CANALS. 



AMERICAN CANALS. It is difficult to obtain ex- 

 act information relating to the works of this de- 

 scription in America. Some of them mentioned 

 in the following list are merely projected, and others 

 are not yet completed ; nor is it now easy to ascertain 

 precisely what degree of progress has been made. 



CANALS or CANADA Welland canal was construct- 

 ed from 1824 to 1829. Its length is 41* miles ; its 

 breadth at the surface 58 feet, at the bottom 26 feet, 

 and its depth 8 feet. This line of navigation passes 

 from the mouth of Ouse river, on lake Erie, north- 

 eastward, to strike at a point of the Wellandor Chip- 

 peway river; and, taking the course of that river down- 

 wards, 11 miles, proceeds from thence northward, 

 across the mountain ridge, and down to the mouth of 

 Twelve Mile creek, on lake Ontario. The distance 

 from lake to lake is 43 miles. The deepest cutting, 

 near the summit, is 56 feet. It has 35 locks, 125 to 

 100 feet long, 32 to 22 feet wide. The capital stock 

 of the company is 200,000 ; the number of shares, 

 16,000. This canal admits of sloop navigation, and 

 opens a communication between lake Erie and lake 

 Ontario in the same vessels which navigate those 



lakes, and saves discharging and reloading cargoes. 

 One of the purposes of its construction was to pre- 

 vent the trade of that part of Upper Canada which 

 communicates with the great western lakes from be- 

 _ing diverted to New York, by the route of the Erie 

 canal. Its execution was facilitated by taking ad- 

 vantage of natural channels of slack water. Rideau 

 canal is a projected navigation for 122 miles, from 

 Hull, on the great Ottawa, to the Gannanoqui, 

 on the St Lawrence, at the Kingston mills. La 

 Chine canal is 10 miles In length, from Montreal, 

 on the St Lawrence, directly to Upper La Chine, on 

 lake St Louis, cutting off a bend in the river, and 

 avoiding the rapids of St Louis. Cost, 220,000; 

 for sloop navigation. L'Isle Perrault canal is a pro- 

 jected work of five miles in length, from St Louis 

 lake, at the foot of St Anne's rapids, to the head 

 thereof, by a canal passing either at the back of St 

 Anne's, or else across the Isle Perrault. Grenville 

 canal is a projected work of 12 miles in length, from 

 the head of Long Sault or Ottawa falls, at the village 

 of Grenville, by a lateral canal, to the foot of Canl- 

 Ion rapids, opposite Point Fortune ; for sloop naviga- 



