28 On the Inland Navigation of 



Chesapeake, and of the Kenhaway, that falls into the Ohio, 

 approach near to each other. James River is navigable for 

 vessels of 125 tons as far as Richmond, the capital of the 

 state. Partial improvements of the bed of this stream were 

 made many years since, by a chartered company, and these 

 are connected with the lower parts by a canal and fifteen locks, 

 in the vicinity of Richmond. These have however been of so 

 little value, that it is now proposed to make a separate canal, 

 up the valley of the James River, and of its branch called 

 Jackson's River. The mountains here appear to form an 

 insuperable barrier to artificial navigation, and hence a rail- 

 way must be resorted to, in order to convey the trade to the 

 Kenhaway River. This last, it is reported, may be made 

 navigable by wears and sluices. Much anxiety has been ma- 

 nifested by the intelligent population of this state, to press 

 forward these improvements, and an engineer of high repu- 

 tation, a pupil of the French Polytechnic school, has been 

 employed, under the direction of a board of public works. 



We shall here close our accounts of those canals, whether 

 executed or projected, that are intended to form a communica- 

 tion between the sea-bord and the states west of the Allegany 

 mountains. Those which we have mentioned are, in fact, all 

 from which any important consequences are to be anticipated. 



We proceed to notice the artificial navigations, the 

 objects of which are more confined. These we shall con- 

 sider in the order of the states, beginning at the north-eastern 

 frontier, and proceeding south, and shall confine ourselves 

 to those which are actually completed, or in a state that 

 promises speedy completion, unless in cases where the impor- 

 tance of the enterprise, or some other cause of interest, shall 

 render them worthy of remark. 



In the new state of Maine no work of any importance has 

 been commenced, or even projected. In New Hampshire, it 

 has been proposed to unite the tide waters of the Piscatawny 

 at Portsmouth, with the upper part of the Merrimack through 

 Lake Winnesipiogee. This latter river has been rendered 

 navigable for boats, as far as the confluence of Baker's river, 

 130 miles from the sea. Of this distance, twenty miles, as far 

 as Haverhill in Massachusets, are navigable for ships. 



