Buch 
A general history of inland navigation, foreign and domestic : containing a complete account of the canals already executed in England, with considerations on those projected, to which are added, practical observations / by J. Phillips
Entstehung
Seite
353
JPEG-Download
 

INLAND NAVIGATION.

As*

From thence it is obstructed by four considerable falls, and runs througha vast tract of inhabited country towards its source. These falls are,2 st, The little falls, three miles above tide-water; in which distance is afall of thirty-six feet. 2dly, The great falls, six miles higher, where is afall of feventy-six feet in one mile and a quarter, zdly, The Senecafalls, six miles above the former, which form short, irregular rapids, witha fall of about ten feet. And 4thly, the Shenandoah falls, sixty mile*from the Seneca, where is a fall of about thirty feet in three miles ; fromwhich last Fort Cumberland is about one hundred and twenty milesdistant. The obstructions which are opposed to the navigation aboveand between these falls are of little consequence.

Early in the year x 7S5 the legislatures of Virginia and Marylandpasted acts to encourage opening the navigation of this river. It wasestimated that the expence of the canals and other works would amountto fifty thousand pounds sterling; and ten years was allowed for theircompletion. At present the president and directors of the incorporatedcompany suppose that forty-five thousand pounds will be sufficient forthe undertaking, and that it will be accomplished in a shorter time thanwas estimated. Their calculations are founded on the progress alreadymade, and the summary mode lately adopted for enforcing the collectionof the dividends as the money may become necessary. On each shareof tool. the payment of only 401. has yet been demanded.

According to the opinion of the president and directors, locks w ill benecessary at only two places ; the great and little falls ; six at the for-mer, and three at the latter. At the latter nothing has yet been attempted.At the great falls, where the difficulties were judged by many to be in-surmountable, the work is nearly completed, except sinking the lock-feats and inserting the frames. At the Seneca falls the laborious partof the business is entirely accomplished, by removing the obstacles andgraduating the descent; so that nothing remains but to finish the chan-

Z z ncl