72 EXPEDITION TO THE 



with these allowances, they have been led to believe, that 

 " the upper levels on the Sandusky and Scioto route, could 

 not be supplied with the necessary quantity of water in 

 dry seasons, by either of the methods proposed and consi- 

 dered; and the board after deliberating on the subject, from 

 the facts and views laid before them by the acting com- 

 missioners, came to the conclusion that a further expendi- 

 ture of time or money in locating a canal line on the Sandus- 

 ky or Scioto route would be inexpedient, unless some other 

 method should be devised, or some other source of supply 

 discovered.'^ It has therefore become, to say the least, 

 " extremely doubtful whether a canal on the Sandusky and 

 Scioto route can ever be made." 



The fourth route which has been suggested, and which 

 is termed the western route, has for object to unite the wa- 

 ters of the Great Miami and Maumee rivers, by means of 

 Loramie creek and the Auglaize river. The summit level 

 in this case will be elevated three hundred and eighty-nine 

 feet above Lake Erie, and five hundred and forty above 

 the Ohio near Cincinnati ; occasioning therefore a lockage 

 of about nine hundred and thirty feet. This route appears 

 to be the best supplied with water ; it would pass through 

 a section of country inferior to none in America, in the 

 fertility of its soil, or the amount of surplus productions 

 which it is capable of sending to market ; it would become 

 a source of immediate and extensive profit, by the quantity 

 of water which it would bring to the termination of the canal 

 at Cincinnati, affording power for extensive and valuable hy- 

 draulic works, which are there much needed. The com- 

 missioners appear to be of opinion that the bed of the river 

 ought not to be pursued, but that a thorough-cut ought to 

 be made. The summit level would be in the vicinity of 

 Fort Loramie. This canal would probably be about two 



