304 TIIK DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES GROWTH OF MANCHESTER. 



LONG before the Runcorn locks were constructed, ami 

 before the canal from Longford Bridge to the Mersey 

 could be made available for purposes of traffic, the Duke 

 found himself reduced to the greatest straits for want of 

 money. Numerous unexpected difficulties had occurred, 

 so that the cost of the works considerably exceeded his 

 calculations; and though the engineer carried on the 

 whole operations with the strictest regard to economy, the 

 expense was nevertheless almost more than any single 

 purse could bear. The execution of the original canal 

 from Worsley to Manchester did not cost more than 

 about a thousand guineas a mile, to which was to he 

 added the cost of the terminus at Manchester. There 

 was also the outlay which had to be incurred in building 

 the requisite boats for the canal, in opening out the 

 underground workings of the collieries at Worsley, and 

 in erecting various mills, workshops, and warehouses for 

 carrying on the new business. 



The Duke was enabled to do all this without severely 

 taxing his resources, and he even entertained the hope 

 of being able to grapple witli the still greater under- 

 taking of cutting the twenty-four miles of IICAV canal 

 from Longford Bridge to the Mersey. But before these 

 works were half finished, and whilst the large amount of 

 capital invested in them was lying entirely unproductive, 

 he found that the difficulties of the undertaking were 

 likely to prove almost too much for him. Indeed, it 

 seemed an enterprise beyond the means of any private 



