation of silt in it, will be cut off, and, by a short 
 canal, diverted so as to empty by the principal mouth of the San Juan 
 some miles to the south. 
 
 The heaviest piece of work on the canal is a rock cut through the 
 "divide" on the eastern portion of the summit level, commencing about 
 four miles to the west of lock No. 3. This cut is about 2 9 miles 
 long and the average depth is about 150 feet, involving a removal of 
 about 2,150,000 cubic yards of earth, and 7,500,000 cubic yards of 
 rock. 
 
 Lake Nicaragua has a watershed of 8000 miles. The only outlet 
 of the lake is the San Juan river, which discharges, at its lowest stage, 
 near the close of the dry season, 11,390 cubic feet of water per 
 second. For thirty-two double lockages, it is estimated that 129] 
 million cubic feet of water will be required, being little more than 
 one-eighth of the total supply of the lake alone. It is claimed that 
 as this supply is from the summit, a dry summit level is almost 
 impossible, while importance is attached to the fact that the canal 
 will be a fresh-water one.
 
 328 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The principal distances to be saved by the Nicaraguan Canal, as 
 compared with the only existing alternative route by Cape Horn, are 
 said by the Company to be : 
 
 
 By Cape Horn. 
 
 By Nicaraguan 
 Canal. 
 
 Distance Saved. 
 
 New York to 
 
 miles. 
 
 miles. 
 
 miles. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 14,840 
 
 4,760 
 
 IO,o8o 
 
 Hong Kong .. .. 
 
 18,180 
 
 11,038 
 
 4.163 
 
 Yokohama 
 
 17,679 
 
 9,363 
 
 6,827 
 
 Melbourne .. .. : 
 
 I3.S02 
 
 lO.OOO 
 
 3,290 
 
 Sandwich Islands .. .. 
 
 14,230 
 
 6,388 
 
 7,842 
 
 Liverpool to 
 
 
 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 14,690 
 
 7,508 
 
 7,182 
 
 Guayaquil .. .. .. 
 
 11,321 
 
 5,8.90 
 
 5,431 
 
 Callao .. 
 
 io,539 
 
 6,461 
 
 4,078 
 
 Valparaiso 
 
 9,600 
 
 7>448 
 
 2,152 
 
 The promoters of the Nicaraguan Canal appear to have got fairly 
 to work. A considerable quantity of machinery, as well as a number 
 of surveyors and engineers, have been forwarded to the scene of 
 operations, and the latest reports are favourable to the prospect of the 
 enterprise being carried out. It will necessarily, however, involve 
 several years of close work before it is available, even under the 
 most favourable circumstances, for the commerce of the world.
 
 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL. 
 
 " Rivers diverted from their native course, 
 And bound with chains of artificial force, 
 From large cascades in pleasing tumult rolled, 
 Or rose through figured stone or breathing gold." Prior. 
 
 WHETHER we regard the magnitude of the enterprise, the importance 
 of the district it is intended to serve, the difficulties and opposition 
 that have had to be surmounted, or the many and varied influences 
 that it is likely to exercise upon the future of transport in the United 
 Kingdom, the Manchester Ship Canal is undoubtedly one of the 
 most remarkable undertakings of modern times. 
 
 It is not that the canal is unique in point of the expenditure 
 involved, or in so far as the engineering problems to be dealt with 
 are concerned. The Suez Canal is at once a much more costly and 
 a much more extensive work, its actual cost having been about 
 2o,ooo,ooo/. sterling, as against less than half that sum for the Man- 
 chester enterprise ; and its length having been about 100 miles, as 
 against 35. The Panama Canal, again, although approximately 
 about the same length as the ship canal between Manchester and 
 the sea, has cost, up to the present time, about 6o,ooo,ooo/. sterling, 
 including the expenditure on financing. The Nicaraguan Canal, 
 again, which is now about to be undertaken in real earnest, is 
 estimated to cost from i3,ooo,ooo/. to 20,000, ooo/., and will involve 
 the cutting of some 28 miles of canal, in addition to the almost 
 equally serious work of canalising the St. Juan River. But these 
 are all works of a different character, and having a different object 
 in view. The Suez, Panama, Nicaraguan, and Corinth Canals are 
 isthmian waterways, intended, or constructed with the view of con- 
 necting together seas or oceans that Nature had divorced, and 
 thereby carried out with the primary, if not with the sole, object of 
 abridging distance. The Welland and the St. Mary's Falls Canals, 
 in Canada and the United States, are of much the same character, 
 their object being that of uniting waters that were originally kept
 
 330 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 apart by natural barriers. But the Manchester Ship Canal has but 
 few antetypes. The canals already in existence that most nearly 
 correspond to it in character are the Erie Canal, which connects 
 Buffalo with New York, and thereby secures an unbroken line of 
 water communication between Chicago and New York, a distance 
 of over 1000 miles ; and the Poutiloff Canal, 38 miles in length, 
 which connects Cronstadt with St. Petersburg, and has converted 
 the latter city into a seaport. The design of the Manchester Ship 
 Canal is to transform that large centre of population and industry 
 from a land-locked city into a seaport, and to confer the same 
 facilities on a number of other towns in the neighbourhood. 
 
 There is no district and probably no community that appears to 
 offer better facilities for making the experiment of providing a great 
 inland waterway of this description. Manchester and Liverpool, 
 with their immediate suburbs contain at least a million and a half of 
 souls. But the trade and industry of the two towns are even more 
 important than their population, relatively to other districts. The 
 cotton trade of the world is carried on in this part of Lancashire. 
 Manchester and Liverpool together have obtained and maintained a 
 great repute as the centre of large industrial operations of almost 
 every kind : engineering works, shipbuilding works, alkali works, 
 tobacco factories, chemical and copper works, and many others. 
 Liverpool has to-day a larger export shipping trade than any other 
 port in the world, and is only eclipsed by the Thames in the matter 
 of imports. But this great business of imports and exports is not 
 originated in Liverpool herself. She is only the distributing centre 
 for a very large and a very populous district, and a centre moreover 
 that did not appear to offer to that district the economical facilities 
 and advantages to which it was entitled. The port and harbour dues 
 at Liverpool were heavy and onerous, and the rates charged by the 
 railway companies for the transportation of traffic between the Mersey 
 and the interior of the country were deemed to be much higher than 
 they should have been, having regard to the importance of the traffic. 
 
 The proposal to construct a canal is by no means a new one. 
 Manchester, as every one knows, has for more than a century and a 
 quarter been the foremost in all plans and operations designed to 
 secure economy and facility of transport. Many years ago it was 
 proposed to convert the Irwell into a navigable river, and this, of 
 course, would have connected Manchester with the Mersey and so 
 with the sea. But the Irwell a tortuous, narrow, and in many
 
 The Manchester Ship Canal 
 
 respects unsatisfactory 
 streamdid not readily 
 lend itself to a grand 
 proposal of this kind, 
 and the little that was 
 done to make it a 
 maritime highway was 
 never attended with 
 any real advantage to 
 trade and commerce. 
 The Bridgwater Canal 
 was a larger and more 
 ambitious venture. It 
 also connected Man- 
 chester with the sea 
 by the Mersey, as 
 well as with many 
 inland towns by aux- 
 iliary canals Bolton, 
 by the Manchester, 
 Bolton, and Bury 
 Canal ; Rochdale, by 
 the Rochdale Canal; 
 Blackburn and Ac- 
 crington, by the Leeds 
 and Liverpool Canal ; 
 Ashton and Hudders- 
 field, by the Manches- 
 ter and Huddersfield 
 Canal ; and so with 
 some other large towns. 
 The truth is that Man- 
 chester is, and has 
 been for more than a 
 century, the centre of a 
 vast network of canals, 
 whereby water com- 
 munication was made 
 possible with nearly 
 every other important
 
 332 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 town and district in the country. But this possibility was one 
 that could only be taken advantage of to a very limited extent. 
 The canals surrounding Manchester have been of small size and 
 depth, admitting of the passage of small boats and barges only, so 
 that they could not be utilised for sea-going craft. For most prac- 
 tical purposes, such waterways were therefore of little use. What 
 was felt to be necessary was a canal sufficiently broad and deep 
 to admit of the passage of large ocean-going steamers right up to 
 the warehouses and mills of Manchester and the neighbouring 
 towns. This necessity was all the more keenly felt, and all the 
 more readily acted upon, that the railway rates between Manchester 
 and Liverpool were generally onerous and oppressive. 
 
 It was under the circumstances just stated that a meeting was 
 held at the house of Mr. Daniel Adamson, in June 1882, to discuss 
 the question of constructing a canal from Manchester to the sea. 
 
 The outcome of this meeting was the appointment of Mr. Hamilton 
 Fulton and Mr. E. Leader Williams as engineers, with instructions to 
 investigate the subject, and to submit separate schemes to a provisional 
 committee showing the best means of carrying out such a work. 
 Mr. Fulton's scheme was to improve the existing navigation through 
 the estuary of the Mersey by dredging and retaining walls, and to 
 excavate, straighten, and improve the Mersey and Irwell Navigation 
 to Manchester, leaving, when completed, a tidal canal to Manchester, 
 with a depth of 22 feet at low water spring tides. Passing places 
 were to be left every 3 or 4 miles, and the traffic was to be worked as 
 on the Suez Canal. Docks were to be constructed, and all necessary 
 works. The gross estimate, including water and land, was 5, 072,291^ 
 
 Mr. Williams's proposal was to construct a canal 22 feet deep and 
 100 feet wide, with three locks. The channel through the estuary 
 was to be confined between training walls from Garston to Runcorn, 
 and from there the channel was to be improved and straightened to 
 Latchford (first lock), and be practically a tideway. Between Latch- 
 ford and Manchester it was to be a canal with locks, the existing 
 navigation to be improved and utilised where practicable, otherwise 
 to be filled up ; while docks were to be made at Latchford, Irlam, 
 and Barton. The water-level in the docks at Manchester were 
 to be 8 feet below the level of the quays. The estimate of cost, 
 including works, water, and land, was about 5,i6o,ooo/. 
 
 Mr. Williams argued that were the tide to be brought to Man- 
 chester, the bottom of the dock would be 92 feet below the surface
 
 334 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 of the ground, and therefore most inconvenient for working. The 
 docks and canal ending abruptly, would, moreover, form a depositing 
 place for silt brought up by the tide, and the tide flowing up or 
 down would materially affect the passage of vessels proceeding the 
 reverse way. 
 
 Mr. Abernethy, who had, in the meantime, been appointed con- 
 sulting engineer, considered both of these proposals, and reported 
 favourably on Mr. Williams's scheme, practically endorsing his views, 
 but suggesting an additional dock at Warrington, and some deeper 
 dredging, and estimating the cost of the work at 5,400,000^., or 
 240,000^. more than Mr. Williams had provided for. Mr. Abernethy 
 also expressed the opinion that if the work was carried out with 
 energy, it could be completed within four years from the commence- 
 ment. Upon the basis of the report of Mr. Williams, endorsed by 
 Mr. Abernethy, the committee decided in the end to proceed with 
 the scheme. 
 
 The promoters had to secure the power to acquire " all the ease- 
 ments, rights, powers, authorities, and privileges of the company of 
 the proprietors of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation," as the ship 
 canal, if constructed, would clash with and extinguish these. The 
 Bridgwater Navigation Company were possessed of the foregoing 
 rights, and were a wealthy corporation, owning a going and paying 
 concern, with a capital of over i,3oo,ooo/. Notice had to be served 
 that power would be sought to absorb this company also. Then, 
 again, the powers sought by the ship canal were certain to clash 
 materially with the dock and other interests in Liverpool, as well as 
 with the several lines of railway at present dominating the carrying 
 trade of Manchester. The property owners along the route, and 
 many other interests, joined together to oppose the new enterprise. 
 
 After the most arduous and prolonged struggle in the annals of 
 private bill legislation, the Manchester Ship Canal Bill became law, 
 and received the Royal Assent as an Act of Parliament on the 
 6th August, 1885. 
 
 The inquiries of the six Parliamentary Select Committees 
 appointed to investigate into the merits of the project extended 
 over a period of 175 days. The total number of individual witnesses 
 (including both promoters and opponents) was 285, and the number 
 of repeated witnesses (including those on both sides) was 543. As 
 illustrating the exhaustive character of these inquiries, it may be 
 mentioned that no less than 87,936 questions were put and answered.
 
 The Manchester Ship Canal. 335 
 
 The Right Honourable W. E. Forster, Chairman of the Commons 
 Select Committee, which was the last to deal with the Bill, in 
 announcing that their decision was favourable, said, " The con- 
 clusion we have come to is unanimous," the Committee considering 
 the preamble proved, subject to certain obligations being imposed 
 upon the promoters, but none of an onerous character. 
 
 The House of Commons Select Committee, before which the first 
 inquiry was made, acting entirely upon its own initiative, inserted 
 the following clause in the Bill, a proceeding said to be without 
 precedent : " And whereas it appeared from the evidence adduced 
 that if the scheme could be carried out with due regard to existing 
 interests, the Manchester Ship Canal would afford valuable facilities, 
 and ought to be sanctioned." 
 
 It is worthy of remark that though two Select Committees declined 
 to take the responsibility of passing the Bill absolutely in the form in 
 which it was presented to them, all the six Committees were satisfied 
 as regards the necessity of the undertaking. 
 
 The Manchester Ship Canal Company is incorporated by 48 and 
 49 Viet. cap. 118, for the following amongst other purposes : 
 
 To construct a ship canal from the river Mersey at Eastham, near 
 Liverpool, past Ellesmere Port, Weston Point, and Runcorn, to 
 Warrington, Salford, and Manchester, available for the largest class 
 of ocean steamers, with docks at Manchester, Salford, and Warrington, 
 and other incidental works. 
 
 To purchase the entire undertakings of the then existing Bridg- 
 water Navigation Company (Limited), including not only the 
 Bridgwater canals and the Runcorn and Weston canal, but the 
 Mersey and Irwell Navigation, the Runcorn docks, the Duke's dock 
 in Liverpool, and all that company's warehouses, wharves, buildings, 
 lands, rents, rights, and privileges, as a going concern. 
 
 A further Bill, authorising the payment by the Manchester Ship 
 Canal Company of interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum to 
 shareholders during the construction of the works, became law and 
 received the Royal Assent as an Act of Parliament on 26th June, 
 1886. 
 
 During the progress of this Bill, on a division in the House of 
 Commons on a motion by a Liverpool member for reference to 
 Committee and locus for opponents, the motion was negatived by 
 375 votes as against 61 votes. 
 
 The authorised share capital of the Manchester Ship Canal
 
 336 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Company is 8,ooo,ooo/., with borrowing powers to the extent of 
 i,8i2,ooo/., making the total authorised capital 9,8i2,ooo/., a sum 
 sufficient to enable the company to complete the construction of the 
 works, to pay .interest during their construction, and to carry into effect 
 all the objects of the Act and leave an ample surplus. 
 
 The Act provides that the Bridgwater Navigation Company 
 shall sell the whole of the Bridgwater undertakings for the sum of 
 i,7io,ooo/. 
 
 These undertakings earn a net revenue of nearly 6o,ooo/. per 
 annum. 
 
 Under the auspices of the Manchester Ship Canal Company, a 
 considerable development of the traffic on the Bridgwater canal 
 system is expected to result from the abolition of the bar tolls, 
 which obstruct traffic, and from throwing open the canal to general 
 carriers. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE CANAL WORKS. 
 
 A brief description of the canal works may here be introduced. 
 The engineering journals, from which we have mainly borrowed our 
 facts, have dealt with them so fully as to render a detailed statement 
 quite unnecessary. 
 
 The Manchester Ship Canal begins at Eastham, on the south 
 bank of the Estuary of the Mersey, and about midway between its 
 mouth and head near Runcorn. The canal follows this bank 
 for 13^ miles, the greater portion being in entirely solid ground, but, 
 sometimes going below high-water mark, it is confined by embank- 
 ments and retaining walls until reaching Runcorn, where it leaves 
 the waters of the Mersey, and takes an independent and almost 
 direct course to its terminus in the docks at Salford and Manchester. 
 
 The total length of the canal is slightly over 35^ miles. This is 
 practically one continuous cutting, but it has been subdivided into 
 thirty lengths or sections, each with a local name and number ; these 
 vary in cubical contents from 223,000 cubic yards in the smallest, to 
 3,345,000 cubic yards in the largest. The total quantity of earth- 
 work to be moved is 44,428,535 cubic yards, composed of 6,970,815 
 cubic yards of rock, and 37,457,720 cubic yards of soft materials. 
 Of the rock, 1,591,570 cubic yards will be utilised for lock and river 
 wall work, abutments of railway bridges, facing slopes of the canal in 
 soft ground, and other operations, the remainder going to spoil. Of 
 the soft excavations 3,603,690 cubic yards are to be used in forming
 
 The Manchester Ship Canal. 337 
 
 the embankments of the canal, 5,176,278 cubic yards for forming 
 embankments on railway diversions, 1,555,000 cubic yards in filling 
 up what will be the disused bed of the Irwell and other water- 
 courses; 552,000 cubic yards in raising quays and making roads; 
 800,000 cubic yards are to be stacked along the canal banks for 
 future use in maintenance ; and the remainder, amounting to 
 31,149,997 cubic yards, will go to spoil. 
 
 The carrying of the Bridgwater Navigation across the Manchester 
 Canal at the distance of 32 miles, will be one of the most interesting 
 works in the contract, because an entirely new departure will be 
 undertaken in the aqueduct. It was on this navigation that Brindley 
 made his famous viaduct, the precursor of the more splendid structures 
 of Rennie and Telford. 
 
 As the level of the Bridgwater Navigation has to be maintained, 
 and as the saving of water is a consideration, Mr. Williams proposes 
 to make the aqueduct in the form of a swing bridge, which may be 
 opened, swung, and closed again without losing any water either from 
 the swinging portion or from the canal. Here also, parallel to the 
 aqueduct, will be constructed a hydraulic lift, to lower barges and 
 boats from the waters of the navigation, to the canal, where they will 
 cross on its level to a similar lift, there to be raised to their former 
 waters and level. A similar lift has been at work for some years 
 with satisfactory results at Anderton on the Weaver Navigation, 
 of which Mr. Leader Williams was formerly the engineer. 
 
 Throughout the entire length of the canal, hard red sandstone 
 forms the bedrock, and the formation, of course, varies according to 
 the nature of the stratification. For instance, at i^ miles distance, 
 where the canal works are inside high-water mark, all layers of 
 deposit have been washed away, and only from 2 feet to 4 feet of 
 black sludge overlies the rock. Occasionally the rock dips and 
 leaves the bottom of the canal in the softer deposits, in some places 
 beds of what has been termed black river sludges, but which are, in 
 all probability, peaty deposits, are sandwiched in, and underlie 
 deposits of from 15 feet to 16 feet of clean river sand. At 5^ miles 
 between Stanlow Point and Ince Lighthouse, large beds of blue loam 
 are met with, varying in depth to 25 feet ; and at 6 miles black 
 sludge comes in again, about 20 feet in thickness. At 6 miles 
 there is a peculiar erosion of the underlying sandstone, apparently 
 from some creek having cut across the line of canal. At 8 miles the 
 section overlies a bed of gravel, and at 9 miles the bottom of the
 
 338 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 canal runs into a large deposit of sand. From about 10 to io| miles 
 the strata becomes very soft, being sludge, sand, and gravel mixed. 
 At ii miles 45 chains the bottom of the canal is again very soft 
 ground, the sandstone suddenly dipping and not appearing again 
 until about 12 miles. 
 
 At 13 miles 70 chains the first of the deep cuttings begin, the 
 bottom of the canal being 67 feet below the surface of the ground, 
 and the strata is much less complex than along the estuary. It is 
 near to this place that the canal leaves the waters of the Mersey, 
 and takes an independent and almost direct course to its terminus. 
 
 From 15 miles, 50 chains to 16 miles there is again a very con- 
 siderable alteration in the strata, the rock dipping sharply, and 
 softer deposits coming in. At 15 miles 68 chains, where a bore was 
 put down, no rock was encountered to a depth of 88 feet. Follow- 
 ing along from 16 miles, where the bedrock rises, a fairly even 
 contour of its surface is maintained, together with overlying strata of 
 soil, sand, and gravel, to near 18 miles 20 chains, where the London 
 and North- Western main line, and the Birkenhead, Lancashire, and 
 Cheshire Junction railways are crossed. 
 
 From this point the surface rises gradually to 1 9 miles, opposite 
 the Warrington Dock entrance, where the cutting is 50 feet deep. 
 Near Warrington the existing river bed will be shortened by a cut-off 
 and diverted from the course of the canal. At 21 miles 20 chains 
 Latchford Lock is reached ; the section through it is very similar to 
 that in the preceding 5 miles. At 21 miles 70 chains the bedrock 
 again disappears, giving place to a deep bed of quicksand and marl. 
 The Mersey is twice crossed between 22 miles 10 chains and 22 
 miles 35 chains. There is another cut-off and diversion of the 
 river near 22 miles 50 chains, where the bottom becomes soft brown 
 sandy clay, and sludge, being in a bed 24 feet thick, which reaches 
 1 8 inches or 20 inches below the bottom of the canal; this runs into 
 gravel and clay at 23 miles 10 chains, which again dies into a large 
 bed of quicksand from about 23 miles 25 chains to 75 chains. At 
 24 miles 2 chains the rock is again struck by a bore at a depth of 
 12 feet below the bottom of the canal. The Mersey is again twice 
 crossed at 23 miles 40 chains, and 70 chains, and the river is to be 
 diverted through the existing channel, called the " Butchersfield 
 Cut." At 24 miles 20 chains the Mersey joins with the Bollin ; 
 from there the canal will become practically the river to Manchester, 
 and the old river bed will be filled up. A sand and gravel formation
 
 The Manchester Ship Canal, 339 
 
 continues to about 25 miles, where a bed of marl is reached, over- 
 laid by hard and soft shale, but from the point where this runs out, 
 about 25 miles 40 chains to Manchester, the canal follows more or 
 less the bed of the river, wherein a much more complicated strata is 
 met with than along the line of route which is away from the 
 influence of the river, at between 14 and 25^ miles. Loam and 
 streaks of sand, overlying hard red sand are met with from 25 miles 
 60 chains, to 26 miles 20 chains, where gravel and red rock come in, 
 to 25 miles 15 chains, between which points the bottom of the canal 
 by a strange coincidence follows almost parallel with the upper surface 
 of the bedrock. At 27 miles 15 chains the rock dips and is not met 
 with again for nearly half a mile. The Irlam locks are at 28 miles 50 
 chains ; just at the entrance, rock again crops up and forms the bottom 
 of the canal. At 29 miles a wedge-shaped layer of brown clay comes 
 in which runs about half a mile, reaching a depth of 20 feet at the 
 Manchester end ; this suddenly ends in a deep bed of loam which it 
 partially overlies evidently it is a deposit from the river which flows 
 above then loam, sand, and gravel make the strata to about 29 J miles, 
 when rock again appears, and runs almost to the surface at 29 miles 
 68 chains. At 30 miles 30 chains the rock runs out again from the 
 bottom, and a heavy bed of loam, 36 feet deep, covers it, the cutting 
 at this point being entirely in loam. A little further on, the rock 
 bottom again rises, and from there sand and rock are chiefly met with 
 to 3 1 miles i o chains, where the rock dies out again, and blue loam 
 comes in, forming a deep bed overlying sand, sludge, gravel and 
 marl ; near the Barton Locks this runs into heavy beds of loam near 
 33^ miles. At 34 miles soil, clay, and rock are the formations met 
 with, each in nearly equal beds of 10 feet deep, until about 34 miles 
 50 chains, when much sand shows ; at 34 miles 55 chains the bed- 
 rock dips, and sand over clay and loam form the strata to the 
 terminal dock entrances at Throstle Nest. This completes the 
 course of the canal proper. 
 
 The canal is to be constructed with a minimum width of 1 20 feet 
 on the bottom. From Barton to the terminus, a distance of 3^ miles, 
 the width on the bottom is to be increased to 170 feet; on the 
 Salford side of this increased width of waterway, one mile of wharfage 
 is to be built, giving a total length of 4^ miles of quay or wharfage 
 frontage at the Manchester end, and leaving z\ miles of frontage 
 available for mooring lighters or vessels along this portion of the 
 canal. 
 
 z 2
 
 SECTIONS OF SHIP CANALS, 
 
 6UE.2 CANAL 
 
 MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL 
 
 J& 
 
 u e. v e v. & 
 
 :.^:-:::.::::.: 7 ;:^;.^:....:: * 
 
 ORDINARY SECTION 
 
 w^W^fWwV* 
 
 WATER 
 
 
 '?<*?!/* 
 
 
 S' 
 
 SECTION THRO ROCK
 
 SECTIONS OF SHIP CANALS 
 
 WATER LEVE 
 
 BRUSSELS CANAL 
 
 W A T E B LEVEL 
 
 NORTH HOLLAND CANAL, 
 
 LEVEL 
 
 WE.ULA NO CANAL 
 
 WATER 
 
 L e v E t. 
 
 **^: 
 
 T-l^^e^^CT* 
 
 AMSTERDAM SHIP CANAL.
 
 342 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The sections of the canal are compared with those of other large 
 ship canals in the diagrams at pp. 340-41. 
 
 The total rise from the level of the mean tide at Eastham to the 
 Docks at Manchester is nearly 60 feet. This is overcome by the 
 average rise of 1 5 feet at each of the locks. The water level in the 
 Manchester Docks is to be the same as the present river level at this 
 point 
 
 The depth of the canal throughout is to be 26 feet, but the sills 
 of the docks are to be put in at a depth of 28 feet, so as to allow for 
 a deepening throughout should the traffic demand it 
 
 As compared with existing large canals, the Manchester Ship 
 Canal will be capable of carrying much the greatest traffic. The 
 widths on the bottom, and the depths are: Ghent Canal 55 feet 
 6 inches, depth 21 feet 2 inches; Suez Canal, 72 feet, depth 26 feet; 
 and Amsterdam Canal, 88 feet 7 inches, depth 23 feet. On the 
 Suez Canal it has been necessary to provide passing places, other- 
 wise the traffic could only be worked in one direction at a time, but 
 on the Manchester Canal there will be ample room for two large- 
 size vessels to pass at any point 
 
 The estimates for the canal works include large docks in Man- 
 chester, Salford, and Warrington, as sanctioned by the Company's 
 Act, with a water area of 114^ acres, containing more than five 
 miles of quays, the area of quay space being 152 acres. There will 
 also be a mile of quay space near Manchester on the Ship Canal, in 
 addition to wharves at many places alongside its course. The docks 
 will be of the most approved construction, and special provision will 
 be made to secure the rapid loading and discharging of vessels. 
 Extensive shed accommodation will be provided at the docks, and 
 the cost of some fifty hydraulic cranes is included in the estimates. 
 
 The level of the docks at Manchester, which is 60 feet 6 inches 
 above the ordinary level of the tidal portion of the canal, will be 
 reached by four sets of locks. The locks will be of a size sufficient 
 to admit the largest merchant steamers afloat. Each set comprises 
 (a) a large lock, 550 feet by 60 feet; (b) a smaller lock 300 feet by 
 40 feet for ordinary vessels ; and (c) one lock 100 feet by 20 feet, 
 for small coasters and barges. All will be capable of being worked 
 together. 
 
 Each set of locks will be worked by hydraulic power, enabling 
 vessels to be passed in 15 minutes. It has been ascertained by 
 careful gaugings that the rivers Irwell and Mersey (which will be
 
 The Manchester Ship Canal. 343 
 
 diverted into the upper reaches of the canal) will supply more than 
 sufficient water for the locks, even in the driest season. 
 
 There will be tidal gates at the entrance to the canal, which will 
 
 be worked as locks at low water, so that large vessels can enter and 
 
 eave at almost any state of the tide, instead of only during a period 
 
 of 40 minutes of each tide as at Liverpool. Small vessels will be 
 
 able to enter and leave at any time. 
 
 It is claimed that vessels will be able to navigate the canal with 
 safety at a speed of five miles an hour, and it is estimated that the 
 journey from the entrance at Eastham to Manchester will be 
 accomplished in eight hours, which is less time than is now taken 
 to cart goods from ship to rail in Liverpool, and to carry them thence 
 by rail to Manchester. 
 
 One of the most interesting operations to be carried out in con- 
 nection with the canal works, will be the removal and rebuilding of 
 the aqueduct which Brindley constructed for the Bridgwater Naviga- 
 tion in 1765. The aqueduct and the neighbouring viaduct (shown 
 in the old print at p. 344) pass over the Mersey and Irwell Naviga- 
 tion at such a height as to allow the passage through the archways 
 of small vessels. To accommodate the larger vessels that will pass up 
 the Ship Canal, the archways of the aqueduct and viaduct would 
 have to be more than double the height. This was the engineering 
 difficulty which the Ship Canal promoters had first of all to encounter 
 and by many it was regarded as insuperable. The suggestion was 
 made that the Ship Canal should end at a point below the aqueduct. 
 Mr. E. Leader Williams, the engineer of the company has, however, 
 proposed to construct a short diversion of the Bridgwater Canal 
 immediately over the line at which it would cross the Ship Canal. 
 The length of the Bridgwater over the Ship Canal will then be 
 formed in the manner of a long movable iron caisson or trough, 
 somewhat deeper in the centre than at the two ends, supported by 
 and turning (when required) upon a circle of live rollers. This 
 caisson is to be filled with water to a depth equal to that of the 
 canal itself, and is to be fitted at either end with watertight gates, 
 which are also to be fixed at either end of the approaches from the 
 canal. 
 
 Upon the completion of this work, the central portion of Brindley's 
 aqueduct will be removed, the ends being allowed to remain. The 
 manner of working the new aqueduct will be as follows : The 
 operator in charge of the machinery will, on descrying an approaching
 
 344 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 steamship, cause the four watertight gates at the ends of the caisson 
 and of the approaches to be closed, and will then, by means of 
 hydraulic machinery, cause the caisson to revolve for a quarter of a 
 circle upon the live roller which will support it, thus leaving a 
 
 perfectly clear passage for the vessel. Through this passage, up- or 
 down-going vessels will be able readily to steam, and when clear of 
 the aqueduct the process will be reversed that is to say, the 
 attendant will cause the caisson to turn back into its original
 
 The Manchester Ship Canal. 345 
 
 position, and will have his water-tight gates opened once more, when 
 the line of the Bridgwater traffic will be clear again, after a very 
 brief interval, and without any loss of the water in the canal. 
 
 At the ends of the existing line of the canal (after the removal of 
 Brindley's old aqueduct) it is proposed to construct hydraulic lifts as 
 already stated, by means of which it will be competent to lower 
 barges with full cargoes (the barges remaining afloat throughout the 
 whole operation) from the Bridgwater to the Ship Canal, or, vice 
 versa, to raise them from the Ship Canal to the Bridgwater, thus 
 making Barton a point of interchange of traffic between the high and 
 the low level navigation. 
 
 The works on the Manchester Ship Canal were commenced in 
 1886, and are to be completed, under contract, in 1892. The 
 estimate of the promoters is that the canal 4 will have a traffic of 
 3,000,000 tons per annum, from which a net annual income of 
 7O9,ooo/. may be expected. This estimate, however, did not include 
 any coastwise traffic, nor such goods as coal, salt, and iron, and took 
 no account of the future expansion of trade. Another estimate, 
 submitted to Parliament, which included these items, calculated on a 
 revenue of over 9^ millions of tons, and a net revenue of over a 
 million and a half sterling. 
 
 Whatever the financial results of this great undertaking may be, its 
 future can hardly fail to be well assured, and Lancashire has reason 
 to be satisfied with the energy, capacity, and public spirit that have 
 placed such a valuable means of communication at the disposal of its 
 principal industrial centres.
 
 346 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE ISTHMUS OF CORINTH CANAL. 
 
 ONE of the many schemes that have been put forward from time to 
 time, with a view to affording a more direct communication between 
 the ^Egean and the Black Sea, appears likely to become an ac- 
 complished fact by the cutting of the Isthmus of Corinth, which at 
 the point where the ship canal has been undertaken, is about 
 3f miles in breadth. The scheme now being carried out, is 
 understood to have originated with General Tarr, who obtained 
 a concession from the Greek Government for the purpose. The 
 required capital was estimated at some 30,000^00 francs, and 
 this sum was readily subscribed. The undertaking does not present 
 any very considerable engineering difficulties, although it has 
 involved a considerable amount of excavation, the earthwork 
 requiring to be removed being estimated at 10,000,000 cubic 
 metres. 
 
 The Isthmus of Corinth obliges vessels passing from the Mediter- 
 ranean and Adriatic Seas to the Archipelago and the Black Sea to 
 make a considerable bend to the south. The idea of piercing the 
 isthmus originated several centuries before the Christian era, and the 
 works were actually commenced before the reign of Nero. The 
 route across the isthmus will shorten the distance between the 
 Piraeus and Marseilles 1 1 per cent. ; Genoa, 12*2 per cent. ; Venice 
 and Trieste, i8'4 per cent.; and Brindisi, 32*4 per cent. The 
 probable traffic through the canal has been estimated at over 
 4,500,000 tons. The works were commenced in 1882, following the 
 straight course indicated by the traces of Nero's canal. The canal 
 will have a depth of 26^ feet, and a bottom width of 72 feet, like the 
 original section of the Suez Canal ; but, as the Corinth Canal has a 
 total length of only about four miles, the transit of vessels through it 
 will be effected without the aid of passing places. The principal 
 mass of the excavation is concentrated within the central 2\ miles, 
 and the greatest depth of cutting is 285 feet. Alluvial soil is mostly
 
 The Isthmus of Corinth Canal. 347 
 
 found for about two-thirds of a mile from each end ; but the central 
 portion consists of close chalk underlying hard calcareous conglome- 
 rate and compact sand, necessitating blasting and the use of the pick. 
 Depths of 33 feet are reached within 550 yards of the coast, both in 
 the Bay of Corinth and the Gulf of Egina, and the dredging required 
 at the entrances of the canal is not large. The west entrance, at 
 Poseidonia, is protected by two converging jetties, forming a road- 
 stead ; and the east entrance, at Isthunia, is sheltered by a single 
 curved jetty on the northern side. These three jetties, formed with 
 natural blocks, are nearly completed. The canal will be open 
 throughout, as the variations in the level of the sea are very slight ; 
 and the only large work of construction is the metal bridge of 
 262 feet span, which crosses the canal at a height of 170 feet above 
 the water level, and will carry the Piraeus and Peloponesus Railway 
 and the road to Corinth over the canal. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable that both the Greeks and the 
 Romans proposed to make a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, in 
 order to obtain a navigable passage by the Ionian Sea into the 
 Archipelago. Demetrius Poliorcetes, Julius Caesar, Nero, and 
 Caligula renewed the attempt, but without success.* Before their 
 time, the Cnidians had made the same endeavour, which called forth 
 the famous reply of the Pythia a reply that may be translated 
 thus 
 
 " Delve not, nor towers upon the Isthmian pile : 
 Had Jove so wished, himself had made an isle." 
 
 The Isthmus of Corinth Canal has been cut through the tongue 
 of land which is situated between the gulfs of Athens and Lepantus 
 and unites the classic mainland with the shores of the Morea. By its 
 geographical position, this isthmus, as we have seen, bars the union 
 between the Adriatic and the Archipelago, and obliges all vessels 
 passing from the one sea to the other to round Cape Matapan. Its 
 existence materially lengthens the voyages of all ships bound from 
 the western parts of Europe to the Levant, Syria, Asia Minor, and 
 Smyrna. The last-mentioned port is the emporium to which the 
 numerous caravans from the interior of Asia, from Persia, and the 
 Caucasian regions have long transported the rich products of oriental 
 countries still more distant. In a similar manner it lengthens the 
 route from Europe to the Black Sea, which is a matter of serious 
 
 * Plin., t. iv. c. 4.
 
 348 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 importance, as from the ports on the latter are shipped the enormous 
 quantities of wheat and other cereals which supply a considerable 
 portion of Western Europe. The junction of the waters of the 
 Adriatic with those of the Archipelago is expected to effect a saving 
 in time of two days in the voyage from the harbours of Brindisi, 
 Ancona, and Trieste, to the Levant. It will also greatly facilitate the 
 establishment of local traffic, and probably lead to the adoption of a 
 regular system of steam communication, of which Greece is much in 
 want. At present, the coast is not particularly well furnished with 
 harbours, but those that do exist are said to be easily capable of 
 extension, and there is some inducement to construct new ones, as 
 the adjoining bays are deep, and afford a secure anchorage for vessels 
 of heavy tonnage. 
 
 The extreme points of the Isthmus of Corinth are Heapolis and 
 Kalamakis, and supposing them, like Suez and Port Said, to represent 
 the respective mouths of the canal, its length would not exceed three 
 miles at most an insignificant cutting, so far as the actual lineal 
 dimensions are concerned. It was anticipated, and experience has 
 now demonstrated, that the nature of the material through which the 
 Suez Canal is excavated will constitute the principal and possibly the 
 sole difficulty to be contended with in future. As it is, the reduction 
 of the present batter of the side slopes is imperative. If not per- 
 formed by excavation, the operation will proceed spontaneously by 
 the gradual sliding of the sand into the water, whence it will be 
 removed by the dredgers, which, under any circumstances, will have 
 a busy time of it for some years to come. Fortunately this difficulty 
 does not exist in the canal in the Morea. The earth is of a tenacious 
 character, which will offer a better resistance to the disintegrating 
 action of the water agitated by the passage of ships, and the motion 
 of screws and paddles, and thus reduce the cost of maintenance and 
 repair. It was estimated that this important work could be carried 
 out at the moderate cost of half a million sterling. Without taking 
 into account the number of contingent steam and sailing ships which 
 would avail themselves of the passage via the Corinth Canal, a 
 regular traffic of the boats of the Messageries Imperiales, of the 
 Company of Marseilles, of those of the Austrian Lloyd's, and of 
 those belonging to the Italian service was looked for. With the 
 canal completed, Kalamakis, which at present is but a village, was 
 expected to speedily become a maritime town of importance, and 
 numerous cities, long since abandoned, and, as it were, buried, were
 
 The Isthmus of Corinth Canal. 349 
 
 to be disinterred, restored to life, and ultimately to become commercial 
 centres, from which the mineral wealth with which the country 
 abounds may be exported. 
 
 On the i Qth February, 1870, the concession for the construction 
 of the Isthmus of Corinth Canal was given to M. Maxime Chollet, 
 on the understanding that the works should be commenced within 
 eighteen months, and completed within six years. The Hellenic 
 Government granted to the concessionnaires all the land required for 
 the canal, and 12,350 acres on each side, as well as the privilege of 
 working the mines, quarries, and forests of the State, within a dis- 
 tance of 19 miles of the canal.* It was not, however, until 12 
 years afterwards that the work was actually proceeded with, so that 
 the terms of the original concession were not carried out. 
 
 The canal was not formally commenced until the 23rd of April, 
 1882, the first mine being fired by Her Majesty Queen Olga, in the 
 presence of His Majesty King George, the Diplomatic Corps, and the 
 principal Greek Government officials. 
 
 According to the plans ultimately adopted, the entrances to the 
 channel will be 100 metres in breadth, diminishing to 22 metres, and 
 the depth will be 8 metres. 
 
 The nature of the ground through which this channel has to be 
 cut is composed, according to the report of the engineers of the 
 company, of three distinct kinds : 
 
 Firstly. From the Gulf of Corinth, through a plain, consisting of 
 sand and alluvial soil, for the distance of ij kiloms. 
 
 Secondly. Through a mountain range, varying in height from 
 40 to 80 metres, of the length of \\ kiloms. 
 
 Thirdly. Beyond the mountain range to the sea, in the Bay of 
 Kalamaki, the canal will traverse a little plain of the length of 600 
 metres, composed of alluvial soil and rocks. 
 
 The excavation of those parts of the canal situated in the plains 
 presented no difficulties, but this was not the case as regards the 
 mountainous part, where a mass of 8,000,000 metres of solid rock 
 has had to be excavated and transported to a distance, which labour, 
 according to the contract, had to be done within the comparatively 
 short period of three years. 
 
 The following plan of executing the works was decided on by the 
 engineers of the company, M. Gerster and M. Kauser : 
 
 i. That part of the canal situated in the plains to be excavated 
 
 * ' Moniteur de la Banque et de la Bourse.'
 
 350 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 by ordinary means, namely, hand labour, dredging machines, and 
 sand pumps. This portion of the work was to be finished at the end 
 of 1883. 
 
 2. At the same time as the above-mentioned work was in progress, 
 the upper portion of the rocky crest to be blasted, and the refuse 
 carried away by railway. 
 
 3. Towards the end of the year 1883 several large dredging 
 machines, constructed on the most approved principles, were de- 
 livered to the company. These machines were capable of removing 
 5500 cubic metres of soil in ten hours. They were each of 300 
 horse-power, and were constructed by the firm of Messrs. Satre and 
 Demange, of Lyons. They cost 550,000 fr. each. 
 
 As regards the system of excavating the rock, M. Gerster's plan 
 was to sink vertical shafts to the level of the canal, by means of 
 machines constructed for the purpose, for which cartridges of dyna- 
 mite were to be employed at distances of 2 to 3 metres from each 
 other, which were to be exploded simultaneously. 
 
 The execution of this enterprise was confided to the Societe 
 des Fonts et Travaux en Fer (ancienne maison Joret et Cie), in con- 
 junction with L' Association des Constructeurs. These two com- 
 panies engaged to undertake the cutting of the canal for the sum of 
 24,600,000 fr., under forfeit if it is not completed within the prescribed 
 time. 
 
 The annexed general and sectional diagrams (p. 351) explain the 
 method by which it was proposed to carry out the execution of the 
 enterprise. 
 
 The Isthmus of Corinth Canal Company was compelled, in con- 
 sequence of unforeseen delays in their works, to obtain in 1887 an 
 extension of three years for their completion. The canal was to have 
 been opened in 1888. The geological strata to be passed through in 
 excavation does not appear to have been accurately ascertained, and 
 as a consequence of having to work to some extent upon rock, instead 
 of in sand or gravel, the progress made was less than had been antici- 
 pated. For this reason also it has been found necessary to raise 
 additional capital to the amount of double the original capital ; that 
 is to say, by an issue of 60,000 additional shares of 500 francs each, 
 bearing 6 per cent, interest. In order that the canal may become a 
 
 * These particulars are taken from a report made to the Foreign Office by 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of Legation at Athens.
 
 352 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 remunerative undertaking, it is calculated that 3^ million francs of 
 net revenue must be realised annually. Whether the canal will ever 
 realise this financial result is doubtful, but, if it is ever completed, 
 it will be of undoubted advantage to commerce in saving 100 to 
 250 miles in the passage from the ^Egean to the Black Sea, and in 
 avoiding the dangers of the coast of Southern Greece. 
 
 Meanwhile, the canal works, for which the capital was chiefly 
 found in France, have been abandoned, pending the acquisition of 
 additional funds. There are those who hold that it is little likely 
 that the canal will ever be consummated, and the unfortunate issue 
 of the works on the Panama Canal appears to justify the view that 
 the French nation, who are almost alone concerned, will hesitate 
 before they put their hands very deeply into their pockets in order to 
 carry to- completion an undertaking which is by no means certain to 
 be a financial success.
 
 ( 353 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE RIVER THAMES. 
 
 " My eye, descending from the hill, surveys 
 Where Thames along the wanton valley strays." Denham. 
 
 THE river Thames is in many respects one of the most remarkable 
 in the world. No other river has so large a commerce, no other 
 river can boast such a display of shipping, no other river is the high- 
 way for such a large population, no other river has such a romantic 
 and interesting history. The Thames is, however, eclipsed by many 
 other waterways as regards natural advantages for maritime com- 
 merce. It has an extremely tortuous, irregular, and dangerous 
 channel ; it is subject to great fluctuations of tides ; it is liable to be 
 silted up with the deposits of sand and sewage from its lower reaches ; 
 and it is inadequately provided with artificial light to enable the 
 mariner to find his way up the stream after nightfall. These dis- 
 advantages have again and again been the subject of serious accidents 
 to life and limb, heavy losses to shipping and marine insurance com- 
 panies, complaints and proposals on the part of the shipping interest, 
 and representations to the Trinity House, the Board of Trade, and 
 other constituted authorities. Only quite recently, the Chamber of 
 Shipping sent a deputation to the Board of Trade, in order to urge 
 that the Duke of Edinburgh channel should be better lighted, 
 and it was then stated that the shifty and temporary character of 
 the channel made the lighting of the Thames difficult at this point. 
 For this reason, and owing to the influence of the tides, steamers 
 have generally to cast anchor off Gravesend, if they reach the Thames 
 after darkness has set in. This is so unpleasant an alternative for 
 passenger steamers that they frequently brave the dangers of the river 
 much more serious, as a rule, than the dangers of the ocean and 
 run the risk of grounding or collision, in order that they may reach their 
 destined berth or dock. Those who have had the misfortune to be 
 on board a vessel under such circumstances must have felt devoutly 
 thankful that they ever reached their destination without accident, 
 and must have registered a vow that they would never repeat the 
 
 2 A
 
 354 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 experiment. Within the last few years, search lights have been 
 shown from some of the docks, which, although intended to assist the 
 navigator to his intended haven, have been found to produce the 
 opposite effect, inasmuch that they cast into deeper shadow a great 
 part of the intermediate channel. These dangers and difficulties are 
 increasing, as it is natural they should do, when no adequate provision 
 is made to overcome them. 
 
 The importance of this matter can only be fairly appreciated by 
 giving an idea of the magnitude of the trade that is now carried on 
 between the Thames and other ports. The largest amount of tonnage 
 that entered and cleared from the Thames in any recent year was as 
 under : 
 
 Foreign 
 Coastwise 
 
 Totals 
 
 Entered. 
 
 Cleared. 
 
 Total. 
 
 6,591,225 
 
 5,025,724 
 
 4,127,045 
 
 1,756,565 
 
 10,718,270 
 6,782,189 
 
 11,616,949 
 
 5,883,610 
 
 17,500,559 
 
 This represents nearly one-fifth of the total shipping trade of 
 England in the same year, and an average of about 48,000 tons of 
 shipping per day. The total value of our imports from, and exports 
 to, foreign countries and British possessions has in some recent years 
 amounted, for the port of London alone, to upwards of 200 millions 
 sterling. The value of our coastwise trade is not recorded, but it will 
 probably be sixty or seventy millions more, which would bring up the 
 total annual value of the shipping trade of the Thames to close on 
 300 millions. The extent to which this trade has increased within 
 the last twenty -five years has been quite phenomenal. In 1860 the 
 total entrances and clearances of the port of London amounted to 
 only 9,506,000 tons, so that the trade has nearly doubled within 
 twenty-seven years. The tonnage entered and cleared over the last 
 few years represents an average of over four tons per head of the 
 population of the metropolis taking the latter at, say, 4 millions over 
 the four years ending 1887. 
 
 For a considerable period, the population of London has been 
 increasing at the rate of about half a million in each decade. If the 
 same rate of increase is continued, the shipping entering and clearing 
 from the port of London in twenty years should amount to five
 
 The River Thames. 25 5 
 
 millions additional, which would bring the annual total up to about 
 22 J millions of tons. Will the river Thames be equal to carrying on this 
 enormous traffic without serious inconvenience and danger? This is 
 at least doubtful, and that being so, the duty is cast upon us of 
 considering what steps should be taken, in order to meet the require- 
 ments of a possible congestion of traffic, and to minimise the clangers 
 of river navigation. This is all the more important and urgent that 
 the tendency now is to provide much larger vessels than formerly, 
 both for the foreign and the coasting trades. A few years ago, the 
 average size of the vessels that entered the port of London did not 
 exceed 300 tons. In 1860, the average was not over 210 tons. But 
 in 1886, the average was not less than 620 tons. In about twenty- 
 five years, therefore, the average size of the vessels using the Thames 
 has been increased by about 200 per cent. There is little doubt that 
 this movement will continue. It has been established as the result 
 of the experience gained in the navigation of ships of large size that, 
 all other things being equal, the larger vessels are the more economical. 
 The average size of the ships now entering the port of Liverpool has 
 risen to over 1000 tons, where a few years ago it was not over 
 one-half of that tonnage. Probably the average size of the ships 
 frequenting the Thames would be materially increased if larger 
 vessels could be admitted with safety at all states of the tide. But 
 the condition of the tide, except at high water, does not admit of 
 ships of very large size coming far up the river. There have been 
 cases of the tide ebbing so low that it has been possible to walk 
 across at London Bridge. This occurred in 1114, 1158, and 1717. 
 Since the removal of Old London Bridge, there has been a much 
 greater scour, and the systematic dredging of the river has permitted 
 of a moderately good depth of water from the bridge downwards in 
 ordinary times. But the depth is not uniform, it is liable to fluctua- 
 tion, and it would be difficult to adapt the river for the entrance of 
 vessels of the largest size at any state of the tide. The consequence 
 has been that Liverpool has been leaving London somewhat behind 
 in the competition that has for many years been carried on between 
 the two towns. In 1825 the aggregate foreign tonnage of Liverpool 
 was only one-half to five-eighths that of London. In 1850 the two 
 ports were nearly abreast, and in 1870 Liverpool exceeded London. 
 From that date the two ports have been running a nearly equal race. 
 London having had the start for some two or three years past. But 
 when the enormous distributive facilities of London are considered, 
 
 2 A 2
 
 356 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 it seems remarkable, and almost unnatural, that Liverpool, with only 
 about one-sixth the population, should be in the running at all, and it 
 is extremely probable that London would have a much greater start 
 if the Thames navigation were only made equal to the requirements 
 of the trade. 
 
 The question of how far it would be expedient to construct a ship 
 canal that would relieve the congested traffic of the river, and permit 
 of vessels entering the docks at all times, has been mooted, but has 
 never been very seriously entertained. It is not, however, improbable 
 that this may, after all, be the true solution of the problem. Ship 
 canals are now the order of the day. They are being either pro- 
 jected, as we have already seen, or constructed for the purpose of 
 aiding navigation to an extent that is quite remarkable, not in this 
 country only, but in most continental countries as well. A ship canal 
 has been proposed to connect Birmingham with the river Trent ; 
 another to connect Bristol with the English Channel ; a third to 
 connect Sheffield and Goole ; and a fourth to connect the Thames 
 and New Haven. The Manchester Maritime Canal will soon be an 
 accomplished fact. On the Continent canals are actually under 
 construction across the Isthmus of Corinth, to connect the Adriatic 
 with the Archipelago ; and in Schleswig-Holstein, to connect -the 
 North Sea and the Baltic, not to speak of the great enterprises of 
 Panama and Nicaragua, designed to connect the Atlantic and the 
 Pacific. In Russia, a canal has recently been constructed between 
 Cronstadt and St. Petersburg, whereby the latter city has been con- 
 verted into a seaport, and a canal is now being talked of to con- 
 nect the Volga and the Don. In the United States ship canals are 
 being promoted to connect Lakes Michigan and Erie, and the 
 Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean, through the Florida 
 Peninsula. In India, it is proposed to connect the Gulf of Manaar 
 with the Palk Straits, by a maritime canal, and in other countries the 
 same movement has been apparent. In most of these cases the 
 object has been to save distance and time. In others it has been to 
 facilitate navigation generally. Both ends would be served by a 
 canal to connect London with the English Channel. It is more than 
 a hundred years since a similar project was recommended by Brindley 
 to the Corporation of London, who employed the great engineer to 
 make a survey of the Thames above Battersea, with the object of 
 having it improved for purposes of navigation. Brindley's recommen- 
 dation was not adopted, although he declared that a canal would cost
 
 The River Thames. 357 
 
 less than the improvement of the river, that it would give the com- 
 mand of cheaper transport, and that it would reduce distance and 
 economise time.* Probably Brindley's scheme would have been 
 adopted long before now, but for the construction of the Grand 
 Junction Canal. 
 
 It is likely to be objected to the suggested Thames canal 
 that the necessity for it has recently been obviated by the con- 
 struction of the docks at Tilbury, opposite to Gravesend, and within 
 a few miles of the estuary of the river. The Tilbury Docks have no 
 doubt been a great relief to the congested condition of the traffic, 
 and they are entitled to every consideration. But they do not by any 
 means meet the case, any more than the port of Cronstadt met the 
 requirements of St. Petersburg previous to the construction of the 
 Poutiloff Canal, or the docks at. Havre or Rouen now meet the 
 requirements of Paris, which it has been proposed to convert into a 
 seaport. The Tilbury Docks are about 20 miles from the centre of 
 the metropolis. They are 30 miles from the western and southern 
 limits of the city, being, indeed, almost exactly the same distance as 
 that which separates Cronstadt from St. Petersburg. In the latter 
 case, it was found that the cost of transporting goods over this 
 distance was often as great as the cost of carrying them to or from 
 England, not to speak of the inconvenience and delay which were 
 involved. 
 
 It may not, possibly, be quite so bad as this in the case of the 
 Tilbury Docks, but it is obvious that the traffic unloaded there must, 
 to a very large extent, go through two subsequent breakages of bulk 
 the first, from the ship to the railway truck, and the second from 
 the truck to the wagon or van that is to deliver the goods at their 
 ultimate destination. It would be difficult to fix an average sum 
 that would fairly represent what this process adds to the ultimate cost 
 of the traffic, but if it is put at los. per ton all round it is not likely 
 to be much under the mark ; and IQS. per ton, as we know, represents 
 the full amount that is frequently charged for the conveyance of a 
 ton of goods from Antwerp or Liverpool to New York. 
 
 There is no good reason why the people of London should con- 
 tinue to pay as much for the carriage of their food and fuel from the 
 ship's side at Tilbury to their own doors as they would pay for its 
 transport across the Atlantic. It may now be unavoidable, but the 
 necessity is not imperative. 
 
 * Smiles' ' Lives of the Engineers.'
 
 358 Waterways and Wafer Transport. 
 
 If a canal were carried alongside the Thames, into the heart of 
 the city, the west end and the southern suburbs, a great deal of this 
 outlay might be avoided. The vessel carrying the traffic could be 
 stopped at any one of twenty places on the route of the canal, in 
 order that she might be enabled to unload, and the relatively short 
 distance for which the traffic would thus require to be transported 
 from the ship's side to the ultimate destination of the traffic would 
 not add much to the cost of its water transport. 
 
 The question that those interested in this question would be 
 likely first to ask themselves would be At what cost could such a 
 canal be constructed? The next question would be Could it be 
 made to pay ? On both points there is much that is reassuring. 
 
 If we take the cost of the Suez Canal as a criterion, we find that 
 for a distance of about 100 miles the expenditure actually incurred 
 in construction proper was 11,653,0007. The total outlay appearing 
 in the yearly balance-sheet at the end of 1886 was 19,782,0007., but 
 a great deal of the difference was expended in financing, in interest 
 on shares during the eleven years that the canal was under construc- 
 tion, in transit, telegraph, and sanitary services, and in other items 
 that would only be necessary, if at all, to a much more limited extent 
 in the case under consideration. The actual outlay in construction 
 represents an average of about 116,5307. per mile, and at this rate 
 a Thames Navigation Canal could be built for a length of twenty- 
 five miles for, approximately, about three millions sterling. This 
 would, of course, be the cost of a canal capable of taking the largest 
 vessels like the Suez Canal, and constructed on the same principle 
 that is, without intermediate locks, and at tide-level. 
 
 It will, however, be fairly objected that the Suez Canal is not a 
 parallel case. The land was given by the Khedive, and the labour 
 of the fellahs, which was largely corvee or forced labour, cost very 
 little. In the neighbourhood of London, on the contrary, the price 
 of land is high, and labour is much more expensive, although, at the 
 same time, much more efficient. This would no doubt greatly 
 modify the force of the application of the experience gained in the 
 construction of the canal at Suez, although the item of land, for a 
 considerable distance in the county of Essex, would be comparatively 
 trifling land being exceptionally cheap in that county while higher 
 wages would be counterbalanced by the more general and effective 
 use of labour-saving machinery. Let us, however, rather be guided 
 by the more recent, and more parallel experience of the Amsterdam
 
 The River Thames. 359 
 
 Ship Canal, which was constructed in 1870-76, for the purpose of 
 affording a direct outlet from Amsterdam to the North Sea, through 
 Lake Y and Lake Wigker Meer (inlets of the Zuyder Sea). The 
 distance from Amsterdam to the sea by way of the North Holland 
 Ship Canal, which was completed in 1825, was 52^ miles, while the 
 Amsterdam Ship Canal reduced it to 15^ miles. Saving of distance 
 and time was not, however, the only reason for adopting the latter 
 project. The growing size of the ships frequenting the port, and the 
 frequent interference with navigation by ice, rendered a new water- 
 way necessary, apart from the considerations of saving time and 
 shortening distance. The total cost of the undertaking was about 
 three millions sterling, including all incidental expenses. This is 
 approximately about 2oo,ooo/. a mile, and at the same rate of cost, 
 the Thames Navigation Canal could be completed for 5,ooo,ooo/. as 
 against 2,9i3,ooo/. in the case of adopting the mileage cost of the 
 Suez Canal. The conditions of the problem in Amsterdam were not 
 greatly different in kind to those of the Thames. The land had to 
 be purchased, and the price of labour did not much differ from what 
 would be paid in England. The quantity of material to be excavated 
 would be relatively much the same, and the works of art required in 
 the form of locks, sluice-gates, cofferdams, &c., would probably not 
 be much more, if any more, onerous and difficult. It is probable 
 that some of the heavier works required in the case of the Amster- 
 dam Canal would be unnecessary for that on the Thames, such as 
 the large dam that had to be built to keep the waters of the Zuyder 
 Zee from overflowing, and washing away the banks of the canal ; but, 
 on the other hand, there would be heavier expense incurred in 
 providing passing places, docks, &c. 
 
 Whatever its necessity, the canal would not be undertaken if 
 capitalists were not assured that it was to be a " good thing " finan- 
 cially, unless, indeed which is very unlikely the Government put a 
 hand somewhat deep into the public purse. The revenue of the 
 canal would be derived from several different sources: from tolls, 
 which would probably take the form of a through rate ; from haulage, 
 by means of tug-boats ; from warehousing ; and from delivery of 
 goods ex ship at the different quays on the route. It is, of course, 
 impossible to say at present what proportion of the total number of 
 ships now using the Thames would prefer to take the canal, if con- 
 structed. If, however, it were only one-third of the whole, in ten 
 years' time from now that would be about seven millions of tons per
 
 360 
 
 Waterways and IVater Transport. 
 
 annum. The revenue that would thus be obtained, if a uniform 
 charge of a shilling per ton were made, would be 35o,ooo/. a year,
 
 The River Thames. 361 
 
 which would, after deducting 10 per cent, for working expenses, yield 
 a net revenue of 315,000^, equal to more than 6 per cent, on the 
 larger estimate of 5,ooo,ooo/. If, however, the canal were carried 
 right into the heart of transpontine London, a large revenue might be 
 expected from the delivery of goods. The principal docks are now 
 such a long way from the west end and the southern and south- 
 western suburbs that a very heavy charge is made for delivery of 
 merchandise, whether by railway or by van. In many cases, indeed, 
 as we have already pointed out, the delivery charge is higher than 
 the ocean freight, and instances are not uncommon in which a parcel 
 which has been carried from a port 400 or 600 miles distant for a 
 charge of 4$. or 55., cost double that amount between the docks and 
 the houses of the recipients. This is a serious grievance with the 
 people of the metropolis, and one that they would gladly get rid 
 of. A long step would be taken in that direction if water com- 
 munication for large steamers could be brought nearer to the west 
 end. For such a purpose the river Thames above London Bridge is 
 practically useless. The only considerable traffic that is carried on 
 in the upper reaches of the river is the transport of coal in barges 
 from the Great Western Railway Company's depots at Brentford to 
 the docks, and this is about as unsatisfactory as it could well be, 
 involving the repeated breaking of bulk, and the damage of the coals 
 from frequent handling. A well organised and economical system of 
 delivery between the point of the receipt of shipping traffic in London, 
 and the point of its ultimate consumption, would be certain to prove 
 both successful and remunerative, whether undertaken by a canal 
 company or otherwise. 
 
 But the lower reaches of the Thames are not more in want of 
 some artificial relief of the kind suggested than the upper reaches. 
 
 The Thames, as we have seen, is commercially the most impor- 
 tant river on the earth's surface, although far from being the largest 
 the broadest, the deepest, or the longest. It takes its rise in 
 Gloucestershire, about 375 feet above sea level. As the crow flies, 
 the length of the river is about 119 miles, but as the river runs it is 
 about 193 miles from its source to the sea. About 74 miles of its 
 actual length are therefore made up of windings, the character of 
 which will be appreciated by the plan on the opposite page. 
 
 The river is only navigable for large vessels up to London Bridge, 
 which is about 18 miles from Gravesend. Above London Bridge a 
 good deal of traffic is carried on by means of barges. The only
 
 362 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 steamers, however, that navigate the river above that point are the 
 shallow-draught passenger steamers that ply between the various piers 
 that lie alongside the banks up to Chelsea, with occasional trips in 
 the summer months to Ke\v and Hampton Court. Above Hampton 
 Court a small part of the river is canalised, and it has also been 
 necessary to construct a small canal at Teddington, where the first 
 lock occurs. Small craft may navigate the Thames as far as Oxford, 
 but above Hampton Court there are numerous locks and weirs that 
 have to be overcome, and navigation is tedious. The influence of 
 the tide extends from the outer boundary line of the Thames Con- 
 servancy, near Southend, to Teddington lock, a distance of 57 miles. 
 The Conservancy Board, however, control the river as far up as 
 Lechlade, in Gloucestershire, a distance of 173 miles from its estuary. 
 
 Practically the whole of the large population on the river Thames 
 above London Bridge are shut out from the benefits of the navigation, 
 except by means of barges. Above Hampton Court the navigation 
 is difficult, even for these, especially when propelled by a tug-boat. 
 The difficulty is increased by the fact that there are over thirty locks 
 and about twenty-two mills on the river between Oxford and the 
 sea. 
 
 It has been suggested more than once that the Thames should be 
 made navigable for a much longer distance, and there is, indeed, no 
 insuperable obstable in the way of the navigation being carried up as 
 far as Oxford. Between that city and London there is only an 
 average fall of about i foot in 4100, which interposes no obstacle. 
 The cost of cutting canals through the most obstructive windings 
 of the river would not be serious, and it is more than probable that it 
 would be cheerfully borne by those whom it would be most likely to 
 benefit. 
 
 There would probably be an outcry raised that the upper reaches 
 of the river, whicn are now largely consecrated to rural sports and 
 pastimes, and are in many cases remarkable for their sylvan beauties, 
 would be threatened. But in this utilitarian age when steamers ply 
 on the Grand Canal of Venice, when railways are carried up Vesuvius 
 and the Righi, when the Alps are pierced by tunnels, and engineers 
 are drawing the water supply of our great towns from the Lakes of 
 Cumberland and Westmorland, heretofore the chosen retreat of our 
 poets and philosophers the test of most things is that of use and 
 convenience ; and, after all, the passage of steamers up the river 
 Thames above Hampton Court, if it would disturb the inmates
 
 The River Thames. 363 
 
 of the house-boats, and interfere with the dolcefar niente fancies of 
 a favoured few, would more than compensate for such drawbacks by 
 bringing to the masses who cannot afford to gratify such luxurious 
 tastes, more abundant commodities at a cheaper rate, and, what is 
 quite as necessary, by getting rid of the weirs which at the present 
 time are a great hindrance to navigation, by deepening the river, and 
 by improving its channel generally. 
 
 The latter important requirement could probably best be met by 
 diverting the course of the river, where it is most tortuous, or by 
 constructing canals which would at the same time allow of the navi- 
 gation being shortened, and the flood-water (which now and again 
 plays sad havoc with the surrounding country) being carried off. By 
 either diverting or canalising the Thames between Tadpole in 
 Berkshire, and Sutton Pool, near Abingdon, the distance could be 
 shortened by some 16 miles. Another saving of fully 13 miles 
 could be made by a new cut between Reading and the river above 
 Staines, while a third saving of 1 1 miles could be effected by a cut 
 between Staines and Brentford. 
 
 The effect of giving to the numerous Thames-side towns and 
 villages above London such facilities as those indicated would be 
 almost certainly to develop trade and industry in the counties of 
 Oxford, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, and Middlesex, through 
 which the river flows. In those counties there is a population 
 bordering on the Thames, which can hardly be put at less than two 
 millions. It is, perhaps, of still more importance that the course 
 proposed would secure for them immunity from the devastating 
 floods to which they are now habitually exposed. Four great floods 
 have overtaken the folks that dwell by the Thames since 1821. The 
 most recent of these occurred in 1876, and caused damage which has 
 been estimated at 3oo,ooo/. to 400, ooo/., not to speak of the terrible 
 hardships, inconvenience, misery, and disease which were entailed on 
 those whose dwellings were inundated. If the ideas and proposals 
 now put forward should contribute, in how small so ever a degree, to 
 obviate the recurrence of such disasters, the writer would be abun- 
 dantly satisfied.
 
 364 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 TRANSPORT AND WORKING. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 
 
 "Canals are to the inhabitants of a country what seas are to nations; they 
 equally serve to assist the wants of society and benefit commerce." Cresy. 
 
 THERE is no movement of modern times that has been more pregnant 
 in its results, or more interesting in its course of development, than 
 that which has given to the world its existing system or systems of 
 transportation. Of that movement, the competition of the railway 
 and the canal for the traffic that has been equally open to both has 
 been a phase that has received less attention than it deserved. The 
 railways have now had a long innings. They have been productive of 
 immense advantage to the world. The transportation of both goods 
 and passengers has enormously increased as a result of the facilities 
 they have afforded. But whether railways or canals are the best 
 adapted to economical transport is still a problem which is exercising 
 the minds of traders, economists, politicians, and engineers, in most 
 of the leading countries of the world. 
 
 It is probably among the things not generally remembered, if it 
 is among the things generally known, that railways were first pro- 
 jected and sanctioned as feeders to canals. They were designed as 
 the humble handmaidens of the canal system. The preamble to the 
 earliest railway Acts recites that they would be of " great advantage 
 to the extensive manufactories of earthenware" established in the 
 Potteries and elsewhere. In 1792, the Monmouthshire Canal Navi- 
 gation Company were anthorised " to make railways or stone roads,"* 
 from their canals to various ironworks and mines in the counties of 
 Monmouth and Brecknock.! In the following year, the Grand 
 
 * Stone blocks were used instead of wooden sleepers on the earliest railways, 
 t One section of this Act enabled the company to charge a toll for cattle 
 driven along the line, as on an ordinary highway.
 
 Railways and Canals. 365 
 
 Junction Company were authorised to make a railway at Ellsworth, 
 and " a collateral communication by cuts, railways, or other ways 
 and means," with their canal at Gayton, and the navigation of the 
 river Nene at Northampton.* Up to 1825, indeed, canals were the 
 absolute masters of the situation. Their owners could afford to smile 
 at the idea of competition from railroads, and they did in many cases 
 actually do so. 
 
 In the construction of canals, as in the promotion of railway pro- 
 jects, there have, in most European countries, been periods of specu- 
 lative operations on a large scale, culminating in crises more or less 
 acute. In England, the canal mania was at its height between 1791 
 and 1794. In those four years eighty-one canal and navigation Acts 
 were passed by Parliament, f This was only seven years before the 
 first railway Act was obtained for the construction of the Wandsworth 
 and Croydon Railway. 
 
 In Holland and Russia, this epoch had been reached many years 
 before. In Holland many canals had been constructed early in the 
 seventeenth century, and in Russia, the same movement, initiated and 
 carried to a certain degree of development by Peter the Great, 
 culminated in a great number of canal projects being put forward 
 about the same time that the canal mania was raging in England \ 
 over the question whether a railway or a canal should be built for the 
 purpose of carrying coals from the inland collieries to the sea at 
 Stockton. In 1768, a survey had been made for a canal for the 
 purpose by one George Dixon and one Robert Whitworth. In the 
 following year, Brindley surveyed the same route and reported that 
 a canal about 27 miles in length could be constructed for 63,7227. 
 No action, however, was taken upon either survey, nor upon a subse- 
 quent report by Rennie on the same scheme. In 1818, we find the 
 project still exciting the attention of Darlington and Stockton, and 
 the inhabitants of the district divided as to the merits of the two 
 systems. In the latter part of that year, a meeting held at Darling- 
 ton pronounced a judgment which closed the controversy. It was 
 decided that a " rail or tramway was, under existing circumstances, 
 
 * 33 George III. 
 
 f Clifford's ' History of Private Bill Legislation,' vol. i. p. 41. 
 
 J Oddy's ' European Commerce ' gives a list of the canals that were either 
 being promoted or constructed at the commencement of the century. Some of 
 them were of very considerable extent. Oddy remarked in 1805 that "by means 
 of the canals already finished a great part of European Russia has communication 
 with one or other of the seas by which it is bounded."
 
 366 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 preferable to a canal." The expectations of the friends of railway 
 transport were not, however, very high. They were advised by a 
 committee which had been appointed to consider the subject, that 
 " one horse, of moderate power, could easily draw downwards on the 
 railway about ten tons, and upwards about four tons, exclusive of 
 empty waggons." Small as this outlook was, it was a great advance 
 on the then existing system of coal transport, the towns of Tees-side 
 having been, up to that date, supplied with fuel by droves of asses and 
 mules, which stood in the principal thoroughfares until their burdens 
 had been disposed of 
 
 " Here colliers stood with coals from distant parts, 
 Some having two, and some but one-horse carts." 
 
 Even then, however, the railway had not made much impression, 
 and the canal interest had as yet little to fear. The promoters of 
 the Stockton and Darlington Railway, as we have seen, had no 
 idea of employing locomotives, or of providing for passenger traffic. 
 No mention of either was made in their original bill. The railway 
 was intended only " to facilitate the conveyance of coal, iron, lime, 
 corn, and other commodities " from the interior. " It had no 
 congener for years. The impression of most people, while it was 
 under construction, was that it was more or less of a mistake. While 
 the line was in progress, a vigorous agitation for the construction of a 
 canal for similar purposes was going on in the adjoining county of 
 Northumberland." When the locomotive engine was introduced 
 upon the scene, the friends of canal navigation hailed it with 
 ridicule. " Who," it was said, " would ever dream of paying to be 
 conveyed in something like a coal-wagon, upon a dreary wagon-way, 
 by a roaring steam-engine ? " The question appeared to carry its 
 answer written on its face. The Quarterly Review, of March 1825, 
 ridiculed the idea of the people of England trusting themselves to the 
 mercy of " such a machine " as a locomotive engine on the then 
 proposed London and Woolwich Railway, and declared its readiness 
 "to back old Father Thames against the Woolwich Railway for any 
 sum." Nicholas Wood, the author of the first really scientific treatise 
 on railway locomotion, denounced the idea that locomotives could be 
 worked at the rate of 12 miles an hour.* So recently as 1830, when 
 the Manchester and Liverpool Railway was opened, the railway 
 system was intended for the transport of merchandise alone, and a 
 
 * 'Practical Treatise on Railroads,' first edition.
 
 Railways and Canals. 367 
 
 speed of more than 12 miles an hour was not dreamt of. In this 
 case, as in that of the Stockton and Darlington Railway five years 
 before, the transportation problem was still unsolved. 
 
 " The barge ne'er came, but in its place 
 Shot into view the great fire-dragon, 
 And entered on his world-wide race, 
 
 With fairy coach and grim coal-waggon." 
 
 But at coal-waggons, or rather at heavy traffic generally, the 
 enterprise was expected to stop. 
 
 The Rainhill locomotive contest, and the convincing proofs 
 afforded thereby of the practicability of applying railway transport 
 alike to goods and passengers, at a high rate of speed, impressed 
 men's minds with the conviction that, if canals were not already 
 doomed, they were, at any rate, by no means so superior as they had 
 seemed up to that time. The Stockton and Darlington Railway had 
 been opened for the purpose of bringing the coalfields and the ports 
 of Durham together. There was no idea of competing with any other 
 means of transport, because no other means of transport existed, 
 except the packhorse. But in the case of the Liverpool and Man- 
 chester Railway, the object in view was that of antagonism to the 
 canals, which had proved impracticable in their dealings with the 
 merchants and manufacturers of those towns. If the canal companies 
 had met the just and reasonable demands of the traders of Lancashire, 
 the probability is that the Liverpool and Manchester Railway would 
 not have been constructed until many years later. As it was, the 
 high-handed proceedings adopted by those companies, raised the 
 Frankenstein of railway competition, and the difficulty now was, how 
 to lay it. Sisyphus, himself, had no harder task to perform. The 
 issue for a time appeared to be doubtful, but not for long. The new 
 system of transport fulfilled every expectation formed by its most 
 sanguine promoters, and disappointed every apprehension entertained 
 by its enemies. The canal companies found it necessary to under- 
 take experiments, in order to demonstrate the greater economy of 
 their system of transport. They also attempted to introduce steam 
 propulsion, to improve their lines of communication, and in some 
 cases to reduce their rates of charge. They did not, however, 
 greatly mend matters. Nicholas Wood analysed their experiments, 
 and declared that " coals and minerals were conveyed on railways 
 equally cheap, if not at a less rate, than on canals," and in opposition to 
 those who maintained the greater economy of waterways, he declared
 
 368 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 that " in no instance has it been shown that canal navigation is con- 
 ducted at a cheaper rate, including every charge.* He thereupon 
 argued that " the slow, tardy, and interrupted transit of canal naviga- 
 tion must, therefore, of necessity yield to other modes, affording a 
 more rapid and certain means of conveyance, "f 
 
 In 1825, Charles Maclaren of Edinburgh wrote an elaborate 
 pamphlet on the comparative merits of railways, canals, and common 
 turnpike roads, in which he maintained that the effect obtained by 
 the draught of a single horse was ten times as great on a railway, and 
 thirty times as great on a canal, as on a well-made road. He argued, 
 further, that a canal cost about three times as much as a railway, so 
 that it would require " nearly the same rates or dues per ton to make 
 the capital yield the same interest." The relative conditions of 
 working canals and railways were at that time very imperfectly 
 understood, and probably the author of this interesting pamphlet 
 would have been amazed, had he lived, to see the average expenditure 
 per mile of railway constructed in England and Wales returned, as it 
 now is, at close on 5<D,ooo/. per mile, or fully four times the outlay 
 incurred on our canal system, relatively to mileage. 
 
 An engineer of great experience, speaking of the contest between 
 railways and canals, has observed \ that the introduction of railways 
 proved, in the first instance, a practical bar to the extension of the 
 canal system, and, eventually, a too successful competition with the 
 canals already made was the result. Frequently the route that had 
 been selected by the canal engineer was found (as was to be expected) 
 a favourable one for the competing railway, and in the result, the 
 towns that had been served by the canal, were served by the railway, 
 which was thus in a position to take away, even the local traffic of 
 the canal. For some time it appeared as though canal undertakings 
 and canalised river navigations must fail, for although heavy goods 
 could be carried very cheaply on canals, and although, in the case of 
 the many works and factories erected on their banks, or on basins 
 connected with them, there was with canal navigation no item of 
 expense corresponding to the cost of cartage to the railway stations, 
 yet the smallness of the railway rates for heavy goods, and the 
 greater speed of transit, were found to be more than countervailing 
 advantages. 
 
 * 'Practical Treatise on Railways,' third edition, p 699. f Ibid., p. 18. 
 J 'Minutes of Proceeding of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. Ixxx. 
 p. ii.
 
 Railways and Canals. 369 
 
 Canal companies, therefore, set themselves to work to add 
 to their position of mere owners of water highways, entitled 
 to take toll for the use of those highways, the function of 
 common carriers, thus putting themselves on a par with the railway 
 companies, who were, in the outset, legalised only as mere owners of 
 iron highways, and as the receivers of toll from any persons who 
 might choose to run engines and trains thereon a condition of things 
 which was altered as soon as it was pointed out that it was utterly 
 incompatible either with punctuality or with safe working. This 
 addition to the legal powers of the canal companies, made by the 
 Acts of 1845 an d 1847, had a very beneficial effect upon the value 
 of their property, and assisted somewhat to preserve a mode of 
 transport competing with that afforded by the railways. 
 
 In most of the leading countries of the world, a time arrived 
 when the canal system and the railway system came into strong 
 competition, and when it seemed doubtful on which side the victory 
 would lie. This contest was necessarily more marked in England 
 than in any other country. England had not, indeed, been the first 
 in the field with canals, as she had been with railways. On the 
 contrary, we are told by Smiles that " at a time when Holland had 
 completed its magnificent system of water communication, and when 
 France, Germany, and even Russia, had opened up important lines 
 of inland communication, England had not cut a single canal."* But 
 England, having once started on a career of canal develop- 
 ment, followed it up with greater energy and on a more comprehen- 
 sive scale than any other country. For more than half a century 
 canals had had it all their own way. They had in their time done 
 good work, in spite of much opposition.! Coming as they did on 
 the back of an era of very dear transport, they easily proved their 
 claims to make transport cheaper. Baines states that they carried 
 traffic for about one-fourth of the rate that was paid previous to the 
 introduction of such waterways.! They were upheld and protected 
 by large vested interests. They offered the facilities which were 
 desired by many inland towns of being brought into direct connec- 
 tion with the sea. But the railway system, first put forward as a 
 
 * Preface to the ' Lives of the Engineers,' p. 7, ist Ed. 
 
 f Johnson was a declared enemy of canals, believing that they would interfere 
 with country seclusion, make living dearer, displace pack-horses and waggons, and 
 injure the trade of towns near which they might be carried. 
 
 J ' History of the Commerce and Town of Liverpool.' 
 
 2 B
 
 370 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 tentative experiment, and without the slightest knowledge on the 
 part of its promoters of the results that were before long to be 
 realised, was making encroachments, and proving its capabilities. 
 This was a slow process, as the way had to be felt. The first railway 
 Acts did not contemplate the use of locomotives, nor the transport of 
 passenger traffic. The Stockton and Darlington Railway, constructed 
 in 1825, was the first on which locomotives were employed. Even at 
 this date, there were many who doubted the expediency of having a 
 railroad instead of a canal, and in the county of Durham, as we have 
 already indicated, there was a fierce fight, carried on for more than 
 twenty years.* 
 
 In the United States, the supremacy of waterways was maintained 
 until a much later date. As we have elsewhere shown, a keen and 
 embittered struggle was kept up between the canal and the railroad 
 companies until 1857 ; and even in the latter year the Legislature of 
 the State of New York, finding that railway competition was making 
 serious inroads upon their canal traffic, were considering whether they 
 should not either entirely prohibit the railways from carrying freight, 
 or impose such tolls upon railway tonnage as would cripple the com- 
 panies in their competition with canals, f Finding also that a large 
 part of the traffic that had been diverted from the canals to the rail- 
 roads had been carried by the latter " without profit, if not at an 
 absolute loss," the Legislature was recommended to enact that the 
 railway companies should be " compelled to transport at no less than 
 fairly remunerative rates such freight as would naturally seek the 
 cheapest mode of transit." The canals were said to have been 
 " despoiled of their income by a semblance of legal enactment, and 
 their rightful heritage bestowed upon chartered competitors." J We 
 may smile in this year of grace at such interpretations of the funda- 
 mental laws of political economy and of the liberty of the subject. 
 No doubt John Stuart Mill would have set the rights of meum and 
 tuum in a clearer and more logical light. But in those days vested 
 interests fought hard, and distinctions were not so clearly drawn as 
 in these. The element of speed, to which such great importance has 
 
 * Some particulars of this controversy will be found in the work entitled, ' The 
 Jubilee Memorial of the Railway System,' which the writer prepared, at the 
 request of the North-Eastern Railway Board, for the occasion of the jubilee of 
 the first passenger railway, held at Darlington, September 1885. 
 
 t Poor's ' Manual of Railroads for iSSi,' p. xxvii. 
 
 J Ibid., p. xxx.
 
 Railways and Canals. 3 7 1 
 
 since been attached, was only then beginning to be appreciated.* 
 The vested interest of canals had the Government on its side, the 
 canals having been largely constructed with State aid. The railways, 
 on the contrary, were entirely the products of private initiative, which 
 had to make a bold fight in order to establish any footing at all. 
 The two systems were, moreover, essentially antagonistic in their 
 characteristics. " The infernal activity of railroad men was naturally 
 most repulsive to gentlemen of the old school, whose stately decorum 
 was well reflected in the placid and unostentatious movement of the 
 boats on the canals." f The railway companies were accused of 
 having entered into a conspiracy " deliberately to break down these 
 great public works, upon which the State has spent forty years of 
 labour," and to " crush the canals into a kind of atrophy, which might 
 result in making them odious to the State, and to transfer them 
 eventually at a vile price to the managers of this highly creditable 
 scheme." The public press took up the cudgels on behalf of the 
 canals. A mighty wave of popular indignation against the railroads 
 swept over the land. " Danger to the canals ! " was the shibboleth 
 of political parties and commercial cliques. The leading New York 
 journal declared that " the whole community is aroused as it never 
 was before." Prominent men of all parties demanded, through the 
 press, that the canals should be rescued from the danger with which 
 they were threatened. The agitation, however, came to nothing. It 
 had no solid bottom. It was an agitation similar in kind to that 
 which had disturbed Europe when Arkwright's spinning machine and 
 Compton's mule were taking the place of hand labour. The clamour 
 suddenly collapsed, and was never heard of afterwards. 
 
 Meanwhile the railway system proceeded apace. The records of 
 human progress contain no more remarkable chapter than that which 
 tells of the growth of American railroads. The State of New York, 
 in which the canal interest was the strongest, had, in 1845, 721 miles 
 of railway. In 1877 it had about 6000 miles. In the United States, 
 as a whole, the railway mileage increased from 4633 miles in 1845 to 
 78,000 miles in 1877, and 160,000 miles in 1889. The growth of 
 
 * One of the advocates of the canal, as against the railroad, remarked that, 
 " very possibly it may be vital, as it certainly is characteristic, for a live American 
 to hurry his person at racehorse speed across the continent ; but it certainly is not 
 vital, nor in any respect necessary or expedient, thus to hurry his fuel, his timber, 
 his building materials, his food, nor any very large proportion of his merchandise 
 or manufactures." 
 
 t Poor's 'Manual for 1881,' p. xxxiii. 
 
 2 B 2
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 the system was attended, as it always is, by a corresponding growth 
 of trade, and what was of more importance to the people, by a dimi- 
 nution of the cost of living. The total freight traffic carried on the 
 railways of the United States in 1881 was 350 million tons, being an 
 average of 6*7 tons per head. In 1888 the total freight carried was 
 589^ million tons, being an average of 9*8 tons per head. In 1870 
 the cost of conveying a barrel of flour from Chicago to New York 
 was 6j. 5</. ; in 1880 a working man was only called on to pay 
 3-r. ifrd. for the same service. 
 
 From the date when the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was 
 fairly established, canal navigation in England, with a few notable 
 exceptions, appears to have fallen into a slumber which recalls the 
 long night of depression and inactivity that settled down upon the 
 arts and sciences during the middle ages. After a few years, hardly 
 a single apologist could be found for the system of internal naviga- 
 tions. Railways were all the vogue, and were built everywhere. The 
 covering of the country with a network of iron roads was made the 
 business alike of engineers, economists, financiers, and manufacturers. 
 The results of the railway mania of 1845-46, did something to stem 
 the torrent of new projects, many of them of an almost impossible 
 character. But only for a time. The canal system never again 
 appeared to look up. One by one, canals dropped out of the race, 
 and were bought up by railway companies, either with a view to 
 getting rid of their competition, and so securing absolute control over 
 the traffic, or in order to make way for new railway lines. The 
 canals that thus fell into the hands of railways were, perhaps naturally 
 enough, not particularly well looked after. But for this the public 
 did not seem to care. The country had for many years been 
 enjoying an exceptional amount of prosperity. The start that our 
 mechanical and manufacturing superiority had given us in the race 
 of nations, aided and abetted by the locomotive engine and the 
 steamship, and the awakening of foreign countries to a sense of 
 requirements previously ungratified, if not unfelt, created an 
 enormous demand for our industrial products. In many industries, 
 indeed, we had hardly any competition. In most others, there was 
 a sufficient margin of profit to make it of little consequence what 
 rates were charged for railway transport, so long as the transport 
 was effected. In such a race as this, the slow movements of canal 
 boats were not deemed worthy of attention, and the railways had it 
 all their own way.
 
 Railways and Canals. 373 
 
 But a time was now at hand when all this was about to be 
 changed. Foreign nations had learned our arts and manufactures, 
 had adopted our processes, had purchased our machinery, and had 
 instituted systems of technical instruction that caused industrial 
 knowledge to be generally diffused and thoroughly appreciated. 
 The development of the modern steamship, acting in concert with 
 the improvement of railway transport in the United States, in- 
 flicted upon British agriculture a blow from which it has not rallied, 
 and possibly never may. The prices of agricultural produce in 
 England, hitherto almost unaffected by the range of prices elsewhere, 
 were now controlled by the cost of producing wheat in Dakota, 
 mutton in New Zealand, beef in Texas, butter and cheese in France, 
 and other commodities elsewhere. Almost suddenly, a very remark- 
 able fall took place in the profits of agriculturists at home. Our 
 agricultural population, with its purchasing power thus seriously 
 crippled, did not bring orders into the manufacturing districts to the 
 same extent as formerly. Coincidently with this falling off in the 
 home demand, foreign nations, having learned to supply their own 
 wants, sought fewer English-made goods than before. A little later 
 still, and they were competing "brow to brow" with English 
 industrials in neutral markets. Our import and export returns, which 
 had been advancing with portentous strides, suddenly dropped 
 down in a way that caused serious alarm. It was found that the 
 decline was one of price rather than of volume, and manufacturers, 
 having to accept much less profits than formerly, were compelled to 
 strain every nerve to make ends meet. This could only be done in 
 one or other of three different ways by the command of cheaper 
 materials, by more economical processes of manufacture, or by 
 cheaper transport. The railways of the United States, the telegraph 
 system, and our own steamship lines provided the first desideratum. 
 The second were diligently looked after by the manufacturers them- 
 selves. As regards the third they were powerless. Inquiry revealed 
 the fact that the railway rates charged in England were generally 
 higher than those charged in competing countries. In some cases 
 they had damaged once-flourishing industries, and imperilled the 
 very existence of large centres of population. Complaints against 
 railway monopoly and railway exactions became universal. The 
 railways were for a long time inexorable, and as they turned a deaf 
 ear to the remonstrances of traders, the latter had to seek elsewhere 
 for relief.
 
 374 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 At this stage in the remarkable annals of recent industrial progress, 
 attention was once again turned to the comparative merits of canals 
 and railways for the transport of heavy traffic. A committee of the 
 House of Commons was in 1882 appointed to inquire into the 
 subject of British canals. This committee sat for a considerable time 
 and took a great deal of evidence, most of it of an extremely unsatis- 
 factory character, as showing how greatly British canals had passed 
 under the domination of the principal railway companies. The 
 report of this committee directed renewed attention to the advantages 
 of canals as a means of transport, and gave an impetus to canal con- 
 struction, of which the Manchester Ship Canal, now approaching 
 completion, is the latest and most signal triumph. New ship canals 
 are, however, being talked of; and it is more than likely that Sheffield 
 and some other inland towns will, before long, be able to float large 
 vessels to the sea. 
 
 The Railway and Canal Traffic Act of 1888 contained certain 
 provisions that specially affected canals. One of these requires 
 returns to be made annually to Parliament by canal companies. This 
 provision will enable us to ascertain that which has heretofore been a 
 sealed book the extent to which British canals are now utilised. 
 The concurrent proposals of the railway companies as to maximum 
 rates and terminal charges will be likely to help the canal system, if 
 it has any vitality left, towards resuscitation.
 
 ( 375 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 COMPARATIVE COST OF WATER AND LAND TRANSPORT. 
 
 THERE is no matter connected with the trade and commerce of a 
 country that is of greater importance to its welfare than cheap 
 transport. The business of transportation, both by land and by sea, 
 is now one of the most gigantic in the history of the world. The 
 railways of the United Kingdom received in 1887, for the transport 
 of goods and passengers together, not less than 7 1 millions sterling, 
 which is approximately about 6 per cent, of the whole national income 
 from all sources. The railways of the United States in the same 
 year had a total income of about 1000 millions of dollars, or 200 
 millions sterling, which is probably a still larger percentage of the 
 total income of that country. It is the same in other European 
 countries. Transportation is becoming a larger factor than before in 
 the income and expenditure of all civilised nations. 
 
 The same considerations apply to the over-sea trade. The 
 tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared from British ports in the 
 foreign trade of 1889 was over 67 millions of tons, which would 
 probably represent at least as many millions sterling for freights. In 
 addition to this enormous business in the over-sea trade, our coasting 
 trade was represented in 1889 by over 90 million tons of entrances and 
 clearances, which would probably add 20 to 25 millions additional to 
 the gross income of our shipping interest, bringing up the total 
 tonnage that entered and cleared from our ports in 1889 to 157 
 millions, and the gross income resulting from the business of trans- 
 portation by sea to, approximately, about 90 millions sterling. 
 
 The United States have no such record as this to show for their 
 foreign trade, their foreign entrances and clearances for 1888 having 
 amounted to only 31 millions of tons. But the internal trade of the 
 United States, on the lakes, rivers, and canals, will probably be at 
 least double this figure, so that the traffic dealt with is enormous. 
 The foreign trade of the United States has more than trebled since 
 1864, and is still increasing at a very rapid rate. 
 
 These figures are quoted in order that the vast character of this
 
 376 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 business of transportation, and its consequent importance, may be 
 duly appreciated. Manifestly, it is of great moment that the tech- 
 nical conditions which influence the cost of transport should be as 
 perfect as possible, and that the most economical methods of carry- 
 ing on the business of a country from this point of view, should be 
 put into operation. 
 
 There is, however, a great absence of agreement, even among 
 experts, as to what those conditions are, resulting, no doubt, from the 
 great variety of circumstances by which they are governed. On land, 
 the cost of haulage is necessarily determined by such considerations 
 as the cost of fuel, the proportions of tare to live load, the character of 
 the gradients, the adaptability of the rolling stock to the traffic, 
 and other elements of a more or less technical description. These 
 introduce so much variety of experience, and such conflict of results, 
 that the cost of transport is seldom or never in any two cases exactly 
 the same ; and the figures that would be given by one authority on 
 the subject would probably be disputed by another, so that it is to this 
 day, after the railway system has been at work for over sixty years, 
 and has become the dominating factor in our commercial, social, and 
 political organisation, an extremely difficult matter to arrive at 
 reliable data, or, at any rate, at such data as would be generally 
 accepted as correct, relative to the actual cost of transport under 
 given conditions. 
 
 It may, of course, be argued that the actual charges imposed by 
 the railway companies is a likely criterion of the cost of the service. 
 But there could hardly be a greater fallacy. In the United Kingdom 
 the railway companies openly proclaim that the amount that a 
 particular traffic will bear, and not the cost of the services rendered, 
 is their basis of charge.* In no two countries, moreover, are the 
 charges even approximately the same, and finally the charges vary 
 in the same country, and vary considerably from year to year. As 
 an example, it may be remarked that in the United States the 
 average freight charge per ton per mile in 1887 was only i *o6 cents, 
 or roughly a halfpenny per ton per mile, for all kinds of traffic, 
 whereas in 1868 it was as much as 2-45 cents, or i 22^. per ton per 
 mile. I It is not pretended, of course, that this striking difference 
 
 * Mr. Grierson, in his work on ' Railway Rates ' (p. 68) remarks that the 
 railway companies aim at making rates conform " to the requirements of trade, or 
 according to a popular expression, to charge what the traffic will bear." 
 
 t Statistical Abstract of the United States for 1888, pp. 185-188.
 
 Cost of Water and Land Transport. 377 
 
 represents the difference that has, in the interval, occurred in the 
 actual cost of transport. That the cost of transport has been 
 reduced goes without saying, but the American railways are also 
 now content to accept much smaller profits than formerly. 
 
 In the United Kingdom, however, the average ton-mile rates for 
 the transport of railway traffic are much higher than in the United 
 States, or in any of the principal countries of the Continent. This 
 higher rate of charge is defended on the ground that the cost of 
 railways has in England been much higher than in any other country. 
 The charges are fixed, therefore, not according to the actual cost of 
 the haulage and working of the traffic, but according to the amount 
 required to perform that operation, plus the payment of dividends 
 upon an abnormally, and, as some think, unnecessarily and unjusti- 
 fiably, large capital outlay.* 
 
 Under these circumstances, there has been a constant conflict 
 between the traders and the railway companies relative to traffic 
 charges. The trading community has naturally been desirous of 
 paying only for services actually rendered, and have sought to ascer- 
 tain what those services have cost. The railways, however at any 
 rate in the United Kingdom have withheld this information, and as 
 they have also declined, in the main, to bring down their charges to 
 a level that would give traders more chance in competition with 
 foreign countries, the latter have in some directions sought to fall 
 back upon water transport, which is generally believed to be a 
 cheaper mode of transport than that provided by any railway, how- 
 ever cheaply constructed or well managed. 
 
 Even, however, in the matter of water transport there are differ- 
 ences that appear to render perfectly hopeless any attempt to ascertain 
 what is the actual cost of working per unit of traffic, and what is, 
 accordingly, the charges that the traffic ought to be called on to pay. 
 It will be found that this cost, like that of railway transport, is affected 
 by many elements by the size of the canal and of the vessels em- 
 ployed, by the number of locks and their mechanical arrangements, 
 by the rate of speed, by the system of traction employed, and by 
 other obvious differences that we shall refer to later on. It is these 
 differences, and their effect on the cost of working canal traffic, 
 
 * In 1888 the average capital per mile of railway open in the United Kingdom 
 was 43,2io/., but for England and Wales alone the expenditure per mile was 
 about 5o,ooo/. In the United States the cost of construction and equipment per 
 mile of railway open in 1888 was 52,699 dollars, or roughly, 10,600.'.
 
 378 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 and on the consequent rates charged, that we now propose to 
 consider. 
 
 In the annals of transportation, there is no more interesting 
 chapter than that which deals with the contest that has been carried 
 on for nearly half a century, between the railways and the lakes and 
 canals for the grain traffic between Chicago and New York. This 
 contest is interesting, not only to Americans, as the people who are 
 engaged in it, and whom it more directly concerns ; but also to the 
 people of Europe, and of Great Britain in particular, the cost of 
 whose food supplies is affected thereby. 
 
 Up to the end of 1874, the rate charged by railways for the 
 transport of grain from Chicago to New York was seldom under 
 50 cents per 100 Ibs., which is equivalent to about '58//. per ton 
 per mile taking the distance at 950 miles. Ten years previously 
 the average rate was rather more than double this amount. But 
 from 1875 onwards there commenced what is called a "war of 
 rates," in the course of which the cost of transportation was subject 
 to the most sudden and violent fluctuations, apparently without the 
 slightest reason or excuse, except that of the caprice of the competing 
 companies. Thus, in 1879, the year started with a rate of 85 cents, 
 which fell in February to 20, in April to 15, and in May to 10 cents 
 per 100 Ibs., the latter rate being exactly sixteen times more than 
 the rate which obtained in January 1865. By the end of the year, 
 the rate had risen again to 40 cents, and in 1880 it never fell 
 below 30 cents. In 1881 the maximum was 40 and the minimum 
 12 cents; in 1882 the extremes were 30 and 12^ cents; in 1883 
 there was only a difference of 5 cents in the recorded maximum 
 and minimum; and in 1884 the fluctuations ranged between 15 and 
 30 cents.* 
 
 At the lowest rate quoted over this period the 10 cent rate of 
 May 1879 the railways were actually carrying grain between 
 Chicago and New York for rather over o 1 \\d. per ton per mile. At 
 the same rate cf transport, goods should be carried between London 
 and Edinburgh for 3^. 8</. per ton, a fact which will perhaps bring 
 home to the British trader what such a low rate would mean to him. 
 The average rate over the last three or four years has, however, 
 
 * The rates have been taken from an interesting table published in the 
 Railroad Gazette an admirable and ably conducted paper of January 9th, 1885. 
 It is to be observed that down to 1879 the rates were quoted in a depreciated and 
 fluctuating currency.
 
 Cost of Water and Land Transport. 379 
 
 been about double this figure, while for the American railways as a 
 whole it has been nearly four times as much. 
 
 The promoters of the improved Erie Canal claim that the cost of 
 transport of wheat between Chicago and Buffalo by the large steamers 
 that now navigate the lakes is now only 2 cents a bushel, or S^/. per 
 quarter for a distance of about 800 miles. The remainder of the 
 distance between Chicago and 'New York being by canal, the cost of 
 transport has been over 4 cents per bushel for about 400 miles, being 
 more than twice the cost, with more than twice the time in transit, for 
 only one-half the distance. 
 
 The circumstances of the Erie Canal are, however, exceptional. 
 Seldom, indeed, do railway freights run so low as they do on 
 the 950 miles of railway that separate Chicago from New York. 
 Over this distance, the great trunk lines have recently been carrying 
 freight at the rate of 15 cents, or i\d. per 100 Ibs.* This is 
 equivalent to about 14^. per ton, or exactly o 4 174^. per ton per mile. 
 There is probably no such low rates for railway transport in the 
 world. But this low rate is due entirely to the competition of the 
 lakes, rivers, and canals. It is very exceptional even in the United 
 States. The average rate charged for transport in the United States 
 in 1888 was '45^- per ton per mile,f which is 164 per cent, more than 
 the Chicago to New York rate already quoted. The railway com- 
 panies do not admit that the competition of the canals was the cause 
 of the remarkable difference here shown, but allege that it was due 
 to " the very active competition that existed among the three main 
 lines of railroad all striving for the business." This has been an 
 element in the case, without doubt ; but no one who is familiar with 
 railway pools, conferences, and arrangements, is likely to suppose 
 that if the water route had been closed, the railways would have 
 continued rates that were most probably highly unremunerative, 
 notwithstanding that 1131 tons of paying freight have been brought 
 from Buffalo to New York in one train.J 
 
 Mr. W. Shelford points out that in the United States one half of 
 
 * Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. xiv., p. 44. 
 
 t According to the returns published by Poor, the total tonnage carried was 
 589^ million tons, and the number of ton miles was 70,423 millions. The gross 
 receipts from freight were 639^ million dollars, and by dividing the ton-miles into 
 the gross receipts, we get at the approximate ton-mile average. 
 
 J Trans. Am. Soc. C. E., vol. xiv., p. 50. 
 
 Report of the Conference on canal navigation at the Society of Arts, 1888.
 
 380 Wafer ways and Water Transport. 
 
 the exports of wheat are from districts whose nearest point is 1400 
 miles from the Atlantic seaboard. This wheat is carried by water 
 and rail, which are in independent hands, and form alternative routes. 
 The routes between Chicago and New York are : Rail, 912-990, say 
 950 miles ; water, lakes, 985 miles ; river and canal, 420-1405 
 miles ; that is, the water route is 50 per cent, longer than the railway. 
 Yet the water route rules the rate, because the water transport costs 
 \d. per ton per mile, while the railway transport costs nearly \d. per 
 ton per mile, and the total rate by water between Chicago and New 
 York is two-thirds of the rate by rail. So far, there is & prima facie 
 case in favour of canals. 
 
 But if the cost of transport by water be taken separately for the 
 lakes and Erie Canal, it appears that the cost on the lakes is -^d. 
 per ton per mile, and the cost on the Erie Canal and Hudson River 
 is \d. per ton per mile, so that the cost of transport on the Erie 
 Canal is double that on the lakes, and is nearly the same as the 
 transport by railway. 
 
 Notwithstanding the very low rates charged for transport on the 
 canals of the United States, the Interstate Commerce Commission 
 reported in 1887 that "the experience of the country has demon- 
 strated that the artificial waterways cannot be successful competitors 
 with the railways upon equal terms." 
 
 The transport of wheat grown in the Western States of America, 
 between Chicago and New York is the largest business of its kind in 
 that country. There are in the United States between 35 and 40 
 millions of acres of land under wheat crops, an area about one-half 
 that of the whole surface of England, Ireland, and Scotland. On 
 this vast area there was grown, in 1886, 459^ millions of bushels of 
 wheat, and of this quantity 129^- millions of bushels were transported 
 from Chicago, the great warehousing centre, to New York, in the 
 proportions of over 46 millions by canal and river and over 80 mil- 
 lions by railway. For many years there has been a great scramble 
 for this traffic between the two rival systems of transportation. The 
 predominance has lain now with the railway and then with the canal, 
 and both, as we have seen, have had to reduce their rates from time 
 to time in order that they might have their share of the traffic. 
 The fluctuations in the quantities carried by the two systems within 
 recent years have been remarkable. In 1881 only 38 millions of 
 bushels out of a total of 139! millions were carried by canal, but in 
 1887 the canals carried 46 millions out of 127-^-, showing a remark-
 
 Cost of Water and Land Transport. 
 
 iSi 
 
 able advance in the interval. This advance is, no doubt, mainly clue 
 to the fact that in 1883 the tolls on the New York State canals were 
 abolished.* 
 
 Appended is a table showing the estimated cost of transportation 
 of freight between Buffalo and New York (400 miles) by different 
 systems of water conveyance, inclusive of tolls. \ (From the Report 
 of State Engineer of New York for 1878.) 
 
 
 Cost per Ton. 
 
 Mills. 
 
 Per Bushel 
 of Wheat. 
 
 By animal power 
 
 dols. 
 8-96 
 
 per ton mile. 
 
 4'53 
 
 cents. 
 7'37 
 
 By Baxter steamers J 
 
 9-04 
 
 4-58 
 
 7'45 
 
 By Belgian system 
 Do. do 
 
 8-32 
 7-76 
 
 4-21 
 
 J 'O2 
 
 6-91 
 6 '48 
 
 By steamer and consort || 
 
 7'68 
 
 3-88 
 
 6-41 
 
 Do. do. || 
 
 7'5~ 
 
 3-83 
 
 6'34 
 
 The economists and engineers of Germany have devoted a con- 
 siderable amount of attention to the question of the cost of transport 
 by water as compared with the cost of railway transport. For such 
 an inquiry they have had ample facilities, having not only an economi- 
 cally-worked railway system, but having also several navigable rivers, 
 on which a large traffic is carried, in addition to their system of 
 canals. The results which have been brought out by these inquiries 
 
 * According to the " Statistical Abstract of the United States " for 1887, the 
 rates on the principal trunk railroads and the New York State canals at different 
 periods were respectively : 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Railroad 
 Average. 
 
 Canal 
 Average. 
 
 
 1868 
 
 cents. 
 2'45 
 
 cents. 
 8 7 
 
 
 1878 
 
 I'40 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 1880 
 
 I '29 
 
 '49 
 
 
 
 1882 
 
 1-18 
 
 42 
 
 
 t Tolls, I ' 04 cent. ; elevating at New York, cent. ; trimming, T \, B B cent. 
 
 \ Simple steamers propelled by screws. 
 
 Cable in bottom of canal ; steamer and tow. 
 
 U Screw ste amer pushing consort ahead, both loaded.
 
 3 82 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 are instructive, if they are not final. Their effect has been to create 
 a very considerable agitation in Germany on behalf of additional 
 waterways, which are described as essential to the transport of heavy 
 traffic, and which the Government has taken up as a measure of 
 State. Hitherto, however, the amount of traffic carried on the water- 
 ways of Germany has been very much less than the traffic carried 
 upon the railways, thus confirming the experience of the United 
 States, Great Britain, and France, in so far as it shows that cheapness 
 of cost of transport is not the one thing needful. 
 
 The quantity of traffic carried over the German navigable ways in 
 1884 is estimated to have been close on 19^ millions of tons.* In 
 the same year the total quantity of traffic carried over the railways of 
 Germany amounted to 107 millions of tons, so that the railways 
 carried 5^ times more than the waterways. For other countries the 
 proportions of the total traffic carried in the same year were as 
 follows : 
 
 
 
 Railways. 
 
 Waterways. 
 
 
 
 
 tons. 
 
 tons. 
 
 
 
 United States 
 
 
 
 
 
 France 
 
 
 3O,OOO,OOO 
 
 
 
 Belgium 
 
 
 20,000,000 
 
 
 There does not exist any exact information as to the quantity of 
 traffic carried on English canals. C. von Scherzer has put the quan- 
 tity at 30 to 35 millions of tons.f This, however, is only conjecture. 
 There is no authoritative record of the extent of canal traffic in this 
 countiy, and no estimate of the tonnage actually carried was even 
 attempted by the Canal Committee of 1883. 
 
 * The details are as under : 
 
 Tons. 
 2,227,000 
 
 861,000 
 
 Basin of East Prussia, Niemen, Vistula, Pregel,\ 
 and Passarge ;' 
 
 Basin of the Oder 
 
 ,, ,, Elbe 7,767,000 
 
 ,, Weser 218,000 
 
 ,, ,, Ems 176,000 
 
 ,, ,, Rhine 7>55>ooo 
 
 Lake of Constance 338,000 
 
 Basin of the Danube 210,000 
 
 19,362,000 
 
 C. von Scherzer's ' Economic Life of Nations.'
 
 Cost of Water and Land Transport. 383 
 
 A canal from the Westphalian coal district to Emden having 
 recently been projected, a German economist was led to compare the 
 cost of carriage upon canals and on a single- line mineral railway with 
 few stations and a small staff. Assuming eight trains of sixty loaded 
 waggons per day to the port, of which twelve are returned loaded, 
 and a cost of 6ooo/. per kilometre for building the line, as actually 
 incurred for similar lines in the district, he calculated the cost per 
 train-kilometre as follows : 
 
 d. 
 
 Repairs and renewals of locomotives 1-20 
 
 Fuel 2-40 
 
 Cleaning, oil, &c 0-54 
 
 Repairs, and renewals of wagons 2 88 
 
 Lighting and heating of guard's van cro2 
 
 Drivers' wages, including mileage 1-41 
 
 Guards and brakesmen's wages, including mileage .. .. 2-46 
 
 Inspection, &c., of rolling stock o - i} 
 
 Station-service 3'i2 
 
 Permanent-way, repairs, and signalmen 4 32 
 
 General management 1-56 
 
 Interest on capital account for line, locomotives, and) 
 wagons, at 4 per cent / 
 
 Total 34'56</. 
 
 or - = o'ogdd. per ton-kilometre = O'i6</. per ton mile. 
 3-60 
 
 The carriage on the Elbe canals costs 0*35^. per ton-mile, and 
 on the canal from the Belgian coalfields to Paris the rate was 
 o'29</. in the spring and o'34</. in the autumn of 1883, without 
 paying interest.* These figures do not, however, appear to agree 
 with those found to work out in similar cases elsewhere. On the 
 Aire and Calder Canal, for example, steamboat trains of barges, 
 recently introduced by Mr. Bartholomew, have reduced the cost 
 of haulage with a speed of 4^ to 6 miles per hour to T -]- ^th of a 
 penny 'per ton per mile for minerals, and ^th of a penny per ton 
 per mile for general merchandise, including return empties, f On 
 the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, however, the cost of steam haulage, 
 towing two 4o-ton barges, fully loaded, has been given at -J- penny 
 per ton per mile, and on the Gloucester Canal the charge for steam 
 towing is given at y^th penny per ton per mile. 
 
 * Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. j8, p. 485. 
 t Aid. Bailey's address to the Manchester Association of Engineers, January 
 1886.
 
 384 Waterways and Water J^ 
 
 Cost cf Horse Towing. On two Belgian canals, the Louvain and 
 the Charleroi, horses are employed for towing. The Louvain Canal 
 is semi-maritime, with 3^ metres = nj feet depth of water, and runs 
 north-west from Louvain to the river Senne, which flows into the 
 Rupel about i kilom. or f th of a mile further north-west. Its length 
 is 30 kilom. = i8f miles, divided into five levels; the total tonnage 
 of the boats and ships passing through it in 1878 was estimated at 
 273,000 tons, and the charge for towing averages 6 millimes per 
 tonne-kilom. = o 093 penny per ton per mile. The Charleroi Canal, 
 winding northwards from Charleroi to Brussels by a circuitous route 
 of 75 kilom. = 47 miles, is of small section, and its boats carry only 
 70 tons; hence the charge for towing is higher, amounting to 8 
 millimes per tonne-kilom. = o 1 125 penny per ton per mile. Includ- 
 ing the return of empties, a recent writer has estimated that horse- 
 towing might be done on free canals for 5 millimes per tonne-kilom. 
 = 0*078 penny per ton per mile. 
 
 Cost of Steam-towing. On the Willebroeck Canal, which runs 
 north from Brussels past Willebroeck and enters the river Rupel 
 opposite Boom, all boats, except steamers, are towed by a steam tug 
 working on a chain. The length of the canal is 28 kilom. = 17^ 
 miles, divided into five levels ; and the locks are large enough to take 
 in six or seven boats at a time, along with their tug. The towing is 
 done by a company, from whose scale of charges and year's balance- 
 sheet a recent writer has calculated 0*078 penny per ton per mile as 
 the price paid for towing, the total annual traffic amounting to 
 about 15,400,000 ton-miles. But if the actual dividends were 
 reduced to the rate of four per cent., which prevails for Belgian 
 Government securities, and if certain economies were effected which 
 are believed to be practicable, the charge for towing might be 
 brought down to 0*047 penny per ton per mile, including empties.* 
 
 The no-ton boats in general use by the carriers on the Wille- 
 broeck Canal make weekly the double journey from Brussels to 
 Antwerp and back. The distance by the canal, the Rupel, and the 
 Scheldt, is 45 X 2 = 90 kilom. = 56 miles there and back. The 
 boatman gets 70 francs = 56-$-. per week for himself and his boat. With 
 a full load both ways, this would give 7 millimes per tonne-kilom. = 
 0*109 penny per ton per mile. When the Charleroi Canal is 
 enlarged, a large traffic right through from Charleroi to Antwerp is 
 anticipated, a distance of 120 kilom. = 75 miles. A single journey 
 * Pro. I.C.E., vol. 78.
 
 Cost of Water and Land Transport. 385 
 
 per week would then bring the cost down to 5-2 millimes 
 = o'oSi penny. German estimates by Dr. Meitzen range from 4*8 
 to 6*4 millimes = 0*075 to o-ioo penny; whence 5 millimes per 
 tonne-kilom. = 0-078 penny per ton per mile has been calculated as 
 the cost of boats and boatmen, with a full load both ways, travelling 
 1 7 kilom. or 1 1 miles per day, including all stoppages. 
 
 After all, however, there is no case of cheap transport rates 
 abroad that is more remarkable than the rate of sixpence per ton 
 charged for the transport of salt on the river Weaver, between North- 
 wich and the Mersey a distance of thirty-six miles. This corre- 
 sponds to an averge of '\id. per ton per mile. 
 
 In 1888, 265 vessels were trading on the river Weaver, not 
 including canal boats, 65 of these being steamers. These made an 
 average of 25 trips per day, carrying a gross tonnage of 1,300,000 
 tons per annum, chiefly salt. The rates charged vary from a penny 
 per ton for cinders and gravel, to a shilling per ton for white salt rock 
 salt, which is the staple, being charged sixpence per ton. No charge 
 is made for dock dues, and vessels are towed up the Mersey free of 
 cost. 
 
 Sea-transport. There is, of course, no system of transport that 
 is so cheap as that of ocean carrying. The rates of freight now 
 ruling for ocean transport, low though they be, are not by any means 
 a true criterion of the actual charges involved. Thus, it appears 
 that at a recent date, a large quantity of grain was carried between 
 European and United States ports for IDS. per ton, or '04^. per ton 
 per mile. Between Newcastle-on-Tyne and German ports, coal 
 cargoes have been carried rather largely for about 4-r. lod. or -\2d. 
 per ton per mile. Between North Sea and Baltic ports freights have 
 ruled over considerable periods at 5-r. per ton, or between 'o\d. and 
 o8</. per ton per mile. The daily expenses of a large steamer may 
 be taken at about sixpence per ton register, and as such a steamer 
 will run from 190 to 250 miles per day, the actual cost of transport 
 will probably not exceed '03^. per ton per mile, which, however, 
 will be increased by port stoppages, and other inevitable circum- 
 stances to 05</. Mr. Bailey has ascertained that the transport of a 
 cargo of 2360 tons of cargo, in an ordinary steamer, allowing for 
 interest, depreciation, insurance, fuel, wages, and food, was only one 
 penny per forty miles of journey.* This figure seems, no doubt, to 
 be exceptionally low, but of course much would depend upon the 
 
 * Address to the Manchester Association of Engineers, p. 19. 
 
 2 C
 
 386 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 condition of the steamer and the character of the cargo. The Erie 
 Canal charges for sea transport are only T ^ penny per ton per mile, 
 as compared with \ penny on the canal. This may, perhaps, be 
 accepted as the measure of the differences in the cost of trans- 
 port, and, if so, it would mean that the cost of working canal 
 traffic is about four and a half times that of working such traffic 
 on the sea. This figure is verified by many others, which are 
 worthy of consideration. On lakes like Erie, Ontario, and Superior, 
 the traffic costs more to work than on the sea, but less than it 
 costs on canals. The Erie Canal charge for lake transport is 
 ^d. per ton per mile, being twice the amount charged for sea 
 transport 
 
 Theoretically, there is no sound reason why a modern steamship 
 on a sufficiently large tide-level canal should not transport traffic 
 almost at the same rate as it can do on the ocean. The resistance 
 on the canal would be less than that usually met with at sea, but, on 
 the other hand, the dangers of steaming too quickly compel a slow 
 rate of speed. The actual cost of transport at sea has been 
 variously put at from 0*03 to 0*07 per ton per mile. This does 
 not probably include interest on capital and wear and tear, although 
 the steamers in the Transatlantic trade were content over a long 
 period to accept rates of freight which averaged no more than o o^d 
 per ton per mile. If this rate of freight were possible on inland 
 waterways for our heavy traffic, it would make a wonderful difference 
 in the total cost of transport in the United Kingdon. In 1888, there 
 were 200 millions of tons of minerals carried in the United Kingdom 
 alone. The total receipts from this traffic amounted to rather over 
 1 6 millions sterling, which, taking an average of a penny per ton 
 all round, would be equivalent to 3700 millions of ton miles. If 
 this enormous traffic were carried by canal, as it possibly might be (or 
 at least the greater part of it) for z$d. per ton per mile, there 
 would be a possible gain to the trade of the country of 7f millions 
 sterling per annum. 
 
 As things are at present, the trader who desires to make use of 
 canal navigation in Great Britain is compelled to deal with a number 
 of small companies, every one of which has its own rate of toll, and 
 none of which is disposed to give too muchf acility to the others. 
 Thus, a trader desiring to send iron-work from London to Liverpool, 
 or vice vend by canal, would have to deal with no fewer than six
 
 Cost of Water and Land Transport. 387 
 
 canals, who charge tolls varying from zd. to is. gd. per ton * to 
 Preston Brook within 20 miles of Liverpool. If, however, the traffic 
 is to be carried 20 miles further, it has to be transhipped into larger 
 craft, and carried on the Bridgwater Canal, the owners of which 
 charge "js. 6d. per ton, or more by 2s. 4^. than the other six 
 companies charge for the whole of the distance of 220! miles over 
 which they have carried the goods. It is not, therefore, surprising 
 that the canals compare unfavourably with railways, instead of beinf 
 more favourable to the trader. For the transport of iron-work, the 
 canal companies now make a charge of 20J. or more per ton between 
 London and Liverpool,! which is at the rate of over a penny per ton 
 per mile. This is not only a prohibitory rate, but it is one that is 
 quite unjustifiable. The actual cost of transport, including all 
 charges, is seldom, as we have seen, more than three-tenths of a 
 penny on English waterways. In the case of steam colliers it has 
 been given as o' i$d. ; in the case of steam barges on the river Lea, 
 it is o'33</. ; and on the French canals it is 0-38^/4 In the case 
 of ocean steam navigation, the cost of transport is so much lower 
 that an ocean steamer often conveys cargo across the Atlantic for 
 about one half the price at which cargo is carried from London to 
 Liverpool by canal, although the distance in the former case is 
 about seventeen times that in the latter. In Germany again, where 
 * The tolls are as under : 
 
 Canal. 
 
 Per Ton. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Total per Ton 
 per Mile. 
 
 Grand Junction 
 Oxford 
 
 s. d. 
 I 8 
 
 8 
 
 9 6 
 
 24. 
 
 d. 
 A 
 i 
 
 
 O Si 
 
 22i 
 
 i 
 
 Birmingham 
 Coventry .. .. 
 
 o 51 
 
 O 2 
 
 Si 
 
 <k 
 
 I 
 i 
 
 North Stafford 
 
 i 9 
 
 6 7 
 
 \ 
 
 Total 
 
 7 6 
 
 220J 
 
 
 t The principal elements of this charge are : Per Ton 
 
 j. d. 
 
 Actual cost of transport 10 o 
 
 Tolls from London to Preston Brook . . . . 5 2 
 Bridgwater Company's charges .. $s.6d. to 7 6 
 
 J Appendix to ' Report of Select Committee on Canals,' p. 236. 
 
 2 C 2
 
 388 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 much more effectual use is made of the inland waterways than in 
 England, the rate varies from '18 to '48 of a penny per ton per 
 mile.* Hence, it is not surprising that in Germany "for valuable 
 goods a preference is shown for water over railway transport." There, 
 we are told, that " artificial waterways carry the mass of cheap goods 
 for two-thirds of the regular railway tariff, and valuable goods for one- 
 third or two-thirds of this tariff, f It is the same in other continental 
 countries. 
 
 At present, our canal traders are paying four times the amount 
 they require to do for the carriage of their heavy goods between our 
 largest centres of population. The case of the traffic between 
 London and Liverpool is only typical of the trade of the country 
 generally. Between the Lancashire coalfield and the metropolis, the 
 railway charge for transport is about 7^. per ton. By the canal it 
 should, as we have seen, be brought, with a profit of 25 per cent, 
 to the transportation agency, for a fraction over 2s. 6d. ; and when 
 we consider that the metropolis now receives about eight million tons 
 of coal annually by railway, this difference should exercise a sensible 
 influence on the trade of that part of the kingdom. 
 
 The great secret of cheap transportation is to handle and carry 
 large quantities. It is this, and this only, that has enabled the 
 United States to achieve such remarkably cheap transport, both on 
 railways and canals on land and on water. In 1850 the capacity 
 of the trains which carried grain from Chicago to New York was 
 only twenty-five cars or waggons, carrying eight tons each, or a total 
 train-load of about 200 tons. It is now, however, no uncommon 
 thing to see train loads of 1000 to 1200 tons between Buffalo and 
 New York. In 1850 the largest craft employed for transporting 
 traffic on the lakes and rivers between Chicago and New York did 
 not exceed 600 tons, whereas now the maximum is not less than 
 3000 tons.J In both cases the maximum load has been increased 
 to five times as much as it was in 1850. 
 
 * The inland navigation rates of Germany are established according to the 
 following scale ('Journal of Statistical Society, 1888,' p. 391) : 
 
 Per Ton per Mile. 
 
 (a) Goods in bulk, loaded in boats and towed in trains .. i&d, to '2<)d. 
 
 (6) Goods in bales, towed in trains "2^d. to "ifid. 
 
 (c) Goods in bales, carried by steam carriers yjd. to I'od. 
 
 t ' Bulletin du Ministere de travaux publics,' Nov. 1887. 
 
 % ' Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers,' vol. xiv. p. 55.
 
 Cost of Water and Land Transport. 389 
 
 Mr. Conder* has pointed out that a feature of prime importance 
 in which the economy of transport by canal differs from that by 
 railway, is the incidence of the expenses of maintenance. The cost 
 of railway maintenance, as soon as anything like an adequate 
 amount of traffic is brought on a line, is remarkably steady, rising 
 and falling, to a certain extent, with the increase or diminution of 
 the volume of transport. On canals, the fixed expenses demand, in 
 any case, a certain cost, and this cost is very little increased by a 
 large increase of traffic. The annual cost of maintenance in the 
 Suez Canal was actually less from 1876 to 1881 than it had been 
 from 1871 to 1876. But the traffic had considerably more than 
 doubled, so that the cost of maintenance per ton per mile fell from 
 o'35*/. to 0-134^. 
 
 Bearing in mind this peculiar feature of water traffic, it is neces- 
 sary, in speaking of the cost of transport by canal, to indicate the 
 approximate amount of transport for which the calculation is made. 
 Mr. Conder f holds that a traffic of 600,000 units of net load may be 
 taken for this purpose, though it is far beneath the capacity of a 
 canal of very moderate size. At this amount of duty, in order to 
 allow a dividend of 4^ per cent on the capital cost, the rate of 
 freight on an ordinary English canal comes to i54/. per 100,000 
 units, or o - 37^. per ton per mile. On the French canals, providing 
 for sinking fund as well as interest, the cost of freight is o'33</. per 
 ton per mile. In Belgium it is reduced to o'2od., and on the lake 
 and large canal navigations of the United States to o' iod. But on 
 the Aire and Calder Canal, where very special arrangements have 
 been made for the transport of coal, it was stated in evidence before 
 the Select Committee on Canals, that the cost of freight has been 
 reduced to the very low figure of 0*05^. per ton per mile. On 
 English railways coal transport is charged for at the rate of o-$a\ to 
 \d. per ton per mile. 
 
 Mr. Conder has further estimated that in order to obtain the mean 
 return 'of 4^ per cent, on capital, which is all that the English rail- 
 ways have secured since they stopped the canal traffic, the normal 
 charge must be, for passengers o-67</. each, for goods I'lCt^d., and 
 for minerals 1-838^. per ton per mile.J He adds that the charge at 
 
 * Paper on " Inland Transport in the Nineteenth Century by Land and by 
 Water," 'Journal of the Society of Arts,' 1888. 
 t Ibid. 
 J Report on Wilts and Berks Canal, 1882.
 
 390 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 which the long coal traffic is conveyed to London from Wales, over 
 the Great Western Railway, is 0*43^. per ton per mile ; the loss to 
 the Company being to some extent recouped by charges of from i $d. 
 to i'75</. per ton per mile made to those towns which have no 
 alternative means of supply. The positive loss to the Company is 
 thus about o 4^. per ton per mile, and about one-half that loss is 
 inflicted on the purchasers or freighters:* 
 
 It is only right to point out that Mr. Conder's calculations are 
 not accepted by railway managers, nor endorsed by independent 
 experts. Mr. Price Williams, a well-known railway engineer, who 
 has very closely investigated this subject, has come to the conclu- 
 sion that railway companies can carry coal on an ordinary road at 
 about 0*25^. per ton per mile, including return empties. This, 
 however, is merely the cost of haulage, and it must, of course, be 
 added to the cost of management, depreciation, interest, &c., before 
 the exact figure is capable of ascertainment. 
 
 There is, however, even more authoritative evidence as to the 
 actual cost of mineral traffic to the railway companies. Sir James 
 Allport has had the candour to admit * that on the Midland Railway 
 it is about 2s. 6d. per train mile with a train of 320 to 350 tons, 
 which corresponds to rather under o - zd. per ton per mile. This has 
 been confirmed from other railway quarters. 
 
 * Paper on "Inland Transport in the Nineteenth Century by Land and by 
 Water." By F. R. Conder. 
 
 t Select Committee on Canals, Report, 1883.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 SYSTEMS OF TRANSPORT AND HAULAGE. 
 
 THE cost of transport, whether by land or by water, is necessarily 
 largely affected by the method of propulsion or traction employed. 
 On the ocean, on lakes, and, for the most part, on rivers as well, 
 steam and wind are the systems available. On canals, however, the 
 wind is practically impossible as a motive power, and steam is not 
 always convenient. It has, therefore, become necessary and cus- 
 tomary to employ other methods. Of these, the most common in 
 Great Britain is horse traction, which, however, is often varied by 
 manual labour on the towing path. In either of these forms, traction is 
 slow, tedious, and costly, but there are many cases in which it is 
 not possible to make use of any other system. Much depends upon 
 the width of the canal, the number of locks that have to be passed 
 through, and other conditions that affect the problem. It has, how- 
 ever, been placed beyond all doubt that where steam traction can be 
 introduced, it is much more economical than either horse or manual 
 labour. Steam may, of course, be employed in either of two ways 
 either in the form of a tug-boat, with a number of barges in tow, 
 as on the great lakes of the United States ; or, where the locks are 
 not long and wide enough to permit of this system, in the form of a 
 locomotive, instead of a horse, on the towing-path. The former 
 system is, of course, much more general, and, so far as it is possible 
 to judge from recorded experiments, much more satisfactory than 
 the latter. But there are few towing paths that could not be adapted 
 for a narrow-gauge railway, and a small locomotive engine might, 
 therefore, be frequently employed where a steam-tug was out of the 
 question. 
 
 Besides the systems of traction already named, there are various 
 systems of chain towage that have been employed, especially on 
 the Continent, with more or less satisfactory results. These usually 
 take the form of ordinary chain towage, by an endless chain or 
 rope, laid along the bottom of the canal in lengths of two or three
 
 392 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 miles, the tug being drawn along by the engine pulleys engaging 
 with the rope or chain ; or endless chain towage, by which, as 
 practised on the Rhone, the tug carries two independent engines, 
 each of which puts in motion an endless chain drawn along by the 
 tug. This chain, on the Rhone, receives a motion like that of 
 the bucket chain of a dredge, but the upper part remains horizontal, 
 while the lower follows the bottom of the canal, the length and 
 weight of the chain being determined by the adhesion necessary to 
 draw the tug. 
 
 Another system which is practised in France to some extent, 
 and especially on the Rhone, is that of a keel carrying at the 
 stem or prow a large wheel with cams, which draws the boat along 
 by pushing against the bottom, the initial motion being given by a 
 steam engine. 
 
 The moving of boats upon canals or narrow rivers, where sailing 
 is impracticable, has always been attended with difficulties. Where the 
 width and depth of water will admit, long oars have been used, 
 worked by one or two men on each side of the vessel, as is done on 
 the coal barges or lighters on the Thames. On the Tyne, at New- 
 castle, these keels are said to have been in use ever since 1378, and 
 are rowed by an immense oar on one side, another being used at the 
 stern to steer by, and so to counteract the tendency of this strange 
 mode of rowing. 
 
 It is said that the large oar is hung by an iron ring, so as to admit 
 of its being laid on the gunwale of the keel, when not in use, but not 
 of its being removed. Owing to the want of any regular and proper 
 path on which horses could travel by the sides of rivers, the first 
 hauling or towing of boats was performed by men. This still con- 
 tinues to be the case on the canals of China and some other 
 countries ; and in this country most of our navigable rivers were 
 without horse towing-paths until the early part of the present century. 
 Formerly ten or fifteen men were seen tugging at the hauling line of 
 a barge on the Thames in the meadows of Twickenham. A good 
 horse-path now begins at Putney bridge, on the south side, and con- 
 tinues uninterruptedly on one side or other of the river to the extreme 
 points of the navigation. These essential appendages to navigation 
 were even more recently adopted on the Severn river. The towing 
 path on many of our old navigations is continually interrupted and 
 broken off by mills and other obstacles without any bridges for the 
 crossing of the towing horses and boys. On the Ouse river, below
 
 Systems of Transport and Haulage. 393 
 
 Bedford, the towing-path used to be interrupted at the end of almost 
 every field by high and dangerous stiles, over which the ill-fated 
 navigation horses had to leap, encumbered by their harness and the 
 heavy rope. 
 
 The records of the machines approved by the Academy at Paris, 
 and the Cabinet of M. de Servier, printed in 1719, contain plates and 
 descriptions of many diiferent contrivances, designed for the propelling 
 or rowing of boats on canals and rivers. One of these systems depends 
 upon gaining an impulse or hold against the ground at the bottom of 
 the river or canal, in one of which a small boat moved by oars was 
 proposed to be employed in successively carrying forwards and 
 dropping anchors whose ropes were to be attached to a horse-gin, on 
 board of a barge, which was designed to tow or drag a great number 
 of others. In another, a spiked wheel was proposed to roll on the 
 bottom of the canal, attached by a frame, movable on hinges, at the 
 stern of a barge, where a roller, turned by a winch, was to give motion 
 to the spiked wheel, and propel the barge by means of an endless 
 rope or chain. A second kind depended upon the same principles 
 as an oar, except in the construction and mode of applying the 
 power. 
 
 On the 2oth of July, 1796, one Thomas Potts took out a 
 patent for the use of a large flap or oar moving upon a horizontal 
 hinge, attached to a framed lever at the stern of a barge, intended, 
 when the handle of this lever was lifted up by several men, to turn on 
 its hinge and present but little resistance ; but on the descent of 
 the lever, its whole surface was, by the action of the men at the lever, 
 to be exerted on the water for propelling the barge. 
 
 In the year 1801, one Edward Steers took out a patent which 
 seems to have differed but little from the above, except in having 
 two paddles or oars. Robert Beatson took out a patent for applying 
 the principle of luffer boards or Venetian blinds to several purposes, 
 which he has explained at length in an essay printed in 1798; and 
 he proposed to propel ships by large oars or fins of this kind to be 
 hung on the sides thereof by hinges, and worked by a lever, as a 
 rudder is by its tiller-poles, with square frames fixed on their ends, 
 to push against the water behind the vessel. A third kind, depend- 
 ing on the reverse of the action of an undershot water-wheel, has 
 had many advocates. 
 
 Thomas Savery,in 1698, proposed the use of six or eight paddles, 
 like those of a water-wheel, on each side of the vessel, fixed on an
 
 394 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 axis across the same, by the force of a capstan to be turned by 
 men. 
 
 In the year 1781, the Abbe* Arnal proposed to apply the power 
 of a steam engine on board of a vessel for working paddles. 
 
 Soon after this period, there was employed on the Thames, at 
 Westminster, a small barge with a water-wheel in a cavity in its 
 stern, with a steam engine for working it, which was said to be the 
 contrivance of Earl Stanhope, and had been tried with success 
 against the tide in the river. In the year 1797 a vessel having 
 rowers by its side, that made 18 strokes per minute, from the action 
 of a steam engine on board, was tried on the Sankey Canal near 
 Liverpool, by which it was propelled 10 miles and back again to the 
 same place.* About the year 1800, Messrs. Hunter and Dickenson, 
 took out a patent for a propeller for ships, which was tried in 
 January 1801, on board of a Government sloop off Deptford on 
 the Thames, and the sloop thereby made way against the tide at the 
 rate of three knots an hour.f 
 
 In the Journal of the Royal Institution, about the year 1802, 
 there is a description of an improved application of the steam engine 
 to the turning of a wheel for propelling boats ; the cylinder of this 
 engine was horizontal, and the wheels with paddles were in a cavity 
 in the stern of the boat, which, therefore, had two rudders, one on 
 each side of the wheel, connected together by cross rods. A vessel 
 of this kind was constructed for the Forth and Clyde Company under 
 the direction of Mr. Symington, the inventor, and, in a trial made 
 in December 1801, drew three vessels of 60 and 70 tons burthen 
 each, at the rate of 2\ miles per hour on their canal.J 
 
 Robert Fulton exhibited a vessel on the Seine at Paris, in August 
 1803, having two wheels with paddles, worked by a steam engine, 
 and it was reported that two other vessels were towed by it against 
 the stream at the rate of three miles per hour. A fourth kind of boat 
 propellers, depended upon the rotary motion of a screw or fliers, like 
 those of a jack. Daniel Bushnel, in his attempts to navigate sub- 
 marine vessels, used oars, placed near the sides and top of the 
 vessel, formed upon the principle of a screw, the axles of which 
 entered the vessel, and by turning the same one way, the vessel 
 was made to advance or descend by a contrary motion of the screw. 
 
 * ' Monthly Magazine,' vol. iv. p. 75. t Ibid , vol. xi. p. 195. 
 
 J 'Agricultural Magazine,' vol. vii. p. 152. 
 
 'Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,' vol iv. p. 303.
 
 Systems of Transport and Haulage. 395 
 
 John Vidler contrived a vessel which was tried in the Thames 
 at Westminster, about 1810 that had a boom hung by a universal 
 joint (hooks) at the stern to a rotative axis, turned by a capstan 
 upon the deck of the vessel. At the end of this boom was fixed 
 a circle of strong flyers, just, like those of a jack, which, by striking 
 the water obliquely as the boom was turned round, propelled the 
 vessel forward. Near to the flyers there was a collar on the boom 
 that turned easily therein ; to this collar ropes were attached, which 
 were carried to different parts of the stern of the vessel, and by 
 means of which the boom could be stopped when in motion, if it 
 was desired to stop its propelling action on any temporary occasion, 
 or the flies thereof could be let down into the water to any depth 
 required, or be turned aside from the direct line of the vessel to 
 steer her on any course, without expending so much of the propelling- 
 power upon the rudder as was usually done in steering. 
 
 These are but a few of the many services that have either been 
 proposed or applied to the propulsion of boats on rivers and canals. 
 Most of them, it need hardly be added, were found to be failures, 
 although in some cases they contained the germs of the remarkable 
 progress that has since taken place in the matter of propulsion 
 generally. The number of patents that have been taken out with a 
 view to overcoming the difficulties incidental to canal haulage have 
 been legion. The real gist of the matter is that no two waterways 
 present exactly the same conditions, and no system of transport will 
 be found to answer equally well in all cases, unless the circumstances 
 under which it is applied are identical and parallel. Hence, it be- 
 comes important to show what has been done on different waterways 
 to meet the special conditions that have existed, and the results of 
 these different applications. 
 
 In the earliest traction experiments made on the Elbe in 1720 a 
 hempen rope was fastened on shore, the other end being wound up 
 on board, and vessels were thus propelled. Nothing better than this 
 rough system obtained for a hundred years, when, in 1820, Messrs. 
 Tourasse and Courteaut designed special flat-bottomed tugs, 75 feet 
 long and 17 feet wide, with a horse capstan for winding up the rope ; 
 and subsequently, on the Seine, a 6 horse-power steam-engine was 
 substituted for the horse capstan. 
 
 Chains next took the place of hempen ropes, and between 1820 
 and 1830 many chain-tugs were employed on French rivers; but the 
 first systematic service was carried out in 1846 between Pans and
 
 396 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 Montereau (65 miles) with tugs designed by Mr. Dietz, which in 
 their essential features are similar to those in use at the present day. 
 These tugs drew 18 inches of water, and were fitted with engines of 
 from 35 to 40 horse-power, actuating the drum on which the chain 
 was wound, two sets of gear being provided for going up and down 
 stream, respectively. The boiler pressure was 5^ atmospheres, and 
 the expenditure of fuel 5^ Ibs. per horse-power per hour. Subse- 
 quently the chain was laid further up the Seine, and it was also 
 applied to some rivers in France. 
 
 In Germany, in 1866, chain-tugs were running on 200 miles of 
 the Elbe, and in the next ten or twelve years this system was in use 
 on the Saale, the Brahe, and the Neckar. 
 
 The Elbe tugs are 138 to 150 feet long and 24 feet wide, with 
 1 8 inches draught On the other rivers of Germany they are some- 
 what smaller. The sides are of ^-inch iron plate, and formerly the 
 bottoms were of ^-inch iron, but now they are built of 4-inch pine 
 planks, as suffering less from abrasion on dragging over a rough bed. 
 There is a rudder at each end, the wheel being amidships. The 
 engines are from 60 to 70 horse-power, and work with a pressure of 
 from 5 to 7 atmospheres. In slight currents a single drum is suffi- 
 cient, the chain being kept pressed against it by rollers, and the drum 
 is nicked to prevent the slip of the chain, but ordinarily there are 
 two drums, to which the engine power is transmitted by two sets of 
 gearing with different rates of speed one for working up stream, 
 with great power and small speed ; the other for down stream, with 
 less power and greater speed. Projecting over each end of the tug 
 are booms furnished with guide-rollers for the chain, which give 
 increased steering facilities. 
 
 The chains are from f to i inch thick. When fractures occur, 
 which is seldom, it is generally at the moment of the chain being 
 first wound round the drum. Each drum is fitted with a brake, and 
 at the ends of the booms there are clips, designed to prevent a run- 
 ning out of the chain in case of the brake failing to hold. 
 
 Chain-towing has so increased on the Elbe that in 1874 there 
 were twenty-eight tugs running regularly between Hamburg and 
 Aussig (420 miles). On the Neckar, at the same date, five tugs were 
 employed on 56 miles of chain, and this was to be extended for 
 30 miles more, from Heilbronn to Cannstatt. Experience has shown 
 that chain-tugs have great advantages over paddle-tugs, even in smooth 
 water, for in the latter 60 to 70 per cent, of the power is lost in slips.
 
 Systems of Transport and Haulage. 397 
 
 Another advantage of chain-towing is that it produces no wash or 
 swell. The charge for transport by this system is said to average 
 about \d. per ton per mile. 
 
 In 1865 Mr. de Meseil, a Belgian, introduced a system of trans- 
 port where a wire rope was substituted for the chain. The same 
 system was taken up and improved by Max Eith of Wurtemburg, and 
 worked with success on a 4o-mile section of the Maas (from Namur 
 to Liege). It was subsequently employed on canals in Holland and 
 Belgium, and also on the Rhine. Extensive trials were also made on 
 the Danube with satisfactory results. 
 
 A wire-rope tug company in 1873 laid down the line from Bingen 
 to Rotterdam, but worked the upper section only themselves, viz. 
 from Bingen to Ruhrort (155 miles), From Ruhrort downwards a 
 concession was granted to a Dutch company, who employed a special 
 kind of tug, in which the rope passed over drums inside the vessel, 
 similar to the chain -tug system ; but the usual arrangement of having 
 the rope outside the tug has been found most convenient, as it enables 
 it to be easily cast off and taken up again when two tugs meet. 
 
 The wire rope generally used on the Rhine is formed of forty- 
 nine wires 0*189 mcn thick, is 1*7 inch in diameter, and weighs 
 4f Ib. per yard. It usually costs \o>d. per foot, which is about one- 
 third the weight and cost per foot of an iron chain of equal strength. 
 
 The first wire-rope tugs at work in Holland and Belgium had a 
 20 horse-power engine for the driving wheels, and another 10 horse- 
 power engine to work a screw when going down stream clear of the 
 rope. At each end, outside the tug, there are guide-wheels to keep 
 the rope clear of the vessel, and at the centre are two large wheels 
 which lead the rope on to a Fowler's clip-drum, against which it is 
 kept pressed by small rollers. To pick up the rope and pass it over 
 the wheels and drum takes a quarter of an hour. 
 
 The Danube Company's tug Nyitra, which resembles the Rhine 
 tugs, is 140 feet long, 24^ feet wide, and draws 3^ feet of water ; the 
 clip-drum is 10^ feet, and the adjoining wheels about 9 feet, in 
 diameter. Against a current of 4^ feet per second, it can draw 
 eight barges, with a total load of over 2000 tons, at a speed of 
 3 miles an hour, with useful effect of 75 per cent. In chain-tugs 
 this percentage is higher on account of the greater flexibility of the 
 chain. Fractures of the rope seldom occur, in spite of the rocky 
 bottom in certain sections of the river. The life of a wire rope may 
 be taken at from four to six years.
 
 398 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 It has been found that wire-rope tugs cannot work in less than 
 3 feet of water, or only with difficulty, whereas chain tugs can work 
 in one-half of that depth. As regards steering facility, they are much 
 alike. The delay caused by fractures is an important item in the 
 comparison. Repairs to chains usually occupy considerably less 
 time than repairs to wire ropes. Chain tugs in any depth under 
 
 3 feet, and in sharp curves, are said to be preferable to rope tugs ; 
 in moderately strong currents, and in larger curves, they are about 
 equal ; but in canals, and in large deep rivers, rope tugs are the best, 
 and both are superior, in ordinary circumstances, to paddle tugs. 
 
 In canal tunnels, as in the 4-mile section between Mons and 
 Paris, where steam cannot be used on account of the smoke, chain 
 tugs, worked by a horse capstan, tow a barge through in one-third the 
 time, and at one-fourth the cost, of the former system, when men 
 were employed for towing. 
 
 Where strong rapids are met with, special appliances called 
 " grapins " are sometimes employed. This consists of an iron wheel 
 of about 20 feet in diameter and 17^ tons weight, furnished with pro- 
 jections or picks, fixed in a well-hole at midships, and worked by a 
 chain attached to the paddle-shaft. On ascending a river the " grapin " 
 is lowered till the picks grip the bed, on which the wheel slowly turns, 
 and the paddles, working at the same time, in this way tow barges 
 over the strongest rapids. Busquet's tug, which is used in France, 
 works on a chain, though it is similar to a wire-rope tug. The 
 Baxter steamboat, used on the Erie canal, was the outcome of a 
 competition invited by the State of New York for a prize of 2o,ooo/. 
 for the steamer which best fulfilled the following, viz. a mean speed 
 of 3 miles per hour with a load of 200 tons, small cost, and no wash 
 or swell. This steamboat is 100 feet long, 17^ feet wide, and about 
 9 feet deep, with a flat bottom and vertical sides, and, including 
 engines and coal, weighs 52 tons. It carries a load of 200 tons, 
 with a draught of 6 feet of water, and has an average speed of about 
 
 4 miles, but can work up to 7^ miles an hour. 
 
 On the Saar coal canal Jacquel's steam-tug system is in use, where 
 the screw is within the body of the vessel, and surrounded by a 
 cylinder, and is fed with water by two large channels leading from 
 the sides of the vessel to the front of the screw.* 
 
 * These particulars are abstracted, through the " Minutes of Proceedings of the 
 Institution of Civil Engineers," from the ' Zeitschrift fur technische Hochschulen ' 
 for 1881.
 
 Systems of Transport and Haulage. 399 
 
 The tugs of the Rhine are large, very tapering vessels ; some of 
 them have engines of from 600 to 700 horse-power, and they are 
 provided with all the latest improvement for economising fuel. 
 Vessels with two screws are preferred, as combining adequate power 
 with small draught ; nevertheless, when the river is very low, paddle- 
 wheel tugs of the old type have to be resorted to. Towing by aid of 
 a submerged cable was started some years ago, but it has since been 
 abandoned, except in the most difficult part of the river between St. 
 Goar and Bingen, where it has proved serviceable, especially when 
 the water is low. A serious disadvantage of this system is that in 
 descending the river the tug has to let go the cable, and act simply 
 as a tug, for which it is not well suited. 
 
 Improvements have been introduced in the vessels as well as in the 
 tugs. Narrow iron vessels have been substituted for the broad wooden 
 barges in order to reduce the tractive force. Some of these vessels 
 are 1000 tons register; but vessels from 400 to 500 tons are the 
 most common. On the Rhine, vessels forming one convoy arc not 
 connected together in trains, as in France, but each is provided with 
 its tug, which is a great advantage where the navigation is difficult. 
 
 Human labour is still employed for towage on some of the 
 Dutch, Belgian, and German canals. Boats of from 15 to 26 tons 
 are towed by men at a speed of i to i miles per hour. Dr. Mitzen, 
 a German authority, allows for this system of transport a duty of 
 ii miles a day, including all stoppages. Steam-tug boats on the 
 Belgian canals are restricted to a speed of 2|- miles per hour, and on 
 the wider rivers to 4^- miles per hour. On the canal joining the 
 Tiege to the Vistula, steam-tugs draw trains of barges 410 feet long, 
 the speed being restricted to three miles per hour. The steam-tugs 
 put by Mr. Beardmore on the river Lea towed from 50 to 60 tons, at 
 from two to two and a half miles per hour, in the cuts, three to three 
 and a half miles per hour in the larger sections, and five miles per 
 hour in the Thames. On the Grand Junction Canal the speed of a 
 steamer towing one vessel is put from three to three and a half miles 
 per hour. On the Rotterdam Canal, four boats, of 130 tons each, are 
 towed by a screw steamer. 
 
 Several attempts have been made on the Leeds and Liverpool 
 Canal to introduce steam towage, and in the year 1879 the company 
 tried a screw steamer with compound condensing engines, to tow six 
 4o-ton barges on a river or deep canal. 
 
 It was very quickly discovered that the vessel was next to useless
 
 4OO Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 on a shallow canal the 'section of that particular waterway only 
 averages from 40 feet to 50 feet in width at the surface, with flat 
 sloping sides under water, tapering down to a mid-channel or gutter 
 with an average depth of only 4^- feet inasmuch as with that depth 
 (in mid-channel only) a screw propeller of sufficient diameter could 
 not be used to utilise the power of the engines without a very great 
 amount of" slip" and churning of the water instead of doing useful 
 work. It was also found that when the least obstruction took place 
 by meeting other barges near bridges or sharp curves, causing the 
 slowing up or stoppage entirely of the tug, the barges in tow would, 
 so to speak, insist on running pell-mell into one another, for the 
 simple reason that they could not apply a brake, and besides they 
 used to get zig-zagged across the canal in every direction, which 
 often caused a delay of fifteen or twenty minutes before all could 
 be marshalled and got under weigh again. 
 
 Another attempt has since been made, which utilised the power 
 of the engines with more success. Two narrow boats of about 
 five feet beam were braced side by side under one deck, with a longi- 
 tudinal space of about three feet between each, and in this space was 
 one paddle-wheel with a long-stroke horizontal engine on deck over 
 each boat (two engines) driving a crank on each end of the paddle 
 shaft, set at right-angles, and across the deck stood a locomotive 
 boiler, each boat carrying its own proportion of the weight of the 
 boiler. The funnel had to be placed at an angle of 45 degrees, so as 
 to get under the very low bridges. This steamer towed fairly well 
 five barges of coal, but caused a great waste in the canal, to the 
 injury of the banks, and was subject to the steering difficulties when- 
 ever any obstruction took place, which in this canal are frequent, 
 owing to its very tortuous character. 
 
 The ordinary barges on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal have 
 been utilised as tugs by putting in small engines of just sufficient 
 power to drive a screw propeller as large as could be made available 
 without a large percentage of positive " slip," each tug carrying a 
 paying cargo. When the first barge was fitted up in this way, it 
 was found that it would tow two others very well at two miles an 
 hour. In some parts of the canal where the depth is a little greater 
 the speed would rise to 2! and 2f miles an hour ; and under similar 
 conditions, with only one barge in tow, as high as 3^ to 3^ miles an 
 hour. At the latter speed, however, the displacement sets up a 
 rolling wave along banks, which does injury, whereas at 2 to i\ miles
 
 Systems of Transport and Haulage. 401 
 
 an hour there is no perceptible disturbance of the water at the sides, 
 and only a very slight disturbance in the centre. 
 
 A number of these steam barges are now employed on this canal, 
 in addition to one for towing through Foulridge tunnel, one mile in 
 length. This tug has both ends alike, with two propellers, one at 
 the bow and one at the stern, as well as a rudder at bow and stern, so 
 that the boat does not require to be turned about at each journey. 
 Prior to the adoption of this tug, all barges had to be worked through 
 the tunnel by men, who lay on their side on the gunwale of the 
 boat, pushing it along with their feet against the tunnel wall, and 
 taking 2 to z\ hours to travel the mile, whereas the tug tows two and 
 three loaded barges at a time the same distance (one mile) in twenty 
 to twenty-five minutes, the only hands required being the engineer 
 and helmsman. The engine and boiler are placed as far aft as possible. 
 The form of propeller is the result of a very exhaustive and costly 
 series of experiments. With full-size ones in actual work, it gives the 
 best results in shallow waters. It would not, however, be well 
 adapted for deep-water towage. The helmsman can perform the 
 following duties without leaving his helm, viz., start, stop, or reverse 
 the engines, lower the funnel at bridges, blow the whistle and use the 
 auxiliary steam jet for funnel. He can also observe the conditions of 
 his boiler, for he has the water-gauge and steam-gauge in full view 
 before him. 
 
 Mr. Aid. Bailey, of Salford, has given the following interesting 
 details of the cost of a steamer for twenty-four hours' work, towing 
 two barges fully loaded, on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal : * 
 
 COST OF STEAMER. 
 
 * d. 
 
 One captain 4 | 
 
 One mate 4 * 
 
 Two ordinary hands 
 
 Gas coke for engines : 24 cwt. at 6s. &/. per ton 080 
 
 Tallow (2 Ib.) at $</. x 
 
 Oil (2 quarts) at lod. o ] 
 
 Stores, waste and lights o i o 
 
 COST OF Two BARGES. 
 
 Two captains at 4f. 4</. j* ! 
 
 Two ordinary hands at 45 o 8 o 
 
 Five per cent, interest, and 10 per cent, depreciation, on first 
 
 cost of steamer and barges (1000) for one day .. .. o 
 Fifteen per cent, of steamer and barges for repairs per day .. 
 
 * Paper read before the Manchester Association of Engineers. 
 
 2 D
 
 402 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The distance averaged in twenty-four hours (including locks) was 
 40 miles. The weight carried was steamer, 35 tons ; barges, each 
 40 tons ; total 115 tons. The cost was about one-sixth of a penny 
 per ton per mile. 
 
 Mr. Bartholomew, of the Aire and Calder Navigation, has intro- 
 duced a system of a train of boats about ten or twelve in number, 
 each carrying about 40 tons, 20 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 7 feet 
 6 inches deep, propelled by a steam tug. 
 
 By having a tug behind the train of boats, greater control of the 
 steaming power is obtained. The boats are threaded together by 
 means of wire rope controlled by two cylinders which are self-acting, 
 and are under the charge of the man who is steering. By lengthening 
 and shortening the wire ropes on each side of the train, it can be 
 guided to go to any curve by making it convex or concave, the train 
 being left to rise and fall vertically according to any little variation of 
 headline. Buffers are attached to the ends of the boats, which have 
 a tendency to bring them back again into line in case of any slight 
 disorganisation caused by wind or water, the full control of the train 
 and its direction being under the guidance of the steerer. 
 
 This system, however, could not be introduced on many of the 
 canals in England, unless larger locks were made, or inclined planes 
 to get from one level to another. The system has been well 
 described as a train of waggons on water without wheels 
 
 On the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, Mr. Clegram found that, 
 after allowing 15 per cent, for interest and depreciation, the cost of 
 steam haulage amounted to y^th of a penny per ton per mile, being 
 a saving of two-thirds as compared with horse power. With a heavier 
 trade, however, which allowed the barges to be more generally 
 employed, the work was done for T ^th of a penny per ton per mile. 
 
 In a number of cases both chain and wire rope haulage has been 
 tried unsuccessfully on English canals, but that, no doubt, has been 
 owing to their peculiar local circumstances. The wire rope system 
 has been tried on the Bridgwater Canal and found unworkable 
 owing to the large number of bends and turns and the difficulty of 
 working the traffic in different directions. The chain system of 
 haulage was tried on the Grand Junction Canal of Ireland as far back 
 as 1860, but it was soon abandoned as impracticable, and steam 
 power was substituted. 
 
 On the canals of Deule and Neufosse's locomotive haulage is 
 employed for a total length of about 50 miles. The line is of metre
 
 Systems of Transport and Haulage. 403 
 
 gauge, and the locomotives, of which there are twenty-two, weigh 
 from six to ten tons each. The speed employed, however, is only 
 about i miles per hour, at which rate each locomotive can draw 
 about 1000 tons. 
 
 In some interesting experiments lately made on French canals, 
 a railway was laid down on the towing-path, about a yard from the 
 brink of the canal, and a small locomotive of about four tons weight 
 was placed upon it. The wheels were coupled and geared, with a 
 driving wheel making 140 revolutions per minute, and allowing a 
 maximum speed of 7 miles per hour. The engine, which was worked 
 by one man, was attached to a cable about 80 yards long, and then 
 drew a team of barges with complete success. It was found capable 
 of drawing a net load of 100 tons of goods for each ton of its own 
 weight. The actual speed was 2 4 miles per hour, and the average 
 speed, allowing for stoppages, i 8 miles per hour. With horses the 
 average speed on the same canals was only o 9 mile per hour, so 
 that an important saving in time, as well as of expense, was obtained. 
 The system has since been tried on a larger scale upon the canals 
 between Dunkirk and Paris. 
 
 It seems, on a survey of the various systems heretofore applied to 
 canal towage, that they may be divided into two categories. In the 
 most important of these, the fulcrum lies out of the water, as in chain 
 and wire-rope towage, in the employment of grapplers, in locomotive 
 towage, and in the use of horses and men. In the other category, 
 we find paddle-wheels and screw-propellers, which have their fulcrum 
 in the water. In the former category, the amount of power utilised 
 is much greater than in the latter, and, for that reason, chain, wire- 
 rope, or locomotive towage would appear to be preferable, more 
 especially so, as the use of screw propellers or paddle-wheels has a 
 tendency to damage the embankments of the canal, and thereby to 
 increase the expense of maintenance. 
 
 During the year 1888, experiments'were carried out on the Saint 
 Maurice canal with a system of cable haulage introduced by M. Levy, 
 which seems to be of some value. An endless cable, supported by 
 pulleys on posts along the banks of the canal, is set in motion by a 
 hauling engine situated at some convenient point, and the barges 
 which are attached to this cable are thus drawn along. On one 
 side of the canal the cable runs in one direction, and on the other 
 side it runs in the opposite direction, so as to accommodate both 
 up and down traffic. Notwithstanding the extreme simplicity 
 
 2 D 2
 
 404 Waterways and Water Transport.
 
 Systems of Transport and Haulage. 
 
 405 
 
 of the idea, there occur considerable difficulties in its practical 
 application, the most formidable of these being the danger that, 
 by the oblique pull from the barges, the cable may be thrown off 
 its supporting pulleys into the water, especially where there occurs 
 a bend in the canal. To prevent the cable from leaving the pulleys, 
 the latter are provided with deep flanges ; but as these would prevent 
 the easy passage of the oblique hauling rope, some special provision 
 
 PLAN OF THE ST. MAURICE CANAL, SHOWING CABLE TRACTION. 
 
 had to be made for this purpose. The flange on the water side of 
 each pulley has two gaps, as shown in the drawings (pp. 405-406), 
 and as the cable with its hauling rope passes into the groove, one or 
 the other of these gaps engages the oblique rope, but not the cable 
 which passes on in a straight line. The rope passing through the 
 gap is thus shunted out of the groove, and passes clear of the pulley. 
 The attachment of the rope to the cable is shown at 3. At certain 
 intervals along the cable are attached ferrules, between which is a 
 shackle A, which can freely revolve. Through this shackle is passed 
 the hauling rope, made fast upon itself by an easily detachable 
 clamp D, from which a line is taken on board. By a pull at this 
 line the clamp is unfastened, and the hauling rope is slipped through 
 the shackle, so that the man in charge of the barge can at any
 
 406 Waterways and Water Transport.
 
 Systems of Transport and Haulage. 407 
 
 moment disconnect the latter from the cable. The speed of the 
 cable is from 2\ to 2^ miles per hour, and with this speed no 
 difficulty was experienced in making the attachment. The difficulty, 
 however, was to impart motion to the barge without unnecessarily 
 straining the cable. It will be easily understood that when a weight 
 of 200 tons to 300 tons has to be set in motion, even at a com- 
 paratively slow speed, the acceleration must not be too great, 
 otherwise the strain on the cable and hauling rope would be ex- 
 cessive. The attachment must therefore not be an absolutely rigid 
 one, and, to give time for the gradual starting of the barge, the 
 hauling rope is taken round a brake drum, and allowed to slip at 
 first, so that the barge may be gradually set in motion ; the brake is 
 then locked, and the only further attention required is the steering. 
 At the end of the length of canal served by the rope, the bargeman 
 simply pulls the line, and the momentum of the barge is sufficient to 
 carry it on to the next section, where it would be similarly attached 
 to a running cable. 
 
 The illustration on p. 404, reproduced from Industries, shows the 
 engine house by the side of the canal bank : and a plan of the 
 experimental installation as at present carried out is shown on 
 p. 405. The results have been so encouraging, that it is intended 
 to equip about 6 miles of canal with this system. Compared 
 with horse haulage, there is said to be a considerable gain in 
 speed ; and, as far as can be judged at present, the cost of haulage 
 is reduced from 10 to 30 per cent.
 
 408 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 LOCKS, PLANES, SLUICE-GATES AND LIFTS. 
 
 THE main difference between rivers and canals, is that the former 
 are usually capable of being navigated without any artificial provision 
 for overcoming differences of level, whereas canals are so constructed 
 that differences of level are overcome by locks or lifts. There are, of 
 course, many cases in which the navigation of a river is suddenly and 
 effectually obstructed by differences of level which are unsurmount- 
 able. This is notably the case on the Niagara river, where the falls 
 of that name interpose a bar to the further navigation of a stream 
 which would otherwise be the natural connection between lakes Erie 
 and Ontario. The same sort of obstruction is interposed to the 
 navigation of the Gotha river in Sweden, by the Falls of Trolhatta. 
 There are many cataracts on the Mississippi river and its tributaries 
 which render navigation all but impossible. These natural barriers 
 have in many cases been got over by the risky and difficult operation 
 of " shooting the rapids " a feat in which the red Indian navigators 
 have long excelled. But while it may be possible with a canoe to 
 overcome such obstructions without absolute disaster, it is manifest that 
 such risks could never be run in the everyday business of commercial 
 transport. 
 
 For these reasons, it has, in not a few cases, been found expedient 
 to overcome the obstructions to river navigation that are interposed 
 by rapids or cataracts, by constructing an artificial waterway parallel 
 to the falls, on which the rise or fall of the natural waterway is sur- 
 mounted by locks or lifts. The Welland Canal performs this 
 function in Canada, and the Gotha Canal in Sweden. There is 
 practically no limit to the differences of level that may be met by 
 this arrangement, always assuming that water supply can be com- 
 manded at the summit. 
 
 Obviously, however, on canals, as on rivers, the fewer locks or 
 lifts the better. The process of passing through a canal lock is 
 tedious, and while it involves a considerable expenditure of time, it
 
 Locks, Planes, Sluice-gates and Lifts. 409 
 
 involves also a corresponding amount of cost. For ship canals, it is 
 much better to have no locks or lifts whatever. This aim was kept 
 in view in the laying out of the Suez and Panama Canals, but on the 
 latter canal, the cost of cutting through the Culebra mountain was 
 found to be so very considerable, and the financial position of the 
 company was so unsatisfactory, that M. Eiffel submitted a proposal to 
 make use of locks, which was adopted by M. de Lesseps and his 
 colleagues as a dernier ressort* The Panama Canal has proved 
 that the avoidance of locks can only be purchased in an uneven 
 country at an immense cost, and the canal engineer has therefore to 
 consider whether the resources at his disposal will enable him to pay 
 the price involved. The proposed Nicaraguan Canal is another 
 enterprise that presents some interesting problems of this description. 
 This canal will make use for a great part of the total distance between 
 ocean and ocean 169 miles of Lake Nicaragua, and as that lake 
 is 600 feet above sea level, it is manifestly necessary to make use of 
 locks. In other words, as the lake cannot be brought to the tide 
 level of the canal, the canal must be carried up to the level of the 
 lake. 
 
 A lock chamber, enclosed by a double pair of gates is said to 
 have been employed for the first time in Italy in 1481, the designers 
 and builders having been two clock-makers in Viterbo of the name 
 of Domenico. The State of Venice was the first to adopt the 
 system, but before the end of the fifteenth century, Leonardo da 
 Vinci had united the two chief canals of Milan by six such locks, 
 having a fall of 17 braces.j 
 
 On one of the canals constructed in Italy, between Padua and 
 Vicenza, about the fifteenth century, there are several sluice-gates, or 
 pertuis, which are said by Cresy \ to have been thus contrived : 
 
 " The lower beam of each gate was framed with the head and 
 heel posts, so as to allow a space of 6 inches between it and the sill. 
 From the middle beam to the top, the gates were planked over in the 
 ordinary way ; the lower part was left open, or in skeleton framing, 
 and was closed by paddles or sluices, which were moved up and 
 down by a rack and pinion. When the paddles were let down, they 
 descended 3 or 4 inches lower than the surface of the floor on the 
 
 * These locks will be found described and illustrated in a previous chapter. 
 f Zendrini's ' Delia Acque Correnti,' c. 12. 
 \ ' Encyclopaedia of Civil Engineering.'
 
 4io Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 lower side, which acted as a rebate, against which they pressed, and 
 effectually shut the lock. They also had a bearing against the lower 
 cross-beam of the gate, and the head and heel posts rested on square 
 stones made fast in the sill. 
 
 "To make use of gates upon this construction, it was necessary 
 first to raise the paddle as high as the lower cross-beam, which per- 
 mitted the water to pass through at the foot of the gate. The paddles 
 were then elevated to the height of the middle beam, which was 
 placed at the ordinary level of the water, usually 4 or 5 feet deep 
 upon the sill. 
 
 " These gates were easily opened, as the boarded part was entirely 
 out of the water, and a deposit on the floor of the chamber of the 
 lock could form but little obstruction, as from the scour of the water 
 the greater part would be washed away. The only serious objection 
 to this early contrivance in aid of internal navigation is the injury 
 that vessels might sustain at the time they were passing through, 
 when one half of their length would be out of the water, producing a 
 considerable strain upon them. The water passing through a space, 
 walled in on both sides, would, to a certain extent, allow the barge 
 or vessel to slide down an apparent plane ; but, before it could again 
 resume its level position, it would be subjected to another strain. 
 These side walls were, however, made of considerable length, a foot 
 being usually allowed for every inch of fall ; a timber floor was laid 
 throughout, to prevent the force of the water from deepening and 
 undermining the foundations." 
 
 The Chinese, who have early distinguished themselves in many 
 inventions that have been worked out and improved upon under our 
 Western civilisation, introduced piers into their rivers and canals, in 
 order to overcome the difficulties incidental to falls or shoal water. 
 These piers have been termed by De la Lande half locks, and it has 
 been remarked by Chapman that the casual position of two pairs of 
 piers near to each other has no doubt suggested the invention of locks, 
 as it would be seen, when the gates of the lower piers were closed, 
 and of sufficient height, that the water would be nearly still between 
 the upper pair of piers, and afford an easy passage, so that, in place of 
 a single pair of piers, two pairs would be erected sufficiently near to 
 each other for the purpose, and capacious enough to hold a fleet of a 
 boats. It would soon afterwards be found that in dry seasons the 
 waste of water was greater than could be conveniently afforded, and 
 the operation was tedious for single boats. Thus would progressively
 
 Locks, Planes, Sluice-gates and Lifts. 411 
 
 arise the invention of locks with walled chambers and sluices 
 through their gates and walls. There are, or were recently, on some 
 rivers, locks of the first construction, composed simply of two pairs 
 of piers, without any connection of walls or pavement between them. 
 The Kennet and the Lea have unwalled locks. Thomas Telford, 
 when projecting the Inverness and Fort William Canal, on account 
 of the great plenty of water, and size of the vessels to be used, pro- 
 posed not to wall the locks the whole length, but to have earthen 
 banks between the two pair of piers of masonry that support the 
 upper and lower gates of the locks. 
 
 It appears from M. De la Lande's ' Traite' des canaux de Navi- 
 gation,' that the first lock was supposed to be erected in the year 
 1488, upon the Brenta, near Padua; and that shortly after, the two 
 canals of Milan, between which there was a fall of nearly 34 feet 
 were joined by means of six locks, similar in principle to those at 
 present in use. The first lock that James Brindley erected appears to 
 have been at Compton, on the Stafford and Worcester Canal ; but 
 they were not at that time uncommon in England, on several of the 
 rivers, and on the Sankey Canal. 
 
 PLANES. 
 
 William Reynolds, of Ketley, in Shropshire was the first who 
 contrived and executed an inclined plane (which was completed in 
 1788) for the passage of boats and their cargoes. It was found 
 to answer the purpose, and continued in practical use. Thomas 
 Telford has thus described the plane, in 'Plymley's Agricultural 
 Report of Shropshire ' (p. 291): "Mr. Reynolds having occasion to 
 improve the mode of conveying iron, stone and coals, from the 
 neighbourhood of the Oaken-gates to the ironworks of Ketley, these 
 materials lying generally at the distance of about a mile and a half 
 from the ironworks, and at 73 feet above their level, he made a navi- 
 gable canal," called the Ketley Canal, " and instead of descending 
 in the usual way, by locks, continued to bring the canal forward to 
 an abrupt part of the bank, the skirts of which terminated on a level 
 with the ironworks. At the top of this bank he built a small lock, 
 and from the bottom of the lock, and down the face of the bank, he 
 constructed an inclined plane, with a double iron railway. He then 
 erected an upright frame of timber, in which, across the lock, was 
 fixed a large wooden barrel ; round this barrel a rope was passed and 
 was fixed to a movable frame ; this last frame was formed of a size
 
 412 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 sufficient to receive a canal boat. These boats were 20 feet in 
 length, 6 feet 4 inches wide, 3 feet 10 inches deep, and each 
 carrying 8 tons, " and the bottom upon which the boat rested was 
 preserved in nearly a horizontal position, by having two large wheels 
 before and two small ones behind, varying as much in the diameters 
 as the inclined plane varied from a horizontal plane. This frame 
 was placed in the lock, the loaded boat was also brought from the 
 upper canal into the lock, the lock gates were shut, and on the water 
 being drawn from the lock into a side pond, the boat settled on a 
 horizontal wooden frame, and as the bottom of the lock was formed 
 with nearly the same declivity as the inclined plane, upon the lower 
 gates being opened, the frame with the boat passed down the iron 
 railway on the inclined plane on to the lower canal, which had been 
 formed on a level with the Ketley iron works, being a fall of 73 feet. 
 Very little water was required to perform this operation, because the 
 lock was formed of no greater depth than the upper canal, except 
 the addition of such a declivity as was sufficient for the loaded boat 
 to move out of the lock; and in dry seasons, by the assistance of a 
 small steam engine, the whole of the water drawn off from the lock 
 was returned into the upper canal by means of a short pump. A 
 double railway having been laid upon the inclined plane, the loaded 
 boat in passing down brought up another boat containing a load 
 nearly equal to one-third of that which passed down. The velo- 
 cities of the boats were regulated by a brake acting upon a large 
 wheel placed upon the axis, on which the ropes connected with the 
 carriage were coiled. It appears that this plane has an inclination 
 of about 22, except near the extremities, where it diminishes to 
 about in ; and that about 400 tons of coals usually descend 
 thereon daily." In 1789 a copper medal, or half-penny, having a re- 
 presentation of this plane on one side, and of the cast-iron bridge at 
 Coalbrookdale on the other, was struck and issued by the Coal- 
 brookdale Company. After the practicability of inclined planes had 
 been established, by the success of the Ketley plane, few Acts were 
 passed for a new canal, without a clause authorising the company to 
 erect inclined planes, instead of locks, if they should be found most 
 advisable. 
 
 At Walkden Moor, an underground plane was completed in 
 October 1797, upon the Bridgwater Canal, similar to the Ketley 
 plane above described. 
 
 Reynolds introduced another form of inclined plane on the
 
 Locks, Planes, Sluice-gates, and Lifts. 413 
 
 Shropshire Canal, where there were three planes employed of 120, 
 126, and 207 feet rises. The Act for this canal was obtained in 
 1788, and it was completed and opened in 1792. These planes were 
 of the same construction as those at Ketley, except that there were 
 no locks at the top of the descending planes, but the latter were con- 
 tinued above the surface of the water in the upper canal and 
 terminated in a cross beam, from which another plane and railway 
 descended into the upper canal, this being intended to avoid the 
 waste of water which locks at the top of the planes occasion. 
 
 The first incline up which barges were conveyed in a large caisson 
 containing water was at Blackhill, on the Monkland Canal, near 
 Glasgow, the system having been previously introduced, on a small 
 scale, on the Chard Canal in Somersetshire. The Blackhill incline, 
 with a rise of 96 feet, and a gradient of i in 10, replaced two flights 
 of four locks each. The wrought-iron caisson, 70 feet long, and 
 13^ feet wide, runs on twenty wheels, and carries barges of 60 tons 
 on the incline. An incline with larger caissons was constructed at 
 Georgetown in 1876, in substitution for two locks connecting the 
 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal with the Potomac. This incline rises 
 39 feet, with a gradient of i in 12; and barges of 115 tons are 
 transferred from the lower to the upper reach in 8 or 10 minutes. 
 The caisson is 112 feet long, i6f feet wide, and 7f feet high. It is 
 carried on three trucks, with twelve wheels each, and is drawn up by 
 wire cables worked by a turbine. 
 
 A canal incline, as described by Mr. Vernon-Harcourt,* consists 
 of two lines of way, laid on a steep uniform gradient, on which barges 
 are drawn up or let down, by wire cables, from one reach to the 
 next, either resting on a cradle, or water-borne, in a caisson, running 
 on wheels on the incline. The cables wind round a drum at the top 
 of the incline ; and the ascending barge is generally more or less 
 counterbalanced by another descending, whereby the tractive force 
 required to pull the barge up is considerably reduced. Primitive 
 inclines exist on the Bude Canal in Cornwall. Inclines are often 
 used, as alternatives to locks, as at Hampton Court, on the Thames. 
 Inclines, up which barges are drawn in cradles, were carried 
 out on the most extensive scale on the Morris Canal in America, 
 where there are twenty-three inclines with gradients of i in 10, 
 
 * Report of the Conference on Canals and Inland Navigation, held at the 
 Hall of the Society of Arts in 1888, p. 5.
 
 414 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 and an average lift of 58 feet. The largest of these is noo feet 
 long, and rises 100 feet; and barges of 70 tons are drawn up the 
 inclines. 
 
 LOCKS. 
 
 In the great majority of cases, however locks are the means 
 adopted for overcoming differences of level. In Great Britain it is 
 calculated that on the existing canal system of 2240 miles, there are 
 1901 locks, being at the rate of one lock to every i'37 miles of 
 canal, of which 931, or nearly one-half, are 80 feet long or more.* 
 This, of course, means very slow transport and great loss of time. 
 On the canal system between Birmingham and London there are 
 about 130 locks in all. 
 
 The loss of time due to the passage of locks arises from two 
 causes, one of which, as Mr. Conder points out,t it is easy to cal- 
 culate, while the other varies extremely according to the management 
 of the line, and the nature and volume of the traffic. The rise or 
 fall of the water in the lock occupies an ascertainable time, ranging 
 from three to six minutes ; but the time lost in entering and leaving 
 the locks is less easy to calculate. With perfect arrangement the 
 loss is very small ; frequently it is, in fact, very considerable. " In 
 the event of a heavy traffic being thrown on our canals, it will 
 probably be advisable to double the locks, a communication being 
 made practicable between the pair, in order to save half a lock full 
 of water at each passage. With this arrangement much time as well 
 as much water may be saved. The average retardation due to the 
 hydraulic requirements alone of the locks on the English canals is 
 from if to 2 minutes per mile, the average rise to be overcome being 
 under 6 feet per mile of canal." 
 
 In France, on all the more important canal routes, the locks are 
 designed to accommodate the large peniches or boats of 270 tons 
 burden, 1 1 6 feet long, and 1 6 feet beam, which are the usual craft 
 employed. In cases of exceptional traffic, the locks are made 
 130 yards long by 13 yards wide, in order to allow of several vessels 
 passing through together. These arrangements are very favourable 
 to the transport of large quantities of freight, so much so, that it is 
 no unusual thing to see 25 to 30 barges, each laden with 270 tons of 
 coal, towed by a small tug of 20 horse-power, working a submerged 
 
 * Report of the Select Committee on Canals, 1883, p. 125. 
 
 f Paper on "Inland Transport in the Ninteenth Century by Land and Water."
 
 Locks, Planes, Sluice-gates and Lifts. 415 
 
 chain or wire rope, which the tug raises from the bottom as it pro- 
 gresses, the rope being nipped between revolving pulleys. 
 
 The time occupied in passing through a lock on the French 
 canals used to amount to from 1 6 to 20 minutes at least. The time 
 is spent in filling or emptying the lock, in closing and opening the 
 lock-gates, and in passing the barge into and out of the lock-chamber. 
 The adjustment of the water-level in the lock-chamber may be 
 hastened by large sluices in the side walls of the lock. The moving 
 of the lock-gates can be rapidly effected by hydraulic machinery. 
 Delays have been experienced in dragging a barge into or out of the 
 lock when it is nearly the width of the lock-chamber, owing to its 
 acting like a piston, and preventing the flowing back of the water 
 along the sides ; but this inconvenience can be obviated by carrying 
 the culverts for the sluiceways all along the side walls, and providing 
 lateral openings through which the water finds an exit. 
 
 The dimensions of the canal locks resolved upon in France, 
 under the extension scheme of 1878, was 126*2 feet in length by 
 17 feet in clear width, and 6-56 feet of water on the sill of the lock- 
 gate. Boats of 120 tons burden can make use of such locks without 
 difficulty. No canal in England, except the Gloucester and Berkeley, 
 has locks of this size. The nearest approach to such dimensions is 
 that made by the Grand Junction Canal, with locks 87 feet 6 inches 
 long, 15 feet in the clear, and a depth of 5 feet, allowing, however, 
 for the passage of an 8o-ton boat only. The Grand Union Canal, 
 which is connected with the Grand Junction, has only locks of 78 feet 
 by 7 feet 2 inches. It has been computed that the difference 
 between the cost of locks for a 120-ton boat and that of locks suited 
 for an 8o-ton boat is not more than 30007. per mile.* Assuming 
 the accuracy of this figure, the cost of enlarging the dimensions of 
 the principal British canals ought not to be a serious item. 
 
 Locks provided with sluiceways running the whole length of the 
 side walls have been constructed on the Aire and Calder navigation, 
 on the Scheldt and Meuse Canal, and the Canal du Centre of France. 
 These large sluiceways ensure the rapid filling or emptying of the 
 lock ; and by making several side openings along the side walls into 
 the lock-chamber, "the inflowing or outflowing currents are distributed 
 so as to have no injurious effect on the vessel inside. 
 
 Balanced cylindrical sluice-gates, rising and falling vertically in a 
 
 * Mr. Conder on ' Inland Transport in the Nineteenth Century by Land and 
 by Water.'
 
 i !i!i!i!i!i!i! 
 i I'liMM'!! 
 i iiiiilililiji! 
 I jliiiijiiiiii 
 
 iW'!i!'!'!! 
 
 HUH ft II
 
 Locks, Planes, Sluice-gates and Lifts. 417 
 
 circular well communicating with the sluiceways, have been adopted 
 at the new locks of the Scheldt and Meuse Canal, and the Canal du 
 :entre, for opening and closing the sluiceways easily and rapidly 
 The enlarged locks on the Canal du Centre can be filled or emptied 
 in two minutes; and the passage of vessels through the locks takes 
 less than half the original time. 
 
 Mr. E. J. Lloyd, speaking from experience of canals in the 
 Midlands, is of opinion that a multiple of the present size of lock 
 which prevails throughout the Midland district would be best. This 
 would enable the existing craft on those canals, and also most of the 
 barges on larger navigations, to be used in the most economical way 
 possible. It would greatly simplify the conduct and management of 
 low-class mineral traffic, which does not require any care, and could 
 be treated in a similar manner to traffic of the like description on 
 railways no crews being attached to the boats, which could be 
 detached from the trains, and left at any roadside wharf, until they 
 could be unladen at the convenience of the owners. 
 
 There is, no doubt, as Mr. Lloyd points out, a distinct advantage 
 in small craft for such traffic, as it is obvious that a coal merchant 
 could purchase small boat-loads of different classes of coals, to suit 
 his customers, who could not find capital and wharf space for large 
 cargoes of one class of coal only, and this would apply in equal 
 degree to traffic in road-stone, bricks, drain-pipes, building materials, 
 and many other classes of undamageable goods, and these small 
 craft might also ply successfully on short branch canals, in districts 
 which would not produce a sufficient traffic to warrant a large expen- 
 diture in improvement. Such locks would also, of course, accommo- 
 date craft sufficiently large to cross the estuaries of rivers, and to 
 approach any docks with safety, and if sufficient depth of waterway 
 is provided in the improved main lines, say 8 feet, or thereabouts, 
 short coasting voyages might also be undertaken by craft specially 
 constructed to do so, and also to navigate the canals.* Mr. Lloyd 
 thinks that the heavy cost involved in constructing canals of sufficient 
 size to pass craft suitable for coasting and short continental voyages 
 would be fatal to cheap conveyance. 
 
 The largest locks hitherto constructed are those on the St. Mary's 
 Falls Canal, in the United States, and the Welland Canal in Canada. 
 On the former canal the lock opened in 1881 is 515 feet in length 
 
 * Report of the Conference on Canals and Inland Navigation, 'Journal of 
 the Society of Arts,' for 1888. 
 
 2 E
 
 4i 8 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 and 80 feet wide. The great tidal lock at Eastham, on the Man- 
 chester Ship Canal, will be 600 feet long and 80 feet wide. 
 
 The Welland Canal, which is in some respects the most important 
 in Canada, was begun by a private company in 1824 and opened in 
 1829. The original locks were of wood, no feet by 22 feet by 8 feet, 
 and they bulged out on each side of the chamber to such an extent 
 that they had to be hewn down from time to time to let vessels pass 
 through. The canal was enlarged in 1841, and again in 187.1, the 
 depth of the canal having, on the occasion of the last enlarge- 
 ment, been increased to 14 feet. The drawing (p. 415) shows 
 the general plan of the enlarged lock on this canal. It is 270 feet 
 between the gates, 45 feet between the side walls, and has 12 to 
 14 feet of water upon the mitre sill. 
 
 The entire system of locks on the Manchester Ship Canal, now 
 under construction, will be as under : 
 
 Three locks at Eastham, namely, one 600 feet long by 80 feet 
 wide; one 450 feet long by 50 feet wide; one 150 feet long by 30 
 feet wide. 
 
 Two locks at Latchford, namely, one 600 feet long by 65 feet 
 wide ; one 450 feet long by 45 feet wide. 
 
 Two locks at Irlam : similar to Latchford. 
 
 Two locks at Barton : similar to Latchford. 
 
 Two entrance locks to docks : similar to Latchford. 
 
 Small lock (Weston Marsh Lock), 229 feet long by 42 feet 8 inches 
 wide, to connect the ship canal with the Weston canal. 
 
 Weston Mersey Lock, opposite Weston Point ; 600 feet long and 
 45 feet wide. 
 
 Bridgwater Lock, opposite Bridgwater Dock, Runcorn, 300 feet 
 long and 45 feet wide. 
 
 Runcorn Old Quay Lock below Old Quay Docks, Runcorn, 300 
 feet long and 45 feet wide. 
 
 The three locks above mentioned connect the ship canal with the 
 Mersey Estuary at their several points. 
 
 Two small barge locks at Walton and Stockton Heath, War- 
 rington. 
 
 The largest canal locks hitherto contemplated are those designed 
 by Col. Blackman for the proposed Nicaragua Canal. They are 700 
 feet long, 100 feet wide, and with 30 feet depth of water over the 
 sill ; whilst the lift proposed is from 50 to 120 feet. The filling of 
 the lock-chamber was to be rapidly effected through 18 feet cast-iron
 
 Locks, Planes, Sluice-gates and Lifts. 419 
 
 tf 
 
 id 
 
 
 O 
 
 r 3 
 
 " 
 
 <t 5 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 2 E 2
 
 420 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 pipes, built into the side walls along the whole length on each side, 
 connected across the bottom of the lock-chamber by a series of 3-feet 
 pipes, perforated by a number of 2 -inch holes, from which the water 
 was to be distributed over the whole area of the chamber in numerous 
 small streams, so as to avoid any prejudicial agitation of the water. 
 The emptying was to be similarly effected; and where a saving of water 
 is important, the pipes weie to discharge at the lower end into a series 
 of long ponds, formed in terraces, so that most of the water might 
 be used again for filling the lock. These arrangements are a large 
 extension of the system of sluiceways, all along the side walls, with 
 lateral openings, and of side ponds, already referred to. The most 
 novel feature was the form of the caisson-gate, proposed to be con- 
 structed of wrought iron and steel, which, being increased in width 
 towards the bottom, would become stronger in proportion to the 
 depth, as the water-pressure increases. 
 
 HYDRAULIC LIFTS. 
 
 The adoption of hydraulic lifts, in the place of locks and inclines, 
 has recently come prominently to the front. The first lift of this 
 description* was erected on the Weaver Navigation in 1875, for 
 the purpose of connecting that river with the Trent and Mersey 
 Canal. In this case the difference of level between the canal and 
 the river is rather over 50 feet. Two wrought-iron troughs are em- 
 ployed to raise and lower the barges. The troughs are 75 feet by 
 15 \ feet, and have 5 feet depth of water. They rest on a central 
 hydraulic ram, three feet in diameter, working in two hydraulic 
 presses underground, which can be connected at pleasure, making the 
 troughs counterbalance one another. One trough ascends as the 
 other descends. Hydraulic power is only required when the descend- 
 ing trough reaches the water in the lift-pit, the motion of the troughs 
 being effected by removing about six inches from the lower trough. 
 This arrangement is very economical of time, inasmuch as a loo-ton 
 barge can be transferred from the river to the canal, and another 
 from the canal to the river, in eight minutes. Although the difference 
 of level, as already stated, is 50 feet, only the final lift of 4^ feet 
 requires the expenditure of hydraulic power. 
 
 La Louviere hydraulic lift, which was only completed during the 
 summer of 1888, is the largest hydraulic canal lift in the world. It 
 
 * On the Great Western Canal, a simple lift, with two counterbalancing 
 troughs, was used in the early part of the century, but it was not found successful.
 
 Locks, P lanes i Sluice-gates and Lifts. 421 
 
 was constructed for the Belgian Government by the Socie'te Cockerill, 
 of Seraing, from the designs and under the superintendence of 
 Messrs. Clark, Stanfield and Clark, of Westminster, the consulting 
 engineers of the Government, and the patentees of the system. The 
 difference between the levels of the upper and lower canals that is, 
 the height the boats are raised is 50 feet 6^ inches. The lift con- 
 sists of two pontoons or troughs, each 141 feet long by 19 feet broad, 
 with 8 feet draught of water, and are capable of holding the largest 
 size of barge that navigates the Belgian broad-gauge canal system. 
 Such barges are capable of taking 400 tons of coal or other cargo, so 
 that the total weight of the trough, water, and barge is not much 
 under 1000 tons. This immense weight is supported on the top of a 
 single colossal hydraulic ram of 6 feet 6f inches diameter, and 63 feet 
 9^ inches long, working in a press of cast iron, hooped continuously 
 for greater security with weldless steel coils. The working pressure 
 in this press is about 470 Ib. to the square inch. The time actually 
 occupied in the operation of lifting or lowering is only two and a half 
 minutes. (See illustration at p. 141.) 
 
 It is probable that there is a greater liability to accidents, with 
 lifts than with either locks or inclined planes. Where a dead weight 
 of some hundreds of tons has to be moved bodily, it must, of course, 
 be necessary to provide correspondingly strong machinery, and this 
 is not to be done without considerable cost. Several accidents have, 
 indeed, recently occurred in hydraulic presses for lifts. One of these 
 occurred with a steel press which burst under a pressure of 70 
 atmospheres. Another happened with a riveted steel-plate press, 
 which leaked and rent under pressure. 
 
 On the Brussels and Charleroi Canal it was recently proposed to 
 apply an hydraulic lift, for which the Cockerill Company made a 
 cylinder, in which tightness was obtained by the use of cast iron, and 
 strength by the use of steel, the cylinder being cut with projecting 
 rings, turned to receive steel hoops, which were bored to a slightly 
 smaller diameter, put on hot, and allowed to contract. A cylinder 
 2-06 metres (6 feet 9 inches) in diameter and 2 metres (6 feet 
 7 inches) high, was subjected, by means of force-pumps, to an 
 internal pressure of 131 atmospheres, or four times that which would 
 be required in practice. The French engineers, following the Seraing 
 system, formed their cylinders of a series of steel hoops fitting one 
 into the other, and with the flanges of the two outside hoops drawn 
 together by tie-rods, the inside being lined with brass 0-0025 metre
 
 422 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 thick, applied with the mallet, so that the water may not come into 
 contact with the joints. A trial cylinder was tested up to 170 
 atmospheres without yielding. On the Brussels and Charleroi Canal, 
 however, it was decided to substitute a tunnel for the intended lift, 
 so that the Cockerill cylinders were not applied. 
 
 Inclines, or lifts, are said by some authorities to effect a great 
 economy, both in time and water, as compared with flights of 
 locks. Much, however, must depend upon local circumstances. 
 
 One problem that is likely to press for solution in the immediate 
 future is that of constructing locks or lifts that will enable ship canals 
 to be worked with facility and economy. The proposal of the late 
 Mr. Eads to construct a ship railway across the Isthmus of 
 Tehuantepec was intended to overcome the necessity of such a 
 canal, and was, indeed, a form of lift, of the practicability of which, 
 however, we still await a conclusive demonstration. There is, of 
 course, a natural limit to the size of locks that it is possible to work. 
 That limit, however, does not appear to have been reached in any 
 locks hitherto constructed. The Eastham locks on the Manchester 
 Ship Canal will be the largest hitherto made ; but we have seen that 
 locks, even 100 feet longer, have been proposed for the Nicaraguan 
 Canal. Of course, by the application of steam power, canal locks 
 may be made of larger dimensions, and there are some instances in 
 which such power has been attended with much advantage. 
 
 In 1868, steam-power was applied to the locks of the Delaware 
 and Raritan Canal, and is said to have increased their capacity for 
 traffic, and therefore that of the canal, by 50 per cent. The engine 
 has two cylinders, 6 inches diameter, 12 inches stroke, and works a 
 3-feet drum, actuating a i-inch wire rope, which passes over rollers, 
 along the face of the lock, and round sheaves above and below. To 
 this rope the boats are attached and hauled in and out, two at a time. 
 The engine also raises and lowers the valves, opens and shuts the 
 gates, and in one case works a swing bridge. For large docks (e. g. 
 600 feet by 800 feet) it has been proposed* to admit and take off the 
 water by channels the full width of the length of the lock, the water 
 entering and leaving the lock by a number of small sluice-ways, 
 through the walls at right angles to the axis. This water should, if 
 possible, be supplied, not from the reach above, but from separate 
 reservoirs. There will thus be two waterways at- right angles to 
 
 * Min. Proc. I. C. E., vol. Ixiii. p. 350.
 
 Locks, Planes, Sluice-gates, and Lifts. 423 
 
 reach each other, one longitudinal for the passage of vessels only, and 
 one transverse, for the passage of water only. This avoids the 
 expense of maintaining the paddles in the lock gates, and all the 
 risks attending longitudinal currents. The canal should be widened 
 above and below by floating pontoons, not by fixed walls. The 
 height of the lift may be varied as required up to 30 feet; a lift 
 of 33 feet has been worked for twenty- five years with ease and 
 safety.
 
 424 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 TUNNELS, VIADUCTS, EMBANKMENTS, AND WEIRS. 
 
 IN the laying out of a canal there generally comes a juncture at which 
 the engineer has to choose between a tunnel, a flight of locks, a lift, 
 or series of lifts, and, finally, an embankment. There are also cases, 
 although these are comparatively rare, in which a valley has been 
 crossed, and the level of the water maintained, by aqueducts. 
 
 Tunnelling is always a costly operation, and it seldom happens 
 that it gives a considerable advantage, if any, over locks in the 
 matter of speed. Nevertheless, many of the early canal engineers 
 were partial to tunnels, and hence there are many examples of such 
 structures on the canal system of Great Britain. Of some of these 
 we may suitably furnish particulars before proceeding to refer to more 
 recent works of the same character. 
 
 One of the earliest canal tunnels of which we have any record was 
 constructed by Brindley on the Bridgwater canal. This tunnel gave 
 the Duke access from his canal into the coal works at Worsley, and 
 after it had proceeded for some way straight into the hill, came at 
 a great depth to be under a small brook or constant stream of water, 
 by the side of which a large water-shaft was sunk, and a drum and a 
 large brake-wheel erected over it, of such size that a man who 
 stood before the lever had his two hands at liberty to pull the lines 
 which connected the valves, and give signals to those below, while 
 by lunging or stepping forwards, with his breast against the lever, he 
 could in an instant stop the machinery in any part of its motion, 
 or regulate the same at pleasure. There were two water-tubs, which 
 were very large, and had a valve and pin to empty themselves quickly 
 when they arrived at the bottom. They were suspended by large 
 ropes or cables from the drum, while other large ropes descended 
 therefrom through another or coal-shaft, by the side of the middle or 
 principal tunnel, into and over the navigable tunnel, which is there 
 at some 60 yards lower level. On this level, canal boats were used, 
 similar in their dimensions to those above, and containing boxes, 
 which being filled with coals at the several terminations of the canal,
 
 Tunnels, Viaducts, Embankments, and Weirs. 425 
 
 in the seams of coals, were pushed along by means of rint^s fixed 
 along the roof of the tunnel at the proper height for a man, who 
 walked on the top of the coals, to lay hold of, and shove the boat 
 along by. The boat having arrived under the coal shaft, and one of 
 the water-tubs being at the top of its shaft, the coal rope answering 
 thereto was hooked on to the box of coals, and the descent of 
 the water-tub, immediately on the ringing of a bell, drew up the 
 same to the level of the principal canal, where, being drawn aside 
 over an empty boat, it was lowered into the same by a slight rever- 
 sion of the motion of the machine, when the interval of emptying 
 the tub at the bottom by its valve gave time for hooking another 
 box to the other rope which was at the bottom, when the other 
 water-tub was filled, and the machine was suffered to move by the 
 man who leant against the brake. 
 
 This arrangement was contrived and erected by James Brindley, 
 and it was so constructed that when coals were not drawing, the 
 alternate descent of the water-tubs worked some very large pumps, 
 which were sufficient to lift all the mine water of the lower level 
 into the middle canal, and to keep the lower canal always at the 
 proper height for navigation. 
 
 The same tunnel of the Bridgwater canal was continued a 
 considerable way farther into Worsley Hill, until, under Walkden 
 Moor, another subterraneous canal or tunnel begins, at 35. \ yards 
 higher level, being nearly 60 yards from the surface. From the 
 surface two shafts were sunk, one terminating in and over the 
 upper tunnel or canal, and the other in and over the middle or prin- 
 cipal canal. There is another canal still lower, and after passing 
 close by the canal above. Between these shafts a large drum was 
 erected on the surface, with a brake-wheel and a pair of strong ropes. 
 An old account of the working of this tunnel states, that " two boats 
 being arrived at the shafts on the upper canal, one of them loaded 
 with boxes of limestone that was wanted at the furnaces, and another 
 with boxes of coals intended to be transferred into an empty boat in 
 the middle canal, the ends of the two ropes were fastened to a box 
 of coals and a box of limestone, when the superior size and weight of 
 the coal boxes drew the limestone to the surface, to be there landed 
 and deposited, at the same time as the box of coals was deposited in 
 the lower boat, ready to proceed on the canal to Manchester or other 
 places." 
 
 This method was, in 1797, superseded by an inclined plane for
 
 426 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 letting down the boats laden with coals from the higher to the middle 
 level, and returning the empty boats and boxes. 
 
 At Brierley Hill, near Coalbrook Dale, the extremity of a branch 
 of the Shropshire canal, great quantities of coal and iron, in crates 
 made of iron, were let down one of two shafts, which connected with 
 the termination of the canal above, and the ends of a railway in a 
 tunnel below, from which limestone in similar crates was drawn up 
 the other shaft to be placed in the boat. A barrel and brake-wheel 
 were fixed between the tops of the shafts, and cranes with jibs, by 
 which the crates could be raised and moved from the boat over the 
 shaft or the reverse. These shafts, which were 120 feet deep, were 
 not found to answer, in point of expense, so well as inclined planes, 
 and Mr. Telford informs us (' Plymley's Report,' p. 296-307) that 
 " inclined planes have been substituted, on which crates of coal or 
 iron pigs, or goods descend, and draw up other crates containing 
 limestone for the use of the ironworks above, by means of ropes, a 
 drum, and brake-wheel, with a much less portion of manual labour, 
 and more expedition, than was done by the shafts above mentioned." 
 
 Marsden tunnel, on the Huddersfield Canal, is 5280 yards in 
 length ; Sapperton, on the Thames and Severn, 4300 yards ; Penfax, 
 on the Leominster and Kington, 3850 yards ; Laplat, on the Dudley 
 Canal, 3776 yards; Blisworth, on the Grand Junction Canal, 3080 
 yards ; Ripley, on the Cromford, 3000 yards ; Dudley, on the Dudley 
 Canal, 2926 yards; Harecastle, on the Trent and Mersey canal, 
 2888 yards ; Norwood, on the Chesterfield Canal, 2850 yards ; 
 Westheath, on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, 2700 yards; 
 Morwelham, on the Tavistock Canal, 2500 yards ; Oxenhall, on the 
 Hereford and Gloucester Canal, 2192 yards; and Braunston, on the 
 Grand Junction, 2045 yards. 
 
 The longest tunnels that have been proposed, besides those 
 stated above, were one of 5 miles on the once proposed extension of 
 the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal to the Calder river ; and 
 one of 4\ miles on the Portsmouth and Croydon Canal, through the 
 chalk hills to the south of the latter place. 
 
 The towns of Manchester, Kidderminster, and Southampton 
 have been partly tunnelled under by the Bridgwater, the Stafford 
 and Worcester, and the Southampton and Salisbury Canals respec- 
 tively. 
 
 There are several long tunnels on the Birmingham Canal system, 
 
 * Paper by Mr. G. R. Jebb in the 'Journal of the Society of Arts,' for 1888.
 
 Tunnels, Viaducts, Embankments, and Weirs. 427 
 
 having an aggregate length of 6^ miles. Two of these the Dudley 
 Tunnel and the Netherton Tunnel pass under the Rowley Hills, 
 and are each about two miles in length. The former was con- 
 structed in the last century. The waterway is about nine feet in 
 width, and there is no towing-path, the boats being propelled by two 
 men, lying on their backs on the boat, their feet performing a sort of 
 walking motion against the sides of the tunnel, this is called 
 "legging." The Netherton Tunnel was constructed in the year 
 1858; it has a waterway 17 feet in width on either side. Both of 
 these tunnels have, from time to time, been seriously injured by 
 mining operations, and in the case of the Netherton Tunnel, the 
 injury is stated to have been caused by the mine-owner illegally 
 working minerals that had been previously purchased by the canal 
 company. (See illustration of Dudley tunnel.) 
 
 VIADUCTS. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott spoke to Southey of the viaduct on the Elles. 
 mere Canal as the most impressive work of art he had ever seen. 
 This viaduct is situated about 4 miles to the north of Chirk, at the 
 crossing of the Dee, in the romantic vale of Llangollen. The north 
 bank of the river is very abrupt ; but on the south side the acclivity 
 is more gradual. The lowest part of the valley in which the river 
 runs is 127 feet beneath the water-level of the canal ; and it became 
 a question with the engineer, whether the valley was to be crossed, 
 as originally intended, by locking down one side and up the other 
 which would have involved seven or eight locks, or by carrying it 
 directly across by means of an aqueduct. 
 
 The aqueduct is approached on the south side by an embank- 
 ment, 1500 feet in length, extending from the level of the waterway 
 in the canal until its perpendicular height at the " tip " is 97 feet. 
 Thence it is carried to the opposite side of the valley, over the river 
 Dee, upon piers supporting nineteen arches, extending for a length 
 of 1007 feet. The height of the piers above the low water in the 
 river is 121 feet. The lower part of each was built solid for 70 
 feet, all above being hollow, for the purpose of saving masonry as 
 well as ensuring good workmanship. The outer walls of the hollow 
 portion are only two feet thick, with cross inner walls. Upon the 
 top of the masonry was set the cast iron trough for the canal, with 
 its towing-path and side rails, all accurately fitted and bolted together, 
 forming a completely watertight canal, with a waterway of n feet
 
 428 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 10 inches, of which the towing-path, standing upon iron pillars 
 rising from the bed of the canal, occupied 4 feet, 8 inches, leaving 
 a space of 7 feet, 2 inches for the boat. The whole cost of this 
 part of the canal was 47,oi8/., which was considered by Telford a 
 moderate sum compared with what it must have cost if executed 
 after the ordinary manner. The aqueduct was formally opened for 
 traffic in 1805. "And thus," says Telford, "has been added a 
 striking feature to the beautiful vale of Llangollen, where formerly 
 was the fastness of Owen Glendower, but which, now cleared of 
 its entangled woods, contains a useful line of intercourse between 
 England and Ireland; and the water drawn from the once sacred 
 Devon furnishes the means of distributing prosperity over the 
 adjacent land of the Saxons." 
 
 The Barton Aqueduct on the Bridgwater Canal, is about 200 
 yards in length, and 12 yards wide, the centre part being sustained 
 by a bridge of three semi-circular arches, the middle one being of 
 63 feet span. It carries the canal over the Irwell at a height of 39 
 feet above the river this head room being sufficient to enable the 
 largest barges to pass underneath without lowering their masts. The 
 bridge is entirely of stone blocks, those on the faces being dressed 
 on the front, beds, and joints, and with cramped iron. The canal, 
 in passing over the arches, is confined within a puddled channel to 
 prevent leakage, and is in as good a state now as on the day on 
 which it was completed. 
 
 The embankments formed across the low grounds on either side 
 of the Barton viaduct were considered very formidable works at that 
 day. A contemporary writer speaks of the embankment across 
 Stretford meadows as "an amazing bank of earth, 900 yards long, 
 112 feet in breadth across the base, 24 feet at the top, and 17 feet 
 high." The greatest difficulty anticipated was the holding of so large 
 a body of water within a hollow channel formed of soft materials. 
 It was supposed at first that the water would soak through the bank, 
 which its weight would soon burst, and wash away all before it. 
 But Brindley, in the course of his experience, had learnt something of 
 the powers of clay puddle to resist the passage of water, and he 
 finished the bed of this canal, so as to make it impervious to water. 
 
 Not the least difficult part of this undertaking was the formation 
 of the canal across Trafford Moss, where the weight of the embank- 
 ment pressed down and "blew up" the soft oozy stuff on either 
 side ; but the difficulty was again overcome by clay puddle. Indeed,
 
 Tunnels, Viaducts, Embankments, and Weirs. 429 
 
 the execution of these embankments by Brindley was regarded at 
 that time as something quite as extraordinary in their way as the 
 erection of the Barton Aqueduct itself. 
 
 EMBANKMENTS AND WEIRS. 
 
 Mr. Jebb has pointed out * that one of the most important duties 
 of the canal engineer, and certainly one of the most anxious, is to 
 take all practicable precautions for the prevention of any of the 
 embankments giving way by the overflow of water during heavy 
 rainfalls. 
 
 In some districts at such times an enormous volume of water 
 discharges directly into the canal ; this has to be got rid of. Self- 
 acting weirs are constructed at convenient points, and these are 
 sufficient to keep the water within bounds at ordinary times ; but in 
 times of flood other means have to be used. The old canal "let-off," 
 as it was called, consisted of a wooden frame (fixed in the bed of the 
 canal), to which was attached a hinged lid ; this lid was pulled up 
 by a chain fixed to the lid when necessity required that is, if the 
 chain could be found, and also sufficient power obtained for the 
 purpose ; for when the let-off had not been used for a considerable 
 time it became covered with mud, and it was often as much as half- 
 a-dozen men or a horse could do to pull up; this accomplished, 
 however, the water rushed out at once with great force (as there was 
 no means of regulating the discharge), the sudden rush often causing 
 trouble with the owners and occupiers of the adjoining lands. 
 Mr. Jebb has replaced some scores of these let-offs by sluice valves 
 of similar capacity, worked by racks and pinions. The discharge of 
 water can thus be exactly regulated, and one man only is required to 
 work them. The valves are tested every month to see that they are 
 in working order. 
 
 For the proper and economical maintenance of the towing paths, 
 it is necessary to have a staff of experienced men. Mr. Jebb re- 
 commends, as a material for metalling, limestone debris, or what is 
 locally known in Birmingham as " raffil " or " bavin." He finds that 
 it sets soon, and lasts for years if properly laid down broken furnace 
 cinders, covered with good ashes, are largely used in the Black 
 Country the paths should, of course, be well drained. 
 
 * Paper on "The Maintenance of Canals," in the 'Journal of the Society of 
 Arts ' for 1888.
 
 43 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 On the Birmingham canal, between Longford and Manchester, 
 the sidelong ground was cut down on the upper side and embanked 
 upon the other by means of the excavated earth. This was com- 
 paratively easy work ; but a matter of greater difficulty was to ac- 
 commodate the streams which flowed across the course of the canal. 
 For instance, a stream called Cornbrook was found too high to pass 
 under the canal at its natural level. Accordingly Brindley contrived 
 a weir, over which the stream fell into a large basin, from whence it 
 flowed into a small one, open at the bottom. From this point a 
 culvert, constructed under the bed of the canal, carried the waters 
 across to a well, situated on its further side, where the waters, rising 
 up to their natural level, again flowed away in their proper channel. 
 A similar expedient was adopted at the Manchester terminus of 
 the canal, at the point at which it joins the waters of the Medlock. 
 It was a principle of Brindley's never to permit the waters of any 
 river or brook to intermix with those of the canal, except for the 
 purpose of supply ; as it was clear that in a time of flood such 
 intermingling would be a source of great danger to the navigation. 
 In order, therefore, to provide for the free passage of the Medlock, 
 without causing a rush into the canal, a weir was contrived, 306 
 yards in circumference, over which its waters flowed into a lower 
 level, and thence to a well several yards in depth, down which the 
 whole river fell. It was received at the bottom in a subterranean 
 passage, by which it passed into the river Irvvell, close at hand. 
 
 In the earlier attempts made in the last century to deal with the 
 cataract of Trolhatta, in Sweden, it was determined to distribute the 
 whole fall of 113^ feet among three sluices only : the first to consist 
 of 28, the second of 52, and the third of 33^- feet. These sluices 
 were to be constructed alongside of the three cataracts, and were to 
 be each 18 feet wide by 72 in length. The work advanced suc- 
 cessfully, until the attempt to throw a weir across the river at the 
 gulf of the last cataract, to raise and retain the water above it. The 
 impetuosity with which the whole stream is precipitated had pre- 
 vented the builders from sufficiently examining the bottom. They 
 had conjectured, from the nature of the neighbouring mountains, that 
 the bottom must be rock; and it was further supposed that there 
 could not be more than 10 feet of water. Both these suppositions 
 proved to be erroneous. The depth of the water was from 20 to 
 25 feet at least, and the bottom was composed of large detached 
 stones, which were incapable of being fixed by any efforts of art.
 
 Tunnels ', Viaducts, Embankments, and Weirs. 43 1 
 
 The caissons of stone, although fastened together with cramps 4 inches 
 thick, and attached by great piles to the mountains on both flanks, 
 were swept off and dispersed by the impetuosity of the current ; and 
 in this manner all the works were destroyed. 
 
 Subsequently it was determined to avoid the pass entirely, and 
 construct a canal 8200 feet long; and the total fall of 1133 feet was 
 to be distributed, in the space of the last 3000 feet, among seven 
 sluices or locks, each 36 feet in breadth by 200 in length. 
 
 The first sluice was to be 17^ feet in height; the others, 16 feet. 
 The first sluice was to stand alone ; but the four following were to 
 be close to each other, as were also the last two. Between the fifth 
 and sixth sluice the canal was to be protected by a strong dyke 
 against the floods of the river. There was to be a great discharger 
 between the first sluice and the water entrance, not far from the 
 centre ; and at the entrance itself two doors or gates, to lay the canal 
 dry when required. This plan proved more successful than the first. 
 
 Forty wholly removable, regulating weirs were constructed in the 
 Seine several years ago. When wholly closed up in summer, they 
 maintain the required depth of water for steamboat navigation. 
 When wholly open in floods, they cause no stoppage in the river 
 surface. A remarkable barrage mobile has been in action for several 
 years at a place called Port a 1'Anglais, above Paris, and above the 
 junction of the Seine and the Marne. When all is open there is not 
 a ripple on the river flowing by. M. Gambuzat, the chief engineer 
 of the river Seine, informed Mr. Lynam that all those wholly removable 
 regulating weirs in the Seine were remarkably effective, and suitable 
 for regulating that great commercial river. Mr. Lynam declared 
 that, if in July 1861, a month previously to the great flood, the Killaloe 
 weir-mound had been wholly removed, and a wholly removable weir, 
 like that in the Seine at Port a 1'Anglais, had been constructed, and 
 subsequently been properly manoeuvred, during the month of August, 
 none of the crops in the level of the Shannon, above the Killaloe 
 weir-mound, would have been materially injured.* 
 
 The cost of high weirs on large rivers is considerable. For 
 instance, the most recent weir on the Seine at Poses, retaining a 
 depth of 16^ feet of water, cost 15 1/. $s. per lineal foot; and the 
 Mulatiere weir, on the Saone at Lyons, retaining a depth of water of 
 10 feet, cost n8/. us. ^d. per lineal foot. 
 
 On all navigations and canalised rivers liable to floods, the great 
 * Paper read before the British Association, 1878,
 
 432 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 difficulty is to be able to pass away the water without impeding the 
 traffic, and without flooding the surrounding country. This has 
 been accomplished on the Weaver to a very great extent by means 
 of what are, practically, movable weirs, at Button, Saltersford, Hunts, 
 and Valeroyal. They are flood-gates, or sluices, capable of being 
 lifted clear of the water, and thus allowing an uninterrupted passage, 
 and consist of doors 15 feet by 14 feet deep, built of rolled iron beams 
 with timber sheathing. These are supported by masonry piers, and 
 are lifted by means of overhead gearing, so that the attendants are 
 entirely above water and on a permanent bridge. Friction is prac- 
 tically dispensed with, owing to their working on rollers. The rollers 
 hold the doors from their seating, and would thus allow the passage 
 of the water. To prevent this, " stopwaters " have been introduced, 
 consisting of pieces of hard wood weighted at one end, until the 
 specific gravity is about the same as that of water ; they then float 
 vertically, and are held in such a position that the pressure of the 
 water forces them into the angle formed between the door and the 
 masonry. 
 
 This plan of sluice has practically reduced by one-half the flood- 
 level at Northwich, and instead of having floods of 8 to 12 feet, the 
 highest that has occurred since their erection is one of 6 feet. 
 
 On the Aire and Calder Canal a form of sluice has been invented 
 and applied by Mr. Bartholomew which appears to have merits and 
 originality. A large culvert is made alongside the whole length of 
 the lock, with a very large sluice at the upper end, measuring 
 7 feet by 5 feet, the ordinary sluice being 2 or 3 feet square. Another 
 sluice is provided at the other end, and when this is closed and the 
 lock is empty, the upper sluice, which is self-balanced, like a throttle- 
 valve, is raised. Three orifices are made into the elongated lock, 
 which are arranged in such a way that the vessels are divided, and do 
 not knock against each other while in the lock. In emptying the 
 lock, the upper sluice is let down and the lower sluice is drawn, the 
 water entering the culvert through the orifices and discharging at the 
 lower end. In working the sluices, a man only requires to turn the 
 handle and it raises itself, while with three turns in the other direction 
 it is lowered. The locks on this system are 215 feet long, 22 feet 
 wide, and have 9 feet of water on the sills.
 
 Tunnels, Viaducts, Embankments, and Weirs. 433 
 
 DAMS. 
 
 The proposed dam on the Nicaraguan Canal is to be of concrete, 
 faced with timber, and will be 1225 feet long on the crest, and 52 feet 
 high. The embankment will be 6500 feet long and 51 feet high in 
 the centre. There are, however, much larger dams than this. Of 
 masonry dams, Verviers, a small city of Belgium, near the frontier of 
 Prussia, with a population of about 38,000, has one that of Gilleppe 
 154 feet high and 771 feet long. The water supply of the town of 
 St. Chaumonde, in France, has a dam about 140 feet high, and the 
 water supply of St. Etienne is held by the Furens dam, 170 feet high. 
 
 The Villar dam, 162 feet high, holds the water supply of Madrid 
 and other dams in Spain, some of them dating back to Moorish days 
 Puentes, Alicante, Val de Infierno, Nijar, Elche, and Almanza 
 range from 164 feet to 68 feet in height. In England the Vyrnwy 
 dam, at the Liverpool waterworks is 136 feet high and 1255 feet 
 long. The San Francisco waterworks dam, 170 feet high and 700 
 feet long, and the Quaker Bridge dam, 278 feet high and 1300 feet 
 long, will, when built, be still larger. 
 
 Of earthen dams or embankments, some of the most notable 
 are the Montaubry dam, on the Canal du Centre, 54 feet high ; the 
 dam, 66 feet high, by which the water supply of Dublin is impounded ; 
 the reservoir dam of the Bolton waterworks, England, over 120 feet 
 high ; the Oued Muerad dam in Algeria, 95 feet high. In India and 
 Ceylon such examples are very numerous ; the embankment of the 
 Ashti reservoir is 58 feet high and 12,709 feet long ; the Karakvasla 
 dam is over 70 feet high ; the Tansa reservoir dam (water supply of 
 Bombay) is to be 8500 feet long and 1 18 feet feet high ; the embank- 
 ment of the Cummum tank in the Madras Presidency is 102 feet 
 high, and although it ranks among the earliest works of Hindoo 
 history, it is still in such condition as to fulfil its original intention. 
 In Ceylon there are old tanks with embankments from 3 to 1 2 miles 
 long and 50 feet to 70 feet high. 
 
 The materials used for the construction of a weir or dam across 
 a river are principally earth, timber, fascines, stone, &c. The most 
 simple form of dam is that made of gravel protected by fascines kept 
 in place by piles. Such dams are principally used for temporary 
 works. Dams are often made of timber, stones, and earth combined, 
 and covered with planking laid parallel to the current, and the bottom 
 of the channel at the foot on the down-stream side should be pro- 
 
 2 F
 
 434 t "Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 tected by an apron formed of a platform of planks resting on piles, 
 or by a stone pitching. Dams of this kind built of dry stone and 
 timber often do not become weirs except during floods ; that is to 
 say, the water does not pass over their crests except at such 
 times, and at other seasons of the year any surplus finds its way 
 through the interstices between the stones. 
 
 Dams may be built of caissons of strong timber, filled with loose 
 stones and covered with planking ; others are filled with earth instead. 
 
 A recent writer states that weirs of solid masonry, like other 
 hydraulic works, should be founded on the natural ground on a bed 
 of concrete, or on piles, according to circumstances. The masonry 
 may be built in cement or hydraulic lime ; the face-work is usually in 
 dressed stone or blocks. The stones, besides being fastened together 
 by metal cramps, are sometimes bonded by dovetailing. 
 
 A good example of a masonry weir is that built across the Dora 
 Baltea for obtaining a supply of water for the subsidiary canal of the 
 Canal Cavour. This work consists of a mass of concrete faced 
 with ashlar and blocks in courses roughly dressed. The crest is 
 i 20 metre in width, and the total length 200 metres. This dam 
 cost 237,682 francs, or at the rate of 1188*41 francs per lineal metre. 
 A layer of concrete alone forms a very effectual protection to a river 
 or canal embankment. In rivers subject to excessive floods a rock- 
 work consisting of large irregular-shaped blocks of stone not less 
 than one-third of a cubic metre each is exceedingly useful for pro- 
 tecting the bottom of embankments or walls from scour.
 
 ( 435 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 SPEED OF TRANSPORT. 
 
 ALL other things being equal, the system of transport that is able 
 to afford the greatest average speed will be certain to command 
 the lion's share of business. There are, however, both natural and 
 economical limits to speed, alike on water and on land. The natural 
 limit up to the present time may be put at 50 miles an hour for rail- 
 way travelling, 20 knots per hour for sea transport, and four or five 
 miles an hour for canal navigation. The economical limits are, 
 however, very different. A goods train cannot be worked economi- 
 cally at a greater speed than 20 to 25 miles an hour, and many 
 railway companies decline to work their mineral traffic at a higher 
 speed than 15 miles. At sea, the ordinary rate for a cargo-carrying 
 steamer will vary from 10 to 14 knots, but seldom exceeds the latter 
 figure. On an artificial waterway it is not possible, even in the 
 absence of locks or other obstructions, to maintain a higher rate of 
 speed than 4 or 5 miles without doing serious injury to the banks. 
 
 A very excellent paper on the rate of speed which it is possible 
 or usual to attain in canal navigation, under varying conditions of 
 towage, locks, depth, and other elements that influence the question, 
 was submitted to the Institution of Civil Engineers some years ago 
 by the late Mr. Conder, who devoted much attention to the subject.* 
 
 On the Belgian canals, where human labour is employed for 
 towage, the rate of speed does not exceed i to i^ mile per hour, 
 against 2f miles on the same canals with steam towage. On the 
 Grand Junction Canal the speed varies from 3 to 3^ miles, and on 
 the Rotterdam Canal it is 5 miles per hour. The limiting speed on 
 the Suez Canal is about 5f miles per hour, but there is a loss of 
 speed on that waterway, due to the trapezoidal form of section, which 
 is estimated at about half a mile per hour. The average retardation 
 of speed on English canals, due to locks, has been calculated at 
 between 1^75 and i 95 minute per mile. 
 
 The greatest difficulty that lies in the way of extending canal 
 
 * Conder on " Speed on Canals," ' Minutes of Proceedings,' vol. 76. 
 
 2 F 2
 
 436 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 navigation is the uneven character of the country that has usually to 
 be traversed, and the consequent necessity of overcoming elevations 
 and depressions by locks, lifts, inclines, or other costly mechanical 
 devices. In crossing England, between the Thames and the Severn, 
 a height of 358 feet has to be overcome on the 204 miles of the 
 Wilts and Berks route; a height of 474 feet on the 180 miles of the 
 Kennett and Avon route ; and a height of 392 feet on the 206 miles 
 of the Thames and Severn Canal route. The average difference of 
 level on these routes, counting ascent and descent, is 4 '14 feet per 
 mile, or a little more than one-fourth of the ruling gradient laid down 
 by Mr. Robert Stephenson for the London and Birmingham Railway. 
 Canal lifts would overcome these differences better than locks, but 
 then they are much more costly, and perhaps not, on the whole, so 
 convenient. Tunnelling or cutting, as in the case of a railway, is 
 in a large number of cases out of the question. There is, therefore, 
 only the alternative of making locks, which involve tedious delays, 
 and add largely to the cost of transport. 
 
 In the year 1825, the same year that saw the opening of the first 
 passenger railway, Charles Maclaren undertook to prove that 
 for all velocities above 4 miles an hour, a railway was much more 
 economical than a canal. At 6 miles an hour he calculated that 
 nearly three times as much power would be required to move an 
 equal mass on a canal, while at 20 miles an hour he computed that 
 twenty-four times as much power would be required. At 8 miles 
 per hour the same writer estimated that the resistance in water 
 increased so much that two horses on a road would do as much as 
 one on a canal, although at 2 miles an hour the same amount of 
 horse power that is required to drag one ton on a good road would 
 drag 30 tons on a canal. 
 
 It is not a little amusing, in the light of our present experience, 
 to find this author gravely stating that "the tenor of the evidence 
 given before the Parliamentary Committee (on steam navigation) 
 renders it extremely doubtful whether any vessel could be constructed 
 that would bear an engine (with fuel) capable of impelling her at the 
 rate of 1 2 miles an hour without the help of wind or tide ; " while as 
 for railway speed, he asserted that, " in speaking of 20 miles an hour 
 it is not meant that this velocity will be found practicable at first, or 
 even that it should be attempted." 
 
 Canal engineers have found that where they can concentrate the 
 rise of level on a canal by the use of lifts, or inclined planes, they
 
 Speed of Transport. 437 
 
 ean usually obtain a considerable increase of speed. Thus, on the 
 river Weaver, a height of 5 1 feet is cleared by the Anderton lift in 
 about eight minutes. On the incline of the Morris Canal, again, a 
 height of 5 1 feet is overcome in three and a half minutes ; while on 
 the Forth and Clyde Canal the Blackhill incline enables a height of 
 96 feet to be overcome in ten minutes. This averages about three 
 times the speed that could be attained in overcoming the same rise 
 or fall by means of locks. 
 
 We have already seen it computed that there are in Great Britain 
 one lock to every 1*37 mile of canal.* Mr. Conder has cal- 
 culated that there is, at this rate, " an average rise or fall for the 
 system, as far as it is represented by the time returned, of 5 84 feet 
 per mile." On the more uneven sections a running speed of 5 knots, 
 or 5*76 statute miles per hour, will be reduced on an ordinary 
 English canal by the delays caused by the locks, to a speed of 4 9 
 miles per hour. In other words, the rate of speed should be nearly 
 double the speed of prompt canal service at the present time. 
 Between Gloucester and Birmingham the merchandise sent by river 
 and canal is delivered as quickly as that despatched by railway .f 
 
 Speed on canals is regulated by the effect of breaking waves 
 on their banks. In narrow canals or rivers, such a wave first 
 appears at from 3 to 3^ miles per hour, and it has been found 
 that at 4 miles per hour it exercises an injurious effect on the 
 banks of the canal. When the speed is increased to 5 miles an 
 hour, the effect becomes much more marked, the waves breaking 
 over the towing-path, and rendering navigation destructive. 
 
 Mr. Conder appeared to think that a speed of 5 miles an hour, or 
 8*37 feet per second, which is the limit of speed fixed for the Suez 
 Canal, may be taken as the normal speed to be sought on the canals 
 of England ; and he adds that, " on the determination of the normal 
 speed, and of the tonnage of the boats to be accommodated, will 
 depend not only the steam-power required, but the sections of the 
 canals and of the dimensions of the locks. "J 
 
 In Sweden, as well as in Holland, where the channels are narrow, 
 the usual speed is 3^ miles per hour, but 5 miles an hour is frequently 
 attained, the difference depending on the area of cross-section. 
 
 In curves and shallows, in narrow canals or rivers, a breaking 
 
 * '. Report of the Select Committee on Canals,' p. 125. 
 
 t ' Minutes of Proceedings of the I. C. E.,' vol. Ixxvi. p. 171. 
 
 I Ibid., p. 169.
 
 438 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 wave first appears at from 3 to 3^ miles per hour. At 4 miles an 
 hour the effect of the wave on the banks becomes injurious. At 
 5 miles an hour the wave increases, breaking over the towing-path, 
 and being followed by other waves in succession. In parts of 
 the Clyde, from 120 to 150 feet wide, and about 10 feet deep, vessels 
 of from 120 to 150 feet long, with from 16 to 18 feet beam, and from 
 5 to 6 feet draught, are propelled by engines of from 80 to 100 horse- 
 power, at a speed of from 8 to 9 miles per hour. At this speed a 
 surge rises at from 2 to 3 miles ahead, and a wave is caused, which 
 measures 8 or 9 feet from the crest to the bottom of the trough.* 
 
 A speed of 5 knots per hour, or 8-37 feet per second, corre- 
 sponding to a head of i ' 08 foot of water, is the limit of speed fixed 
 for the Suez Canal. This may perhaps be taken as the normal speed 
 to be sought on the canals of England. On the determination of 
 the normal speed, and of the tonnage of the boats to be accommo- 
 dated, will depend, not only the steam-power required, but the section 
 of the canals and the dimension of the locks. A speed of 30 miles 
 a day, including stoppages, is even now attainable on English 
 canals. 
 
 The rate of speed on a canal is, of course, affected by the size as 
 well as by the number of the locks, by the depth of the waterway, 
 and by the tonnage of the craft that navigates it. On some English 
 canals there is a lock to be passed through about every half mile, and 
 the rate of speed is under a mile per hour, f On others, however, a 
 speed of 3 miles may be kept up pretty well. The economical rate 
 of speed is often put at 2^ miles. At a higher rate of speed the cost 
 of maintenance of the canal would be likely to counterbalance the 
 saving due to quicker transit. Speed is also affected by differences 
 of gauge, which in some cases compels cargo to be transhipped with 
 much loss of time that might be obviated with a uniform gauge. 
 
 The size of craft which can traverse a through route depends on 
 the least navigable depth in the canal and over the sills of the locks, 
 and the least width and length of any lock along the route. Un- 
 fortunately, very few through canal routes exist in England which 
 are not obstructed by some narrow locks, or shallow portions of 
 canal, rendering the comparatively good width and depth of the 
 remainder quite unavailable for a larger craft. In France, the same 
 want of uniformity of gauge on the waterways has hitherto existed ; 
 
 * ' Minutes of Proceedings of the I. C. E.,' vol. Ixxvi. p. 168. 
 t Ibid, p. 161.
 
 Speed of Transport. 439 
 
 but as almost all the waterways are under the control of the State, 
 improvements and extensions have been constantly in hand; and 
 we have already seen that in 1879 a law was passed for providing a 
 uniform depth of 6|- feet, locks i26f feet long and 17 feet wide, and 
 a clear height of 12 feet under the bridges, throughout the principal 
 lines of waterway in France. The works for securing this uniformity 
 are being gradually carried out; and when they have been com- 
 pleted, 3oo-ton barges, 126^ feet long, 16^ feet wide, and 6 feet 
 draught, will be able to traverse all the principal waterways of the 
 country. 
 
 The depth of English canals ranges, for the most part, from 
 3 feet to 5 feet ; but the Severn navigation to Gloucester affords a 
 depth of 6 feet; the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, 15 feet; the 
 Aire and Calder navigation, 9 feet ; and the Forth and Clyde Canal, 
 10 feet. The locks range in size from 72 feet length, 7 feet width, 
 and 3^ feet depth of water over the sills, up to 215 feet by 22 feet 
 by 9 feet on the Aire and Calder navigation. 
 
 It goes without saying that if the average rate of speed that 
 can be maintained on a canal does not exceed 3 or 4 miles per 
 hour, the canal will never compete with the railway as a quick means 
 of transport. The use of such waterways would thereby be limited to 
 heavy traffic, in the delivery of which time was a matter of minor 
 importance. But more than two-thirds of all the traffic carried on 
 British railways, and indeed on railways generally, is of this character. 
 The question thereupon arises, Is the economy of water transport 
 sufficient to compensate for a slower rate of speed? Sir James 
 Allport, who, of course, held a brief for the railway interest, informed 
 the Canal Committee of 1883 that the railway engine would accom- 
 plish ten times as much work as a canal boat, and would do in an 
 hour what would occupy a day on a canal.* Mr. F. Morton, on the 
 other hand, speaking as a railway and canal carrier of experience, 
 declared that, in conveying minerals between North and South 
 Staffordshire, railway waggons and canal boats averaged about the 
 same time seven to eight days.f However this may be, there can 
 be no doubt that where canal transport is efficient it is much cheaper, 
 and that is the main thing for the trader. 
 
 Mr. Bartholomew has made an elaborate series of inquiries and 
 experiments upon the Aire and Calder Canal, with a view to deter- 
 
 * Report, q. 1620-1622. t Ibid, 2, 2617.
 
 44 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 mine the cost of different systems of canal haulage, and has found 
 the results to be as under : 
 
 With steam tugs, carrying cargoes, -^d. per ton per mile. 
 ,, ,, ,, not carrying cargoes, \d. per ton per mile, 
 ,, horse haulage, \d. ,, ,, 
 
 The lowest of these charges is not comparable with the lowest 
 railway rate of which we have ever heard, while the highest is much 
 below what railway managers usually state to be the cost of carrying 
 their cheapest traffic. 
 
 It will, however, be impossible either to greatly increase speed or 
 to reduce rates on British canals unless the system undergoes recon- 
 struction. The rates given above for the Aire and Calder Canal are 
 no doubt exceptionally low, because that is one of the best managed 
 and best equipped canals in the country. On the average of the 
 English canals the cost of transport will be a good deal more, and it 
 must continue to be so until they have been brought up to the level 
 of efficiency maintained on the Aire and Calder. In the majority of 
 the canals of England it is either impossible, or economically imprac- 
 ticable, to employ steam power, without which the ultimate extent of 
 possible economy cannot be realised. Mr. F. Morton has correctly 
 expressed the position of affairs when he stated that " the present 
 method of employing steam on narrow canals is about comparable to 
 a locomotive capable of taking thirty loaded waggons, having only 
 four or five behind her." This must remain so until steps have been 
 taken to do in England what has been done in France and other 
 countries to secure a uniform gauge and a depth sufficiently great to 
 enable boats to be navigated that carry loads of 100 to 200 tons, so 
 that the canal boats may be the counterpart of a railway train. If 
 the Aire and Calder system of working trains of boats, carrying 
 700 to 900 tons per train can be introduced, so much the better.
 
 ( 441 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 CANAL TRAFFIC: ITS CHARACTER AND ITS DENSITY. 
 
 THERE is a very prevalent impression that railways and canals have 
 each their proper and natural function in the transport of merchan- 
 dise the railways in the carrying of goods of considerable intrinsic 
 value, or of a perishable character, in which speed is an element of 
 value ; and the canals in conveying heavy merchandise, such as coal, 
 iron ore, pig iron, building stone, timber, and other traffic, of rela- 
 tively low intrinsic value, and incapable of being deteriorated by delay. 
 
 In accordance with this idea, the canal traffic of most European 
 countries has usually taken the form of coal, iron, and other heavy 
 merchandise, while the railways have carried goods that were charged 
 a high rate of freight, on the grounds that they were damageable, and 
 of high intrinsic value. 
 
 This, however, is by no means a universal rule. On many 
 waterways, and especially in countries which have limited railway 
 facilities, like Russia, canals are found as well adapted as railways to 
 all purposes of transport. On the canals of the United States, the 
 canals compete with the railways in carrying wheat and other agri- 
 cultural produce. On the Aire and Calder canal, the canal boats are 
 adapted to carry, and as a matter of fact do carry, considerable 
 quantities of general merchandise, as well as minerals. 
 
 The French Government and Chambers, guided by the well- 
 informed engineers of the Fonts et Chausse'es, have controverted the 
 idea that there is necessarily any real rivalry between railways and 
 canals. " Each of these two ways of communication," reported 
 M. de Berigny to the Chamber of Deputies in 1833, " has its distinct 
 and special domain." " Nothing," says another French writer, " is 
 to-day more true. Almost everywhere that navigable routes and rail- 
 ways run side by side, the development of industry and commerce 
 has been such that after a brief crisis the traffic of the older 
 line of communication has notably increased. Far from being 
 enemies, railways and canals aid one another in the performance of 
 their natural duties. The former transport passengers, costly mer- 
 chandise, manufactured products all that cannot endure long delay.
 
 442 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 The latter, on the other hand, transport raw materials of small value, 
 for the transport of which speed is of secondary importance, which 
 cannot bear high rates of charge, and which in consequence do not 
 form a remunerative traffic for railways."* " The delay of a week or 
 a fortnight in the delivery of these articles," reported the Commission 
 named by the Chamber of Deputies in 1878 to examine the project 
 for improving the inland navigation of France, " is a matter of little 
 importance, while the difference of freight for long distances between 
 the lowest rate at which a railway can carry and that which is attain- 
 able on a canal is equal to half the price of the goods." " Coal," the 
 Commission stated, " cannot be carried on railways, even for long 
 distances, at a less cost than from o'54</. to 0*62^. per ton per mile, 
 but can be transported by canal for o*22</. per ton per mile." 
 
 " In France, in Germany, in Belgium, and in England," says 
 another writer, \ " the round price of one-third of a penny per ton per 
 mile will pay for transport on canals of adequate section and volume 
 of traffic, and this price includes, not only a fair interest on the 
 capital, but also provision for sinking fund, which within a determin- 
 able time will render these inland waterways the property of the 
 nation, to be used free of charge, except the trifling amount neces- 
 sary for maintenance of the works and attendance on the locks. On 
 a traffic of 600,000 tons per annum this charge does not exceed 
 0*022^. per ton per mile." The cost of towing, to be borne by the 
 users of these national waterways, has been found to be as low as 
 from 0*065 to 0*079 per ton per mile for horse towing in Belgium, 
 including the return of empty boats. 
 
 There is no record of the traffic that is carried on the canals of 
 the United Kingdom at the present time. On the Birmingham 
 Canal, which has a mileage of 162 miles, and some hundreds of 
 private basins, the tonnage carried in 1887 was not less than 
 7,000,000 tons. This is an average of about 43,200 tons per mile, 
 and if the whole of the canals constructed in the United Kingdom 
 had been equally useful and successful, the total quantity of traffic 
 carried on the 3000 miles of canals constructed would have been 
 close on 130,000,000 of tons, or more than one-half of the total 
 tonnage carried on the railways of the United Kingdom in 1887. 
 Of course, however, the Birmingham Canal traffic is altogether 
 exceptional, as is also that of the Brtdgwater Canal, and the Aire 
 
 * M. Picard in ' Les Chemins de Fer de France,' in 1884. 
 t 'Edinburgh Review,' for October, 1882.
 
 Canal Traffic : its Character and its Density, 443 
 
 and Calder Navigations. These three canal systems compete very 
 successfully with the railways for the heavy traffic of the districts 
 through which they pass, and have been able for years to earn large 
 dividends, with comparatively low rates of freight.* 
 
 There is a widespread belief that railway transport represents 
 a very considerable proportion of the total ultimate cost of the heavy 
 traffic carried in this country. Of some descriptions of heavy traffic 
 this is no doubt true. It is not, however, equally true of mineral 
 traffic. The average receipts earned by the railway companies per 
 ton of minerals transported in 1888, irrespective of distance, was 
 i 65. On the great bulk of the coal and iron ore carried, it must 
 have been very much less, seeing that a large quantity of coal as 
 for example the supply of London, which is alone an item of over 
 seven millions of tons a year is carried for over a hundred and fifty 
 miles at 6s. to 75. per ton freight, f There is no similar record of 
 traffic for other countries. In the United States the census returns 
 show that in 1880, 89^ millions of tons of coal were carried on all 
 the railways then open. The gross income earned thereby is not, 
 however, separately stated, although it may be possible to arrive 
 approximately at the figure we want by taking the statistics that are 
 given for the group of States of which New York, Pennsylvania, and 
 Ohio are the chief. In this group 192 millions of tons were carried 
 in 1880, of which 76 millions of tons were coal. The revenue 
 derived therefrom was 208 millions of dollars, so that the average 
 amount paid to the railways per ton carried was 4 '3-r., or nearly 
 three times as much as in Great Britain. J 
 
 The chief canal in the Russian empire is that of Vishni Volotchok, 
 which connects the Baltic and the Caspian Seas, and thereby affords 
 communication with Siberia and China. In the early years of the 
 century the principal part of the internal trade of the empire was 
 conveyed along this canal. In 1777, the number of barges that 
 passed through this canal was stated to be 2641. Twenty years 
 later, the number of vessels that navigated its waters was returned at 
 6264^ conveying merchandise of the weight of over 8 millions of poods, 
 
 * Paper by Mr. G. R. Jebb, on " The Maintenance of Canals, with special 
 reference to Mining Districts," 'Journal of Society of Arts,' 1888. 
 
 t The London coal supply is largely carried, in competition with the sea, at 
 the remarkably low rate of $d. per ton per mile, and even less. 
 
 J ' Report of the Tenth Census,' vol. iv. p. 133. 
 
 Of this number there were 3958 barques, 382 half barques, 248 boats, 
 1676 floats ; 6264 in all.
 
 544 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 and yielding tolls of the amount of 34,192 roubles (684o/.). The 
 tendency of late years has been to divert the lighter and more expen- 
 sive traffic from the canals to the railways where the latter were 
 available ; but to this day, all descriptions of traffic make use of the 
 canals of Russia, and usually at remarkably low rates of freight. 
 
 As we have elsewhere pointed out, however, the preference for 
 one form of transport over another is not always a mere matter of 
 rates. If proof were needed of this fact, it would be furnished to the 
 fullest extent by studying the history of the struggle that has been 
 waged for many years past between the New York State Canals and 
 the various railway systems that connect that city with Chicago, for 
 the wheat supplies intended for export to Europe and consumption 
 in the Eastern States. The rates of freight have all along been much 
 lower on the lakes and the Erie Canal than on the railways. Usually, 
 indeed, the water transport has not cost more than one-half what has 
 been charged by rail. And yet the amount of traffic forwarded by 
 lake, river, and canal has diminished, while that carried by railway has 
 enormously increased. In other words, freighters have been for some 
 years past content to pay 12 or 14 cents, per bushel to the railway 
 companies when the canal companies offered to perform the same 
 service for 6 or 7 cents. The question naturally arises Why should 
 the canals not absorb the whole traffic? The answer is that the 
 inconvenience and uncertainty due to interrupted navigation, and the 
 inevitable slower rate of speed, have been sufficient to induce the 
 American wheat grower to pay double the sum in order that he might 
 secure quick and certain despatch. The same phenomena may be 
 witnessed elsewhere. But much, of course, depends upon the traffic. 
 Wheat may afford to pay a few cents more under the circumstance 
 stated, when coal and lumber could not. It is manifestly more im- 
 portant that wheat should be carried to its ultimate destination in 
 good condition, and without preventable delay. 
 
 The Density of Traffic on Waterways. One of the most interest- 
 ing problems connected with the working of either railways or 
 waterways, is that of the density of the traffic transported, or, in 
 other words, the quantity carried, relatively to the length of the line. 
 The law of averages, which is very often inapplicable, and likely to 
 lead to erroneous conclusions, is, in the case of the density of traffic, 
 capable of being applied with some amount of success. But even 
 in apparently so simple a matter as this, it must be applied with 
 caution, and with certain rather important reservations. It must be
 
 Canal Traffic : its Character and its Density. 445 
 
 borne in mind, for example, that as railways are performing the 
 double function of transporting both passengers and goods, their 
 traffic per mile, measured in terms of merchandise, cannot be fairly 
 compared with that of canals, which carry goods traffic alone. Nor 
 can the traffic of a canal, where the speed is necessarily slow, be 
 rightly compared with that of a river like the Thames or the Rhine, 
 where there is almost no limit to the speed that may be safely 
 applied, except the limits imposed by mechanical laws. 
 
 The density of traffic on waterways has a very wide range of 
 variation. On the Thames, where the annual tonnage of the 
 entrances and clearances of vessels amounts to about 18,000,000 of 
 tons a year, it may be put at something like 1,000,000 tons per 
 mile, if we take the average distance between the mouth of the river 
 and the docks as about 18 miles. This, however, is a case that 
 stands alone. No other waterway has anything like the same amount 
 of traffic, and for purposes of comparison the Thames may be dis- 
 regarded entirely. The same remark applies to the Mersey. 
 
 The complete statistics of the inland navigations of France and 
 Belgium enable comparisons to be made of the different waterways, 
 which are very interesting. We find that some canals have a very 
 considerable traffic, while others have only a traffic of limited 
 dimensions. From recent returns relative to the canals of France, 
 we have abstracted particulars which illustrate these differences, and 
 which are given in the tables that follow. 
 
 The following French canals have an exceptional density of 
 traffic : 
 
 DENSITY OF TRAFFIC ON SOME SHORT CANALS IN FRANCE IN 1886. 
 
 Name of Canal. 
 
 Length in 
 Kilometres. 
 
 Tons of Traffic 
 Carried in 
 1886. 
 
 Average 
 Traffic 
 per Kilom. 
 in Tons. 
 
 Aire (Baudin to Aire) 
 Bourbourg (Guindal to Dunkerque) .. 
 St. Denis (Paris to La Briche) 
 Defile, Haute 
 
 28 
 13 
 4 
 ^8 
 
 2,255,OOO 
 
 i , 042 , ooo 
 
 I,722,OOO 
 
 3,652 ooo 
 
 80,535 
 80,123 
 
 43 .500 
 
 06 ios 
 
 
 3 
 
 705 ,000 
 
 2"K OOO 
 
 Neuffosse (Aire to St. Omer) 
 Oise (Janville to Chauny) 
 St. Quentin (Cambrai to Chauny) 
 Seusee (Etrun to Courchelettes) 
 
 II 
 
 21 
 
 58 
 
 16 
 
 1,198,000 
 2,804,000 
 3 , 606 , ooo 
 1,955,000 
 
 108,999 
 
 133.523 
 62, 172 
 II2,l87 
 
 Totals and average 
 
 192 
 
 18,939,000 
 
 98,129
 
 446 
 
 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 These are, for the most part, short waterways connecting impor- 
 tant centres of industry or population. The larger canals, however, 
 are by no means so well provided with traffic, and on some of them 
 the traffic is almost ludicrously small. On 1125 miles of these 
 longer canals, the average density of traffic per kilometre was only 
 2724 tons, as compared with 98,129 tons per kilometre on the 192 
 kilometres of shorter waterways contained in the above table. The 
 particulars are appended : 
 
 STATEMENT SHOWING THE DENSITY OF TRAFFIC ON SOME OF THE 
 LONGEST CANALS IN FRANCE IN 1886. 
 
 Name of Canal. 
 
 Length in 
 Kilometres. 
 
 Tons of Traffic 
 Carried in 
 1886. 
 
 Average 
 Traffic per 
 Kilom. 
 in Tons. 
 
 Berry (Fontblisse to Noyers) 
 
 88 
 
 384,181 
 
 4,365 
 
 Burgogne (Laroche to St. Jean de Losne) 
 
 151 
 
 424,559 
 
 2,811 
 
 Est (Belgian frontier to Troussey) .. 
 
 170 
 
 648,471 
 
 3,820 
 
 Est (from Messlin to the Saone) .. .. 
 
 75 
 
 276,065 
 
 3,680 
 
 Garonne (Toulouse to Castel) 
 
 134 
 
 243,815 
 
 1,819 
 
 Midi (Toulouse to Thau) 
 Nantes and Brest 
 
 152 
 167 
 
 167,985 
 
 in. ^8 
 
 1,105 
 
 668 
 
 Ourcq (Port-au-Perches to Paris) 
 
 68 
 
 528,048 
 
 7,765 
 
 Rhone au Rhin (to German frontier) 
 
 1 20 
 
 279,957 
 
 2,332 
 
 Totals and average 
 
 1,125 
 
 3,064,639 
 
 2,724
 
 ( 447 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE MAKING OF ARTIFICIAL WATERWAYS. 
 
 " When, with sounds of smother'd thunder, 
 On some night of rain, 
 Lake and river break asunder 
 Winter's weakened chain ; 
 Down the wild March flood shall bear them , 
 To the saw mill's wheel, 
 Or where steam, the slave, shall tear them, 
 With his teeth of 
 
 THERE is no direction in which the triumph of man over the material 
 forces with which he has to deal may be studied with greater advan- 
 tage, even by the casual reader and the unscientific observer, than 
 in that of the making of railways, the deepening or widening of 
 rivers, the construction of artificial waterways, and the maintenance 
 of ports and harbours. Each of these operations involves the em- 
 ployment of machinery and appliances that were quite unknown to 
 our forefathers. The modern processes of excavation of the soil, in 
 order to form or deepen the bed of a waterway, or of the construction 
 of an embankment, in order that a railway or a canal may be carried 
 above the level of the surrounding country, are now so familiar and 
 commonplace, that we are accustomed to think but little of the slow 
 and laborious steps whereby the means of carrying them out have 
 been evolved from the necessities, the experience, and the scientific 
 acquirements of modern times. Had the engineers of the present 
 day been limited to the rude and imperfect appliances that they had 
 alone at command a hundred years ago, such works as the making 
 of the Suez, the Panama, and the Manchester canals ; the deepening 
 of the harbours that are now scattered up and down our extensive 
 coast-line ; and the adaptation to the requirements of modern ship- 
 ping of the navigable rivers that have done so much for our maritime 
 supremacy would have been all but impossible. 
 
 Let us take only a single instance, by way of illustration, and it 
 shall be one that is very familiar, and easily capable of verification. 
 On the works of the Manchester Ship Canal, in a length of only
 
 448 The Making of Artificial Waterways. 
 
 miles, and over a comparatively level country, 45 million cubic yards 
 of excavation are necessary. More than one-half of this vast quantity 
 had been accomplished up to the end of 1889, by the employment, 
 of 95 steam navvies or dredgers, 180 cranes, 160 locomotives, using 
 205 miles of temporary railway, 5500 waggons, and 220 portable and 
 other steam engines, the number of employe's being about 4000. To 
 have executed this amount of work by any other system would have 
 involved, perhaps, twenty times the amount of labour and more than 
 twenty times the amount of time, if we are to judge by the accounts 
 that have been handed down to us from ancient records as to the 
 period over which the great works of antiquity extended. 
 
 It is not, however, in the mere work of excavation, that economy 
 and progress have been effected. Another notable economy has 
 resulted from the employment of large hopper barges, whereby 
 1000 tons or more of the dredged or excavated material may at 
 once be removed to sea. The economy resulting from this source is 
 stated to have enabled a saving of 4o,ooo/. per annum to be effected 
 in the works connected with the port of Dublin, without which 
 economy the improvements actually carried out there would have 
 been impossible.* In larger spheres of operations the economy 
 must, of course, have been correspondingly greater. 
 
 Ralph Dodd appears to have contrived a machine to be worked 
 by men, by means of levers, for excavating canals, which was tried 
 in the year 1792, in the deep cutting at Dawley, near Hayes, on the 
 Grand Junction Canal. Game's machine, for the same purpose, but 
 worked by a horse at length, appears to have been used in 1794, in 
 the deep cutting near Cofton Hacket, on the Worcester and Bir- 
 mingham Canal. In the ' Monthly Magazine' (vol. ii., page 594) we 
 have the following account of the operation of E. Haskew's patent 
 excavator : 
 
 "This machine takes the soil from the bottom of the canal at 
 40 feet deep with equal facility as at six feet from the surface. 
 One of them is at work upon the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal ; 
 by the assistance of two men only it removes 1400 loaded barrows 
 from the bottom of the canal, to the distance of 40 feet, in twelve 
 hours, and is so contrived as to take up the loaded barrows, leave 
 them at the top, bring down the empty ones in regular rotation, and 
 leave them at the bottom ; it can be moved along the canal to the 
 
 * Paper on ' Recent Improvements in the port of Dublin,' read in 1878 before 
 Section G of the British Association.
 
 The Making of Artificial Waterways. 449 
 
 distance of 26 yards in ten minutes by the two men that work it." 
 In October 1793 Joseph Sparrow took out a patent for a machine, 
 consisting of a box, with its bottom opening on hinges, suspended 
 by a sort of universal gib or crane, the whole moving upon wheels, 
 which he strongly recommended for elevating and discharging the 
 soil dug out of the canal. 
 
 Among the most considerable deep cuttings in England up to 
 the end of the last century were those at Ashton, on the Lancaster ; 
 Tring, on the Grand Junction ; Coston Racket, on the Worcester 
 and Birmingham ; Burbage, on the Kennet and Avon ; Littleborough, 
 on the Rochdale ; and Smethwick, on the old Birmingham canals. 
 
 As the development of the processes of excavation and embank- 
 ment forms one of the fullest chapters in the history of both civil and 
 mechanical engineering, we shall not here presume to enter upon it 
 at any length. A history of dredgers would be almost as serious an 
 undertaking as a history of steamboats or locomotive engines. Their 
 actual number is legion ; but the dredgers that are now used on a 
 large scale are comparatively few. Of course, everything depends 
 upon the amount of work to be done, its locality, and other sur- 
 rounding circumstances ; but for operations on a scale of magnitude, 
 few dredgers appear to have a better reputation than that which 
 bears the name of Couvreux. 
 
 In the case of the improvement works undertaken on the 
 Belgian Ship Canal, the Couvreux excavator removed, in 1875, 
 218,400 cubic yards of material in 166 days, being at the rate of 
 1316 cubic yards per day. Notwithstanding this, hand labour was 
 very largely employed upon the work, a large quantity of water 
 having to be dealt with at a depth of about 10 feet. 
 
 The earth excavated was carried to spoil, and in many cases was 
 employed to form dykes enclosing large areas, which served as 
 receptacles for the semi-liquid material excavated by the dredging 
 machines with the long conductors; the Couvreux excavator used 
 had already done service on the Danube regulation works. The 
 material with which it had to deal in this case was, however, of a 
 more difficult nature, being a fine sand, charged with water, and very 
 adherent. The length of track laid for the excavator was about 
 three miles along the side of the old canal, which had been previously 
 lowered to the level of the water. The floating dredgers employed 
 were 88 feet 7 inches long, 19 feet 8 inches wide, and 7 feet 9 inches 
 deep ; the arm was 39 feet 4 inches long, and passed through the 
 
 2 G
 
 45 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 hull. The form of the buckets was the same as that used at the 
 Vienna regulation works, but the staging was higher, the axis of 
 the driving-wheel of the bucket-chain being 26 feet 3 inches above 
 the water-level. This increased elevation was necessary on account 
 of the different methods employed for transporting the dredged 
 material To a large extent the same method of transport that was 
 adopted on the Suez Canal was repeated in the case of the Belgian 
 Canal Works. The conductor used allowed the sand and mud 
 excavated to be delivered at a point 140 feet and 150 feet from the 
 dredge, and at a height of 13 feet from the water-line. The exca- 
 vated materials fell into the concave conductor 6 feet below the 
 point of their discharge, and on falling they encountered the action 
 of a stream of water which was constantly pumped along the con- 
 ductor, and by which they were converted into semi-liquid mud. 
 The slope of the conductors was generally i in 2000; it was sup- 
 ported by cables attached to a staging connected with the framing 
 of the dredge, and the base of which rests on the deck of the vessel. 
 The conductor is counterbalanced by a platform, on which was placed 
 the portable engine and pump used for lifting the water into the 
 conductor. This platform was suspended to the dredge in the same 
 manner as the conductor itself. The general arrangement is shown 
 on the engraving at p. 453. The supply and the maximum incline 
 depend on the facility of disintegrating the ground, and on the 
 quantity of water contained in the mixture. The proportions gene- 
 rally used were three parts of water to one of sand. 
 
 When the excavators met with compact clay which disintegrates 
 slowly, or not at all, under the action of the water, the fragments 
 raised were carried along in the current running through the con- 
 ductor, but, of course, at a slower rate than the sand. Stones even 
 of large size were also easily dealt with in the same manner. These 
 materials were, however, only occasionally met with, the ground 
 being chiefly composed of the fine sand, already referred to, mixed 
 with a little clay, which was easily reduced to the required con- 
 sistency. 
 
 Deposits were formed for the reception of the excavated material, 
 which constitute filtering basins enclosed within vaults formed by 
 the solid materials previously removed. Where it was not possible 
 to discharge direct into their depots by the long conductor, barges 
 received the mud and carried it to a convenient destination. 
 
 The floating excavators were placed on two hulls carrying an
 
 2 G 2
 
 452 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 iron framework, on which the staging supporting the bucket wheel 
 was mounted. The engines and boiler were installed in one of the 
 hulls, and in the other was placed the pump and engine for driving 
 it. The upper level of the conductor was 78 inches belcw the 
 bucket wheel. The conductor, 100 feet in length, was of the section 
 corresponding to that of the buckets, 17^ inches in diameter. It 
 was supported by three cables attached to a staging, resting on the 
 boat and secured to the bucket-wheel frame. The slope was i in 
 400, which allowed the material to be deposited at a level 22 feet 
 3 inches above that of the water. These excavators performed 
 excellent duty ; they could be easily transported from place to place, 
 and were not affected by changes in the water level. 
 
 The position of the depots often involved the necessity of trans- 
 porting the dredged material distances of 1200 or 1500 feet from 
 the excavator. In such cases supplementary conductors were added. 
 These were open, and were laid on the ground with a slope of i in 
 TOCO. Not unfrequently large blocks of old masonry, which formed 
 the revetment of the sides of the canal, were raised by the excavator. 
 These were generally carried down with the rest of the material, but 
 occasionally they stopped, choking the channel, and requiring hand 
 labour to remove them. 
 
 When this mode of transport could not be adopted, barges were 
 employed to receive the dredged material and remove it to con- 
 venient points of discharge. These boats were built of iron, with 
 double sides; they were 82 feet long and 15 feet 8 inches wide. 
 Barges of similar dimensions were employed in the formation of 
 earthworks under water, which were required at various parts of the 
 canal. In these boats, holes 12 inches in diameter were placed 
 13 feet apart, iron tubes connecting the inner and outer shells. 
 These holes were closed by means of valves while the boat was being 
 loaded, and they were opened when it was brought over the place 
 where it was desired to discharge. 
 
 One of the most remarkable and successful dredgers of the 
 present day is employed on the Montreal harbour and ship channel 
 improvements, and is known as the Canadian dredger. This machine, 
 instead of being like the ordinary St. Lawrence dredgers, attended by 
 a tug and scows, has an internal mud-hopper, and is self-propelling, 
 thus being in fact dredger, tug, and scows combined, and requiring 
 a proportionately large hull. In a recent comparison of this dredger
 
 454 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 with one employed at Otago, it was stated that the Otago dredger 
 cuts to 35 feet deep, as do those of the St. Lawrence, but the latter 
 have buckets a third larger, and arranged so as to be very nearly 
 twice as effective. The Otago dredger is reported to have raised at 
 the rate of 400 tons an hour, while filling her hopper, but the im- 
 proved St. Lawrence dredgers easily fill their scows at the rate of 
 750 tons per hour, or nearly double the working rate of the "largest 
 dredger in the world." For the hourly capacity for consecutive 
 hours, something must be deducted for time lost in going to dump 
 or to change scows, and in the case of the St. Lawrence dredgers 
 this reduces the hourly rate to about 650 tons, still, leaving them, 
 however, better than the best rate of the Otago dredger. 
 
 Average rates for a day, or longer periods, are further reduced, 
 for both kinds of dredgers, by detentions for shifting anchors, moving 
 out of the channel for passing vessels, and other contingencies, not 
 present in a mere trial of speed. The St. Lawrence dredgers, how- 
 ever, often raise 4800 cubic yards in twelve hours, or an average of 
 500 tons per hour, while, according to the published reports for a 
 recent month, two of them raised an aggregate of 117,525 cubic 
 yards of clay, giving an hourly average of 336 tons per dredge for 
 69 hours of duty per week. 
 
 As a combined steamship and dredger which can be turned out 
 complete on the Clyde for export, the Otago dredger is said to be 
 the largest and the best thing yet built, but as a machine to dig a 
 channel, one of these St Lawrence dredgers is better still.* 
 
 Another comparatively modern machine is known as the La 
 Chatre dredger, 92 feet long, and 20 feet width of hull. It has an 
 engine of 50 H.P., which works the chain of buckets. The material 
 falls 2 feet from the buckets into a long steel shoot 2\ feet in width 
 and depth, and semicircular at the bottom, extending out 15^ feet 
 rom the axis of the dredger, and supported by twenty-four steel 
 cables from shear-legs 80 feet high, standing on two iron pontoons 
 fastened to the dredger ; a pontoon on the opposite side, weighted 
 with 32 tons of ballast, counterweights the shoot. The material is 
 drawn along the shoot (which has a general inclination of i in 20, 
 increasing close to the dredger) by water pumped into the shoot, 
 at least double in volume the amount of material. The dredger, 
 shortly after starting work, lifted and transported 183 cubic yards of 
 
 * Mr. Kennedy, chief engineer of Montreal, in Engineering, September, 
 1881.
 
 The Making of Artificial Waterways. 455 
 
 excavation per hour. It cost about io,8oo/. Another dredger 
 deposited the material from the buckets on a divisor formed of two 
 sets of revolving sharp blades, turning in opposite directions, which 
 cut up the large pieces and discharge the material on gratings of 
 sharp blades, through which it falls, mixed with about 85 per cent. 
 of water, on a sheet-iron inclined plane, along which it is conveyed 
 to the pipe of a suction pump. This Dumont i-foot pump, specially 
 designed for silt, stands with its engine on a pontoon alongside the 
 dredger. Another similar pump draws along the silt discharged by 
 the first, and discharges it into a i-foot iron pipe. The silt is 
 deposited from 650 to 1000 feet away, at a height of 16 to 20 feet, 
 with a velocity of about 13 feet per second. The mound formed at 
 the outlet of the pipe has a very flat slope, but the settlement is rapid 
 and complete. The dredger was able at once to lift and transport 
 130 cubic yards per hour, and this amount will probably be eventually 
 raised to 1 60 cubic yards. This dredger is said to have cost i2,8oo/., 
 with its accessories. 
 
 In the construction of the Amsterdam Ship Canal, the excavations 
 had to be deposited on the banks some distance away from the 
 dredgers; and after being raised by the ordinary bucket dredger, 
 instead of being discharged into barges, they were led into a vertical 
 chamber on the top side of a sand-pump, suitable arrangements 
 being made for regulating the delivery. The pump known as Burt 
 and Freeman's was 3^ feet in diameter, and made about 230 revolu- 
 tions per minute; it drew up the water on the bottom side, and 
 mixing with the descending mud on the top side, the two were 
 discharged into a pipe 15 inches in diameter. The discharge-pipe 
 was a special feature in this work, and consisted of a series of 
 wooden pipes jointed together with leathern hinges, and floated 
 on buoys from the dredger to the bank. In some cases the pipe was 
 300 yards long, and discharged the material 8 feet above the water- 
 level. Each dredger and pump was capable of discharging an 
 average of 1500 cubic yards per day of twelve hours. A centri- 
 fugal sand-pump, designed by Mr. Hutton, was also used on those 
 works. 
 
 At Hull, the cost of dredging on the Humber, including every- 
 thing except interest on capital and depreciation, is stated to be 
 2 \d. per ton. The material is mud, varying in consistency, and it 
 is discharged about \\ miles from the docks by steam hoppers, and 
 by ordinary mud-barges and tugs.
 
 456 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 On the Clyde, the average cost, including everything deprecia- 
 tion, interest, and carrying in hopper barges 27 miles is as follows : 
 Very hard clay, boulders, and sand, 30 'i$d. per cubic yard; hard 
 silt, gravel, and sand, 24 'ijd.', silt, clay and sand, 8 '49^.; silt, 
 gravel, sand, clay, and mud, 8 oSd. ; and silt and sand, 7 g^d. per 
 cubic yard. 
 
 On the Tyne, the cost varies from zd. to 6^d. per ton, according 
 to the nature of the material. One dredger has dredged over 
 1,000,000 tons in one year, and, including discharging a distance of 
 17 or 1 8 miles, the cost per ton was a little over ^d. 
 
 The cost of removing the bar at Carlingford Lough, including 
 everything Parliamentary expenses and insurance of plant was 
 about is. gd. per ton. Taking the cost for one season, it was is. ^d. 
 to is. $d. per toil, or zs. to 2s. $d. per cubic yard. The material 
 was hard clay and boulders. 
 
 At Aberdeen,*the cost of dredging and transporting about 2 miles 
 beyond the bar, including insurance, but not depreciation and interest, 
 is i s. 2d. per ton for dredging, and 2 gd. for discharging, giving a 
 total of 4.?. id. per ton. 
 
 On the Wear, at Sunderland, the total cost of dredging, including 
 every item of depreciation and interest, is 2 '37^. per ton. The 
 material consists of sand, gravel, and clay. 
 
 On the Tees, at Stockton and Middlesbrough, the cost of 
 dredging sand, gravel, and occasionally boulders, including the 
 conveyance of deposits out to sea, a distance of about 12 miles, is 
 4 'g6d. per cubic yard or about z\d. per ton. This amount includes 
 everything except interest on capital expended on dredging plant. 
 
 On the Birmingham Canal, when there has been any slipping of 
 the sides, or a discharge into it of water laden with silt and detritus 
 from cuttings and high lands, the material, if soft, costs 5</. to gd. 
 per ton to dredge ; and if hard, from lod. to i^d. per ton. With a 
 "spoon dredger" the cost is about 8</. per ton, and with a grab 
 dredger it is about $d. where the circumstances are favourable.* 
 Where hard material has to be dealt with, the water is taken out of 
 the canal, and the material is excavated by pick and shovel. On 
 narrow canals dredging costs more, owing to the necessity of having 
 a narrow beam, to enable the dredger to enter the canal. The beam 
 
 * Paper by Mr. G. R. Jebb on "The Maintenance of Canals," &c., in the 
 'Journal of the Society of Arts' for 1888.
 
 The Making of Artificial Waterways. 457 
 
 is, however, sometimes increased when the machine is working by 
 attaching baulks of timber or iron pontoons to the sides, to prevent 
 its capsizing.* 
 
 The dredging machines that were chiefly employed on the 
 Danube regulation works were, on an average, from 25 to 30 H.P., 
 and had one inclined arm, which could be depressed to work in a 
 depth of 22 feet of water or more. They were high enough to load 
 direct into the waggons, by means either of a distributing table or an 
 elevating endless chain bucket. The dimensions of the machine, 
 which was found to be very economical, were : 
 
 ft. in. 
 
 Length of boat 88 7 
 
 Breadth 19 8 
 
 Height ,, 7 9 
 
 Draught of water 3 1 1 
 
 The working steam pressure was six atmospheres, and the power 
 consisted of a vertical engine of 15! inches cylinders and 35^ inches 
 stroke ; the main shaft was 7-rV inches in diameter, and the ratio of 
 the pinion to the driving-wheel was i to 7. The buckets were of 
 steel, having a capacity of 8*75 cubic feet. The links of the chain 
 were 31^ inches long, if inch by 3^ inches for those to which the 
 buckets were attached, and -ff inch by 3^ inches for the others. 
 These machines were employed in several different ways on the 
 Danube works. They load direct into waggons, running upon a side 
 track, either by means of a transporting apparatus or of an elevating 
 wheel and buckets. The transporting apparatus was attached to the 
 dredge, and consisted of a girder about 46 feet long, guiding and 
 carrying an endless band formed of steel plates mounted on chains, 
 which were driven by wheels at each end of the girder. The buckets 
 of the dredging machine discharged their contents upon this band, to 
 which a forward motion was imparted by an independent six-horse 
 power engine, and the forward movement thus given discharged the 
 ballast in the waggons alongside. The whole of this system rested at 
 one end on the deck of the drag, and at the other on trestles, secured 
 in a small auxiliary boat fastened alongside the machine. It was 
 afterwards considered that a useful alteration might be made in the 
 means of transferring the ballast, and with this object a large wheel, 
 
 * On the Birmingham Canal, which has an average top width of 36 feet, and an 
 average depth of 5 feet, this has to be done with a Priestman Grab Dredger, but 
 it causes very little trouble.
 
 458 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 fitted with buckets, was mounted on the dredge, and driven by an 
 independent engine. The wheel was of wrought iron, 1 9 feet 8 inches 
 in diameter, and furnished with buckets which received the ballast 
 from those of the dredging machine, and, after raising, discharged it 
 into an open channel, whence it fell into the waggons. The buckets 
 of this wheel were fixed to the periphery, and were so arranged as to 
 discharge automatically into the channel. It was found that this 
 mode of loading produced excellent results, but the full capacity of 
 the dredgers could not be developed, both on account of the loss of 
 time incurred, and because the material dredged was not always 
 easily transferred into the waggons. A large quantity of the material 
 excavated was also loaded into barges and taken by them to suitable 
 points of discharge. 
 
 The amount of work performed by the dredging machines de- 
 pended greatly on the means available of removing the earth excavated, 
 and to do this with regularity, and without loss of time, was one of 
 the most difficult portions of the work of excavation. 
 
 During 1870 and 1871 the dredging machines loaded almost 
 exclusively into the waggons by means of the endless bands already 
 described. Two of them were worked exclusively in this manner ; 
 other two began to load into boats in 1872, and the following year 
 this method was entirely adopted with them, and their production was 
 remarkably large. Another machine loaded the waggons by means 
 of the large wheel. The dredging machines employed on the first 
 and third sections of the works, and which also loaded into boats, 
 gave remarkable results. 
 
 The Condreux excavating machine consists essentially of a 
 carriage carried upon three lines of rails. A lateral projecting arm 
 carries an endless chain with buckets, passing around a wheel at the 
 lower end of the arm. This chain is driven by a 20 horse-power 
 engine, mounted on the frame of the carriage, and the whole machine 
 is caused to traverse on the rails by means of a small four-horse 
 locomotive. The buckets, which become filled in succession in 
 traversing the face of the slope, being excavated, are of steel plate or 
 of wrought iron mounted with steel edges. The buckets are mounted" 
 on two pitched chains, which, in rising, pass over a loose pulley placed 
 at the level of the road, and serve as a support to the loaded buckets. 
 This arrangement largely reduces the friction, and prevents excessive 
 torsion of the chain. The loaded buckets are discharged automati- 
 cally, by means of flap openings in their bottoms, and their contents
 
 The Making of Artificial Waterways. 459 
 
 fall either into the waggons alongside, or into inclined conducting 
 channels. These machines run alongside, and at the top of, the 
 excavations they make, and the earth which they raise can be either 
 deposited alongside so as to form a continuous embankment, or be 
 loaded into waggons. 
 
 On the Mersey Dock Estate, which extends over a total water area 
 of 520 acres, the dredgers used up to 1875 were of the ladder type, 
 five of them having double, and one single ladders. A double set of 
 hopper barges was attached to each dredger. The barges were 
 50 feet long by 20 feet beam, and contained 82 cubic yards. The 
 expense of towing the barges out to the Seacombe Narrows, where 
 they deposited their silt, rendered the operations costly, and in 1874 
 a steam hopper barge was brought into use, 144 feet long, 23 feet 
 beam, 1 1 feet 9 inches depth of hold, and with a hopper capacity of 
 285 cubic yards. In 1876 two other hopper barges of the same size 
 were brought into use. Subsequently, larger barges, with a hopper 
 capacity of 414 cubic yards, were introduced. These have been 
 found much more economical than the old system.
 
 460 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 CANAL BOATS. 
 
 " Instructed ships shall sail to quick commerce, 
 By which remotest regions are allied ; 
 Which makes one city of the universe, 
 Where some may gain, and all may be supplied." Dryden. 
 
 ONE of the most important matters that the canal engineer and 
 manager has to deal with, is the adoption of the form of boat best 
 suited for the gauge of his canal and the character of the traffic to 
 be dealt with. The majority of canals are of too limited dimensions 
 to admit of the employment of boats of large size. Even on some of 
 the largest rivers such as the Thames, the Danube, and the Rhine 
 the size of vessels employed has to be kept down to a limit which 
 would be deemed ridiculous for ocean-going steamers. This fact 
 alone renders the cost of transport on inland waterways much greater 
 than the cost of sea transport. There is also the great drawback to 
 be met, that on many through lines of communication, as on the 
 through canal routes from Birmingham to London, and from the 
 same midland capital to the Severn, the break of canal gauge renders 
 it necessary to employ the size of boat suited to the minimum gauge, 
 and this is, of course, a great waste of power. 
 
 The modified French canals of 6- feet depth admit barges of 
 300 tons ; and a depth of 8 feet, on the Canal du Centre, of Belgium, 
 allows of the passage of 4oo-ton barges. The large traffic on the 
 Erie Canal, between Lake Erie and the Hudson River, is conducted 
 in barges of 250 tons; the canal has a depth of 7 feet, with a 
 bottom width of 56 feet, and pitched side slopes of i to i '5 ; and the 
 locks are no feet long and 1 8 feet wide. The Welland and St. Law- 
 rence Canals are on a larger scale, as they provide access to the coast 
 for the large inland lakes of North America, with vessels of 1000 to 
 1500 tons, and therefore, like the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal, occupy a 
 sort of intermediate position between inland and ship canals. 
 
 The " river steamer," as the stem-wheel shallow draught vessels 
 on Canadian waters are called, is a boat of peculiar construction.
 
 Canal Boats. 46 1 
 
 Three things are absolutely necessary. First, a perfectly smooth 
 bottom ; second, an absence of rigidity in the hull and motive-power ; 
 third, a propelling-power on the surface of the water three points, 
 apparently easy of accomplishment, but in reality very difficult, and 
 which to understand requires long practice with the steamers, and 
 their uses. Indeed, no inconsiderable portion of a captain's or pilot's 
 life has passed before he has learned the " handling " ; but when once 
 the lesson has been learned, it is wonderful what can be done with 
 these wheelbarrow steamers. 
 
 Mr. Shelford * holds that these are by far the most useful class of 
 boats employed on the canals of Canada. The absence of a keel or 
 any such obstruction enables the boat to be turned like a dish on 
 the water; while the four rudders (sometimes 20 feet long) will guide 
 her with a nicety in rapids and currents where an ordinary steamer 
 would be helpless. The absence of rigidity in the hull and machinery 
 enables the steamer to be driven ashore on any soft bank, the cargo 
 discharged or loaded, and the boat without difficulty backed off". 
 
 The propelling power is a large diameter wheel at the stern of 
 the boat, the full width of the vessel, resembling the undershot wheel 
 of a mill, and driven by two cylinders, one on either side. The floats 
 of this wheel are but 8 to 10 inches in the water when light, and 
 30 inches when loaded, and do not therefore produce those destructive 
 currents which come from the screw or paddle steamer. 
 
 The boats which are used on the rivers of the north-west of 
 Canada are about 220 feet, 38 to 40 feet beam, and 10 to 12 inches 
 draught when light, and carry themselves about 400 tons, and will 
 push (not tow) three times as much more on barges built like the 
 steamers. 
 
 Perhaps the most efficient system of canal boats and of canal 
 transport generally known in the United Kingdom is that adopted 
 on the Aire and Calder Canal. Steamers are employed to tow a fleet 
 of canal boats or barges, varying from ten to twenty in number, each 
 carrying about 40 nett tons of traffic. The locks, which are 215 feet 
 in length, take the steamer, tender, and eleven boats all at one time ; 
 but if there is a longer train of boats, it has to be broken in two. 
 The boats are 20 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 7 feet or 7 feet 6 inches 
 deep. When loaded, they draw from 6 feet to 6 feet 6 inches of 
 water, and the whole train carries from 700 to 900 tons. Usually, 
 
 * Paper on the canals and shallow draught steam navigation of Canada. 
 Journal of the Society of Arts,' 1888.
 
 462 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 instead of towing these boats, they are pushed from behind, which 
 offers an advantage in the steering. The steamer has two direct- 
 acting cylinders one on each side, and a wire rope is carried round 
 a pulley direct to them, being afterwards threaded through guides 
 attached to each boat. The steering arrangements are so contrived 
 that the train can go to any curve by the two convex surfaces, and 
 yet it is free to rise and fall vertically. The boats are coupled 
 together by wire ropes, which run alongside the whole of the boats 
 through guides at each corner of each boat. The ropes are then 
 passed over the steering wheel upon the steamer. The boats are 
 really iron boxes, which, when traffic is carried, say from Leeds to 
 Goole for shipment, are placed in a hoist, inside which there is a 
 cage with a cradle, in which the boat is secured. When the boat 
 has been raised to the height of the shoot it turns over automatically 
 and discharges the coal or other cargo into the ship through the 
 shoot or spout employed for that purpose. The boat and cradle, 
 having resumed their original position, are then lowered back again 
 to the canal-level by the same hydraulic arrangement employed to 
 raise them. Mr. Bartholomew, the Manager of the Aire and Calder 
 Canal, has stated * that the cost of mineral transport by this system, 
 including the return empties, was only o'ongd. per ton per mile; 
 the cost of tugs carrying general cargo and merchandise being 034^. 
 per ton per mile ; whereas the cost of the same traffic on the Leeds 
 and Liverpool Canal, where similar facilities do not exist, would be 
 3o</. per ton per mile. The difference of cost is mainly due to the 
 difference in the number of men employed. Usually, two men are 
 employed on each boat, and four men are employed for tugging, 
 making 28 men in all for 12 boats, whereas a train of boats can be 
 worked by the system described by the tug crew of four men only. 
 The Aire and Calder Company have now arranged their boats in 
 such a way that they may carry general merchandise as well as 
 minerals, having fitted them with decks and hatchways for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Mr. E. J. Lloyd submitted to the Select Committee on Canals 
 (1889) a statement showing the size of the craft that the various 
 canals of England and Wales were capable of carrying, f The figures 
 are instructive, and are worth perusal by any one interested in the 
 subject. It showed that there are very few cases in which the existing 
 
 * Select Committee on Canals, 1883, Report, p. 44. 
 t Report App. 2, p. 206.
 
 Canal Boats. 463 
 
 navigations can carry craft over 100 feet in length. The most usual 
 dimensions are 70 or 75 feet by 12 or 14 feet width. The Aire and 
 Calder Canal, which takes boats of 212 feet by 22 feet, is a notable 
 exception to the general rule. Boats of 163 feet by 29 feet 6 inches 
 can also travel on the Gloucester and Birmingham Navigation, while 
 the Severn can take craft of 270 feet by 35 feet, and the Thames, from 
 London Bridge, can carry vessels of 140 feet by 22 feet. Again, on 
 part of the Kennett and Avon Canal, craft of 120 feet by 18 feet can 
 be navigated. Mr. Lloyd, who has had a great deal of experience 
 in canal navigation, has proposed the adoption of improved locks on 
 the leading English canals capable of taking boats no feet long, 
 n J feet wide, and 6 feet draught, the carrying capacity being about 
 120 tons.* Mr. Abernethy has proposed that the canal boats should 
 be capable of carrying 200 tons, and the canals adapted thereto;! 
 while Sir James Allport has contended thac for facility of handling 
 traffic small boats are better than large ones, and should be preferred 
 accordingly. | 
 
 In India, steamers have been placed by Government on the Sone 
 canals, and will continue to run until the task is taken up by private 
 enterprise, as is now being done on the Orissa canals. 
 
 The following is a description of one of them named the Koel : 
 
 Length 114 feet 
 
 Beam over all .. .. .. .. .. i6 ,, 
 
 Draught, full loads. . .. .. .. .. 3^ ,, 
 
 Coal bunker capacity . . . . . . . . 7 tons 
 
 Of which 5! tons are used on the trip between the head of the canal 
 and Arrah and back, being a run of 116 miles, occupying about 
 26 hours, or at the rate of 7*450 Ibs. per hour, a very large con- 
 sumption for an engine of 25 nominal H.P. 
 
 Accommodation is provided for 8 first-class passengers and 150 
 second-class passengers, with a cargo capacity of 2500 cubic feet, or 
 50 tons of 50 cubic feet. 
 
 The engine of 25 H.P. was one of the locomotives used on the 
 Quarry Tramways. The pressure of the steam is 120 Ibs. The 
 vessel is built with a single paddle-wheel, u^ feet diameter, at the 
 stern with 20 floats, 5 feet long by i foot broad. 
 
 The hull of the boat is 3-i6ths iron, perfectly flat-bottomed and 
 
 * Report App., 2, 117-119 t Ibid, 2, 1548-1550. 
 
 f Ibid, 2, 1281-1283.
 
 464 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 rectangular in section, with rectangular bilge. The bow is curved, 
 with a vertical stern, and the stern is sloped off for 24 feet to a vertical 
 depth of i foot, for the purpose of enabling the backwater to escape 
 when the wheel is reversed. There are two rudders, and the steering 
 is managed from the fore part of the boat. Her speed is between 
 6-5 and 7 miles an hour in the canal, but the run of 58 miles occupies 
 from ii to 12 hours down stream, and 13 \ to 15 hours up stream, 
 owing to the delay in passing the locks, of which there are six. 
 
 These steamers last year carried 42,900 passengers and 2500 tons 
 of goods, earning 3i75/. 
 
 The cost of working the different steamers, inclusive of all charges 
 but that of interest and depreciation, amounted to from 9*36^. to 
 36 ' q&d. per mile run. 
 
 The total earnings of the canal for the past year was 7o8o/., 
 against 93oo/. in 1881-82. 
 
 The tolls levied on boats are from \d. to ^d. per ton per mile. 
 
 The charges by the steamer amount to about ^d. per ton and 
 per passenger per mile. The charge by native boats varies with the 
 demand, and is high. The bulk of the traffic is carried in native 
 boats, which are worked by men. The sections of the two main 
 canals in the Sone system are very large. They have to provide for 
 the irrigation of 1,295,000 acres. They are about 200 feet broad, 
 with a depth of 9 feet in full supply, diminishing to about 7 at the 
 minimum. The branches vary from 90 to 60 feet at surface, with a 
 minimum depth of 6 feet. 
 
 The time occupied by a boat in passing through a lock comprises 
 the entrance and exit of the boat, and the operations in locking. By 
 the adoption of sluices in the side walls the locks on the Bourgogne 
 Canal can be filled or emptied in two minutes ; but the time employed 
 in taking in and bringing out a boat varies considerably, depending 
 on the speed of the boat, its draught, and its method of traction. 
 Steamboats, carrying from 100 to 150 tons of merchandise, traverse 
 a lock in from six to eight minutes, whilst yachts and torpedo-boats 
 have passed in four to six minutes. The main water traffic between 
 Paris and Lyons is carried on by new boats 125 feet long, and having 
 a draught of 4^ feet, being limited by deficiency in the depth of the 
 Yonne. These boats can carry 210 tons, but their load is usually 
 between 130 and 180 tons ; they perform the journey between Paris 
 and Lyons in n to 12 days, traversing the Bourgogne Canal in six 
 or seven days.
 
 The Making of Artificial Waterways. 465 
 
 Boatbuilders often err in constructing boats of the largest size 
 that the locks will admit, thus rendering the entrance and exit of 
 the boats both slow and troublesome. A boat of 200 tons, travelling 
 
 ' O 
 
 22 miles per day, is more serviceable than a boat of 275 tons which 
 can only go \2\ miles. The greater speed entails a somewhat 
 greater cost in traction ; but it admits of more voyages, the transport 
 of more freight, and a more regular service. The lengthening of the 
 locks on the Burgoyne Canal, by enabling the tonnage to be increased 
 by one-third, without diminishing the speed of transit, or notably 
 increasing the cost of traction, has proved a profitable work for the 
 inland-navigation commerce of France. 
 
 In 1871, the Legislature of the State of New York, with a view to 
 enabling the Erie and other canals under their jurisdiction to be more 
 profitably utilised, passed an Act to foster and develop the internal 
 commerce of the State, by inviting and rewarding the practicable and 
 profitable introduction, upon the canals, of steam, caloric, electricity, 
 or any motor, other than animal power, for the propulsion of boats. 
 
 The first section of this Act appointed a commission to practically 
 " test and examine inventions, or any or all devices, which may be 
 submitted to them for that purpose, by which steam, caloric, elec- 
 tricity, or any other motor than animal power, may be practically 
 and profitably used and applied in the propulsion of boats upon the 
 canals ; -said examination and tests shall be had by the said com- 
 missioners at such time or times during the season of canal navi- 
 gation, for the year 1871-72, as they may order and direct; said 
 commissioners shall have the right, and they are hereby expressly 
 required, to reject all such inventions or devices, if, in their opinion, 
 none of the said inventions or devices shall fully and satisfactorily 
 meet the requirements of this Act; but said commissioners shall 
 demand and require, 
 
 " i. The invention or devices to be tested and tried at their own 
 proper costs and charges of the parties offering the same for trial. 
 
 " 2. That the boat shall, in addition to the weight of the machinery 
 and fuel reasonably necessary for the propulsion of said boat, be 
 enabled to transport, and shall actually transport, on the Erie Canal, 
 on a test or trial exhibition, under the rules and regulations now 
 governing the boats navigating the canals, at least 200 tons of cargo. 
 
 " 3. That the rate of speed made by said boat shall not be less 
 than an average of three miles per hour without injury to the canals 
 or their structures. 
 
 2 H
 
 466 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 " 4. That the boat can be readily stopped or backed by the use 
 and power of its own machinery. 
 
 " 5. That the simplicity, economy, and durability of the invention, 
 or device, must be elements of its worth and usefulness. 
 
 " 6. That the invention, device, or improvement can be readily 
 adapted to the present canal boats ; and, 
 
 "Lastly, that the commissioners shall be fully satisfied that the 
 invention or device will lessen the cost of canal transportation, and 
 increase the capacity of canals by any means of propulsion or towage, 
 other than by a direct application of power upon the boat, which 
 does not interfere in any manner with the present method of towage 
 on the canals, and complying in all other respects with the provisions 
 of this Act, may be entitled to the benefits thereof." The system 
 known as the Belgian system, or any mode of propulsion by steam 
 engines or otherwise, upon either bank of the canal, was, however, 
 excluded. A number of attempts have been made to meet these 
 desiderata, of which the system known as Baxter's is, perhaps, the 
 most successful. 
 
 On the running canals of China, Sir George Stainton observed a 
 boat of light construction, with only 14 tons lading, of 8 feet width of 
 floor, about 10 feet width of water-line, and 50 feet of extreme length, 
 drawing 2 feet 3 inches of water, and sharp at the ends, dragged 
 against a stream whose velocity was 5^ English miles per hour; and, 
 although there were twenty-eight trackers, or men hauling at the line, 
 fastened to the boat, besides three men in the boat, poling it on, 
 it advanced only at the rate of a quarter of a mile an hour, notwith- 
 standing that the channel was not materially contracted, in either 
 width or depth of waterway, in proportion to the section of the boat. 
 
 Many suggestions have been made, and not a few experiments 
 carried out, with a view to enabling canal boats to navigate waters 
 covered with ice the use of canals in cold countries being usually 
 limited, from this cause, to about one-half of the year only. None 
 of them appear, however, to have been very successful. 
 
 About the year 1796, the Chevalier Bentancourt Molina pre- 
 sented to the Society of Arts a model of a barge, having a windlass in 
 its stern, which gave a circular motion to a pair of knives or scythes, 
 or a lever giving an alternating motion to knives, for mowing off weeds 
 close to the bottom of a canal in which the barge is to float, or on 
 the sloping sides of the canal ; for which purpose the knives could 
 be made to revolve at any depth below the surface of the water,
 
 The Making of Artificial Waterways. 467 
 
 and either horizontally or inclined at any angle. In most winters it 
 happens that an ice not more than i or i inches thick continues 
 for a considerable length of time on canals and other stagnant waters. 
 This, or even a less thickness of ice, is sufficient to stop the trade 
 upon the canals unless the ice is broken ; and for this purpose it is 
 advisable, every morning of a frost, unless the ice should be found 
 more than usually thick, and the frost increasing and likely to con- 
 tinue, to break the ice. This was in some cases done by a strong 
 and square-headed barge, whose sloping or projecting head was 
 covered with strong iron plates. One of these barges, being drawn 
 along the canal and into each lock by several horses, has a tendency 
 to rise upon the ice, and thereby breaks it down before the boat. 
 About the lock-gates it was necessary to break the ice by stamping 
 with the end of a pole. Mr. Symington provided the head of his 
 steam-barge with stampers, to be worked by the engine, for breaking 
 the ice before it in frosty weather. 
 
 The tempting prospects of towing a train of ten loo-ton barges 
 with scarcely any more power than would be required to tow only 
 one of them, and the alluring advantages of speedily loading each 
 separate barge, and of detaching and attaching barges at intermediate 
 wharves along the canal's course, were held out in a proposal recently 
 discussed in France for adopting single-width canals. 
 
 On the other hand, however, it has been argued that in this case 
 a regular time-table would have to be strictly enforced; all boats 
 would have to be made up into trains, involving loss of time at 
 starting ; there would be delays at the turn-outs, where the canal was 
 widened for allowing the return trains to pass ; and steamers could 
 no longer go where and when they pleased. Bridges and locks, 
 being already of single width, could be built no cheaper ; while the 
 proposed long locks, of 150 metres = 490 feet length, to take a train 
 of barges, would cost much more than the present French locks of 
 126 feet length. Even with very few locks, a single-width canal 
 would not come more than one-ninth cheaper than the ordinary 
 canals of double width. At the outside, therefore, it would not take 
 off more than i millime per tonne-kilom. = 0-016^. per ton per 
 mile from the tolls. Under the head of towing, the only possible 
 saving would be in consumption of coal in the steam-tugs, which 
 on the Willebroeck Canal costs about \ millime per tonne-kilom 
 = -00&/. per ton per mile; if half this were saved in a single- 
 width canal, \ millime = 0-004^., would be all the economy thereby 
 
 2 H 2
 
 468 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 effected. As for dispensing with barges on all except the tug and 
 the rear barge of a train, it has been argued that it would be prac- 
 tically impossible to work a train of rudderless barges round the bends 
 of a canal, and it would be a most tedious and difficult job to handle 
 the barges separately at the whaives and docks where the train has 
 to be made up or dispersed ; moreover, the cargoes would not get 
 properly watched, with so few men to look after them. The total 
 saving possible on a single-width canal, o'o2o</. per ton per mile, 
 would be likely to be swallowed up by the extra management 
 expenses consequent upon having to organise the canal service on a 
 similar plan to that of railways.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE STATE ACQUISITION AND CONTROL OF WATERWAYS. 
 
 "The march of the human mind is slow. It was not, until after two hundred 
 years, discovered that, by an eternal law, providence had decreed vexation to 
 violence and poverty to rapine, Your ancestors did, however, at length open 
 their eyes to the ill husbandry of injustice. They found that of all tyrannies, the 
 tyranny of a free people could the least be endured ; and that laws made against 
 a whole nation were not the most effectual methods for securing its obedience." 
 Edmund Btirke. 
 
 ENGLAND is the only nation in the world that has not either reserved 
 to itself State control over the means of communication, or provided 
 railways and waterways at the public cost. The United States, 
 Government have no proprietary interest in the railways of that 
 country, but individual State Governments have such interests in 
 canals. In France the canals are largely owned, and almost wholly 
 controlled, by the State. In Germany, the State owns the greater 
 part of the railways and a great part of the canals, while it is ex- 
 tending the latter system largely at the public cost. In Italy and 
 Russia, the same remark applies to the existing state of affairs. 
 In the British Colonies, and especially in India and Canada, both 
 the railways and the waterways have been and are being provided at 
 the public expense, and are administered by officials responsible to 
 the people generally. England, on the contrary, has allowed both 
 railways and waterways to be monopolised by private enterprise, 
 with results disastrous to the latter, as we have already seen, and with 
 consequences, as regards the former, that threaten to be almost as 
 serious to the public, who are held fast in the iron grip of a monopoly 
 which they are powerless to control. 
 
 Seeing that the proposal that the State should purchase the rail- 
 ways of the United Kingdom, and carry them on as they are carried 
 on in Germany and Belgium, with a view to public interests, has not 
 hitherto appeared to find much favour in political circles, and has 
 been discouraged by several important Royal Commissions and other 
 authorities, it is perhaps worth while to consider whether the time
 
 47 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 has not arrived when the State should make some attempt to undo 
 part of the mischief that it has done to the trade and traders of the 
 country in neglecting the acquisition of the railways, by aiding the 
 movement for the reconstruction of our waterways. The present 
 moment is highly opportune for such a step. The canals could, no 
 doubt, be purchased cheaply, and they could be enlarged and im- 
 proved at comparatively little cost. 
 
 In some very pertinent remarks on the subject of the control of 
 Waterways by the State, Mr. M. B. Cotsvvorth has observed * that, 
 " considering the immense influence which the cost of transport has 
 upon the trade and progress of a nation, it is but natural that this 
 remedy should first suggest itself, especially when the advantageous 
 results of Government management are so strikingly shown in the 
 working of the Post Office and telegraphs, as also in the example 
 of Government control of canals in France. All who look solely to 
 the interests of the community must admit that this course offers 
 the highest national advantages, and will ultimately prove the best 
 solution. 
 
 " Amongst the chief advantages of Government control are the 
 following : 
 
 " i. The whole system of ' inland navigation' would be developed 
 and -worked for the benefit of the nation by a complete scheme, and 
 thus secure for the first time a genuine and permanent competition 
 with railway charges, and so hold them in check. 
 
 " 2. All chances of monopoly and trade restriction by private 
 interests, would be avoided. 
 
 " 3. Government security would ensure capital being raised at a 
 minimum interest say zf or 3 per cent., and so keep the costs 
 down at a low figure. 
 
 " 4. By adopting a ' sinking fund,' these navigations might ulti- 
 mately become free from toll, except a very small charge for main- 
 tenance and management. 
 
 " 5. Would facilitate uniformity of classification, toll, and through- 
 rate arrangements. 
 
 " 6. The question of railway-owned canals would thus be settled. 
 
 " 7. Also the difficulty of floods would be removed as far as 
 practicable, and storage of water, for town and other public uses, 
 encouraged by the abolition of vested interests in water rights, fishery 
 obstructions, &c. 
 
 * Paper on the present condition of inland navigation in the United Kingdom, 
 with suggestions for its improvement, ' Journal of the Society of Arts,' 1888.
 
 The State Acquisition of Waterways. 471 
 
 " 8. The above advantages, whilst affording unbounded relief to 
 commerce and the public, would result in increased employment for 
 the labouring classes, and add to the wealth of the nation by creating 
 a revival and permanent expansion of trade thus relieving our 
 present burdens without imposing new ones." 
 
 The same writer thus expresses the disadvantages and difficulties 
 in the way of State management of canals : 
 
 " i. Public opinion is not yet ripened to enable such a proposal 
 to be carried. 
 
 " 2. To successfully compete with railways (who have now such 
 a firm grip of the heavy traffic), it is essential that a strong carrying 
 company should be established, on a broad basis, to work the navi- 
 gations and interchange traffic for towns on the sea-board with the 
 coasting steamers at through rates. 
 
 " 3. If the Government did not undertake the carrying, private 
 traders would have great difficulty in meeting railway competition, 
 as, owing to the heavy terminal charges they would incur, and costs 
 of agencies, &c., they would be handicapped, whilst railways could 
 sustain their competition against canals by means of their passenger 
 and other traffic. 
 
 "4. The patronage being placed in the hands of Government, 
 might be abused for party purposes, and lead to political jobbery, &c. 
 
 " 5. For the good canals a very high price would have to be paid, 
 whilst some of the poor ones would be looked upon as a bad bargain 
 at any price. 
 
 " 6. In justice to the railways, the Government could not assume 
 the responsibilities of carrying, without also taking over the railways 
 at their present inflated prices, notwithstanding the ioo,ooo,ooo/. of 
 unproductive capital (land and under-issued stock) with which they 
 are burdened. 
 
 " 5. The present enormous capital of railways, constituting such 
 vested interests in Parliament, and through the shareholders over 
 the country generally, is too strong to allow the Government to take 
 over the canals." 
 
 A recent writer in the Edinburgh Review declares that " the mode 
 in which the railway companies of the United Kingdom have been 
 allowed to ruin the canal property is a mark of the indifference of 
 Parliament to an important feature of public policy. It would have 
 been as justifiable, on the score of public welfare, to allow the railway 
 companies to buy up the turnpike bonds, and to charge what tolls 
 they pleased on the turnpike roads, as it was to wink at the purchase
 
 472 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 and stoppage of the canals. The danger of allowing such a change 
 of mastership is admitted by the clauses inserted in several Acts of 
 Parliament regulating the maximum tolls clauses which have been 
 allowed to remain a dead letter. The Board of Trade declared that 
 it had neither advice nor assistance to offer to complainants in the 
 matter. Mr. (now Sir Thomas) Farrer, then Secretary to the Board 
 of Trade, expressed his opinion, in 1872, that the actual state of 
 canal property, which was held by the railway companies just so far 
 as to enable them to destroy the traffic, was the worst possible, as 
 regarded the public interest. It is now too late to attempt to 
 remedy the evil. Nothing but the conviction on the part of the 
 railway companies that they are financially wrong in forcing the slow 
 heavy traffic on to the metals, will render possible the rehabilitation 
 of the canal system, however fully all other persons may be con- 
 vinced of the national importance of our internal navigation." 
 
 Among the many current questions relative to transport, none is 
 more urgent than that of how far the waterways of a country can be 
 profitably and conveniently utilised in competition with railways. 
 This is a question that has come up again and again in all the leading 
 countries of the world, and one which is still unsolved. In Conti- 
 nental countries and especially in France, Germany, Belgium, and 
 Holland the greatest possible importance is attached to having the 
 command of cheap and adequate water transport, and it seems to 
 have been allowed that there is a natural function for each system of 
 transport that of the railways being the conveyance of passengers 
 and traffic that will bear a high rate of freight, while that of the water- 
 ways is to convey heavy luggage or traffic, of low intrinsic value, 
 from point to point at a low rate of speed. Unfortunately, however, 
 there is no common agreement as to the average cost of service in 
 each case. The fact is, as we have seen, that the cost of water 
 transport, under the most suitable conditions, is almost ridiculously 
 low. It has been proved in Belgium, in France, and in Germany, to 
 be under one-tenth of a penny per ton per mile, whereas the cost of 
 railway transport is seldom less than double that amount. But, of 
 course, much necessarily depends upon the local conditions, and 
 upon the means of transport employed. 
 
 The State should take care, by enactment or acquisition, that the 
 country does not lose the immense economic advantage that accrues 
 from the cheapness of water transport. Hitherto, this advantage 
 has been almost absolutely lost to the people of these islands : first,
 
 The State Acquisition of Railways. 473 
 
 by the neglect into which the canal system has been allowed to fall : 
 and, secondly, by the authority given to the railway companies to 
 acquire canal properties which they have allowed to become derelict 
 or converted into railway lines. Nor have the canal proprietors them- 
 selves been free from serious blame. In their palmy days they paid 
 immense dividends by keeping up high tolls and charges, and thereby 
 materially assisted the development of the railway system and their 
 own partial or complete extinction.* 
 
 Parliament behaved to the canal companies much as it has since 
 done to the railway corporations. It granted them monopolies and 
 excessive powers, which were used, in a very great majority of cases, 
 in much the same way to extort the utmost possible sums from 
 freighters both against traders and against themselves. 
 
 One of the most remarkable privileges granted by Parliament to 
 the earlier canal companies was a right to levy bar and compensation 
 tolls on the traffic of the newly-constructed canals, in order to protect 
 their monopolies. In some cases, within a few years, canal companies 
 received more than the amount of their original capital by way of 
 compensation for injury to their traffic. On this point Mr. E. J. 
 Lloyd has observed that, " the fact that all these new lines of canal 
 could only succeed by bringing tributary traffic not otherwise attain- 
 able to the older canals seems to have been completely lost sight of 
 by the Legislature, and no excuse appears to have been too absurd 
 as a reason for granting these oppressive and unjustifiable exactions 
 on the trading public. Many instances might be mentioned, but it 
 may be stated by way of example that in one case i\\d. per ton was 
 granted where the traffic did not pass within four miles of the existing 
 canal, and in another 6d. per ton where the distance exceeded five 
 miles. To these may be added bridge tolls, which were exactions 
 payable by goods, which having been landed, or were intended to be 
 carried, on one canal, passed over the bridges of another and older 
 company, f Whilst the canals had practically a monopoly of all the 
 traffic of the kingdom, it was not so serious a matter to their interests 
 
 * In 1833, when railways were beginning to be generally projected, the 
 dividends of seven of the principal canal companies in Great Britain, ranged 
 between 25 and 124 per cent per annum, while it is probable that others yielded 
 a still higher return. 
 
 t Two Warwickshire canals, with a capital of 250,0007. have in this way paid 
 in compensation tolls, to three other canal companies, more than a million 
 sterling.
 
 474 Waterways and Water Transport. 
 
 that these heavy burdens were placed upon their traffic. No doubt 
 the public were the sufferers, but the weight of traffic passed was, in 
 most cases, such as to enable the canals to earn dividends satisfactory 
 to their shareholders, and they were therefore, more or less careless 
 of the public interests, and viewed restriction of trade very differently 
 from what they can now afford to do, when they have to keep up a 
 constant competition with railway companies for their traffic." 
 Mr. Lloyds contends that the total abolition of all bar and com- 
 pensation tolls, and the establishment of free trade by the intro- 
 duction of through mileage tolls, is imperatively demanded if cheap 
 canal transport is to be attained in the public interests. 
 
 It would easily be possible to greatly extend the consideration of 
 the subject of this chapter. But that does not appear to be called 
 for. Time will show how far the practice of England, which is at 
 variance with that of nearly every other European country, is justified 
 by results. So far, it must be confessed, that the justification is far 
 from obvious. The waterways have been grievously neglected, while 
 the railways have been authorised to impose very heavy rates and 
 tolls. These are hardly likely to become much lighter as time goes 
 on, while the controlling interest acquired by the railways in trans- 
 portation arrangements will almost certainly make it difficult to recur 
 to canal transport on a large scale.
 
 ( 475 ) 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF RIVER IMPROVEMENT AND CANAL NAVIGATION IN 
 ENGLAND UP TO 1852. 
 
 Fifteenth Century. 
 1423. River Thames Navigation. 
 1425. River Lea Navigation. 
 1462. River Ouse (Yorkshire) Naviga- 
 tion. 
 
 Sixteenth Century. 
 
 1503. River Severn Navigation. 
 
 1504. River Stour (Essex) Navigation. 
 1531. Rivers Humber and Ouse Navi- 
 gation. 
 
 1531. River Exe Navigation. 
 
 1570. River Lea 
 
 1571. Welland 
 1572 Exeter Canal 
 
 Seventeenth Century. 
 1623. River Colne Navigation. 
 1662. River Itchin 
 1662. River Wye 
 
 1664. River Avon 
 
 1664. River Medway (upper). 
 1670. River Wey 
 
 1670. Rivers Bure, Yare, Waveney 
 
 Navigation. 
 
 1670. River Ouse (Suffolk) Navigation. 
 1670. Foss Dyke Navigation. 
 1672. River Witham 
 1678. Rivers Fal and Vale Navigation. 
 1699. Rivers Tone and Parrett 
 1699. Rivers Aire and Calder 
 1699. River Trent Navigation 
 
 Eighteenth Century. 
 
 1700. Rivers Avon and Froine Navi- 
 gation. 
 
 1700. River Dee Navigation (and 
 1732). 
 
 1700. River Lark Navigation. 
 
 1701. River Derwent 
 
 1702. River Frant 
 1705. River Stour 
 
 1714. River Nene 
 
 1715. River Kennett 
 
 1716. River Wear 
 
 1720. Leeds and Liverpool Canal. 
 1720. Rivers Mersey and Irvvell Navi- 
 gation (and 1794). 
 1720. River Weaver Navigation. 
 
 1720. River Dane 
 
 1721. River Eden 
 1726. River Dun 
 1726. Beverley Beck 
 1730. Stroudwater Canal 
 1737. River Roden Navigation. 
 1737. Duke of Bridgwater's Canal 
 
 (and 1759). 
 
 1749. Rivers Ley and Lane Naviga- 
 tion. 
 
 1751. River Narr Navigation. 
 
 1751. River Avon (Warwickshire). 
 
 1753. River Cart Navigation. 
 
 1755. Sankey Canal. 
 
 1757. River Blyth Navigation. 
 
 1757. River Ivel
 
 476 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 1758. Rivers Calder and Hebble Navi- 
 
 gation. 
 
 1759. River Stort Navigation. 
 1759. River Clyde 
 1763. Louth Navigation. 
 1766. River Soar Navigation. 
 1766. Trent and Mersey Canal. 
 
 1 766. Staffordshire and Worcestershire 
 Canal. 
 
 1766. Rivers Chelmer and Blackwater 
 
 Navigation (and 1793). 
 
 1767. River Ure Navigation. 
 1767. Driffield 
 
 1767. River Ancholme Navigation. 
 
 1768. Droitwich Canal. 
 1768. Coventry Canal. 
 1768. Birmingham Canal. 
 
 1768. Forth and Clyde Canal. 
 
 1769. Oxford Canal. 
 
 1770. Monkland Canal. 
 
 1770. Leeds and Liverpool Canal. 
 
 1771. Chesterfield Canal. 
 
 1771. Bradford Canal. 
 
 1772. Ellesmere Canal. 
 
 1772. Market Weighton Canal. 
 
 1773. River Bure Navigation. 
 
 1774. Sir John Ramsden's Canal. 
 
 1774. Bude Canal and Haven. 
 
 1775. Gresley Canal. 
 
 1776. Dudley Canal. 
 1776. Stourbridge Canal. 
 1778. Basingstoke Canal. 
 1778. Bedford River. 
 
 1783. Thames and Severn Canal. 
 1785. River Arun Navigation. 
 
 1788. Shropshire Union Canals. 
 
 1789. Andover Canal. 
 
 1789. Cromford Canal. 
 
 1790. River Ouse (Yorkshire) Naviga- 
 
 tion. 
 
 1790. Glamorganshire Canal. 
 
 1791. Hereford and Gloucester Canal. 
 1791. Leicester Navigation. 
 
 1791. Wreak and Eye River Naviga- 
 tion. 
 
 1791. Manchester, Bolton, and Bury 
 Canal. 
 
 1791. Leominster Canal. 
 1791 Melton Mowbray Canal. 
 1791. Neath Canal. 
 
 1791. Worcester and Birmingham 
 
 Canal. 
 
 1792. River Medway (lower) Naviga- 
 
 tion. 
 
 1792. Nottingham Canal. 
 1792. Monmouthshire Canal. 
 1792. Horncastle Canal. 
 
 1792. Lancaster Canal. 
 
 1793. Gloucester and Berkeley Canal. 
 1793. Aberdare Canal. 
 
 1793. Brecon and Abergavenny Canal. 
 
 1793. Stratford-on-Avon Canal. 
 
 1793. Leicestershire and Northamp- 
 tonshire Canal. 
 
 1793. Grantham Canal. 
 
 1793. Grand Junction Canal. 
 
 1793. River Foss Navigation. 
 
 1793. Derby Canal. 
 
 1793. Stainforth and Keadby Canal. 
 
 J 793- Ulverston Canal. 
 
 1793. Shrewsbury Canal. 
 
 1793. Warwick and Birmingham 
 Canal. 
 
 1793. Caister Canal. 
 
 1793. Barnsley Canal. 
 
 X 793- Oakham Canal. 
 
 1793. Dearne and Dove Canal. 
 
 1793. Cruian Canal. 
 
 1794. Montgomeryshire Canal. 
 1794. Warwick and Napton Canal. 
 1794. Peak Forest Canal. 
 
 1794. Rochdale Canal. 
 
 1794. Huddersfield Canal. 
 
 1794. Kennett and Avon Canal. 
 
 1794. Mersey and Irwell Navigation. 
 
 1794. Swansea Canal. 
 
 1794. Wisbech Canal. 
 
 1794. Somersetshire Coal Canal. 
 
 1794. Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal. 
 
 1794. Sleaford Navigation. 
 
 1795. Wilts and Berks Canal. 
 
 1795. Hchester and Longport Naviga- 
 tion. 
 1795. Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal.
 
 Appendix. 
 
 477 
 
 1795. Derby Canal. 
 
 1796. Dorset and Somerset Canal. 
 1796. Grand Western Canal. 
 
 1796. Aberdeen, or Don and Dee 
 
 Canal. 
 
 1796. River Tamar Navigation. 
 1796. Salisbury and Southampton 
 
 Canal. 
 
 Nineteenth Century. 
 
 1800. Thames and Medway Canal. 
 
 1 80 1. Grand Surrey Canal. 
 
 1801. Leven Canal. 
 
 1802. River Exe Navigation. 
 
 1803. Glenkennie Canal. 
 1803. Tavistock Canal. 
 1803. Caledonian Canal. 
 
 1803. Thames and Severn Canal. 
 1805. River Mersey Navigation. 
 
 1805. Ashton and Oldham Canal. 
 
 1806. Glasgow and Paisley Canal. 
 
 1807. River Adur Navigation. 
 1807. River Ribble 
 
 1807. Royal Military Canal. 
 
 1808. River Tees Navigation. 
 
 1810. Grand Union Canal. 
 
 1811. Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. 
 
 1812. London and Cambridge Canal. 
 
 1812. Regent's Canal. 
 
 1813. Bure and Dillon Canal. 
 1813. Wey and Arun Canal. 
 
 1815. Pocklington Canal. 
 
 1816. Sheffield Canal. 
 
 1817. Portsmouth and Arundcl Canal. 
 1817. Edinburgh and Glasgow Canal. 
 1819. Carlisle Canal. 
 
 1819. Bude and Launceston Canal. 
 
 1820. Macclesneld Canal. 
 1824. Kensington Canal. 
 
 1824. Hertford Union Canal. 
 
 1825. English and Bristol Channels 
 
 Canal (Liskeard and Looc) 
 
 1826. Alford Canal. 
 1826. Macclesfield Canal. 
 
 1826. Birmingham and Liverpool 
 
 Canal. 
 
 1827. Norwich and Lowestoft Naviga- 
 
 tion. 
 
 1828. Avon and Gloucestershire Canal. 
 
 1828. Nene and Wisbech Canal. 
 
 1829. Oxford Canal. 
 
 1830. Ellesmere and Chester Canal. 
 1842. River Severn Navigation. 
 1852. Droitwich Junction Canal.
 
 478 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 II. 
 
 CANALS AND INLAND RIVER NAVIGATIONS IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, 
 AND WALES, DISTINGUISHING THE MILEAGE UNDER, AND THE 
 MILEAGE NOT UNDER, THE CONTROL OF RAILWAY COMPANIES. 
 
 {From the Report of the Select Committee on Canals, 1883, /. 225.) 
 
 
 Not under 
 Control of 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 Under 
 Control of 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 ENGLAND : 
 Aire and Calder Canal 
 Ancholme Drainage and Navigation .. 
 Ashby - de - la - Zouch Canal (Midland 
 
 M. F. 
 80 o 
 19 o 
 
 M. F. 
 26 4, 
 
 Ashton-under-Lyne Canal (Manchester, 
 Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway) 
 
 Barnsley Canal (Amalgamated with the 
 Aire and Calder Navigation) 
 Baybridge Canal .. .. 
 
 15 * 
 T. -i 
 
 I? 4 
 
 
 o 6 
 
 
 Birmingham Canals (London and North- 
 Western Railway) .. ., 
 Bradford Canal 
 
 3 
 
 160 o 
 
 Bridgwater, Duke of 
 Bridgwater and Taunton Canal (Great 
 Western Railway) 
 
 39 6 
 
 1$ 4. 
 
 15 2 
 
 Caistor Canal (County of Lincoln) 
 Calder and Hebble Navigation (Leased to 
 the Aire and Calder Navigation) 
 Carlisle Canal 
 
 4 o 
 
 22 
 II 2 
 
 
 
 Chesterfield Canal (Manchester, Sheffield, 
 and Lincolnshire Railway). 
 Coventry Canal 
 
 2"> A 
 
 46 o 
 
 Cromford Canal (Midland Railway) 
 
 Dearne and Dove Canal (Manchester 
 Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway). 
 Derby Canal 
 
 18 o 
 
 18 o 
 14 o 
 
 Driffield Navigation Canal 
 Driffield River 
 
 5 4 
 6 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 296 4 
 
 297 2
 
 Appendix. 
 
 479 
 
 CANALS AND INLAND RIVER NAVIGATION Continued. 
 
 ENGLAND continued. 
 
 Brought forward 
 Droitwich Canal 
 Droitwich Junction Canal 
 
 Erewash Canal 
 Exeter Canal . 
 
 Foss Navigation, York 
 
 Foss Dike Navigation, Lincolnshire (Great 
 Northern Railway) 
 
 Gloucester and Berkeley Canal (now part of 
 Sharpness New Docks and Gloucester and 
 
 Birmingham Navigation) 164 o 
 
 Grand Junction Canal 135 o 
 
 Grand Surrey Canal 46 
 
 Grand Union Canal 26 o 
 
 Grand Western Canal .. 
 
 Grantham Canal (Great Northern Railway 
 Gravesend and Rochester Canal (South- 
 
 Eastern Railway) 
 
 Gresley Canal, including Newcastle-under- 
 
 Lyne Canals 
 
 Grosvenor Canal i o 
 
 Hertford Union Canal 60 
 
 Horncastle Canal u o 
 
 Huddersfield and Sir John Ramsden's Canal 
 
 Hull and Leven Canal 3 o 
 
 Ilchester and Langport Canal 7 o 
 
 Kennet and Avon Canal (Great Western 
 Railway) 
 
 Lancaster Canal (London and North West- 
 ern Railway) 
 
 Lea River Navigation and Branch Canals.. 33 4 
 
 Leeds and Liverpool Canal 143 4 
 
 Leicester Navigation 16 o 
 
 Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union 
 
 Canal 24 o 
 
 Leven Canal 30 
 
 Liskeard and Looe Canal 6 o 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 Not under 
 Control of 
 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 M. F. 
 
 296 4 
 
 5 6 
 
 904 i 
 
 Under 
 Control of 
 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 12 4 
 
 II O 
 
 12 O 
 
 33 6 
 
 6 6 
 
 9 
 
 23 6 
 
 57 o 
 60 o 
 
 523 o
 
 480 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 CANALS AND INLAND RIVER NAVIGATION Continued. 
 
 
 Not under 
 Control of 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 Under 
 Control of 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 ENGLAND continued. 
 Brought forward 
 Louth Canal (Great Northern Railway) 
 Macclesfield Canal (Manchester, Sheffield, 
 and Lincolnshire Railway) 
 Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal (Lan- 
 cashire and Yorkshire Railway) 
 Market Weighton Canal (North-Eastern 
 
 M. F. 
 904 I 
 
 M. F. 
 523 
 12 
 
 26 2 
 
 16 o 
 9 
 
 Newcastle-under-Lyne Canal (North Stafford- 
 shire Railway) 
 
 
 2 O 
 
 North Walsham and Dilham 
 North Wilts (part of Wilts and Berks Canal) 
 Nottingham Canal (Great Northern Railway) 
 Nutbrook or Shipley Canal 
 
 7 4 
 8 4 
 
 4 4 
 
 91 2 
 
 15 o 
 
 Peak Forest Canal (Manchester, Sheffield, 
 and Lincolnshire Railway) 
 Pocklington Canal (North-Eastern Railway) 
 Portsmouth and Arundel 
 
 Regent's Canal 
 
 4 o 
 9 6 
 
 15 o 
 9 2 
 
 Rochdale Canal 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 Royal Military or Shorncliffe Canal .. 
 St. Columb Canal 
 
 30 o 
 6 o 
 
 
 
 St. Helen's Canal (London and North- 
 Western Railway) 
 Sankey Canal 
 
 
 16 6 
 
 12 O 
 
 Sheffield Canal (Manchester, Sheffield, and 
 Lincolnshire Railway) 
 Shropshire Union Canals (London and North- 
 Western Railway) 
 Sleaford Chapel . . . 
 
 13 4 
 
 4 o 
 204 o 
 
 Soar River or Longboro' Navigation .. 
 Somersetshire Coal Canal 
 Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal 
 Stamforth and Keadby Canal (South York- 
 shire Railway) 
 
 8 4 
 
 II 
 
 50 o 
 
 J-5 O 
 
 Stourbridge Navigation 
 Stourbridge Extension Canal (Great Western 
 Railway) 
 
 7 i 
 
 I o 
 
 
 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 1190 6 
 
 880 2
 
 Appendix. 
 
 481 
 
 CANALS AND INLAND RIVER NAVIGATION Continued. 
 
 Not under 
 Control of 
 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 Under 
 Control of 
 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 ENGLAND continued. 
 
 Brought forward 
 
 Stratford-on-Avon Canal (Great Western 
 
 Railway) 
 
 Stover Canal (South Devon Railway) .. 
 
 Stroudwater Canal 
 
 Surrey Dock Canal 
 
 Tavistock Canal 
 
 Thames and Medway Canal 
 
 Thames and Severn Canal 
 
 Thanet Canal 
 
 Tone and Parrett Navigation (Great Western 
 
 Railway) 
 
 Trent and Mersey Canal (North Staffordshire 
 
 Railway) 
 
 Ulverston Canal (Furness Railway) 
 
 Warwick and Birmingham Canal 
 
 Warwick and Napton 
 
 WeyandArun 
 
 Wey River 
 
 Wilts and Berks Canal 
 
 Wisbech Canal 
 
 Worcester and Birmingham (now part of 
 Sharpness New Docks and Gloucester and 
 Birmingham Navigation Company) .. 
 
 TOTAL , 
 
 SCOTLAND : 
 
 Aberdeenshire Canal 
 
 Borrowstowness Canal 
 
 Caledonian Canal 
 
 Crinan Canal 
 
 Edinburgh and Glasgow Union (North 
 
 British Railway) 
 
 Forth and Clyde (Caledonian Railway) 
 Glasgow, Paisley, and Ardrossan (Glasgow 
 
 and South Western Railway) 
 
 Glenkenn's Canal 
 
 Monkland Canal 
 
 Total 
 
 M. F. 
 
 1190 6 
 
 8 o 
 
 4 4 
 
 4 o 
 
 30 o 
 
 o -\ 
 
 22 4 
 
 14 3 
 
 18 o 
 
 20 o 
 
 60 2 
 
 6 o 
 
 29 o 
 
 I , 260 2 
 
 19 o 
 
 7 o 
 
 23 o 
 
 9 4 
 
 M. F. 
 880 2 
 
 27 o 
 118 o 
 
 I 2 
 
 1,062 5 
 
 84 
 
 32 o 
 
 53 o 
 
 II O 
 
 IO O 
 
 106 o 
 
 2 I
 
 482 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 CANALS AND INLAND RIVER NAVIGATION Continued. 
 
 Not under 
 Control of 
 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 Under 
 Control of 
 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 WALES : 
 
 Aberdare Canal 
 
 Brecon and Abergavenny Canal (Great 
 
 Western Railway) 
 
 Briton Canal 
 
 Glamorganshire Canal 
 
 Kidwelly Canal 
 
 Monmouthshire Railway and Canals (Great 
 
 Western Railway) 
 
 Montgomeryshire Canal (now part Shropshire 
 
 Union) 
 
 Neath Canal 
 
 Pembrey Canal 
 
 Penelawd Canal 
 
 Swansea (Great Western Railway) 
 
 Total 
 
 M. F. 
 6 6 
 
 4 2 
 
 25 4 
 
 3 4 
 
 14 o 
 o 4 
 4 o 
 
 M. F. 
 
 33 o 
 
 20 O 
 
 17 o 
 
 58 4 I 70 o 
 
 RIVERS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Axe River 
 
 Adur River, Sussex 
 
 Arun River, Sussex 
 
 Avon River (Lower), Tewkesbury to Eve- 
 sham (now leased to Sharpness New 
 Docks, and Gloucester and Birmingham 
 Navigation Company) 
 
 Avon River, Bath to Hanham Mills .. 
 
 Blyth River, Suffolk 
 
 Bourne Eare River, Lincolnshire 
 
 Bure or North River, Norfolk 
 
 Colne River, Essex 
 
 Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, Essex 
 
 Dee Navigation 
 
 Derwent River Navigation (North Eastern 
 Railway) 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 9 o 
 14 o 
 13 o 
 
 25 o 
 
 9 o 
 
 3 4 
 
 9 o 
 
 3 4 
 
 14 o 
 
 IO O 
 
 110 O 
 
 II O 
 
 38 o 
 
 49
 
 Appendix. 
 
 483 
 
 RIVERS IN ENGLAND continued. 
 
 
 Not under 
 Control of 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 Under 
 Control of 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 Brought forward 
 Dun River Navigation (Manchester, Shef- 
 field, and Lincolnshire Railway) 
 Gippen River, Suffolk (Great Eastern Rail- 
 wav) 
 
 M. F. 
 no o 
 
 M. F. 
 49 o 
 
 39 o 
 16 o 
 
 Idle River, County of Nottingham 
 Itchen Navigation 
 
 IO 
 
 14 o 
 
 
 
 Ivel River, Hertford and Bedford 
 Kennet River, Reading to Newbury (Great 
 Western Railway) 
 Larke River, Suffolk 
 Medway River, Lower Navigation .. .. 
 Medway River, Upper Navigation 
 Leicester and Melton Mowbray Navigation 
 Mersey and Irwell Navigation 
 Narr River, Norfolk 
 Nene River Navigation 
 Norwich and Lowestoft Navigation (Great 
 Eastern Railway) . 
 
 II O 
 
 14 o 
 7 6 
 15 o 
 14 6 
 57 o 
 
 15 
 
 50 o 
 
 18 4 
 30 o 
 
 New Bedford Level 
 
 2O 
 
 
 Ouse River Navigation (York) 
 Ouse River Navigation (Sussex) 
 The Little Ouse or Brandon and Waveney 
 River 
 
 60 o 
 30 o 
 
 22 4 
 
 
 
 Rother River, Sussex .. 
 Stour River, from Manningtree, Essex, to 
 Sudbury, Suffolk 
 
 II 
 
 20 o 
 
 
 
 Stowmarket Navigation (Great Eastern 
 Railway) .. .. 
 
 
 17 o 
 
 Stort River Navigation 
 Severn River 
 
 13 4 
 
 44 
 
 
 Sankey Brook Navigation 
 Tamar Manure Navigation 
 Thames River ... 
 
 3 3 
 
 22 O 
 
 146 o 
 
 
 
 Trent River Navigation 
 Ure River Navigation 
 \Veaver Navigation 
 
 72 o 
 24 o 
 
 7 6 
 
 
 26 o 
 
 
 
 Witham Navigation 
 Wye and Lugg Rivers 
 
 99 4 
 
 32 o 
 
 Total 
 
 932 3 
 
 209 2 
 
 2 I 2
 
 484 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 CANALS AND NAVIGATIONS ABANDONED OR CONVERTED INTO 
 RAILWAYS. 
 
 Alford Canal 
 
 Andover Canal, converted into Railway 
 
 Avon River, above Evesham 
 
 Basingstoke Canal 
 
 Coombe Hill Canal 
 
 Croydon Canal 
 
 Glastonbury Canal, converted into Railway 
 
 Grand Western Canal 
 
 Grosvenor Canal, part of 
 
 Hereford and Gloucester, converted into Railway 
 
 Kensington Canal, part of 
 
 Leominster Canal, converted into Railway .... 
 Monmouthshire Canal, near Newport, part converted 
 
 Newport Pagnell 
 
 Oakham Canal, part converted into Railway 
 Portsmouth and Arundel (part abandoned since 1855) 
 Somersetshire Canal (part of), converted into Railway 
 Wey and Arun Junction Canal 
 
 Total .. 
 
 M. F. 
 
 6 4 
 
 22 4 
 
 18 3 
 
 37 2 
 
 3 4 
 
 9 4 
 
 14 2 
 
 25 o 
 
 1 O 
 
 34 o 
 
 2 O 
 22 O 
 
 6 
 
 1 2 
 
 15 o 
 
 8 o 
 
 7 2 
 18 o 
 
 250 i 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 
 Not under 
 Control of 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 Under 
 Control of 
 Railway 
 Companies. 
 
 
 M. F. 
 I 260 2 
 
 M. F. 
 
 i 062 5 
 
 
 84 2 
 
 106 o 
 
 
 eg 4 
 
 70 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,403 o 
 
 Q-Z2 *\ 
 
 1,238 5 
 
 70Q 2 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 2,335 3 
 
 1,447 7 
 
 Canals and Navigations abandoned or con- 
 verted into Railways 
 
 250 i 
 

 
 Appendix. 
 
 485 
 
 III. 
 
 THROUGH ROUTES OF CANAL AND INLAND NAVIGATION IN ENGLAND 
 
 AND WALES. 
 
 (From the Report of the Select Committee on Canals, 1883, /. 210.) 
 
 Note. An asterisk (*) against the name of a Navigation indicates that it is owned or 
 controlled by a Railway Company. 
 
 Note. Draft, in the dimensions of locks, denotes the greatest immersion at which any 
 craft can pass through the Navigation. 
 
 Route. 
 
 Name of Navigation. 
 
 Mileage. 
 
 Size of Lock. 
 
 Length. Breadth. Draft. 
 
 London to Liverpool 
 (First Route.) 
 
 London to Liverpool 
 (Second Route.) 
 
 London to Liverpool 
 (Third Route.) 
 
 *Regent's 
 Grand Junction 
 Oxford 
 Warwick and Napton 
 Warwick and Birmingham 
 *Birmingham 
 Staffordshire and Worces- 
 tershire 
 * Shropshire Unions .. 
 Mersey 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 River Thames 
 Grand Junction 
 Oxford 
 Coventry 
 *Birmingham 
 Coventry 
 *North Staffordshire . . 
 Duke of Bridgwater's 
 River Mersey 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 River Thames 
 Grand Junction 
 Oxford 
 Warwick and Napton 
 Warwick and Birmingham 
 *Birmingham 
 Staffordshire and Worces- 
 tershire 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 SJ 
 
 101 
 
 5 
 15 
 
 22 
 15 
 
 ii 
 
 68 
 
 10 
 
 ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 
 90 o by 15 o by 5 o 
 80 o ,, 14 6 ,, 4 6 
 No lock. 
 72 o by 7 o by 4 o 
 72 o ,, 7 o 4 o 
 72 o ,, 7 o 4 o 
 
 72 o ,, 7 o ,, 4 o 
 80 o ,, 7 6 ,, 4 o 
 Open navigation. 
 
 Open navigation. 
 80 o by 14 6 by 4 6 
 72 o ,, 7 o ,, 4 o 
 72 o 7 o 4 o 
 No lock. 
 Ditto. 
 72 o by 7 o by 3 6 
 84 o ,, 15 o ,, 4 6 
 Open navigation. 
 
 Open navigation. 
 80 o by 14 6 by 4 6 
 72 o ,, 7 o 4 o 
 72 o ,, 7 o ,, 4 o 
 72 o 7 o 4 o 
 72 o ,, 7 o 4 o 
 
 72 o ,, 7 o 4 o 
 
 2451 
 
 20 
 
 94 
 24 
 27 
 Si 
 5 
 67 
 
 5i 
 
 15 
 
 263* 
 
 20 
 
 94 
 5 
 15 
 
 22 
 15 
 
 23 
 
 194
 
 486 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 THROUGH ROUTES OF CANAL AND INLAND NAVIGATION Continued. 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 M 
 
 Size of Lock. 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 Length. Breadth. Draft. 
 
 
 Brought forward .. 
 *North Staffordshire . . 
 Duke of Bridgwater's 
 River Mersey 
 
 194 
 
 5S 
 
 15 
 
 ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 
 
 72 o by 7 o by 3 6 
 85 o 15 o 4 6 
 Open navigation. 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 2691 
 
 
 London to Hull 
 (First Route.) 
 
 Regent's 
 Grand Junction 
 Grand Union 
 Leicester and Northampton 
 Leicester 
 Soar 
 Trent .. .. 
 Humber 
 
 8| 
 
 96 
 24 
 18 
 16 
 8 
 
 IOO 
 
 i8i 
 
 90 o by 15 o by 5 o 
 80 o 14 6 ,, 4 6 
 72 o 7 o 4 o 
 80 o 15 o ,, 3 6 
 70 o 14 o 3 6 
 70 o 14 o 3 6 
 90 o 15 o 3 6 
 Open navigation. 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 289 
 
 
 London to Hull 
 (Second Route.) 
 
 Thames 
 Grand Junction 
 Oxford 
 Coventry 
 *Birmingham 
 Coventry 
 *North Staffordshire.. .. 
 Trent 
 Humber 
 
 20 
 
 94 
 24 
 
 27 
 Si 
 5* 
 
 26 
 
 IO2^ 
 
 i8* 
 
 Open navigation. 
 80 o by 14 6 by 4 6 
 72 o 7 o 4 o 
 72 o ,, 7 o 4 o 
 No lock. 
 Ditto, 
 72 o by 7 o by 3 6 
 90 o ,, 15 o ,, 3 6 
 Open navigation. 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 3 2 3 
 
 
 London to Severn 
 Ports. 
 (First Route.) 
 
 Thames 
 Kennet 
 *Kennet and Avon 
 *Avon to Hanham 
 Avon Tideway 
 
 78* 
 i* 
 74 
 ii 
 
 151 
 
 Open navigation. 
 120 o by 18 o by 5 o 
 75 o 14 6 4 6 
 108 o ,, 18 6 ,, 4 6 
 Open navigation. 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 i8oj 
 
 
 London to Severn 
 Ports. 
 (Second Route.) 
 
 Thames 
 Wilts and Berks 
 
 Thames and Severn 
 
 Stroudwater 
 Sharpness Docks, Glouces- 
 ter and Berkeley, Section 
 to Sharpness 
 
 io6| 
 37 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 9 
 
 109 o by 17 8 by 4 o 
 78 o ,, 8 o ,, 4 o 
 172 o 17 6 4 o 
 86 o 
 Altered to > 12 3 4 O 
 72 ) 
 
 72 o 17 6 4 6 
 No lock 1 8 feet deep. 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 180 

 
 Appendix. 
 
 487 
 
 THROUGH ROUTES OF CANAL AND INLAND NAVIGATION continued. 
 
 
 
 uo 
 
 
 
 Size of Lock. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Length. Breadth. Draft. 
 
 London to Severn 
 Ports. 
 (Third Route.) 
 
 Thames 
 
 Thames and Severn 
 Stroudwater to Tideway . . 
 
 14*1 
 
 t 
 
 ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 
 ( 140 o by 22 o 
 ^109 iy 8 
 ( 90 o ,, 14 o 
 72 o ,, 12 6 by 4 o 
 72 o ,, 17 6 ,, 4 6 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 i78i 
 
 
 London to Severn 
 Ports. 
 (Fourth Route.) 
 
 Thames 
 Grand Junction 
 Oxford 
 Warwick and Napton 
 Warwick and Birmingham 
 *Stratford-on-Avon .. 
 Sharpness Docks, Worces- 
 ter Section 
 Severn 
 Gloucester and Berkeley to 
 Sharpness 
 
 20 
 94 
 5 
 i5 
 7J 
 
 I2j 
 
 24 
 30 
 
 16 
 
 Open navigation. 
 80 o by 14 6 by 4 6 
 72 o 7 o ,, 4 o 
 72 o 7 o ,, 4 o 
 72 o 7 o ,, 4 o 
 72 o 7 o ,, 4 o 
 
 72 o 7 o ,, 5 6 
 150 o 30 o ,, 6 o 
 
 100 o ,, 24 o ,, 6 o 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 224 
 
 
 Liverpool to Severn 
 Ports. 
 (First Route.) 
 
 Mersey 
 * Shropshire Union .. 
 Staffordshire and Worces- 
 tershire 
 Severn 
 Gloucester and Berkeley . . 
 
 10 
 
 68 
 
 26J 
 
 44 
 16 
 
 Open navigation. 
 80 by 7 6 by 4 o 
 
 72 o 7 o 4 o 
 99 o ,, 20 o ,, 6 o 
 100 o 24 o ,, 6 o 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 164* 
 
 
 Liverpool to Severn 
 Ports. 
 (Second Route.) 
 
 Mersey 
 Duke of Bridgwater's 
 *North Staffordshire.. 
 Staffordshire and Worces- 
 tershire 
 *Birmingham 
 Worcester and Birming- 
 ham 
 Severn 
 Gloucester and Berkeley . . 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 15 
 Si 
 55 
 
 2lJ 
 
 15 
 
 30 
 
 3 
 16 
 
 187! 
 
 Open navigation. 
 84 o by 15 o by 4 6 
 72 o 7 o ,, 3 6 
 
 72 o , 7 o 40 
 72 o , 7 o 40 
 
 72 o , 7 o 56 
 150 o , 30 o 60 
 100 o , 24 o 60 
 
 Liverpool to Hull . . 
 (First Route.) 
 
 Leeds and Liverpool 
 Aire and Calder 
 Ouse 
 Humber ... 
 
 127 
 
 35 
 8 
 i8J 
 
 70 o by 16 o by 4 o 
 
 212 O ,, 22 O ,, 9 O 
 
 Open navigation. 
 Ditto. 
 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 i88 

 
 488 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 THROUGH ROUTES OF CANAL AND INLAND NAVIGATION continued. 
 
 Route. 
 
 Name of Navigation. 
 
 | 
 
 JU 
 
 i 
 
 Size of Lock. 
 
 Length. Breadth. Draft. 
 
 Liverpool to Hull .. 
 (Second Route.) 
 
 Liverpool to Hull .. 
 (Third Route). 
 
 South Staffordshire 
 Mineral District 
 to London. 
 
 South Staffordshire 
 Mineral District 
 to Liverpool. 
 (First Route.) 
 
 South Staffordshire 
 Mineral District to 
 Liverpool. 
 (Second Route.) 
 
 Mersey 
 Duke of Bridgwater's 
 Rochdale 
 Calder and Hebble (in 
 course of improvement) 
 Aire and Calder 
 Ouse 
 Humber 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 Mersey 
 Duke of Bridgwater's 
 Rochdale 
 Ashton 
 *Huddersfield 
 *Sir John Ramsden's 
 Calder and Hebble 
 Aire and Calder (original 
 improved) 
 Ouse 
 Humber 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 *Birmingham (average) .. 
 Warwick and Birmingham 
 Warwick and Napton 
 Oxford 
 Grand Junction 
 Regent's 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 *Birmingham (average) .. 
 Staffordshire and Worces- 
 tershire 
 *North Staffordshire.. 
 Duke of Bridgwater's 
 Mersey 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 Birmingham (average) 
 Staffordshire and Worces- 
 tershire 
 Shropshire Union .. 
 Mersey 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 26| 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 35 
 8 
 i8J 
 
 ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 
 Open navigation. 
 84 o by 15 o by 4 6 
 73 o ,, 14 o ,, 4 6 
 
 53 o 14 o 4 6 
 
 212 O ,, 22 O ,, 9 O 
 
 Open navigation. 
 Ditto. 
 
 Open navigation. 
 84 o by 15 o by 4 6 
 73 o 14 o 4 6 
 83 o 8 6 4 6 
 70 o 7 o 4 6 
 53 o 14 o 4 6 
 58 o 14 6 5 6 
 
 212 O ,, 22 O ,, 9 6 
 Open navigation. 
 Ditto. 
 
 72 o by 7 o by 4 o 
 72 o 7 o 4 o 
 72 o ,, 7 o ,, 4 o 
 No lock. 
 80 o by 14 6 by 4 6 
 90 o 15 o ,, 5 o 
 
 72 o by 7 o by 4 o 
 
 72 o 7 o 4 o 
 72 o 7 o 3 6 
 84 o 15 o ,, 4 o 
 Open navigation. 
 
 72 o by 7 o by 4 o 
 
 72 o 7 o 4 o 
 80 o ,, 7 6 ,, 4 o 
 Open navigation. 
 
 i58| 
 
 26| 
 
 I 
 6 
 I9i 
 
 if 
 
 13 
 
 35 
 i8i 
 
 146} 
 
 12 
 22 
 15 
 
 9 
 
 101 
 
 8 
 
 163^ 
 
 10 
 
 21* 
 55 
 5 
 15 
 
 io6 
 
 10 
 
 li 
 
 68 
 
 10 
 
 8 9 J
 
 Appendix. 
 
 489 
 
 THROUGH ROUTES OF CANAL AND INLAND NAVIGATION continued. 
 
 Route. 
 
 Name of Navigation. 
 
 t 
 1 
 
 Size of Lock. 
 
 Length. Breadth. Draft. 
 
 South Staffordshire 
 Mineral District to 
 Hull. 
 
 South Staffordshire 
 Mineral District to 
 Severn Ports. 
 (First Route.) 
 
 South Staffordshire 
 Mineral District to 
 Severn Ports. 
 (Second Route.) 
 
 South Staffordshire 
 Mineral District to 
 Severn Ports. 
 (Third Route.) 
 
 *Birmingham (average) .. 
 Coventry 
 *North Staffordshire . . 
 Trent 
 Humber 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 *Birmingham (average) 
 Worcester Section .. 
 Severn 
 Gloucester and Berkeley 
 Section 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 *Birmingham 
 Stourbridge 
 Staffordshire and Worces- 
 tershire 
 Severn 
 Gloucester and Berkeley 
 Section 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 Birmingham 
 Staffordshire and Worces- 
 tershire 
 Severn 
 Gloucester and Berkeley 
 Section 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 27 
 
 5* 
 26 
 
 102 
 
 i8J 
 
 ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 
 
 72 o by 7 o by 4 o 
 No lock. 
 72 o by 9 o by 3 6 
 90 o ,, 15 o ,, 3 6 
 Open navigation. 
 
 72 O by 7 o by 4 o 
 72 o 7 o ,, 5 6 
 150 o 30 o ,, 6 o 
 
 100 o ,, 24 o ,, 6 o 
 
 72 o by 7 o by 4 o 
 72 o ,, 7 o ,, 4 o 
 
 72 o ,, 7 o ,, 4 o 
 99 o ,, 20 o ,, 6 o 
 
 loo o ,, 24 o ,, 6 o 
 
 72 o by 7 o by 4 o 
 
 72 o ,, 7 o ,, 4 o 
 99 o ,, 20 o ,, 6 o 
 
 loo o ,, 24 o ,, 6 o 
 
 179 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 30 
 
 16 
 
 86 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 44 
 16 
 
 86 
 
 10 
 
 25 
 44 
 
 16 
 
 95
 
 490 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 IV. 
 
 STATEMENT OF THE CANALS, ETC., IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, OWNED 
 OR CONTROLLED BY RAILWAY COMPANIES ON 3 1ST DECEMBER, 1882, 
 ARRANGED UNDER THE DATES OF THE SPECIAL ACTS AUTHORISING 
 THE ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 Years. 
 
 England. 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 miles 
 
 miles 
 
 miles 
 
 miles 
 
 Under Act of 1845 
 
 78J 
 
 
 92 
 
 170! 
 
 1846 
 
 7742 
 
 
 
 774* 
 
 1847 
 
 9 6 
 
 
 
 9 6i 
 
 1848 
 
 2Of 
 
 3 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 1852 
 
 86i 
 
 
 
 86J 
 
 1862 
 
 3* 
 
 
 
 3* 
 
 1864 
 
 74 
 
 
 
 74 
 
 1865 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 1866 
 
 15* 
 
 
 
 15! 
 
 1867 
 
 
 53 
 
 
 53 
 
 1870 
 
 So 
 
 
 
 5o 
 
 1872 
 
 17 
 
 
 .. 
 
 17 
 
 1882 
 
 9i 
 
 
 
 9f 
 
 Total .. .. 
 
 I259J 
 
 85 
 
 92 
 
 1436! 
 
 V. 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL RIVER SYSTEMS OF EUROPE AND THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 The actual and direct lengths of all the principal rivers in Europe, with 
 the areas of their basins and the principal towns on which they are 
 situated, are shown in the following tabular statement. The European 
 river basins are inclined to the Arctic Ocean, to the Atlantic and North 
 Sea, to the Baltic, to the North Sea, to the Mediterranean, to the Black 
 Sea, or to the Caspian. 
 
 The remarkable differences between the total length of the basins and 
 their direct length will be noted. The Danube, for example, is, in actual 
 length, nearly double its direct length ; and so also with the Don, the 
 Salembria, the Charente, the Rhone, the Po, and others ; while the Volga 
 is more than twice its direct length, and the Ural more than three times 
 as much. 
 
 The Volga, with a total length of 2400 miles is the longest river in
 
 Appendix. 
 
 491 
 
 Europe, but its direct length of 1080 miles is but little superior to that of 
 the Danube with a length of 980 miles. Twenty-one basins in all incline 
 to the Atlantic, five to the Arctic Ocean, thirteen to the Baltic, eight to 
 the North Sea, thirteen to the Mediterranean, three to the Caspian, and 
 five to the Black Sea. The enormous length of the basins inclining to the 
 two latter seas, makes their aggregate mileage and area drained larger 
 than those of any other. 
 
 RIVER BASINS OF EUROPE. 
 
 River or Estuary. 
 
 Length in 
 English Miles. 
 
 Direct Length 
 of Basin in 
 English Miles. 
 
 Area of Basin 
 in Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Capital of States and Pro- 
 vinces in each Basin. 
 
 
 Basins inclined to the Arctic Ocean. 
 
 
 Petchora 
 
 900 
 
 52O 
 
 II4,4OO 
 
 
 Mezen 
 
 400 
 
 300 
 
 30, loo 
 
 
 Dwina 
 
 700 
 
 500 
 
 134,400 
 
 Archangel. 
 
 Onega 
 
 300 
 
 250 
 
 2I.OOO 
 
 
 Alien Fiord 
 
 ISO 
 
 80 
 
 
 Altengard. 
 
 Basins inclined to the Baltic. 
 
 L. Malar 
 
 170 
 
 130 
 
 . . 
 
 Stockholm. 
 
 Dal 
 
 250 
 
 200 
 
 
 
 Angerman 
 
 15 
 
 120 
 
 
 Hernosand. 
 
 Umea 
 
 250 
 
 22O 
 
 
 
 Neva, and Gulf of Fin-\ 
 land / 
 
 625 
 
 5OO 
 
 99,700 
 
 (St. Petersburg and 
 \ Helsingfors. 
 
 Diina 
 
 400 
 
 300 
 
 34,7oo 
 
 Riga. 
 
 Niemen 
 
 400 
 
 270 
 
 35,7oo 
 
 Erodno and Wilna. 
 
 Pregel 
 
 120 
 
 1 2O 
 
 6,800 
 
 Konigsberg. 
 
 Vistula 
 
 53 
 
 360 
 
 72,300 
 
 Warsaw, Lemberg. 
 
 Oder 
 
 445 
 
 360 
 
 45,200 
 
 Stettin, Breslau. 
 
 Stb'r 
 
 95 
 
 55 
 
 . . 
 
 Schwerin. 
 
 Trave 
 
 50 
 
 40 
 
 
 Lubeck. 
 
 Schleifiord 
 
 25 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 Schleswig. 
 
 Basins inclined to the North Sea. 
 
 Lymfiord 
 Elbe 
 
 IOO 
 
 550 
 
 90 
 42O 
 
 500 
 
 SS, 000 
 
 Aalborg. 
 (Hamburg, Gotha, 
 \ Weimar. 
 
 Weser 
 
 230 
 
 25O 
 
 17,700 
 
 Bremen, Brunswick. 
 
 Ems 
 
 160 
 
 130 
 
 
 Minister. 
 
 Rhine 
 
 600 
 
 4OO 
 
 75,000 
 
 (Bern, Cologne, Am- 
 \ sterdam. 
 
 Scheldt 
 
 2IO 
 
 1 2O 
 
 
 Antwerp, Brussels. 
 
 Meuse 
 
 580 
 
 230 
 
 . . 
 
 Liege, Namur. 
 
 Hunse 
 
 5 
 
 40 
 
 . . 
 
 Groningen. 
 
 Vecht 
 
 90 
 
 60 
 
 
 Zwoll.
 
 492 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 RIVER BASINS OF EUROPE continued. 
 
 River or Estuary. 
 
 Length in 
 English Miles. 
 
 Direct Length 
 of Basin in 
 English Miles. 
 
 Area of Basin 
 in Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Capital of States and Pro- 
 vinces in each Basin. 
 
 Basins inclined to the Atlantic. 
 
 Trondhjem Fiord 
 
 100 
 
 60 
 
 . . 
 
 Trondhjem. 
 
 Torrisdals 
 
 120 
 
 IOO 
 
 
 Christiansand. 
 
 Christiania Fiord 
 
 00 
 
 55 
 
 
 Christiania. 
 
 Gotha 
 
 400 
 
 300 
 
 17,000 
 
 Gdteborg. 
 
 Loire 
 
 53 
 
 350 
 
 44,500 
 
 Tours, Orleans. 
 
 Seine 
 
 414 
 
 250 
 
 28,500 
 
 Paris, Rouen. 
 
 Garonne 
 
 300 
 
 230 
 
 31,000 
 
 Bordeaux, Toulouse. 
 
 Somme 
 
 "5 
 
 90 
 
 
 Amiens. 
 
 Charente 
 
 200 
 
 no 
 
 . . 
 
 Rochelle. 
 
 Vilaine 
 
 125 
 
 80 
 
 . . 
 
 Rennes. 
 
 Douro 
 
 450 
 
 340 
 
 34,200 
 
 Oporto. 
 
 Tagus 
 
 540 
 
 450 
 
 33,000 
 
 Lisbon, Madrid. 
 
 Guadalquiver 
 
 300 
 
 270 
 
 19,500 
 
 Seville, Granada. 
 
 Minbo > . . 
 
 22O 
 
 150 
 
 14,700 
 
 
 Sado 
 
 IOO 
 
 70 
 
 
 
 Evora. 
 
 Also the basins of the Adour, the Nervion, the Ria d'Este, the Ulla, the Nalon, the 
 
 Guadiana, and the Mondego. 
 
 Basins inclined to the Mediterranean. 
 
 Rhone 
 
 645 
 
 340 
 
 37,900 
 
 Lyons, Grenoble. 
 
 Segura 
 
 180 
 
 120 
 
 . . 
 
 Mnrcia. 
 
 Po 
 
 450 
 
 280 
 
 34,600 
 
 Turin, Milan. 
 
 Tiber 
 
 i85 
 
 I 3 
 
 
 Rome. 
 
 Arno 
 
 90 
 
 75 
 
 
 Florence. 
 
 Vardar 
 
 170 
 
 125 
 
 
 Salonika. 
 
 Salembria 
 
 no 
 
 65 
 
 
 Larissa. 
 
 Ebro 
 
 340 
 
 280 
 
 32,900 
 
 Zaragoza. 
 
 Also the basins of the Guadalaviar, Dobregat, Narenta, Bojano, and Maritza. 
 
 Basins inclined to the Black Sea. 
 
 Danube 
 
 1,795 
 
 980 
 
 306,000 
 
 (Vienna, Buda, Graz, 
 \ and Munich. 
 
 Don 
 
 995 
 
 500 
 
 176,500 
 
 Stavropol, Kharkos. 
 
 Dneister 
 
 500 
 
 400 
 
 27,300 
 
 Kamilnetz. 
 
 Dnieper and Bug.. .. 
 Kuban 
 
 380 
 
 640 
 280 
 
 195.500 
 
 Kiev, Ekaterinoslav. 
 Ekaterinodar. 
 
 Basins inclined to the Caspian. 
 
 Volga 
 
 2,400 
 
 i, 080 
 
 527,000 
 
 ( Astrakhan, Nijni- 
 \ Novgorod. 
 
 Ural 
 
 i, 800 
 
 550 
 
 85,000 
 
 Orenburg. 
 
 Kur 
 
 520 
 
 400 
 
 80,800 
 
 Tiflis, Erivan.
 
 Appendix. 
 
 493 
 
 RIVER BASINS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 
 
 River or Estuary. 
 
 Length in 
 English Miles. 
 
 Area in 
 Geographical 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Principal Towns on the Rivers. 
 
 Basins inclined to the Atlantic. 
 
 St. Lawrence 
 
 1,400 
 
 297,600 
 
 Ottawa. 
 
 Delaware 
 
 290 
 
 8,700 
 
 Trenton. 
 
 Chesapeake 
 
 450 
 
 I2,OOO 
 
 Washington. 
 
 Hudson 
 
 210 
 
 7,OOO 
 
 Albany. 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 280 
 
 8,000 
 
 Hartford. 
 
 Basins inclined to the American Mediterranean. 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 1,820 
 
 982,400 
 
 New Orleans, Nashville. 
 
 Rio Grande del Norte 
 
 1,050 
 
 180,000 
 
 Santa Fe. 
 
 Colorado 
 
 900 
 
 
 Denver, Cheyene. 
 
 Santandar 
 
 245 
 
 10,000 
 
 San Luis, Potosi. 
 
 San Juan 
 
 275 
 
 8,000 
 
 Leon. 
 
 Tobosco 
 
 245 
 
 12,000 
 
 Ciudad Real. 
 
 Basins inclined to the Pacific. 
 
 Rio Colorado 
 
 750 
 
 I7O,OOO 
 
 Tucson. 
 
 Columbia 
 
 800 
 
 194,000 
 
 Salem. 
 
 Frazer 
 
 480 
 
 90,000 
 
 New Westminster. 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 350 
 
 2O,OOO 
 
 Sacramento. 
 
 Culiacan 
 
 280 
 
 7,000 
 
 Culiacan. 
 
 Youcon 
 
 1,150 
 
 100,000 
 
 
 Basins inclined to the Arctic Ocean. 
 
 Mackenzie 
 
 I,2OO 
 
 441,000 
 
 
 Nelson and Saskatchewan 
 
 1,000 
 
 360,000 
 
 Fort York. 
 
 Churchill 
 
 1,300 
 
 73,600 
 
 
 Back, or G. Fish . . 
 
 42O 
 
 
 
 SOUTH AMERICAN RIVERS. 
 
 
 
 Area in 
 
 
 Basin. 
 
 Length in 
 English Miles. 
 
 Geographical 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Chief Towns. 
 
 Magdalena 
 
 7OO 
 
 72,OOO 
 
 Bogota. 
 
 Amazon 
 
 2,IOO 
 
 I,5I2,OOO 
 
 Santa Cruz. 
 
 Parana 
 
 1, 6OO 
 
 886,400 
 
 ( Monte Video and Buenos 
 \ Ayres. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 9OO 
 
 l87,20O 
 
 Duro-Preto. 
 
 Tocantins 
 
 I,26o 
 
 294,480 
 
 Para. 
 
 Essequibo 
 
 400 
 
 61,650 
 
 George Town. 
 
 Orinoco 
 
 I,OOO 
 
 252,000 
 
 Angostura.
 
 494 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 NAMES AND AREA OF LAKES IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 
 
 
 Name. 
 
 Area in Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Height above 
 Sea-level. 
 
 
 
 
 
 feet. 
 
 
 
 Ontario 
 
 6,300 
 
 231 
 
 
 
 Erie 
 
 0,600 
 
 565 
 
 
 
 Huron 
 
 -y j w 
 2I,OOO 
 
 J J 
 
 578 
 
 
 
 Michigan 
 
 22,400 
 
 578 
 
 
 
 Superior 
 
 32,000 
 
 627 
 
 
 
 Winnipeg 
 
 9,OOO 
 
 628 
 
 
 
 Winnipegoos , 
 
 2,300 
 
 650 
 
 
 
 Great Bear Lake 
 
 I4,OOO 
 
 230 
 
 
 
 Great Slave Lake 
 
 I2,OOO 
 
 
 
 
 Athabasca 
 
 3.400 
 
 
 
 
 Great Salt Lake 
 
 I, 8OO 
 
 4,210 
 
 
 
 Total area 
 
 133,800 
 
 
 
 COMPARATIVE AREA OF SEAS. 
 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Total area of Caspian Sea 178,000 
 
 ,, Black Sea 172,500 
 
 ,, Mediterranean 976,000 
 
 ,, ,, German Ocean 244,000 
 
 ,, Baltic 135.000 
 
 ,, ,, White Sea 40,000
 
 ( 495 ) 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 ADDISON, quotation from, 94 
 Aire and Calder Canal, 49 ; cost of transport on, 383 ; system of towage on, 402 ; 
 
 sluices, 432 ; boats on, 461 
 
 Allen's, Capt., proposals for Jordan route to India, 273 
 Allport, Sir James, on the cost of mineral traffic, 390 
 Alpine Canal, 106 
 Amazon river, 229 
 
 American canals, plans of, 266-207 '> lakes, cost of transport on, 386 
 Amsterdam Canal, 19, 147 
 Ancients, skilled in canal-making, 22 
 Aqueduct, Chirk, 48 
 
 Archipelago, first attempts to unite Ionian Sea with, 13 
 Arkwright's first patent for spinning frame, 8 
 
 Austria- Hungary, waterways of, 185 ; Danube regulation works, 184 ; canals, 190 
 Avon, improvement of, 23 
 
 B. 
 
 BACKWATER (India), 243 
 
 Bailey, Aid., on sea transport, 385 ; on canal transport, 401 
 
 Baltic and Caspian Seas, junction of, 18 ; canals connecting the, 175, 176 
 
 Barge, proposed, for mowing weeds, 466 
 
 Barges, on Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 400 ; use of as tugs, 401 
 
 Bartholomew, steamboat trains on Aire and Calder Canal, 383 ; system of towage 
 on Aire and Calder, 402 
 
 Barton Aqueduct on Bridgwater Canal, 428 
 
 Belgium, waterways of, 134 ; ship canals of, 135 ; canal from Ostend to Bruges, 
 138 ; the Terneuzen Canal lift, 140 ; the Scheldt Navigation, 142 ; economical 
 conditions of water transport in, 143 ; extent and income of Belgian canals, 143 
 
 Bengal, canal system, 240 
 
 Beresinsk Canal, 176 
 
 Berlin, traffic of, 133 
 
 Birmingham Canal, 49, 51 ; embankment of, 430; and London, water connec- 
 tion between, 58 ; proposed connection between and the sea, 89 
 
 Black Sea and German Ocean, first attempts to unite, 13 ; and Caspian, junction 
 of, 18 ; and Azov Canal, 182 
 
 Blackman, Col., locks proposed by, for Nicaraguan Canal, 418 
 
 Blackmore, Sir R., quotation from, 116
 
 496 Index. 
 
 Boats employed on British canals, 55 ; size of on different English canals, 56 ; 
 on French canals, 414 ; numbers and tonnage capacity of, on French water- 
 ways, 115; on German waterways, 131, 133; on Russian canals, 183; on 
 Indian canals, 239, 463 ; on American rivers and lakes, 388 ; on different 
 canals, 460 ; on English canals, 462 
 
 Bourgogne Canal, 464 
 
 Brahmapootra river, 240 
 
 Bread, price of, in seventeenth century, 8 
 
 Briare, Canal de, v 
 
 Bridgwater, Duke of, n ; canal, 24 ; history of, 41 ; cost of transport of coal on, 
 40 ; aqueduct on, 344 ; charges on, 387 ; system of transport on, 402 ; 
 underground plane on, 412 
 
 Brindley, genius of, 1 1 ; projected system of main waterways by, 1 1 ; construction 
 of Bridgwater Canal by, 43 ; his first lock, 411 
 
 Bristol and London, proposed improved waterway between, 88 
 
 British rivers, 23 
 
 ,, shipping and the Suez Canal Company, 267 
 
 Briton Canal, 52 
 
 Brussels and Charleroi Canal, lift on, 421 
 
 Bude Canal, Cornwall, inclines on, 413 
 
 Buonaparte, Napoleon, and the Suez Canal, 249 
 
 Burke, Edmund, on our foreign commerce, 16 ; on tyranny, 469 
 
 C. 
 
 CABLE HAULAGE on the St. Maurice Canal, 403 
 
 Caerdyke, the, a Roman waterway, 23 
 
 Caesar, Julius, Caligula and Nero, canal-makers, 13 
 
 Calcutta Canals, 240 
 
 Caledonian Canal, 19, 69 
 
 Camden, on the Clyde, 63 ; on the Mersey, 28 
 
 Canada, waterways of, 216 ; Welland Canal, 216 ; Cornwall Canal, 224 ; Sault 
 
 St. Marie Canal, 225 ; Canadian canal system, 225 ; Ottawa river, 227 ; St. 
 
 Lawrence river, 228 
 
 Canadian dredger, the, 452 ; canals, boats on, 461 
 Canal Acts, period of first, II, 365; boats, 469; categories of, iii ; mania, 
 
 790-94 ; engineering, 15 ; companies' shares, fluctuations in, 17 ; system of 
 
 Great Britain, 40 ; gauge, differences of, 53 ; extent of, 54 ; examples of, 6l ; 
 
 traffic, 441 ; navigation in England, chronology of, 475 
 Canals, ship, projected in United Kingdom, 21, 82 ; owned by railway companies 
 
 and employes thereon, 53 ; mileage of, connecting chief navigable rivers, 54 ; 
 
 system of, between London and Birmingham, 58 ; advantages offered by, 60 ; 
 
 extent of, completed and projected in Germany, 133 ; speed on, 435 ; see 
 
 English, French, German, Dutch, &c. 
 Capital expenditure on railways, 377 
 Caspian and other seas, junction of, 19 
 Centre, Canal du (France), 415 
 Ceylon and India, proposed connecting canal, 241 
 Chagres river, and Panama Canal, 305 
 Chain traction in France, 395 ; in Germany, 396
 
 Index. 497 
 
 Charlemagne, canals projected by, 13 
 
 Charleroi Canal, 384 
 
 Cheap canal transport, conditions required for, 474 
 
 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 206 
 
 Chesney, Capt., and the Suez Canal, 249; arid the Euphrates Valley route, 271 
 
 Chinese waterways, 232 ; piers, 410 
 
 Chronology of river improvement and canal navigation in England, 475 
 
 Cities and seaboard facilities, 21 ; boats, 466 
 
 Clyde, the river, 63 
 
 Coal, production of, 130 years ago, 2 ; scarcity of in seventeenth century, 8 ; 
 transportation, cost of, 40 ; supply of Paris, 96 
 
 Colonies, British exports to, 16 
 
 Compensation tolls, 473 
 
 Competition of railways and canals, 369 ; in France, 441 
 
 Conder, Mr., on the cost of mineral traffic, 390 
 
 Condreux excavator, 449, 458 
 
 Conservancy of rivers, principles of, 36 
 
 Contracts for works on Suez Canal, details of, 254 
 
 Corinth, Isthmus of, canal attempted by Caesar, Caligula and Nero, 13 ; descrip- 
 tion of, 346 
 
 Cornwall Canal (Canada), 224 
 
 Cortez and the Isthmus of Panama, 274 
 
 Cost of transport by turnpike roads and railways, 15 ; reduction of by canals, 40- 
 41 ; of remodelling canal system of United Kingdom, x, 54 ; present cost by 
 English canals, 55 ; of transport of coal to Paris, 115 ; of works on the Dort- 
 mund and Emden Canal, 129; on the Oder and Upper Spree Navigation, 
 130 ; by different systems of transport, 281 ; of Panama Canal, 287 ; of the 
 proposed Nicaraguan Canal, 324 ; of water and land transport, 375 ; on 
 lakes and Erie Canal, 380 ; on Elbe Canals, 383 ; on Aire and Calder 
 Canal, 383, 389 ; horse and steam towing, 384 
 
 Crapone, Adam de, canal maker, 14 
 
 Crinan Canal, 72 
 
 Cunda Canal, 170 
 
 Cuttings, large, in England, 449 
 
 D. 
 
 DALSLAND CANAL, 167 
 Dampier, and the Panama Canal, 275 
 Dams, principal canal, 433 
 Danube and Rhine, first attempts to unite, 13 ; river improvement, 185 ; dredgers 
 
 employed on, 457 
 Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, 214 
 
 ,, Raritan Canal, locks on, 423 
 
 Density of traffic on German water- and railways, 132 ; on French canals, 445, 446 
 Desague Real de Huchuetoca, 230 
 Deule and Neufosses Canals, locomotive haulage on, 402 
 Distance, saving of by the Suez Canal, 260 ; by Nicaraguan Canal, 328 ; by 
 
 Isthmus of Corinth Canal, 346 
 Dodd, Ralph, apparatus for canal excavation, 448 
 Don river, 184 
 
 2 K
 
 498 Index. 
 
 Dortmund and Emden Canal, 128 
 
 Dredger, the Couvreux, 451 ; the Canadian, 452 ; the Otago, 454 ; the La 
 
 Chatre, 454 
 Dredging machines on Panama Canal, 309-312 
 
 ,, operations, cost of, on Humber, 455 ; on Clyde, Tyne, Wear, Tees, and 
 
 Birmingham Canal, 456 
 Dudley Canal, 51 ; tunnel, 427 
 Dutch Canals. See Holland. 
 Dykes, repair of canal, in Holland, 151 
 
 E. 
 
 EDINBURGH REVIEW on the Suez Canal, 19, 266 ; on the Panama Canal, 310 ; 
 on canal property, 471 
 
 Egypt, occupation of by England, 264 
 
 Eiffel, M., sluices for Panama Canal, 301, 409 
 
 Elbe, the river, 116 ; canals, cost of transport on, 383 ; early propulsion, experi- 
 ments on, 395 
 
 Elbing Highland Canals, 148 
 
 Ellesmere Canal, 47 ; viaduct on the, 427 
 
 Embankments, 424 
 
 Employes on British Railways and Canals, comparison of, 53 
 
 Ems, the river, 117, 118 
 
 Engineers, hydraulic, 12 
 
 England and Wales, rivers of, 23 ; canals of, 40 ; boats on, 462 ; progress of 
 inland navigation in, v 
 
 Epochs in history of canals, 1 8 
 
 Erewash Canal, 18 
 
 Erie Canal, 194, 202, 215 ; competition of with railways, 379 
 
 Euphrates Valley route to India, 270 
 
 Excavators, 449 
 
 Exeter Canal, 1 1 
 
 Exports from United Kingdom, 16 
 
 Eyder, the river, 123 ; the canal, 124 
 
 FALMARK, Capt, and the Panama route, 276 
 
 Farrar, Sir Thomas, on state of British Canals, 472 
 
 Finland, canals of, 183 
 
 Florida Ship Canal, proposed, 213 
 
 Forth and Clyde Canal, 66 ; section of, 67 ; proposed new canal, 83 
 Bridge, the, 73 
 
 Fossdyke navigation, 18 ; Roman origin of, 23 
 
 France, cost of canal system of, in 1880, 97 ; cost of river improvement in, 98 ; 
 expenditure on ports of, 98 ; traffic of principal river basins, 99 ; early canals 
 of, 99 ; canal of Languedoc, 100 ; Crappone Canal, 105 ; Alpines Canal, 
 106 ; Lens La Deule Canal, 107 ; Marne Canal, 108 ; canalisation of the 
 Moselle, IIO; Mediterranean and Biscay Canal, III; Rhone Canals, 1 12; 
 St. Louis Canal, 112 ; mania for canals, in, v
 
 Index. 499 
 
 French canals : Charolais, 14 ; Languedoc, 14 ; waterways, 93 ; general character 
 of system, 94 ; total tonnage carried on canals, 94 ; canals compared with 
 railways, 95 ; density of traffic on, 98 ; size of locks on principal, 1 13 ; law of 
 1879 as to dimensions of, 113 ; cost of transport on, 387 ; locks on, 414 
 
 French rivers, 115 
 
 Froude, Mr., on Panama Canal, 310 
 
 G. 
 
 GANGES, river, 240 
 
 German Ocean and Black Sea, first attempts to unite, 13 ; waterways, traffic on, 
 382 ; railways, cost of transport on, 383 
 
 Germany, waterways of, 116 ; river systems, 116 ; the Rhine, 117 ; the Ems, 118 ; 
 the Mosel, 118; the Rhine and Danube Canal, 119; the Oder and Elbe 
 Canal, 120 ; the Holstein Canal, 121 ; North Sea and Baltic Ship Canal, 
 122; Rhine-Ems Canal, 127; Scheldt and Rhine Canal, 127; Dortmund 
 and Emden Canal, 128; Oder and Upper Spree Canal, 129; traffic on 
 German waterways, 130 
 
 Glamorganshire and Aberdare Canal, 5 2 
 
 Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, system of towage on, 402 
 
 Gotha Canal (Sweden), 164 ; West Gotha Canal, 167 
 
 Government control of waterways, 470 
 
 Grand Canal (Ireland), 80; (China), 232, 302 
 ,, Junction Canal, locks on, 415 
 
 Great sluice, Boston, 37 
 
 H. 
 
 HAMBURG, traffic of, 133 
 
 Hargreaves, invention of spinning-jenny by, 9 
 
 Haskew's excavator, 448 
 
 Haulage and transport, systems of, 391 ; cost of different methods of, 440 
 
 Henry II. and the canal of Charolais (France), 14 
 
 History, personal, of canal navigation, 13 
 
 Holland, waterways of, 145 ; North Holland Canal, 145 ; Haarlem Canal, 146 ; 
 North Sea Canal, 146 ; Amsterdam Ship Canal, 147 ; Elbing Highland 
 Canals, 148 ; Voorne Canal, Niewe-waterweg, Walcheren and South Heve- 
 land Canals, 149 ; Afwaterings Kanaal ; canalised river Ijssel ; Keulsche 
 Vaart, Meppelerdiep, Drentsche, Hoofdvaart, Kolonievaart, and Willems- 
 vaart, 150; Apeldoorn Canal, Noordervaart, and Dokkum Canal, 151 ; con- 
 struction of canals in seventeenth century, 365 
 
 Holstein Canal, the, 121 
 
 Hoogly river, 240 
 
 Horace Walpole, robbed in streets of London, 3 
 
 Horse towing, cost of, 384 
 
 Humboldt, on the volcanoes of Nicaragua, 317 
 
 Hungary, canals of, 190 
 
 Ilyegra and Kovja Canal, 181
 
 500 Index. 
 
 i. 
 
 ICE ON CANALS, dealing with, 467 
 
 Inclines for canals, 413 
 
 India, British, waterways of, 237 ; Madras Presidency, and Delta Canals, 238 ; 
 Godavery delta, 239 ; Calcutta Canal, 240 ; Naddea rivers, 240 ; Madras 
 Canals, 241 ; Ramisseram Canal, 241 ; Indus canals, 242 ; Ganges and 
 Hoogly, 239, 442 ; recent Indian Canals, 243 ; South Malabar and Travan- 
 core Canals, 243 ; projected Palk Straits Canal, 244 
 
 India, Euphrates Valley route to, 270 ; Jordan route to, 272 ; boats on canals of, 
 
 463 
 
 Indus river, the, 243 
 Inventions of i8th century, 8 
 Ireland linen manufacture of, 9 ; waterways of, 74 
 Irish rivers and canals, minor, 78 
 
 ,, Sea and Birkenhead Ship Canal, proposed, 87 
 Iron, production of, 130 years ago, 2 
 
 Irrigation canals in Italy, 160 ; tanks or reservoirs in India, 241 
 Irwell and Mersey, proposed improvement of, 26, 35 
 Isthmian Canals, xii 
 
 Italy, waterworks of, 153; early canals in, 153; the Tiber, 157; the Villoresi 
 Canal, 158; the canals of Venice, 159 j irrigation canals, 1 60; river Po, 
 162 ; projected canals, 163 ; early sluice-gates in, 409 
 Itchin Dyke, a Roman waterway, 24 
 
 JOHNSON, Dr., an enemy to canals, 369 
 Jordan, proposed canal from Acre to the, 273 
 
 K. 
 
 KATTEGAT AND SKAGER RACK, 126 
 
 Kennet and Avon Canal, 45 
 
 Ketley, William, first inclined plane, 411 
 
 LAKES, American, commerce of the, 213 ; transport on, 386 ; areas of, 494 
 
 La Louviere hydraulic lift, 420 
 
 Land transport, conditions of, 376 
 
 Languedoc Canal, v, 14, 19, 100 
 
 Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 12, 44 ; cost of transport on, 383 
 
 Lens la Deule Canal, 106 
 
 Lesseps, M. de, portrait of, 261 ; plans of, for Suez Canal, 250 
 
 Level, differences of, on English canals, 436 
 
 Levy's system of cable haulage, 403
 
 Index. 501 
 
 Lifts, canal, 420 
 
 Liverpool and Manchester, cost of transport between, 40 ; traffic carried between, 
 41 ; Goole and Hull, section of navigation between, 50 
 
 Lloyd, Capt., and the Panama route, 276 ; E. J., on best size of locks, 417 ; 
 Samuel, on national canal, viii 
 
 Locking, length of operation, 464 
 
 Locks size of, between London and Birmingham, 58 ; dimensions of on principal 
 French canals, 113, 415 ; different systems of, 409, 414 ; earliest, 411 ; on 
 English canals, 415; on St. Mary's Falls and Welland canals, 417; on 
 Manchester Ship Canal, 418 ; on Nicaraguan Canal, 418 
 
 Locomotive haulage on canals, 402 ; on French canals, 403 
 
 London, condition of streets of, in eighteenth century, 3 ; through water routes 
 between, and manufacturing districts, 12; and Birmingham, water routes 
 between, 58 ; and Bristol, canal connection between, 88 ; traffic of port 
 of, 97 
 
 Lord Clarence Paget, on the Languedoc canal, 100 
 
 Loughborough Canal, 1 8 
 
 Louis XIV. and the Languedoc Canal, 14 
 
 Louvain Canal, cost of horse towing on, 384 
 
 M. 
 
 MACAULAY, Lord, on inventions which abridge distance, i ; on condition of 
 
 England at end of seventeenth century, 4 
 
 Maclaren, Charles, on railways and canals, 368 ; on economical transport, 436 
 Madras, canal system, 241 
 Magdalena river, 229 
 
 Maintenance, expense of, on railway and canals, 
 Manchester Ship Canal, 19, 329 ; probable trade of, 330 ; history of, 332 ; docks, 
 
 333 5 works, 337 ; sections, 340 ; Brindley's aqueduct, 343 ; and Liverpool, 
 
 cost of transport between, 40 ; works on, 448 
 Marco Polo, 232 
 
 Markets often inaccessible at end of seventeenth century, 6 
 Marne Canal, 108 
 
 Masonry weir on Cavour Canal, 434 
 Menes, construction of waterways by, 13 
 Menocal, on the Nicaraguan Canal, 323 
 Merchandise, general, on canals, 441 
 
 Mersey and Irwell, proposed improvement of, 26 ; development of, 26, 27 
 Miami and Erie Canal, 202 
 Milan, canals of, 153, 411 
 Milton, on British rivers, 23 
 Monkland Canal, 68 ; inclines employed on, 413 
 Morris Canal, 205 ; inclines on, 413 
 Mosel or Moselle, the river, 118 ; canalisation of the, no
 
 502 Index. 
 
 N. 
 
 NAPOLEON III. and the Nicaraguan Canal, 14, 316. See Buonaparte 
 
 Natural condition of earth's surface, 2 
 
 Navigation, length of, on principal English canals, 56; map showing extent of 
 
 English canal, 57 j between London and Birmingham, 58 ; development of 
 
 inland, in England, vi 
 Neath Canal, 52 
 Nene and Ouse, the, 34 
 Nero, a canal builder, 13 
 Netherton tunnel, 427 
 
 Neutralisation of waterways, importance of, 9 
 
 New York State, canals of, see United States ; Act of Legislature, 465 
 Nicaragua lake, 317 
 Nicaraguan Canal 14, 314; history of, 317 ; description of proposed, 319 ; locks, 
 
 321 ; basins, 322 ; estimates of cost, 324 ; harbours, 327 ; saving of distances 
 
 by, 328 ; locks proposed for, 418 
 Nieman, the river, 116 
 North and Caspian Seas, junction of, 19 
 North Sea and Baltic Ship Canal, 122 
 North Sea Canal, 146 
 
 O. 
 
 ODER, the river, 116 ; and Elbe Canal, 120; and Upper Spree Navigation, 129 
 Ohio Canal, 208 
 Orebro Canal, 1 70 
 Ottawa river, 227 
 Ourcq Canal (Paris), 97 
 
 P. 
 
 PACK-HORSE, cost of transport by, 7 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, and the Suez Canal, 264 
 
 Panama Canal, cost of, 19 ; history of, 295 ; proceedings at Congress of geo- 
 graphical science, 278 ; proposals of M. de Lesseps, 280 ; rival projects, 280 ; 
 works required, 282 ; progress of operations, 286 ; capital, expenditure of, 
 287 ; difficulties, 288 ; mortality, 289 ; cost of labour, 290 ; financial 
 troubles, 292 ; suspension of the company, 293 ; decision of Chamber of 
 Deputies, 294 ; comparison of railway and canal experiences, 296 ; technical 
 description, 298 ; profile and tracing of canal, 298 ; plans of proposed sluices, 
 299 ; calculations of traffic, 203 ; the Chagres river, 305 ; American opinion, 
 307 ; dredging machines, 309-312 
 
 Papin's digester, Watt's first experiment with, 8 
 
 Paris, traffic of by railways and waterways, 95 ; coal supply of, 96, 97 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, print works of, 9 
 
 Perekop Canal, iSo 
 
 Peter the Great and Catherine as canal-makers, 14 ; canals planned by, 173 
 
 Pitchora river, 184
 
 Index, 503 
 
 Planes, locks, sluice-gates, and lifts, 408 ; first inclined, for waterways, 411 
 
 Po, the river, 162 
 
 Ports of France, expenditure on, 98 
 
 Poutiloff Canal ; 177 
 
 Price- Williams, R., on the cost of mineral traffic, 390 
 
 Priestley, on British canals, 54 
 
 Provinces, condition of, in eighteenth century, 4 
 
 Ptolemy II., a canal-builder, 13 
 
 Q- 
 
 QUARTERLY REVIEW on the Suez Canal, 266 ; on the early railways, 366 
 
 R. 
 
 RAILROAD, the Callao, Lima, and Oroya, 15 
 
 Railway rates, prohibitive character of, 9 ; Liverpool and Manchester, 367 ; and 
 
 canal traffic Acts, 1888, 374 
 Railways, average cost of, per mile, in different countries, 10 ; traffic carried on, 
 
 in United Kingdom, 15, 17 ; in Germany, traffic on and waterways compared, 
 
 133 ; and canals, general comparison of 364 ; cost of, 377 ; canals owned 
 
 by, vii 
 
 Rainhill locomotive contest, 367 
 Rates, railway, 376; railway and canal compared, 378; on New York State 
 
 canals, 381 ; inland navigation in Germany, 388 ; on British canals, 387 
 Regulations for Dutch canals, 152 
 
 Rhine, wire ropes used for traction on, 397 ; -Marne canals, no 
 Rhine and Danube, attempted union of by Charlemagne, 13 ; proposed canal 
 
 between, 119 ; characteristics of, 117 ; Rhine Ems Canal, 127 ; and Scheldt, 
 
 127 
 
 Rhone, systems of haulage on, 392 ; canals of the, 112 
 Ribble, the river, 31 
 Rio Grande river, 317 
 Rio San Francisco, 317 
 Riquet, M., and the Languedoc Canal, loo 
 
 Rivers in England, number of made navigable, 12 ; conservancy and improve- 
 ment of, 36 ; suggested department for control of, 37 ; shipping trade of 
 
 37 ; particulars of principal, 38 ; basins, principal, 491 
 Rivers of England and Wales, 23 ; of France, 115 ; of Germany, 116 ; of Italy, 
 
 157, 162; of Russia, 184; of United States, 191 ; of Canada, 227 
 Roads, condition of, in middle of eighteenth century, 3 ; from K ensington to 
 
 London, 3 ; difference between macadamised and other, 7 
 Rokeby, Justice, on going circuit at end of seventeenth century, 5 
 Romans, the, as canal makers, v ; and British waterways, 23 
 Rope traction, 395 
 Rotterdam, canals of, 149 
 Royal Canal (Ireland), 81 
 Rundall, General, on advantages and defects of canals, 60
 
 504 Index. 
 
 Russia, waterways of, 172 ; canals projected by Peter the Great, 173 ; Baltic and 
 Caspian Sea canals, 175 ; Baltic and Black Sea canals, 176 ; Beresinski 
 Canal, 176 ; Ognisky Canal, 176 ; King's Canal, 176 ; canal communication 
 with Bay of Finland, 176; Iwanoff Canal, 177; Kamiishinski Canal, 177; 
 the Poutiloff Canal, 177; Perekop Canal, 180; Baltic and White Sea 
 Canal, 181 ; Volga and Don Canal, 181 ; Hyegra and Kovja Canal, 181 ; 
 Black Sea and Azof Canal ; the canals of Finland, 183 ; river systems of 
 Russia, 184 ; early canals of, 365 
 
 S. 
 
 SAILING SHIPS AND STEAMERS, AND SUEZ CANAL, 260 
 
 Salwarp, proposed improvement of, 23, 25 
 
 Sandys, William, and the Avon improvement, 23 ; and Salwarp Navigation, 23 ; 
 
 100 years before Brindley, 24 ; improvement of Wye by, 24 
 San Juan de Nicaragua river, 316 
 
 ,, del Norte, 320 
 
 ,, del Sur, port of, 316 
 Saone, weirs on the, 431 
 Sault St. Marie Canal, 209 ; locks on, 417 
 Scheldt and Rhine Canal ; and Meuse Canal, 415 
 Schuylkill Navigation, 205 
 Scotland, waterways of, 63 
 Seaboard, struggle for by modern nations, 9 
 Sea transport, cost of, 385 ; seas, areas of, 494 
 Seine, regulating weirs on the, 431 
 Sesostris, a canal builder, 13 
 Severn and Thames, proposals for connection of, 25 ; improvement of the, 32 ; 
 
 section of navigation between, and the Thames, 50 
 Shannon, the, 74 
 
 Sheffield and Goole Canal, proposed, 85 
 Ship Canal projects, 20. See Panama, Suez, Nicaragua, Manchester, &c. 
 
 ,, Railway, proposed by Captain Eads, 422 ; canals, future of, viii 
 Shipping trade of chief British rivers, 37; of Clyde, 66 ; of Tyne, 31 ; of Suez 
 
 Canal, 259, 267 
 
 Shropshire Canal, planes on, 413 
 Single-width canals, 467 
 Sluices proposed for Panama Canal, 311 ; on Aire and Calder Canal, 432 ; on 
 
 the Weaver, 432 ; earliest in Italy, 409 ; at Trolhatta in Sweden, 430 
 Sluice-valves, substitution of, for let-offs, 429 
 Sluiceways on Aire and Calder Canal, 432 
 Smeaton, construction of great sluice by, 37 
 Smiles, Samuel, on canal development, 369 
 Sone Canal (India), boats on, 463 
 South and Central America, waterways of, 229 
 Speed, details of, 399 ; on Belgian Canals, 399, 435 ; on Lea, 399 ; on Grand 
 
 Junction Canal, 435 ; on Rotterdam Canal, 435 ; increase of by lifts or 
 
 inclined planes, 436 ; effect of breaking waves on, 437 ; on Suez Canal, 437 ; 
 
 in Sweden and Holland, 437 ; effect of size and number of locks on, 438 ; 
 
 depth of English canals, 439 ; canal and railway compared, 439
 
 Index. 
 
 505 
 
 Squires, Mr., and the American isthmus, 277 
 
 Stafford and Worcester Canal, 41 ; first locks on, 411 
 
 Stage-coach and railway travelling compared, 6 
 
 Stage-coaches, rate of speed of, 7 
 
 State acquisition and control of canals, 469 
 
 State, English waterways under control of, 1 1 ; ownership of, versus private enter- 
 prise, x, 1 1 
 
 Steam locomotives on common roads, proposed by Robinson, 8 ; towing, cost of, 
 384 ; on shallow canals, 399 ; application of, to locks, 423 
 
 Stephenson, Robert, and the Suez Canal, 265 
 
 St. Lawrence river, 228 ; plan of locks on canals, 416 
 
 St. Mary's Falls Canal. See Sault St. Marie 
 
 St. Maurice Canal, cable haulage on, 403 
 
 Stockton and Darlington Railway, 366 
 
 Stourbridge Canal, 51 
 
 Stour, river, 25 
 
 Suez Canal, inauguration of new era by, 18 ; cost of, 19 ; history of, 245 ; canal 
 of Rameses, 247 ; proposals of M. de Lesseps, 250 ; concessions granted, 
 251 ; contracts, 253 ; progress of work, 255 ; effect of Suez Canal, 257 ; 
 saving of distance, 260; size of ships, 260 ; income and working expenditure, 
 259 ; Euphrates Valley route, 270 ; enlargement of canal, 268 ; Trebizonde 
 and Tigris Valley routes, 272 ; proposed parallel canal, 273 
 Swansea Canal, 52 
 
 Sweden, waterways of, 164; the Gotha Canal, 164; West Gotha Canal, 167 ; 
 Dalsland Canal, 167; Cunda Canal, 170; Orebro Canal, 170; projected 
 canals, 170 
 
 T. 
 
 TEHUANTEPEC, Isthmus of, 278 ; proposed ship railway for, 422 
 
 Tees, the, 34 
 
 Telford, Thomas, and the Gotha Canal, 165 ; locks on Caledonian Canal, 417 
 
 Textile industries, condition of, in eighteenth century, 3 
 
 Thames, early propulsion on, 394 
 
 Thames, Severn and Mersey, communication between, 12 ; conservancy of, 37 
 
 Thames, the river, 353 ; extent of commerce of, 354 ; ship canal, 356 ; Tilbury 
 
 docks, 357 ; comparison of proposed ship canal with Suez Canal, 358 ; 
 
 plan of the, 360 ; navigable facilities of Thames, 361 ; the upper Thames, 362 
 Thread and gauze, manufacture of, begun at Paisley, 8 
 Tiber, the river, 157 
 Tigris Valley route to India, 272 
 Tolls, examples of on English Canals, 387 
 Torksey, a Roman town and fort, 23 
 Towing, cost of, 381 ; by horse and steam, 384 ; by men, 399 ; on Aire and 
 
 Calder canal, 402 ; on Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, 402 ; paths, 429 
 Traffic carried on French waterways, 94, US; on German waterways, 130; 
 
 canal, character and density of, 441 ; on English waterways, 442 
 Trajan interested in canals, iv, 13 
 Transport and haulage, systems of, 391 
 
 2 I,
 
 506 Index. 
 
 Transport and working of canals, 364 ; water and land, compared, 375 ; cost of, 
 by different systems, 380, 381 ; cost of, on German railways, 383 
 
 Transportation, higher cost of in United Kingdom, 10 ; cost of coal, to Paris, 
 115 ; conditions of in United States, 214 
 
 Trolhatta, cataract of, 430 
 
 Tugs, employed on Danube, 397 ; on Rhine, 399 ; wire-rope, 398 ; Jacquel's 
 system, on Saar coal canal, 398 
 
 Tunnels, viaducts, embankments, and weirs, 424 ; on Bridgwater Canal, 424 ; on 
 Shropshire Canal, 426 ; length of chief on English canals, 426 ; on Birming- 
 ham system of canals, 427 ; Dudley and Netherton, 427 
 
 Turf and wood, fuel, used in seventeenth century, 8 
 
 Tyne, the river, 29 
 
 U. 
 
 ULLOAS, de, and the Panama route, 276 
 
 Union Canal (Scotland), 68 ; Pennsylvania, 205 
 
 United Kingdom, coast line of, 9. See England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland 
 
 United States, waterways of the, 191 ; river systems, 191 ; historical notes on 
 early canals, 192 ; Erie Canal, 194 ; Ohio canals, 195 ; Indiana and Illinois, 
 196 ; growth of traffic, 197 ; details of chief canals, 201 ; extent of system, 
 202 ; Miami and Erie, 202 ; Morris Canal, Union Canal, and Schuylkill 
 Navigation, 205 ; Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 206 ; Ohio Canal, 208 ; Sault 
 St. Marie Canal, 209 ; projected canals, 213 ; transportation in the United 
 States, 214 ; contest between railways and canals in, 370 
 
 Ural, the, 184 
 
 V. 
 
 VASA, Gustavus, as a canal-maker, 14 
 
 Venice, Doges of, as canal-makers, 14; canals of, 159 
 
 Vernon-Harcourt, on canal inclines, 413 
 
 Vessels. See boats 
 
 Viaducts, embankments, tunnels and weirs, 424 ; on the Ellesmere Canal, 427 
 
 Villoresi Canal, Italy, 158 
 
 Vinci, Leonardo da, as a canal-maker, 13 
 
 Vishni Volotchok Canal, 443 
 
 Vistula, the river, 1 16 
 
 Volga, the, 184 ; Volga and Don Canal, 181 
 
 Voyage of Lord Clarence Paget on the Canal du Midi, 102 
 
 W. 
 
 WAFER, Lionel, and the Panama route, 275 
 
 Wages, rates of, in seventeenth century, 7 ; paid on Panama canal works, 302 
 
 Wales, canal facilities of, 53 
 
 Waller, quotations from, 40 
 
 Warwickshire canals, compensation tolls paid by, 273 
 
 Water and land transport compared, 375 ; elements affecting cost of, 377
 
 Index. 507 
 
 Waterways : of England and Wales, rivers, 23 ; canals, 40 ; of Scotland, 63 ; of 
 
 Ireland, 74 ; of France, 93 ; of Germany, 116 
 Waterways, results of construction of, 8 ; neglect of, in United Kingdom, 12 ; 
 
 total length of, in United Kingdom, 12 ; Roman, in Great Britain, 23 ; 
 
 traffic carried on, and length of, principal in Germany, 130-131 ; making of, 
 
 447 ; Government control of, 471 ; cost of transport by, ix, 472 
 Watt, James, personal details of, 72 ; as a canal-maker, 72 
 Watt's first experiment on the power of steam, 8 
 Wear, the river, 36 
 Weaver, the, 28 ; cost of transport on, 385 ; lift on the, 420 ; sluices on the, 
 
 432 
 
 Wedgwood ware, manufacture of first begun, 8 
 
 Weirs, 424 ; regulating, on the Seine, 43 1 
 
 Welland Canal, 216 ; plan of locks on, 416 
 
 Weser, the river, 117 
 
 Wheelwright, Mr., and the Panama route, 277 
 
 Whittier, quoted, 447 
 
 Willebroeck Canal, cost of towing on, 384 
 
 Windmills, use of in Holland, 151 
 
 Wire rope traction, 397 ; unsuccessful in England, 402 
 
 Witham, the, 33 
 
 Wood, Nicholas, calculations as to cost of transport, 15 ; on speed on railways, 
 
 366 ; on cost of transport of minerals, 367 
 Worcester and Birmingham Canal, 51 
 Wye, improvement of, by Sandys, 24 
 
 Y. 
 
 YARRANTON, Andrew, and river improvement, 25 ; proposal to deepen the 
 Salwarp, 25 ; Stour navigation improved by, 25 ; proposed connection of 
 Thames and Severn by, 25 ; personal details of, 25 
 
 Yellow river, or Ho-hang-ho, 233 
 
 , LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 LIBRARY