54 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[February, 



the income ; on the St. Lawrence, the ratio is much more unfavourable, 

 probably not less than 8 or 10 to 1, as the Western States, which furnish 

 the flour and pork for the Montreal market, receive their merchandize exclu- 

 sively by way of New York and the Erie canal ; hence the greater the exports 

 or down freight via the St. Lawrence, the greater the imports or up freight 

 via the Erie Canal. But the down freight for Montreal will, practically 

 speaking, all go by the river; hence £S,000 to £10,000 gross income 

 would be a high estimate for the up freight of the St. Lawrence, if 

 charging the same tolls as on the Erie canal, or four times that income at 

 the present rates of the Lachine canal. Some little income will also he 

 derived from the occasional passage of the steam-tugs employed to tow 

 barges between the different sections of the canal. It will be observed that 

 this calculation supposes the trade equal to that of the Erie canal, and that 

 the estimates are entitled to confidence. The difference in the former is 

 such as to forbid comparison, and the mere dimensions of the Beauharnois 

 canal, given in the beginning of this paper, will be quite sufficient to show 

 the inaccuracy of the latter — to say nothing of the actual cost of the Corn- 

 wall canal, built principally under the superintendence of the able resident 

 engineer of the Beauharnois canal.-' 



It is quite unnecessary to point out the improbability of vessels of 600 

 800, or 1000 tons or larger steamers competing with barges of 150 tons 

 drawn by horses on the canals, and by steam or wind, as at present, on the 

 river between these canals ; but, when we find that the latter craft can 

 descend the St. Lawrence (without paying tolls) witli seven-eights of the 

 freight, and that a suitable canal for the ascending trade would cost about 

 one-fourth as much as the " ship canal," and be more efficient too, we are 

 led to conclude that the whole affair would do no discredit to the " par 

 excellence " land of jobs itself— the " sister island." The enlargement of 

 the Lachine canal is about to be undertaken the coming winter, estimated 

 cost £225,300 currency ; and how this measure is to reduce the enormous 

 tolls of that canal, which have already forced the trade to try the river, and 

 successfully too, is a question not to be answered — in the affirmative, at 

 least. The greatest possible reduction in freight I consider to be 6</. per 

 barrel of flour, an amount ' quite insufficient to increase the demand in 

 England, the very source of this trade, whilst freights from Montreal vary 

 during the season not less than 2s. sterling per barrel, according to circum'- 

 stances ; a vastly more important consideration than any diminution which 

 can be even anticipated between Montreal and Kingston. (The last Mon- 

 treal quotations were 6s. sterling, from New York Is. 6d. sterling, per barrel 

 of flour.) 



The Toronto paper, accompanying this, gives very fairly the general view 

 taken by the entire agricultural and no small part of the commercial com- 

 munity; and, in confirmation, I will add, that by none did I hear the idea 

 of using the canals for down freight ridiculed so much, as by French mem- 

 bers of parliament, whose knowledge of the capacity of the river is nearly 

 equal to that of the forwarders themselves. 



A variety of other important facts might be adduced and different means 

 taken ; among the rest, the amount of business necessary to clear expenses 

 and interest ; and the amount of income which the present trade would 

 yield ; also the quantity of freight from western states seeking the New- 

 York market via the Erie, or Welland and Erie Canal. ;i 



- The respectable British and American engineers who are, have been, or 

 may be employed by the Board of 'Works, must not be confounded with 

 the Board proper. They have merely to execute what their superiors, as 

 politicians and intriguers, but their inferiors as men and engineers, are 

 pleased to direct, and have nothing to do with the projecting of the works, 

 as will be easily believed. 



3 Taking the interest and expenses at £60,000 currency, and the toll at 

 3d. currency per barrel of flour, it would require 4,800,000 barrels, about 

 7 times the present trade, to furnish the income, if even this comparatively 

 moderate toll would induce boats to use the canals, and if the estimates o'f 

 cost are correct. Besides the toll on the freight, the boat pavs 1/. toll, and 

 12s. for towing through the nine miles of the Lachine canal,' which for the 

 40 miles of canal would cost more than insurance and pilotage from Kings- 

 ton to Montreal. The insurance is three-eighths of 1</. per pound; the 

 pilotage about 21. per 1000 barrels. 



Allowing 30 minutes for passing one lock, and the entire present annual 

 downward trade would pass through the Cornwall canal in 24 hours — the up 

 trade before dinner, or at a point before breakfast. The river is equal to 

 millions of tons per day, and the vast saving of time — already important 

 between Lachine and Montreal — is an inseparable argument against the 

 canals for the down trade — in other words, for the trade. The earlier and 

 later navigation in spring and autumn is also important. 



The Welland canal cost up to August, 1841, £491,777 currency, and re- 

 quires, by estimate, £450,000 to complete it. (Memorandum, 12th August, 

 1841. p. 3.) The income for the last three years, has been about £25,000 

 currency, Mr. Killaly's •' doubling almost annually an inconceivable extent " 

 to the contrary, notwithstanding. The principal part of this is from down- 

 freight, and a part also from American trade. With a navigation equal to 

 that of the St. Lawrence, the income would be about £6000. Its principal 

 hope of success rests on its becoming an American thoroughfare, which I 

 think it eventually will be, for reasons given in my paper on " the spring 

 trade in the American Railroad Journal of April 15th, 1S42. 



Vessels drawing 12 to 14 feet water are brought with difficulty up to 

 Montreal ; and as for taking " ships " through 500 feet lockage up to Lake 



It was remarked, by the President of the Institution, (I think,) that many 

 of the young engineers of England must necessarily look to the colonies for 

 employment, hence the state and prospects of the profession in Canada can- 

 not be received with indifference by British engineers in general; and it is 

 on this account that I think the course of the Canadian government should 

 not escape the scrutiny of the leading members of the Institution in 

 London. 



The honour and advancement of the colony and of the profession, as far 

 as public works are concerned, must be considered as the same; and it is 

 hard to say whether the Canadian Board of Works are doing more to injure 

 the trade of the country, to degrade the engineer, or to effectually extinguish 

 in Canada, that vital principle of British institutions — private enterprise. 

 I am, Sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



Xew York, 30th Nov., 1842. W. R. Casey. 



To win 



THE EDUCATION OF AN ENGINEER. 



< added a few remarks bearing on the pros?.: 

 and its Disciples. 



By H. F. Clifford. 



Our estimate of the value of any scientific pursuit, consists chiefly in the 

 degree of importance we assign to the amount and nature of the several 

 qualifications due to its proper attainment. When we reflect upon the cha- 

 racteristics of engineering', we are not long in discovering it to be a science 

 requiring much deep and intellectual study, assisted by steady perseverance, 

 long and unceasing application to arrive at a just appreciation of all those 

 practical data which experience can alone furnish, and impress vividly on the 

 mind ; one in which the laborious duties of the artisan must be blended with 

 the sound theories of the refined mathematician, one, in fact, embodying the 

 perfect union of theory with practice ; but to define engineering in the full 

 sense of the word, would be an endless task, for in that single word is com- 

 prehended a general knowledge of all the artifices that human ingenuity can 

 devise to supply the conveniences of the present advanced and rapidly pro- 

 gressing state of civilization. This definition may, indeed, appear vague to 

 some ; but when we are informed of the vast grasp it takes of all those 

 sciences which require no ordinary mind to cultivate and condense for the 

 purpose of obtaining a thorough comprehension of the numerous ramifications 

 of so noble and deeply interesting a study, we cannot be called presumptuous 

 in placing it second to few, if any of our standard professions. Since, how- 

 ever, engineering as a comprehensive and distinct science has become fully 

 recognised, and taken up its full position high in the rank of secular callings, 

 there must have been long felt a growing deficiency of some fixed laws or 

 definite principles to guide such individuals as were desirous of attaching 

 themselves to the profession as a means of support, in obtaining a thoroughly 

 useful knowledge of the subject. It is not our intention to throw any un- 

 reasonable objections in the path of the young aspirant to engineering fame, 

 but we would seriously urge on his attention the necessity of engendering at 

 the onset a firm and unchangeable resolution to encounter numerous and 

 severe difficulties ; but to be forewarned is to be pre-armed, and in the follow- 

 ing remarks, which are the substance of a few years' careful observation, we 

 have endeavoured to point out the general features of such a course of pro- 

 bationary study as from experience we have great confidence in recommend- 

 ing for adoption ; being fully persuaded, moreover, that the only way to ren- 

 der engineering ultimately serviceable, at least in a pecuniary point of view, 

 is to effect the happy combination of the practical with the civil department. 

 For it is almost chimerical, now-a-days, for any person to imagine he will 

 ever sueceed solely in the capacity of a " Civil Engineer," inasmuch as civil 

 engineering is a profession commanding but a very limited practice, and that 

 what practice there is must inevitably fall to the lot of men whose public 

 works have already earned for them an undying name, and with w hose lives 

 it will perish as a distinct avocation. Neither, on the other hand, can we 

 recommend any one to pursue practical engineering alone, that is the business 

 of an engine builder, for it is one requiring large capital to erect workshops 



Erie, it will be at once obvious to the readers of the Journal, who have any 

 acquaintance with inland navigation, that such views can be entertained only 

 by those who are ignorant of the cost, weight and awkwardness of ships in 

 canals. Should the trade become great, it is clear that the transhipment 

 will take place at Quebec. 



However new these statements of business may be to many of your rea- 

 ders — and obviously indispensable as they are to a correct understanding of 

 the wants of the trade of the St. Lawrence — I believe they will be quite as 

 new to the Canadian Board of Works, supposing that a Journal advocating 

 such principles as this shotdd accidentally meet their eye. 



