174 History of Inland Transport 



" Then what do you think rivers are for ? " he replied, " To 

 supply canals with water." 



On the other hand, water would not flow up-hill in canals 

 any more than in rivers, and in the making and operation 

 of canals there was, literally as well as figuratively, a great 

 deal of up-hill work to do. 



Between the Mersey and the Trent there were considerable 

 elevations which formed very difficult country for water 

 transport. These elevations had to be overcome by the 

 gradual rising of the canal, by means of locks, to a certain 

 height, by the construction, at that point, of a tunnel through 

 the hills, and by a fresh series of locks on the other side, to 

 allow of a lower level being reached again. The rise of the 

 Trent and Mersey Canal from the Mersey to the summit at 

 Harecastle, near the Staffordshire Potteries, was 395 ft., a 

 final climb of 316 ft. being made by means of a flight of 

 thirty-five locks. Through Harecastle Hill there was driven 

 a tunnel a mile and two-thirds in length, with a height of 

 12 ft. and a breadth of 9 ft. 4 in. 1 South of this tunnel the 

 canal descended to the level of the Trent, a fall of 288 ft., 

 by means of forty locks. In addition to this the canal, in 

 its course of 90 miles, had to pass through four other tunnels 

 and be carried across the river Dove by an aqueduct of 

 twenty-three arches and at four points over windings of 

 the Trent, which it followed to its junction therewith at 

 Wilden Ferry. 



These engineering difficulties were successfully overcome 

 by Brindley, and the canal was opened for traffic in 1777. 

 The benefits it conferred on industry and commerce, having 

 in view the unsatisfactory alternative means of transport, 

 were beyond all question. English traders saw established 

 across the island, from the Mersey to the Humber, a line of 

 inland navigation which, apart from the long and tedious 

 voyage round the coast, and, also, from the scarcely passable 

 roads, was the first connecting link in our national history 

 between the ports of Liverpool and Hull. But of even greater 

 importance were the facilities for making use of either or 

 both of these ports the one on the west coast, and the 

 other on the east coast which were opened up to manu- 



1 Subsequently supplemented by a tunnel of larger dimensions along- 

 side, constructed by Telford. 



