Tavistock Canal. 871 



i''sclf. The uilderlaking, therefore, embraces two great 

 objects ; first, to serve the public by forniing an easy con- 

 veyance for Hniestone, coal, ores, slate, and other heavy 

 articles, which are daily passed along its line ; and, se- 

 condly, to be the means of discovering the treasures at 

 present concealed in the bowels of this mountain; 



An act of parliament for the navigation was passed in the 

 summer of 1803, and in the month of August the works 

 \Vere begun. From a report of the committee of manage- 

 ment lately made to the general meeting of proprietors, 

 which has been printed, we find that to complete this un- 

 dertaking, after rising to the proper level from the river 

 Tamar by an inclined plane, a tunnel about a mile and 

 three-quarters long must be driven through the hill, and 

 that the canal must be carried over a valley at the height of 

 more than 4Q feet 5 where the navigation will branch off, 

 the main part going to the town v>f Tavistock, and passing 

 some copper mines, and the other part reaching to the ex- 

 tensive slate quarries of Mill HilL 



Of the great deal of work to be done for the completion 

 of this undertaking, the tunnel and the aqueduct are the 

 parts attended with the most difficulty. The former, which 

 must be cut through solid rock, can go on only by slow 

 degrees ; and the latter will be forwarded nearly in the same 

 proportion, as a great part of it will consist of embank- 

 ment raised with the rubble brought from the tunnel ; the 

 excavaticm of the one thus serving towards the formation 

 of ihe other. 



The engineer, Mr. .Tohn Taylor, has been able already 

 to complete nearly 300 yards of the tunnel; and by an open 

 canal from its northern entrance, he conveys in boats the 

 stuff to the valley where he is raising the embankment : 

 hercj by an inclined railroad, and very simple machinery, 

 these boats are made to ascend out of the water over the 

 .spot where their load is to be throwHj and, being fixed in a 

 i)alanced cradle, the whole is inverted, and thus the rubble 

 is instantly discharged into its proper situation. 



'I'he tunnel is worked from each of its end^, and likewise 

 from shafts sunk, and which are sinking, upon its course; 

 water from the river Tavy will be turned through the open 

 part of the canal, and will be made to fall over very power- 

 lul wheels for draining the shafts, ventilating the levels, 

 &.C. Sec. 



The search for minerals has already been attended with 



some success. The vein or lode worked in a neighbouring 



mine ha< been traced into the limits of the canal, and near 



2 A ;: the 



