478 A. D. 1768. 



About the time of the union the idea of a navigation acrofs the nar- 

 rowed: part of the ifland was revived, as appears by fome of the publi- 

 cations of that time ; {CampbeWs Political furvey, V. i, p. 227] and it was 

 again dropped. In the year 1723 it was relumed, and a furvey was 

 made for the purpofe of executing the canal. But ftill it was, apparent- 

 ly, too early to engage in a work of fuch magnitude ; and it again lay 

 forgotten till the year 1762, when it was taken up by the prime mini- 

 fler, Mr. Pitt, who propofed, that it fhould be executed by the public, 

 and on fuch a fcale as to admit fea vefTels of a moderate burthen : and 

 Mr. Mackell was employed to make a furvey and eftimate for a canal 

 from the mouth of the Carron on the Forth to the mouth of Yocker 

 burn on the Clyde. A fecond furvey and report was made by Mr. 

 Smeaton in the year 1764 ; and the execution of this great public work 

 was now left to priv:»te individuals. But the large amount of Mr. 

 Smeaton's eftimate induced fome of thofe, who wifhed for the naviga- 

 tion, to drop the grand idea of a canal navigable by fea veflels from fea 

 to fea, and adopt the notion of a petty ditch with only four feet depth 

 of water, and to extend no farther weft than Glafgow*. 



The a61: now palled incorporated the proprietors of the propofed ca- 

 nal, as ufual, and authorized a fupplemental cut to Glafgow. It alfo in- 

 corporated another fet of proprietors for the purpofe of executing an 

 extenfion from the eaft end of the canal to Borrowllownnefs. 



The work was immediately begun, and profecuted with great fpirit 

 till the year 1775, when it had reached the neighbourhood of Glafgow ; 

 and then, the funds being all exhaufted, a flop was put to it for foiTie 

 years. The inhabitants of Glafgow, however, very foon availed them- 

 felves of the proximity of the canal by making the fupplemental cut to 

 their city, whereby they immediately obtained a diredl communication 

 with the Forth and the German ocean ; and the canal began to be ufe- 

 ful to all the country adjacent to it, though in a degree far inferior to 

 what it would be if completed. Yet even in this imperfedl ftate of it 

 the lockage dues amounted to from ^^4,000 to ;^7,ooo a year. 



* While the various plans for the canal were dams, efFcfted by two ftrong piers of ftone work 



under confideratlon, Mr. J. Gray in 1768 publifh- at proper dlllancet. As an improvement, he pro- 



ed Reflidions on inhirul navigation, wherein he pro- pofed to fet a mill [Why not two i] at each lock 



pofed to retain the natural courfcs of the Bonnie or dam, to be worked by the water falling from 



and the Carron on the eaft, and the Kelvin on the the upper part of it. and to give the cuftody of 



weft, fule of the country', theieby avoiding the fe- the locks to the millers, wlio ihould regulate the 



paration of private property, and alfo all expenfe proper quantity of water, in order to prevent in- 



of tunnels, fluiccs, aqueduds, &c. as all fmall undations, and guard againft the formation of thick 



ftreams would be received into the canal. Inftead ice by varying the depth during froil. He efti- 



of digging out a channel, he propofed, as I may mated that a navigable communication between the 



fay, to build a river, (as fome of the canals in two feas of Jlfleen feet depth of water, and even 



HuUand are conftrufted) by raifing parallel em- three hundred ieex. 'n\ hre:iAx.\i, (except at the locks, 



bankments 80 or lOO feet afunder (great part of where it fliould be narrower) might be completed 



which, he obfervcs, is already done by nature) to in this manner for ^,"293,444, the fum eftimated 



contain the water of the rivers witli a depth of by Mr. Smeaton for a canal of t-jielve feet deep, 



rwelve feet, and to make a kind of triple locks or andjixiy-nine feet broad. 



