CHAP. V. Dl'KI-rs CANAL TO TIIK MKIJSKV. 303 



Bridgewater, l>v constructing his canal, had opened up 

 an abundant supply of coal, but the transport of the raw 

 materials of manufacture was still as much impeded as 

 before. Liverpool was the natural port of Manchester, 

 from which it drew its supplies of cotton, wool, silk, and 

 other produce, and to which it returned them for export 

 when worked up into manufactured articles. 



There were two existing modes by which the com- 

 munication was kept up between the two places : one 

 was by the ordinary roads, and the other by the rivers 

 Mersey and Irwell. From a statement published in 

 December, 1761, it appears that the quantity of goods 

 then carried by land from Manchester to Liverpool was 

 " upwards of forty tons per week," or about two 

 thousand tons a year. This quantity of goods, in- 

 significant though it appears when compared with the 

 enormous traffic now passing between the two towns, 

 was then thought very large, as no doubt it was when 

 the very limited trade of the country was taken into 

 account. But the cost of transport was the important 

 feature ; it was not less than two pounds sterling per ton 

 this heavy charge being almost entirely attributable 

 to the execrable state of the roads. It was scarcely 

 possible to drive waggons along the ruts and through 

 the sloughs which lay between the two places at certain 

 seasons of the year, and even pack-horses had consider- 

 able difficulty in making the journey. 



The other route between the towns was by the navi- 

 gation of the rivers Mersey and Irwell. The raw ma- 

 terials used in manufacture were principally transported 

 from Liverpool to Manchester by this route, at the cost 

 of about twelve shillings a ton ; the carriage of timber 

 and such like articles costing not less than twenty per 

 cent, on their value at Liverpool. But the navigation 

 was also very tedious and difficult. The boats could only 

 pass up to the first lock at the Liverpool end with the 

 assistance of a spring-tide ; and further up the river 



