The Canal Era 169 



that the rivers took from thirty to forty miles to pass a 

 distance of, as the crow flies, not more than twenty or twenty- 

 five. Then the boats could not pass from Liverpool up to the 

 first lock, above Warrington Bridge, without the assistance 

 of a high tide, and they could only pass the numerous fords 

 and shallows higher up the stream in great freshes or, in 

 dry seasons, by the drawing of great quantities of water 

 from the locks above. Alternatively, there might be an 

 excess of water due to winter floods, and then navigation 

 would be stopped altogether. Aikin, in referring to the 

 navigation in the book he published in 1795, says : " The 

 want of water in droughts, and its too great abundance in 

 floods, are circumstances under which this, as well as most 

 other river navigations, has laboured." He adds : "It has 

 been an expensive concern, and has, at times, been more 

 burthensome to its proprietors than useful to the public." 

 Even in the most favourable conditions of tide or water 

 supply, the boats had to be dragged up and down the stream 

 by men, who did the work of beasts of burden until the 

 construction of the rival waterway led to the navigation 

 proprietors employing horses or mules instead. 



That there were great delays in the river transport, occa- 

 sioning much loss and inconvenience to Manchester traders, 

 will be easily imagined. As it happened, too, whether the 

 navigation were burthensome to the proprietors or not, 

 they took the fullest advantage they could out of their 

 monopoly, at the expense of the traders. They maintained 

 the highest rates in their power, and when goods were damaged 

 in transit, or when serious losses were sustained through 

 delays, they refused all redress. 



It is no wonder that, in all these circumstances, the Man- 

 chester merchants were often obliged to return even to the 

 bad roads for their transport, and this although road carriage 

 between Manchester and Liverpool cost forty shillings a 

 ton, as against twelve shillings a ton by river. The traders 

 of each town welcomed the Duke of Bridgewater's proposal 

 to construct a competitive waterway which would be navigable 

 at all times, independently of tides, of droughts and of floods, 

 would be nine miles shorter than the rivers, and the tariff 

 on which for the goods carried was not to exceed six shillings 

 per ton. 



