52 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[February, 



CANADIAN BOARD OF WORKS. 



Sir — As you have uniformly taken high and strong ground when discus- 

 sing the policy of constructing public works by Government, viewing the 

 system as injurious to the community as it is degrading, and indeed, ruinous 

 to the profession, the following remarks on some of the works now in pro- 

 gress or to he soon undertaken by the provincial government of Canada, 

 may not be without interest to your readers. I believe this the more readily, 

 as you some time since (Vol. Ill, p. 122 et seq.) copied an article from the 

 American Railroad Journal, showing the, in every way, injudicious and de- 

 moralizing effects of the system here, which paper I should have had much 

 pleasure in condensing for, and otherwise adopting to the English reader, 

 had I supposed the communication useful to you otherwise than as a refer- 

 ence. What I now offer on the public works of Canada, will only too 

 clearly show, that it is not easy to speak too strongly of the wretched system 

 of carrying on these undertakings by agents ot government, and with the 

 public money, without any other responsibility than that to party. 



My remarks will be confined almost exclusively to the " Improvement of 

 the St. Lawrence," by canals round the rapids above Montreal. These 

 canals are three in number. 



1. The Lachine canal, round the Lachine rapids, connecting Montreal 

 with Lake St. Louis, a distance of nine miles. This canal has been in 

 operation nine or ten years, and the locks are 100 feet long in the chamber, 

 30 feet wide, and 5 feet deep. 



2. The Beauhamois canal, on the other or south-east side of the St. Law- 

 rence, connecting Lake St. Louis with Lake St. Francis, round the Cascades, 

 Cedars, and Cotean rapids. This canal was commenced in July last, will be 

 from 12 to 15 miles long, is- to have locks 200 feet long in the chamber, 45 

 feet wide, and 9 feet deep on the sill — total lockage 82 feet, prism of canal 

 120 feet at water line, 80 feet at bottom, and 10 feet deep. Estimated cost 

 £255,900 currency = £214,000 sterling. 



3. The Cornwall canal connecting Lake St. Francis with the river above 

 the Longue Soult rapids. This canal is nearly or quite finished, is 11$ miles 

 long, with locks 200 feet long, 55 feet wide, and 9 feet water on the sill. 

 Prism of canal 140 feet at water line, 100 feet wide at bottom, and 10 feet 

 deep. Lockage about 48 feet, cost above £400,000 currency, without any pro- 

 tection to the inner slopes ; a precaution found indispensable on the enlarged 

 portions of the Erie canal, (which are only 70 feet at water line, 42 feet at 

 bottom, and 7 feet deep. Locks 110 feet long, and 18 feet wide.) The 

 excavation of the Cornwall canal was very heavy. 



Besides these, there will be several short canals round some of the worst 

 points in the river, whicfij for the next 35 miles, has a current of from three 

 to eight miles per hour. The aggregate length will be about 40 miles, and 

 the total lockage about ISO feet. 



You will observe that the Beauhamois canal has been commenced on the 

 south side of the St. Lawrence, in justification of which the chairman of the 

 board of works wrote the letter, a copy of which, in a Montreal paper, I 

 forward to you. The gentleman, in consequence of whose remonstrance 

 this was written, engaged me to examine the question, and, finding no data, 

 or indeed, any engineering information whatever in that paper, I was under 

 the necessity of making such surveys as wonld enable me to give an opinion, 

 which was to the following effect, that, the incidental works being trifling, 

 and the lockage of course the same on both sides, the difference in cost, 

 £105,000, must he sought for in the earth-work. But, the total cost of 

 this on the north side, was, by my estimate, only £110,000, or, by the prices 

 of the board of works, about £95,000, so tha't the difference of £100,000 

 became quite impracticable, as is indeed at once obvious to any eye at all 

 accustomed to judge of ground. After my reports were laid before the 

 select committee at Kingston, the board sent in their " estimates," unaccom- 

 panied by any report, in which they make out their case ; by, 



1. Comparing the worst known line on the north side; that is, the last 

 line run by the board, and designated as No. 10 in the letter I send you, 

 with the best line on the south side, thus making a difference of £40,000 

 against the north side. 



2. By comparing a canal 15 miles long on the north side, reaching from 

 still water to still water, with a canal 12 miles long on the south side, having 

 its western terminus at the foot of a strong current, with extensive rocky 

 shoals between the mouth of the canal and Lake St. Francis, difficulties, 

 which I showed in my evidence, it would cost at least £40,000 to overcome. 



My reports will be found in the evidence, a copy of which will be sent to 

 you, and they will enable you at once to sift the facts from the vast quantity 

 of irrelevant matter, with which the board have endeavoured to mystify the 

 very simple points on which the investigation turns. 



1 will now request your attention to a dispatch of the Colonial Secretary 

 to the Governor-General, dated 2nd of April, 1S42, in which Lord Stanley- 

 writes : " It can hardly he doubted that works so extensive, and calculated 

 to produce such important results, ought to be superintended by the best 

 professional assistance which it is possible to obtain. Her Majesty's govern- 

 ment entertain no doubt of the anxious desire of the Canadian Board of 

 Works to discharge with fidelity the arduous duties which will devolve upon 

 them ; but I can as little doubt the anxiety which they must feel to have 

 associated with them in such a trust, the bes"t professional assistance which 

 it is in the power of the mother country to furnish. 



" It is therefore, my intention, in anticipation of the acquiescence, which 



I cannot for a moment doubt, of the colonial legislature, in the general ar- 

 rangements suggested by Her Majesty's government, to send over an officer 

 of engineers, whom, as Her Majesty's commissioner, I trust the legislature 

 will have no difficulty in associating with the board of works, in the superin- 

 tendence of the works to be undertaken ; and whose experience may pro- 

 bably enable the undertakings to be conducted with the efficiency and 

 economy which must be alike the interest of the colony and of this 

 country." 



Sir Charles Bagot replies, 2Stb of April, 1842 : " Of course, as her Ma- 

 jesty's government provide the funds with which the public works are to be 

 conducted, it is but reasonable that they should have a share in the 

 management of it, if so desired." 



His excellency then goes on to object strongly to a " military engineer," 

 and suggests a " civil engineer," an expense it is well known the home 

 government w ill not incur ; in the mean time the work is commenced before 

 even the centre line or the levels have been established. 



Lord Stanley writes on the 2nd of July, 1842 : " In your dispatch of the 

 28th April, you admit the necessity of appointing an engineer officer, as 

 commissioner on the part of Her Majesty's government, to superintend the 

 execution of the works which may be undertaken, and point out the reasons 

 which induce you to prefer a civil to a military engineer. 



" On this subject, I have only to observe, that if provision be made by 

 the legislature for the payment of such an officer, (which, I agree with you, 

 will be very desirable,) Her Majesty's government would have no preference 

 for a military over a civil engineer, nor any wish on the subject, but to pro- 

 cure the services of the most competent person who could be engaged for 

 this purpose." 



Now, I have no hesitation in asserting, that, had this officer been sent out 

 the canal could not possibly have been placed on the south side of the St. 

 Lawrence. For, the examinations which he would have found it his duty to 

 make, before giving his acquiescence, would have shown him that the south 

 side had no advantages in an engineering point of view ; and no English 

 engineer, civil or military, could well tolerate the position of the Governor- 

 General, that "ceteris paribus" he should "probably" (!) give the pre- 

 ference to the north side. The stern reply of Lord Stanley to this flippant 

 remark, in which he expresses " bis regret " at the " sacrifice of the military 

 advantages " of the line on the north side of the St. Lawernce, cannot fail 

 to strike you as proper and manly, as well as decidedly called for. 



But the great object of the work is commercial ; and, in this point of 

 view, the examinations of the engineer of Her Majesty's government, would 

 have shown him, that the line on the south-east or lee side of the St. Law- 

 rence, must on that very account, and with any expenditure, be somewhat 

 inferior to the line on the north-west side ; in other words, that the " mili- 

 tary advantages," so highly prized by Lord Stanley, were to be " sacrificed " 

 not to aid, but rather to injure the commercial interests of the country. So 

 general is the belief in the want of common honesty evinced in this trans- 

 action, that the large sum (£30,000 or £40,000) already expended on the 

 south side, constitutes now the only argument in favour of continuing it on 

 that side of the river. I am, however, of opinion, that this will avail little, 

 if Lord Stanley send out an engineer — civil or military, I care not which — 

 who. with even a little practice, is not deficient in self-respect and integrity. 

 Such a man will soon discover, that a canal adapted to the trade of the 

 country, will be worth more, both as regards facility of working, and — what 

 is most important — low tolls; which latter must obviously be in proportion 

 to the cost, than a canal of the present preposterously colossal dimensions. 

 Hence, even £100,000 may be spent on the south side; and the commercial 

 as well as national interests may be advanced by the construction of a canal 

 on the north side, in such a manner and of such dimensions as prudence, 

 experience, and common sense shall point out. 



Lord Stanley will hardly brook being told, that, the canal having been 

 commenced, it is useless to look back — that it is better now to submit to the 

 imposition, infamous though it be, than sacrifice the work already done — 

 that the honour of the government will be sufficiently appeased by dismissing 

 the board of works with disgrace, and similar arguments of those whose 

 only escape from a wretched bargain — if so mild a term may be applied — 

 lies in the momentary and imaginary value which the construction of a 

 "ship canal" to the "great lakes" along the Seigneury of Beauhamois 

 may give to that property in the London market. But should Her Majesty's 

 government sift this matter thoroughly, not only may the canal on the south 

 side be stopped, but Sir Robert Peel — the unwavering friend of private enter- 

 prise, the grand secret of British supremacy — whose policy would never have 

 originally given the imperial security for £1,500,000 sterling, " cette pilule 

 dore'e," as it was contemptuously termed by a leading French member of 

 parliament — may feel himself called on to cancel the endorsement, when he 

 discovers that the munificence of the home government serves only to the 

 direct injury of the commercial interests of the colony ; to the neglect of the 

 military interests of the present state ; of the agricultural interests of the 

 colony ; and, worst of all, to the demoralization of the colonial government 

 and people. For, not only does the present course resemble that of the 

 worst of the subsequently repudiating states, but there is superadded a 

 degree of cool and mendacious effrontery almost incredible, on which, in- 

 deed, the main chauce of success now rests. Thus, after reading Mr. Killaly's 

 letter, you would be surprised to learn, that, the "French engineer" is 

 supposed to have been a Canadian surveyor, his very name being even un- 

 known. Survey No. 2, by Mr. Mills, led that gentleman to give the pre- 



