166 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[May, 



that the early canals of China ami Eiryp'- a'thoufrh not possessed of 

 locks, were iiot on that account unadapted to difference of level. 

 It was very douhtfiil, indeed, if the use of locks had even yet been 

 introduced into Cliina. thouirh intersecteil hy many canals of great 

 extent, the Imi)erial Canal beiiifj nearly loUO miles in length; and 

 it accordingly appeared that in order to |)ass boats from one level 

 to another, a rude system of stop-gates and inclined planes had been 

 in use from very early times in that country. Nevertheless the 

 introduction of locks might be held as an important step in the 

 history of inland navigation, and they might he said in Europe and 

 in .Vmerica to be almost universally used. It was true that inclined 

 j)lanes ; ad been adopted even in this country — in particular on the 

 Shrewsbury and Shropshire canals — and Messrs. Leslie and Bate- 

 nian had lately recommended this system to the directors of the 

 Forth and Clyde Canal — but the instances of its application were 

 confessedly rare; and, indeed, the only ])lace where he had seen 

 inclined planes e.xtensively used, was at the Morris Canal, in the 

 United States, constructed by Mr. Douglas, of New York, where 

 several planes were in use, having gradients of about one in ten, 

 by which boats weighing, when loaded, about thirty tons, after 

 being ymiinded on a carriage, were raised by water power through 

 a space of fifty perpendicular feet with great success. 



]5ut in proceeding to illustrate the progress of inland navigation, 

 he might without tracing its gradual introduction from country to 

 country, remark at once that we found the French at the end of 

 the 17th century, in the reign of Louis the XIV., forming the 

 Languedoc Canal between the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean 

 — a gigantic work which was finished in 1681. It was 14y miles in 

 length, and the summit level was GOO feet above the sea, while the 

 works on its line embraced upwards of 100 locks and about 50 

 aqueducts, the whole forming an undertaking which was a lasting 

 monument to the skill and enterprise of its projectors ; and with 

 this work as a model, it did seem strange that Britain should not 

 till nearly a century after its execution, have been engaged in 

 vigorously following this notable example: and this seemed the 

 more extraordinary, as the Romans in early times had executed 

 %vorks in this country which, whatever might have been their 

 original use, whether for the purposes of navigation or drainage, 

 were ultimately, and that even at an early period converted into 

 navigable canals. Of these works he particularly specified the Caer 

 Dike and Foss Dike cuts in Lincolnshire, which were by general 

 consent admitted to have been of Roman origin. The former 

 extended from Peterborough to the river Withani, near the city of 

 Ijiucoln, a distance of about forty miles: and the latter extended 

 from Lincoln to the river Trent, near Torksey, a distance of eleven 

 miles. The Caer Dike existed now only in name, but the Foss 

 Dike was at this moment an efficient and flourishing navigation : 

 and having been lately professionally engaged in its improvement, 

 .Mr. Stevenson stated that he had occasion to inquire somewhat 

 minutely into its past history and condition, and that a very few 

 particulars regarding that, the oldext British canal might not be 

 uninteresting. 



Among other notices of this early work, Camden, in his Britannia., 

 stated that the Foss Dike was a cut originally made by the Romans, 

 and that it was deepened by Henry I., who reigned in the eleventh 

 century, but to what extent it was so deepened did not appear. In 

 176'i it was reported on by Smeaton and Grundy, who found the 

 navigable depth at that time to be 2 ft. 8 in., and recommended 

 several wurks for its improvement, which appeared, however, not 

 to have been executed. In 178<;, Smeaton was again employed, 

 and deepened the navigation to 3 ft. G in.; but it did not appear 

 that its width was increased;' and from that period it remained in 

 a very imperfect state till ISiO, when the lessee of the navigation 

 einjiloyed the firm of which he was a member to design works for 

 assimilating the Foss Dike, both as regarded the breadth and depth 

 of the navigable channel to the rivers Witham and Trent, with 

 w hich it communicated. A\'hen called on to examine the navigation, 

 Mr. Stevenson found its depth to be 3 ft. 10 in., and its breadth 

 ill many places was insuflicient for the passage of boats, for the 

 convenience of which occasional passing places had been provided; 

 and it was resolved to increase its dimensions and otherwise repair 

 the wh(de work. Accordingly, the canal was widened to the 

 minimum breadth of -t.i feet, and deepened to the extent of 6 feet 

 throughout (alterations wliich were accom])lisbeil without stopping 

 the traffic); the entrance lock was removed, and a pumping engine 

 was erected for supplying water from the river Trent during dry 

 seasons; and that ancient caTial, wliich was quoted by Telford and 

 Nimmo, "as the oldest artificial canal in Britain," was now in a 



3 Snieaton's KeportB, vol. I. p. 55. Loudon, 17SG. 



state of perfect efficiency, forming an important connecting link 

 between the Trent and Witham navigations. 



Notwithstanding the existence of this early work, however, and 

 of some others in the country, particularly the Sankey Brook 

 navigation, opened in 1760, .Mr. Stevenson said that it was generally 

 admitted that the formation of the Bridgewater Canal in Lanca- 

 shire, the act for which was obtained in 1755, was the commencement 

 of the system of British canal navigation, and that Francis, Duke 

 of Bridgewater, and Brindley, the engineer, who were its projectors, 

 were the first to give a practical impulse to a class of works which 

 now ]iervaded every corner of the empire, and had been of vast 

 im|)ortance in promoting its commercial prosperity.^ 



That the railway system, from the introduction of which we have 

 of late years derived such inestimable advantages, had now, in a 

 very great measure, superseded, and certainly, for the future, must 

 prevent the extension of canals as the means of internal commu- 

 nication, Mr. Stevenson said, was undeniable; and hence at first 

 sight it might appear to some that he was consuming the time of 

 the Society with the details of a subject which, in the present day, 

 might be pronounced to be obsolete. But he reminded the Society, 

 that although this remark might perhaps be considered applicable 

 to such canal works as were intended for the purpose of efl^ecting 

 purely inland communication from town to town, it did not in any 

 degree apply to that more extended class of works called ship 

 canals, which, like the improvement of tidal navigations, were 

 executed for the purpose of enabling sea-borne vessels, by taking 

 an inland course, to avoid the dangers of lengthened coasting 

 voyages — an object of the highest importance to navigation, and 

 which, it was obvious, could not be superseded by the railway 

 system. He presumed, therefore, that he need offer no apology 

 for describing very briefly the characteristics of such canals by 

 reference to works actually executed; and foi this purpose he 

 referred to the Great North Hnlland Canal, the largest of the kind 

 in the world. That canal, which extended from Amsterdam to the 

 Helder, a distance of 45 miles, was finished in 1825. It had a cross 

 sectional area, measuring 125 feet in breadth at the surface, 36 

 feet at the bottom, and no less than 22 feet in depth of water; 

 and what was most worthy of notice, and was, indeed, a charac- 

 teristic of all the Dutch engineering works, the whole was protected 

 from the German Ocean by embankments, faced with wicker work, 

 the surface of the water in the canal being below the level of the 

 sea. At the time he inspected it the sea was 5 feet higher than 

 the surface of tlie water in the canal, and the vessels were actually 

 locking down, from the ocean into the fertile plains of Holland. Its 

 construction was intended to enable vessels trading with Amsterdam 

 to avoid the islands and sandbanks of the dangerous Zuider Zee, 

 the passage through which, in former times, often occupied as 

 many weeks as the transit through the canal now occupied hours. 

 But our own country furnished us with a similar work of great 

 magnitude and boldness; he alluded to the Caledonian Canal, which 

 formed an inland navigation composed partly of natural lakes and 

 partly of artificial canal, extending from Inverness to Fort Wil- 

 liam, a distance of GO miles, and afforded a depth of 18 feet of 

 water. By means of this inland communication vessels were 

 enabled to avoid the dangers of the Pentland Firth, and also the 

 intricate navigation of the Western Islands: and while the Dutch, 

 in their great canal, had to encounter the difficulties occasioned by 

 the proverbial lowness of their country, Telford, in constructing 

 the Caledonian Canal, had to deal with the ruggedness of a suc- 

 cession of Highland glens, and to overcome the summit level of 

 Loch Oich, which was about 100 feet above the level of the sea; 

 and accordingly, in addition to many heavy works which occurred 

 in its course, there was at one point on the Caledonian Canal a 

 succession of eight locks, by means of which a vessel of the largest 

 class of merchantmen could be raised or lowered through a height 

 of 60 perpendicular feet. The locks, which were in close succes- 

 sion, rose one above another, like a series of gigantic steps, and 

 this unique and extensive marine ladder had not inappropriately 

 been termed "Neptune's Staircase." 



But without alluding farther to other important ship-canals, he 

 went on to consider the improvement and maintenance of tidal 

 navigations, which formed the sea accesses to the chief ports of 

 this country; and without entering on other arguments in order to 

 prove the importance of tfiat branch of the subject, he had only to 

 remind the Society that the trade of London, Liverpool, Newcastle, 

 Glasgow, Dundee, and by far the greater proportion of the second- 

 class ports, was solely dependent on the maintenance of the tidal 



■• History of Inland Navigation, particulary those of the Duke of Bridgewater. Lon- 

 don, 1/tili— Hughe's illenioir oi iJriuUiey, VVeale's Quarterly Papers. London, 1843. 



