_ Should this great work, the expense of 
which, as will hereafter be shewn, is es- 
umated at about three millions of dollars, 
be accomplished, a -sea vessel entering 
the first canal in the harbour of Boston, 
would, through the bay of Rhode Island, 
Long Island sound, aod the harbour of 
New York, reach “Brunswick on the 
Rariton ; thence pass through the second 
canal to Trenton on the Delaware, down 
that river to Christiana, or New Castle, 
and through the third canal to Elk river, 
and the Chesapeake; whence sailing dowa 
that bay, and up Elizabeth river, it 
would, through the fourth canal, enter 
into the Albemarle Sound, and by Pamp- 
tico, Core, and Bogue, Sounds, reach 
— Beaufort and Swansborough, in North 
y 1803.] Public Roads and Canals in the United States. 33 
{ 
place, the inland navigation, through 
Stumpy and Toomer’s Sounds, is conti- 
nued with a diminished draft of water, 
and .by eutting two low and varrow 
necks, not exceeding three miles toge- 
ther, to Cape Pear river; and theuce, by 
an open but short and direct run along the 
coast, is reached that chain of islands be- 
tween which and the main, the inland 
navigation is continued to St. Mary’s, 
along the coast of South Casolina, -and 
Georgia. It is unnecessary to add any 
comments on the utility of the work, in 
peace or war, for the transportation of 
merchandize, or the conveyance of per- 
sons. 
The following table is a recapitulation 
of the distance to be cut out on the whole 
_ Carolina. From the jast mentioned fine, and of the estimated expense. 
: ' each i Distance. | cocKaGr. | EXPENSE. 
pee ee- ; : Miles. Feet. | Dollars. 
. veal od ae 
. Massachusetts, |\Veymouth to Taunton. 26 260 1,250,000, 
| New Jersey, Brunswick to Trenton, 26 100 800,000 
Delaware and t Christiana to Elk, 22 148 750,000 
. Chesapeake, 
Ppesapeake ce t Eliz. riv. to Pasquotank 22 40 250,000 
Albemarle, 
Total. 
3,050,000 < 
Communications between the Atlantic and 
Western Waters. 
The Apalachian mountains, to use an 
ancient. gencric denomination, extend in 
a direction west of south, from the 42d to 
) the 34th degree of north latitude, ap- 
proaching the sea, and even washed by 
the tide in the state of New York, and 
thence in their southerly course, gradually 
receding from the sea shore. Viewed as 
a whole, their breadth may be estimated 
at 110 miles, and they consist of a suc- 
cession of parallel ridges, following nearly 
the direction of the sea coast, irregularly 
intersected by rivers, and divided by nar- 
row vailies. The ridge, which divides 
the Atlantic rivers from the western 
waters, generally known by the name of 
Allegheny, preserves throughout a nearly 
_. equal distance of 250 miles from the At- 
Jantic ocean, and a nearly uniform ele- 
vation of 3,000 feet above the level of the 
sea. . 
Those mountains may, however, be 
rincipal chains: between these lies the 
ttile lime-stone valley, which, although 
_ Occasionally interrupted by transversal 
tidges, andin one place, by the dividing 
or Allegheny ridge, may be traced from 
we é 2 j 
perhaps consideved as consisting of two - 
548 
Newburgh and Esopus, on the Hudson 
river, to Knoxville on the Tennessee. 
The eastern and narrowest chain is 
the Blue Ridge of Virginia, which in its 
north east course traverses under various 
names, the states of Maryland, Pennsyl- 
vamia, and New Jersey, forms the high 
lands broken at West point by the tide 
of the Hudson, and then uniting with the 
Green mountains, assumes a northerly 
direction, and divides the waters of the 
Hudson, and of lake, Champlain, from 
those of Connecticut river. .On the bor-. 
ders. of Virginia and North Carolina, the 
Blue Ridge is united by an inferioy moun-. 
tain, with the great western chain, and 
thence to its soutlicrn extremity, becomes 
the principal or dividing mountain, dis- 
charging eastwardly the rivers Roanoke, 
Pedee, Santee, and Savannah, into the 
Atlantic Ocean ; southwardly the Chata- 
houchee, and theAlabama into the Gulph 
of Mexico, and westwardly the New river 
and the Tennessee. The Néw river, 
taking a northwardly course, bieaks 
through alt the ridges of the great western 
chain, and at a short distance beyond it, 
unites under the name of Kanhawa, with 
the Ohio. The Tennessee pursues, at 
first, a south-west direction between the 
two 
