10 



CANALS. 



tion. Estimated cost, 250,OOO.--La Petite Nation 

 canal is a projected artificial channel of navigation, 

 of 50 miles in length, from the foot of CariUon ra- 

 pids, at Hawkesbury, on the Ottawa, across the pen- 

 insula, to the St Lawrence, at Prescott. 



CANALS OF THE UNITED STATES. Immense improve- 

 ments have been made in inland navigation, both by 

 rivers and canals, during the fifteen years from 1816 

 to 1831. More than 1000 miles of canal liave been 

 made during that time, besides vast improvements in 

 river navigation ; and, in 1831, the numerous works 

 of this sort, already commenced, are prosecuted with 

 unremitted activity. Only a very general outline of 

 these improvements, so important both in a political 

 and economical view, can be given in this work. ' 



Canal* in New England. Cumberland and Oxford 

 canal. This navigation, partly natural and partly 

 artificial, extends about fifty miles, from Portland to 

 Sebago pond, in Maine. The head of the canal is 

 in tin- town of Bridgeton, at the termination of Long 

 pond, which is 10 miles in length. This pond, to-, 

 gether with Brandy pond and Sebago pond, with 

 their outlets, constitutes 27 miles of the canal ; 24 

 locks only are necessary. Tolls are, per mile, for 

 planks, 6 cents per 1000 feet ; shingles, 2 cents a 

 thousand ; wood, 6 cents a cord, per mile ; timber, 

 6 cents a ton, per mile ; goods in boats, 6 cents a 

 ton; boats, rafts, &c., 6 cents additional for each 

 lock. Middlesex canal was completed in 1808. It 

 opens a communication between Boston harbour and 

 the Merrimack river, a distance of 27 miles. It has 

 but one summit level, 104 feet above Boston harbour, 

 and 32 above the level of the Merrimack, at the 

 place of its junction with that river in Chelmsford, 

 above Pawtucket mils ; on which falls are situated 

 the great manufacturing establishments of Lowell. 

 Its breadth at the surface is 30 feet, at the bottom 

 20 feet, and its depth of water 3 feet. It makes part 

 of a line of water communication between Boston and 

 the central part of New Hampshire. There are on 

 this canal 20 locks of different lifts, of which the 

 highest is 12 feet. The locks are 75 feet long in 

 the clear, 10 feet wide at the bottom, and 11 feet at 

 the top. The number of aqueducts, over rivers and 

 streams, is 7 ; and there are 50 bridges, having stone 

 abutments 20 feet apart. Cost, 528,000 dollars ; 

 constructed by the Middlesex canal company, incor- 

 porated in 1789. The tolls, in 1824, were, for boats, 

 14,184 dollars ; rafts, 5770 dollars ; in the whole, 

 19,954 dollars. Bow canal was made in 1812, and 

 is the continuation of a line of navigation, of which 

 the Middlesex canal constitutes a part. Its length is 

 mile ; the lockage 25 feet. Its dimensions, and 

 the size of the locks, correspond to those of the Mid- 

 dlesex canal, being designed to pass the same boats. 

 It passes a fall in the Merrimack of 25 feet, with 4 

 locks. A dam is constructed across the river, at 

 the head of the falls. Expense of the whole work, 

 19,000 dollars. Hooksett canal, another work on the 

 Merrimack, 50 rods in length, is also a part of the same 

 line of navigation, and passes Hooksett falls, in that ri- 

 ver, by a lockage of 1 6 feet. These falls are lower down 

 the river than the Bow canal. It has 3 locks. Cost, 

 of the whole works, 13,000 dollars. Amoskeag canal, 

 one mile in length, is another part of the same navi- 

 gation, being eight miles farther down the Merri- 

 mack, at Amoskeag falls, which are passed by this 

 canal with a lockage of 45 feet. It has 9 locks and 

 several dams. Cost, 60,000 dollars. Union canal, 

 a part of the same navigation, having 7 locks in 9 

 miles, is immediately below the Amoskeag canal, 

 and comprehends 6 sets of falls. Cost, 35,000 dol- 

 lars. Cromwell's falls, which are below, on the same 

 river, are locked at an expense of 9000 dollars ; and 

 15 miles lower down are the Wiccassee falls, which 



have been locked at an expense of about, 12,000 

 dollars. The line of navigation above described 

 commenced at a very early period in the history of 

 canal navigation in the United States ; and the un. 

 dertaking evinced great public spirit and enter- 

 prise on the part of the persons who engaged in 

 it, whose inadequate pecuniary remuneration lias 

 however, operated as a discouragement from similar 

 enterprises in New England. Pawtucket canal, a 

 branch of the navigation above described, is a chan- 

 nel of about a mile and a lialf in length, passing 

 Pawtucket falls on the Merrimack, and facilitating 

 the navigation of that river from Chelmsford, where 

 the Middlesex canal meets the river, to Newburyport, 

 situated near its mouth. It is in the town of Lowell. 

 A dam is made across the Merrimack, above those 

 falls, a short distance below the termination of the 

 Middlesex canal, for the purpose of regulating the 

 height of water for supplying the Pawtucket canal, 

 which was originally made merely for the passage of 

 rafts and boats, and corresponded in dimensions to 

 the other works on the same river above, and to the 

 Middlesex canal. About the year 1820, the proprie- 

 tors of the manufacturing establishments, which have, 

 during the short subsequent period of about ten years, 

 grown to so surprising a magnitude, and which are 

 still rapidly increasing, purchased the Pawtucket ca- 

 nal, and enlarged its channel to the dimensions of 

 90 feet in breadth, and four hi depth, which not only 

 serves for the original purpose of this canal, in passing 

 these falls, which are in the whole about 32 feet in 

 height, but also supplies immense hydraulic works, 

 used for the purposes of manufacturing. Farmington 

 canal was commenced in 1825, upon the plan of con- 

 necting,, by a line of 78 miles of entirely artificial na- 

 vigation, Connecticut river at Northampton, in Mas- 

 sachusetts, with New Haven harbour. It is 36 feet 

 in breadth at the surface of the water, 20 at the bot- 

 tom, and four feet hi depth ; and passes from New 

 Haven to Farmington, in Connecticut, and from thence 

 to Colebrook. The locks are 80 feet in the clear, 

 and 12 feet wide. Its commencement at New Haven 

 is from a basin of 20 acres capacity. It is (in 1831) 

 nearly completed, and wholly under contract, from 

 New Haven to Southwick ponds, in Massachusetts, a 

 distance, by survey, of 58 miles ; lockage, 218 feet. 

 Hampshire and Hampden canal is a projected work, 

 of 20 miles in length, in Massachusetts, in continua- 

 tion of the Farmington canal, from Southwick ponds 

 to Northampton; lockage, 298 feet. Enfield canal, 

 and the three others next mentioned, are short cuts 

 at the different falls on Connecticut river. This was 

 the latest of these improvements, having been com- 

 menced by a company, under a charter granted in 

 1824. It is 5 miles in length, and passes the En- 

 field falls, in the state of Connecticut. It has three 

 stone locks, each 10 feet lift, 90 feet by 20. This 

 canal adds 40 miles to the steamboat navigation up 

 the Connecticut. Like the Pawtucket at Lowell, 

 on the Merrimack, it is intended both to facilitate 

 navigation and supply hydraulic works. It is a 

 very important improvement, and does great credit 

 to the undertakers. South Hadley canal, the next 

 artificial channel of navigation up the Connecticut, is 

 in South Hadley, in Massachusetts. It is 2 miles in 

 length, and overcomes the rapids in the Connecticut 

 at the place, amounting to about 40 feet. There U 

 a cut in this canal, 40 feet deep, 300 feet long, in 

 solid rock. This improvement, and also the one next 

 mentioned, were undertaken by a company which was 

 chartered in 1792. Montague canal, in the town of 

 Montague, also in Massachusetts, is the next in order, 

 higher up the Connecticut. It is 3 miles in length, 

 25 feet broad, and 3 deep. By this canal the navi- 

 gation passes the Montague falls, which commence 



